Mastering English: Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening
Mastering English: Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening
Reading Skills
Reading subskills:
- Fluency
- Decoding
- Predicting (using cultural background)
- Inferring
- Reading actively (using a dictionary)
- Scanning (for specific information)
- Skimming (for general idea)
- Cohesion
- Reading for detail (intensive reading – to get as many details as possible)
- Reading for general meaning (knowing the meaning of words)
Processes in reading:
- Bottom-up: Decoding a text to understand. Focus is on words and meanings.
- Top-down: Using previous knowledge to understand a text.
Kinds of reading:
- Intensive: Reading a short text for specific information. Teacher support and evaluation of scanning and skimming.
- Extensive: Reading a long text for pleasure. Improves linguistic confidence and reading fluency.
Materials:
- Authentic: The original version of a text.
- Simplified: Material adapted for pedagogical reasons.
Considerations for planning:
- Length
- Topic
- Level
- Skills students need to improve
To help students:
- Set the context
- Show pictures
- Pre-teach vocabulary
- Activate previous knowledge
- Vary activities
Genre: Styles or types of text according to the level of students.
What is reading? Making sense of a text, more than decoding words; it implies understanding. It is a receptive skill.
Reading aloud: (Against) Students focus on pronunciation and may not comprehend. (In favor) Students improve pronunciation.
Fluent reading: Language level, content, motivation, purpose, different strategies, speed, unknown vocabulary, selective attention, prediction.
Writing Skills
Writing is a productive skill.
Subskills:
- Punctuation
- Handwriting
- Spelling
- Organizing ideas
- Writing as a means (for learning, focusing on vocabulary and grammar)
- Writing as an end (for writing, expressing opinions, ideas, feelings)
What is writing? Putting words and sentences together to communicate ideas, opinions, etc.
Activities to improve accuracy:
- Labeling
- Copying
- Correcting errors
Activities to develop communication:
- Story completion
- Writing invitations
Role of the teacher: Support, evaluate, motivate, show pictures, provide suggestions and feedback.
Stages:
- Pre-writing: Topic, genre.
- While-writing: Write about the topic.
- Post-writing: Do something else related to the topic.
Grading: Use a green or blue pen, a rubric, discuss with the students, underline errors.
Speaking Skills
Speaking is a productive skill.
Subskills:
- Fluency
- Accuracy
- Pronunciation
- Intonation
- Stress
Help students by:
- Creating a confident classroom environment
- Providing a purpose
- Motivating
- Choosing an interesting topic
Problems:
- Shy students
- Students don’t find things to say
- L1 (first language) use
- Low participation
Dealing with problems:
- Monitor L1 use
- Provide a purpose
- Give feedback
- Use group or pair work
Topic-based activities: Students relate the topic to their own experience and knowledge (not concrete).
Task-based activities: More participation, students have an objective achieved through interaction, talking for a purpose.
Communicative activities: Communicating something you know to someone who doesn’t, using interaction (e.g., explaining instructions for a new machine – exchange of information).
Scaffolding: Someone with more knowledge helps someone with less.
Controlled practice: Focus on a specific point while students speak (e.g., a grammar structure).
Free practice: Using everything you know while speaking.
Mistake: Not applying what you know, despite having the knowledge.
Error: Not having the knowledge to do something; a good way to learn.
Accuracy: Using grammar correctly.
Fluency: Connecting words; mistakes may occur but don’t affect communication.
Listening Skills
Listening is a receptive skill.
Subskills:
- Predicting
- Guessing
- Identifying relevant points
- Listening for specific information (scanning) (e.g., at an airport)
- Listening for detail: Getting as much information as possible
- Listening for the main idea or gist (skimming)
Construction of meaning in real-life listening:
- Sounds trigger meaning
- Context
- Shared knowledge
Help students by:
- Teaching how to infer
- Guessing meaning
- Ignoring irrelevant information
Problems:
- People speak too fast
- Pronunciation of unknown words
- Getting the general idea but not details
- Unrealistic listening materials
- Memory tests
Tips:
- Bring in visitors
- Teacher speaks
- Selective listening
- Don’t overload students
- Don’t pre-teach too much vocabulary
Stages:
- Show pictures
- Introduce the topic
- Set a task
- Play the recording
- Set a task
- Lead into communicative activities
Ways to listen:
- Bottom-up
- Top-down
Reasons to teach listening: Improve pronunciation; the more students hear and understand English, the more they absorb.
Regional varieties: Different meanings for the same word.
Authentic speech: Language spoken by native or competent speakers.