Language Learning Skills and Techniques
Language Skills
There are four key skills in language learning:
- Oral skills: Speaking and listening
- Written skills: Writing and reading
- Productive skills: Speaking and writing
- Receptive skills: Reading and listening
SLA/SLL
- SLA (Second Language Acquisition): This is the process by which people learn a second language apart from their native language in a natural and unconscious way.
- SLL (Second Language Learning): This is the process by which people consciously learn a second language, often focusing on
Key Features of Journalistic Language
Each media outlet uses different codes, always conditioned by the communication channel. The fundamental channel is the language code. In journalistic communication, other significant elements are part of codes of non-linguistic signs, such as the code of images, and the image-noise code consisting of visual images and basic elements.
Specifically, in broadcast and newspaper texts, the basic function is to report facts and themes that public opinion considers of general interest. Journalistic communication
Read MoreLanguage Assessment: Types, Methods, and Best Practices
Language Assessment: Methods and Practices
Test: A method that measures understanding in a given domain. It is an instrument (set of techniques and procedures), structured, and offers a result. It can measure general or specific ability levels and occurs at an identifiable time in a curriculum.
Assessment: Encompasses a wider domain than tests. It can happen at any time, for example, when students are talking and the teacher corrects them. Students have the opportunity to use the language before a
Read MoreMastering Meaningful Learning: Concepts and Strategies
Types of Meaningful Learning
It is important to emphasize that meaningful learning is not a “mere connection” of new information with existing cognitive structures. In contrast, only rote learning is a “simple connection,” arbitrary and not substantive. Meaningful learning involves the modification and evolution of new information, as well as the cognitive structure involved in learning.
Ausubel distinguishes three types of meaningful learning: representational, conceptual, and propositional.
Representational
Read MoreLanguage Skills and Systems: A Comprehensive Breakdown
Skills and Systems in Language Learning
It’s important to differentiate between language systems and language skills. We need to be specific and distinguish them because, in the end, they will tell us what students are going to learn.
Language Skills: Doing Something with the Language
Receptive skills: Listening and Reading.
Productive skills: Speaking and Writing.
Language Systems: Knowing About the Language
Function: What you do with language. E.g., Sorry vs. Excuse me.
Grammar: Structures. E.g., The
Read MoreVowel Sounds, Syllabification, and Phonetic Transcription
Vowel Sounds and Articulation
Vowel sounds are produced in the initiation process by a voiced egressive airstream. Their quality is the result of the shaping of three movable organs: soft palate, tongue, and lips. Vowel qualities are produced:
- By raising the part of the tongue (front, center, and back) in different degrees and heights. The height depends on the vowel, if it is a higher vowel (/i:/) or a lower vowel (/æ/). Depending on the articulation, the front vowels (/i:/) are further forward