Dali, China TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

There are four aspects to every language: speaking, listening, writing, and reading. These are called the four basic skills. These four skills can be divided into two categories: productive skills (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (reading and listening). Unit 11 talks about the two receptive skills of reading and listening, and how to structure lessons focused on them. While it is common thought to say that we listen with our ears and read with our eyes, in order to focus on these aspects as language skills the idea needs to go deeper into actual understanding. Our minds processes what we read and see based on our prior knowledge and context of the words. Because reading and listening skills are about comprehension beyond function, there are different ways to approach content based on our intent and purpose. An example of two approaches are scanning and skimming. Do you need to read or listen for very specific information? When scanning only the pertinent information is a concern, and that information is focused on intently. Skimming is somewhat of the opposite of scanning. All of the information is processed quickly, in order to get a general idea of the topic. As the purpose and intent changes, so will the manner in which information is gathered. The receptive skills of reading and listening are arguably more passive than writing and speaking, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not as important. Being able to take-in and understand input will generate a more robust output. It is extremely meaningful to tailor lessons around the receptive skills, so students can have the chance to develop different approaches to understanding content.