| What are the 4 types of language skills? | 1. Listening.
2. Speaking.
3. Reading.
4. Writing.
These skills develop sequentially and in that order (MacWhinney, 2011; Otto, 2014). |
| What do the 4 type of language skills have in common? | That regardless of order, they all depend on prior knowledge and experience (Owens, 2012). When children have visited zoos, for example, listening to or reading information about lions, elephants, and giraffes is much more meaningful, as is speaking and writing about them. This is true for all topics. |
| What is the first language skill that children develop? | Listening is the 1st language skill that develops. We know that students -and especially young ones- are not very good at it. Teachers tend to think that good listening means just sitting quietly.
We must realise that listening should be a cognitively active process where students think and question themselves about what they're hearing (McDevitt, Spivey, Sheehan, Lennon, & Story, 1990). |
| What is the purpose of speaking as a learning skill? | Speaking is a naturally occurring process in most students that complements listening and provides a vehicle for organising thoughts and sharing them with others.
As with all language skills, effective speaking depends on background knowledge, but it also requires correct PRONUNCIATION and GRAMMAR, which is challenging for all students and particularly non-native English speakers (Echevarria & Graves, 2015; Peregoy & Boyle, 2013).
As with any skill, our ability to speak clearly improves with practice. (Otto, 2014). Therefore, teachers should allow opportunities for students to practice speaking in the classroom. |
| In about the 2nd or 3rd grade, explain the emphasis shift from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn'? (Reutzel & Cooter, 2012; Tompkins, 2014). | As with listening, many students have a tendency to read passively, never realising that they are understanding little of what they've read. Students need help in learning to ASK THEMSELVES QUESTIONS, such as, "What am I trying to learn here"" and "What parts of this information are most important?"
This also relates to students' ability for private speech which helps their executive functioning to maintain attention and direct productivity. |
| Why is writing such a cognitively demanding process? | Because writing typically develops more slowly than listening, speaking and reading (Berk, 2013). |
| Describe 3 ways that writing promotes language development? | 1. Because it involves the organisation or reorganisation of ideas, it requires us to be cognitively active and to think deeply about a topic; it's virtually impossible to write passively.
2. Because writing encourages us to think about our audience, it helps develop perspective taking, the agility to consider the thoughts and feelings of the reader, an important social skill.
3. We can't write about what we don't understand so it requires us to learn new vocabulary and ideas (Cooper & Kiger 2009). |
