Cenoposiciones cenoposiciones.com 3 Temario LENGUA EXTRANJERA INGLES Desarrollo de las destrezas lingUisticas: comprensién y expresién oral, comprensién yexpresién escrita. La competencia comunicativa en inglés.ORAL SKILLS ‘1, ORAL UNDERSTANDING [LISTENING COMPREHENSION) 1.2. ORAL EXPRESSION [SPEAKING] 2. WRITTEN SKILLS 2.1. WRITTEN UNDERSTANDING (READING COMPREHENSION) 2.2. WRITTEN EXPRESSION (WRITING) INTEGRATED SKILLS COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE Ccenoposiciones inglés unit 3Deitel legit Our current educational system establishes that learning a language in Primary Education has a practical objective which is to be able to communicate in that language. But communicating in a language Js a complex activity that implies using the following skills with ease: speaking, listening, reading and writing, Communicative competence is, therefore, acquired by being competent in the four linguistic skils ‘The connection between these skills becomes clear if we lookat Jeremy. Harmer’s diagram: ORAL, WRITTEN RECEPTIVE Listening Reading comprehension comprehension PRODUCTIVE Speaking Writing Listening and reading, then, are receptive skills; speaking and writing ate productive skils.On the other hang, listening and speaking concern the oral medium, whereas reading and writing concen the written medium, In this chapter we will approach the study of these skills from the point of view of the medium they are related to: understanding and oral expression on the one hand, and understanding and written expression on the other. The fact that they share the oral and written means carries methodological implications that we will discuss later on. Before analizing each skill, we should ask ourselves: how can we approach the teaching of these skils? To answer this question well ook closely at the aim of the foreign language area. Learning a language ‘means learning to communicate in that language. Therefore, the four skills must be taught from a communicative point of view: the students should have a motive for speaking, listening, reading or writing, ‘This unit is elated to units 7, 8 and 1 since it deals withthe theme of foreign language sls. Ecenoposiciones inglés unit 3unit 3 inglés ORAL SKILLS In traditional foreign language teaching, oral language had less importance than writing. Nowadays that prevalence does not exist, and each medium has its own importance and implications when teaching. In oral language, the implications are: = Oral language is usually acquited before writing, It is more xnatural> for a person to first listen or speak a language and to read or write it later on. Oral communication is the most direct means among human beings, especially children. The current educational law, as well as the previous laws, has kept in mind this principle and establishes that oral language is of prime importance in Primary Education, especially for beginners. ® It usually has contextual support, such as facial expressions, intonation and other extralinguistic features which can help the understanding, = The spontaneity of oral language means that errors will be considered as normal within the teaching/learning process. The process of acquiring a language is, as Chomsky proved, a creative construction, The student, by using natural strategies and linguistic exposure, formulates hypotheses that allow him/her to organize the language in a significant way. Errors are positive evidence of the learning process. = The informations usually accompanied by repetitions, pauses and paraphrasing, making the message less dense than that of the written page. = The grammatical structure of oral language is simpler. This gives a sense of having a «broken» structure due to its repetitions, incomplete sentences, changes of topic, etc. = The fact that oral means are transitory makes the listener pay special attention to the understanding of the message. A student can ask for repetition in a conversation, but he/she cannot do so when watching TY. or listening to the radio. Oral understanding in these examples is more difficult ORAL UNDERSTANDING (LISTENING COMPREHENSION) Traditionally, @ lot of importance was given to speaking rather than to understanding a language. Consequently, it was quite normal to hear assertions such as: «When | go to an English-speaking country, the problem isn't speaking, but understanding what they say to me» This happens when the oral input to Which he/she has been exposed to has not been enough. Ccenoposiionesunit 3 inglés Similarly, as in mother tongue acquisition, a learners ability to understand needs to be more extensive than their ability to speak. Donn Byrne outlines this idea in the following diagram PRODUCTION RECEPTION In order to have effective communication and not to break the two-way process of listening and speaking, the learner should have a solid receptive base. Therefore, everything the student listens to is essential when learning a language. We will now analyze the listening material or input. > A) Listening material (input). If we think of all the things we listen to throughout the day, we will realize the input our students will be exposed to. A possible list would be: conversations, announcements, instructions, conferences, stories, telephone conversations, ‘news, songs, radio, TV, etc. The main consequence derived of ths is the variety of, auditory material. f our purpose in English teaching is communicative, that is to say, based on how native people communicate, the material we use in class should be varied. Besides variety, listenings should be broadly comprehensible (comprehensible input). This idea was developed by the American linguist Stephen Krashen, establishing that people acquire 2 language better when its level of understanding is a little more advanced than their competence level. In fact he established a formula: L + 1, to indicate that the level of understanding should be a stage further The input Hypothesis claims that, in order for the student to move to the following stage of acquisition ofthe target language, he/she should understand the linguistic input contained in a structure of the following stage. Also, with the help of the situation and the context, the understanding of the message will become more effective, In short, the auditory material should be: varied, comprehensible, graduated in difficulty and within a context. In Primary Education this material can be: a) Stories, instructions, recipes, descriptions (one person taking part) b) Conversations, discussions.. (two or more people taking part ©) Songs, poems, rhymes. 4) Videotapes and films adapted to the children’s level. For the student to understand these listenings it is necessary for him/her to be trained in listening strategies. Ccenoposicionesunit 3 inglés > B] Listening strategies {micro-skills). Listening is not simply a passive hearing of sounds; tis a complex active process, during which the student should understand the meaning of those sounds by discriminating words and phonemes, recognizing intonation, processing the meaning of the spoken chain... Seeing the complexity of what is so simple in our mother tongue, it is understandable that we should train the learner's ear to understand messages in English. We should train them in: ® Identifying the main idea of what he/she is listening to (global understanding). ® Extracting specific information (for example, the time of a TV programme). = Understanding in detail for example, the description of physical appearances). ® Predicting what he/she is going to listen to. When one listens, he/she usually has an idea of what is going to be heard. This expectation is very important to understand the message. > C) Methodology. ‘The methodology of listening comprehension is based on the following points: The auditory material should be varied, graduated in difficulty and within a context = The teaching of listening should be systematic. ® Activities should have a communicative purpose. This means that the focus should be on the content of the language, net its form. In general, a listening lesson follows these stages: 1. Pre-listening stage. This is a preparatory phase. The teacher sets the topic and finds out the students’ expectations by having a discussion with them. He/she can also teach them key words. 2. While-listening stage. The student performs tasks oractivities designed by the teacher to develop listening strategies. These tasks are extensive or intensive listenings. Extensive lstenings are activities for global understanding: sequencing a story, following instructions, true/false questions.. This type of activity is appropriate at beginner levels, since the student does not have @ high understanding competence. Intensive listenings also require a specific search for sounds, words or facts within a context: completing a text or a graph, identifying what has already been said, identifying numbers, phonemes, letters 3, Post-listening. The student performs tasks connecting what he/she has listened to with his/her experience, rounding off his/her learning: comparing what they have listened to with another partner or partners, inventing a dialogue, performing role-play, practising pronunciation, writing outa summary Ccenoposiionesunit 3 inglés (in Primary Education this activity would be done in the mother tongue). Post- listening activities are usually integrated with other skills. > D) Typology of activities There is a great variety of listening comprehension activities (we have already seen examples of activities that correspond to the three listening stages). Its essential that the student has a reason to listen. This reason can be: getting information (the time, working instructions, description of a place}, entertaining (songs, jokes, stories) or socializing (greetings, congratulations). Donn Byrne (1988:16) lists the following activities covering key areas: = Ear-training, to distinguish sounds, stress and intonation patterns, a) Games, such as bingos and «Simon Says», are effective ways of listening to specific items, and they are also motivating. b) Instructions, such as picture dictations, where the student has to draw what he/she is listening to, These activities belong to the Total Physical Response type (estand up», «go to the door.) ©) Completion-type activities. Students have to complete the words of a text, song oF dialogue. d) Identifying mistakes. Students cortect the mistakes they hear. e) Finding differences. Students listen to two versions of a story and have to discover the differences, ) Problem-solving. Students should look for solutions to given problems. 9) Extracting information. The student should concentrate on obtaining specific information (about a TY programme, the weather, etc) h) Dictations. Although it seems a very traditional activity, dictations are of great help, not only for listening comprehension, but also for spelling. Dictations can be used to discriminate phonemes, learn how to write words correctly, find out the number of words ina sentence, consolidate grammatical structures, et. 1.2. ORAL EXPRESSION (SPEAKING) The main aim of oral production is to speak fluently ~in other words, the student should be able to express his/her ideas with clarity, considerable correction, and without hesitating too much. In order to achieve this objective the student should go from the initial stage of imitation to the final stage of free production. Nevertheless, there are often periods of silence which cannot be interpreted as leaming absence. According to Krashen, the ability to speak with fluency emerges independently with time, after the acquirer has built up linguistic competence by understanding the input. Ccenoposiciones —unit 3 10 inglés Errors will also be normal, They are no longer considered shortcomings, but the underlying dynamism in the progression of the new system of communication, Buthow canlearnersachieve linguisticfluency and correction? Basically, depending on their learning stage, one will be more important than the other. At basic evels, fluency is not as important, because the student lacks linguistic competence - pronunciation, structures and vocabulary must be leamt in a correct way. On the other hand, at advanced levels, fluency is what matters because students already have a certain level of grammatical competence; discursive competence is the aim at this stage. A) Material. ‘The topics students speak about will depend on the type of material they are exposed to. It should be varied and focus on the learners'interests. Atearly stages, not much spontaneous speech can be expected from pupils. Much of the English learnt will be formulaic language that children acquire when their linguistic competence is still ow. Besides, for psychological reasons, children need to see immediate results, even after their first lesson, so learning basic vocabulary and simple structures from the very beginning is important, Such language consists of: ® Vocabulary related to numbers, colours. = Greetings and social conventions: Hello! How are you? = Routines: What’ the date? = Instructions: Listen. Repeat, Sit down. ® Asking for permission: Can Igo to the toilet? = Communicative strategies: | dont understand. How do you say. in English, please? By hearing this language over and over again, children lear soon becomes part oftheir active vocabulary. effortlessly, and it B} Strategies (micro-skills). ‘The speaking strategies that students should develop are: = Expressing elementary grammatical structures logically and clearly ® Expressing the grammatical forms he/she has to say coherently ® Using the language in an appropriate way with people he/she is addressing, = Using extralinguistic strategies to help them transmit the message. The combination of fluency and appropriateness makes the language learner become competent in that language. Ccenoposiionesunit 3 inglés > C) Methodology. In order for students to teach fluency in oral production, they must follow three stages. The first and second stages are preparation for the third stage, in which real communication takes place: 1. Imitation. After the student has been exposed to comprehensible input, the first step is the imitation of the model, either from the teacher or from recorded ‘material. They repeat individually or in groups. Chorusing is very useful because itencourages the shyest students. 2. Practice. After this initial stage, the teacher organizes the students in pairs to practise the verbal form already presented. Activities at this stage are controlled by the teacher, but they admit some variation on the student’ part. The objective is the correct learning of the structure. The teacher can correct errors in pronunciation, intonation and grammar structure, and he/she can also explain difficulties or problems that may come up. ‘This stage - not necessarily covered in one lesson -lasts until the teacher checks that the student produces the grammatical form without excessive difficulty. Until now, the student has practised pre-communicative activities in which the teacher almost controls the whole communicative process. 3. Free production. This is the most genuine communicative stage, because the student has to put into practice, in a creative way, what he/she has leamed without the teacher's control, The risk of making mistakes is greater, but this shouldn't worry the teacher because the student is developing discursive competence: coherence and fluency. The teacher's correction would interrupt the linguisticflow. In these cases the teacher takes notes of errorsand comments on them after the activity. > D} Typology of activities. The activities that enable students to develop fluency must have the following characteristics = They should raise the necessity of communicating: the student has to discover something unknown. = They should be interactive. This means that there are two or more people involved in a communicative activity. Both pair work and group work are the ideal groupings for communicative activities. The students need opportunities to speak to others. = They should be appropriate to the student's level, The students should fee! that they're able to perform what they've learnt. The feeling of achievement will encourage them to learn, Ccenoposiciones uMunit 3 12 inglés Basically, the activities can be classified into two types: pre-communicative and communicative types. The pre-communicative type corresponds to the practice stage; the communicative type, to the production stage. a) Pre-communicative activities: They'e called pre-communicative because they're activities in which the language that the student performs is controlled: they have a model to follow. These are the main ones ® Drills. These don't have much communicative potential because they are based cn repetition, but they allow controlled practice of grammatical forms, Students imitate the pattem, in order to gain self-confidence and avoid mistakes. Drills can be mechanical or can have some variation: Mechanical drills: Substitution drills: Teacher: like cheese. Teacher: Apples. Student like cheese, Student: ike apples. Drills are also useful for practising phonemes, intonation and rhythm, = Guided dialogues. Students practise @ model dialogue In which some variations are possible. For example: Shopping: Student 1: Can {help you? Student 2: Yes, please. Id like Student 1: /ts__ Student 2: Here you are. Thank you. = Questions. They can be ¥es/No questions, Wh questions or alternative questions. The teacher can use visual or gestural support. For example: Teacher: Is this glass? (Yes/No questions) ‘Teacher: What's this? (Wh questions) Teacher: Is thisa cup ora glass? (alternative questions) b) Communicative activities: Genuine communicative activities take place at the production stage. Here are some examples: = Information-gap activities. in these activities there issome missing information that the student must discover, For example, asking for the number of brothers and sisters that a partner has. = Role-play. Students pretend they are someone else in an imaginary situation For example, buying a T-shirt in a clothes shop. Ccenoposiionesunit 3 inglés = Problem-solving. This activity can be carried out in pairs or in groups, and it consists in solving a problem. For example, discovering the differences in similar pictures = Following instructions. Students should follow given instructions. For example, 2 cooking recipe or instructions for using a device = Describing personal experiences. Describing learners own experiences of his/her life is a highly motivating activity. For example: describing a member of their family, telling about a typical day, etc. = Communicative games. Games are also motivating and real for children. For example: Snakes and Ladders, Battleships, The Hangman. = Reciting and singing, Children love singing and reciting. Songs provide an amusing way to fix chunks of language. Many cultural elements are also introduced through songs. "= What re the characters of the orl material that shouldbe given n cass? Can you give some examples of materials tha fil these criteria? 5 What are the key stages in earring ral production? Whats the importance ofeach? 1 Since leaming a second language is similar to acquiring a mother tongue, the leamers ability to understand should be more extensive than ther ability to speak. In the same way the material the learner i exposed to shouldbe varie, comprehensible, graduated in eficuty and within contet. '= Its important to train the leamer to understand the main idea, understand specficinformation, detect details and tobe able to preditnformation. In order ‘0 achieve this emphasis should be given to the diferent stages (pe-istening, hil listening and post listening) of the listening lesson and the different types of activities, ‘= Childrenneed torecivebasilanguagefrom thebeginninginordertobemotvated. Thre stages must be followed in this proces, thefirsttwo (imitation and practice) are preparation forthe third (fee production) where real communication takes place, Ccenoposiciones 13unit 3 4 inglés 2 WRITTEN SKILLS The written medium differs from the oral one in several ways: = Writing is permanent: one can read a text over and over again. ® Ithas unique graphic features (spelling, punctuation) which make writing more difficult to learn than oral language = The grammatical structure of written language is more correct than oral language. Itis also better organized, since the addresser has time to express his/ her ideas and correct ther if necessary. ® Ideas should be clear. Due to the lack of interaction between adaresser and addressee, there is no contextual support or facial expressions, intonation or other extralinguistic factors which help in the transmission of the message Therefore, written language should have clarity. Written English has an added problem: the discrepancy between the oral and written forms. This usuelly causes problems for learners. The intrinsicdifficulty of the written medium, together with the difference between oral and written language, causes the introduction of written understanding and production to happen later than oral skills. At beginners’ levels, the teacher should ‘maintain this sequence: listening — speaking — reading — writing As the student advances in linguistic competence, this fact loses importance. At intermediate and advanced levels, written texts can be used to introduce new language (used as input) 2.1. WRITTEN UNDERSTANDING (READING COMPREHENSION) Reading comprehension is a receptive skill and therefore shares similar features with listening, The main common feature is that reading comprehension is a complex active process in which the meaning of graphs should be decoded, so the student must develop some reading strategies. Just as we have seen in oral understanding and expression, as well as discussing reading strategies well study the appropriate materials for the students to read and, finally, the methodology. Lastly, we will ist a typology of activities. > A] Material. If we analyze the material that we usually read, it will probably be: letters, list of names or articles, novels, stories, newspapers, announcements, instructions, posters, notes, lyrics. In the English class, the list of written texts should be a similar one, although adapted to the student’ age and English level. In Primary Education texts can be: a) Stories, narrations, descriptions, letters. Ccenoposiionesunit 3 inglés b) Announcements, messages, lists. ©) Written dialogues. d) Maps, craphs, charts. > B) Reading strategies (micro-skills). In this section welll look at the strategies our students will need to be able to read comprehensively: = Obtaining the general idea of the text (skimming), without worrying too much about words that are not understood. For exemple, understanding the plot ofa story. = Locating specific information (scanning). in other words, looking quickly for specific items, such as timetables, restaurant menus. = Understanding in detail. Instructions, such as cooking recipes, instructions to get something to work, etc ® Inferring what is not explicit from the text, like opinions, attitudes, = Predicting pos: le information, using the learner's previous knowledge. > C) Methodology. As stated before, the four skills must be taught from a communicative point of, view. In real life, people generally read something because they have a purpose. ‘They read to be informed (newspapers), to enjoy themselves (books, jokes..) or ‘to maintain social relationships (letters). Another characteristic of readers outside ‘the classroom is that they have expectations of what they are going to read. The reader who picks up a book in a bookshop will have expectations about the book because of the title and the front cover, for instance, These two aspects, purpose and expectations, have an important teaching implication: the tasks we ask students to perform must motivate them; they should perceive a useful purpose for text study. ‘The procedure in a reading comprehension lesson should be: 1. Pre-reading stage. Motivating the students by relating the topic to their personal experiences, or to the knowledge they have about it. They can also predict the content of the text if we provide them with pictures or charts. 2. While-reading stage. The teacher gives the students points to search for getting the general idea of the text, or specific information. The first case is called extensive reading; the other is intensive reading, 3. After-readingstage. Usually reading comprehensionquestionsorsummarizing (atbasic levels, this will be done in the mother tongue). A discussion can also be a follow-up activity Cenoposiiones —unit 3 16 inglés > DI Typology of activities. The reading texts should be varied and appropriate for the students’ age and level. Daniel Madrid (1995/94) establishes these categories ® Spelling and word-recognition activities. Because of the difference between oral and written English, activities of recognition of letters should be designed. For example: word-square, putting the letters of a word in order, = Associating the visual form with the word. These exercises are basic at beginner levels, because they usually represent the first contact with the written word. The visual image is a powerful means to retain the meaning Associating meanings. For example, matching a word with its definition, ZS rubber A eZ 2 pencil - 422 pen Looking for specific information (scanning): in announcements, graphs, invitations. It’s a quick reading, to search for data. = Reading comprehen: n questions. Questions can be: true/false questions: yes/no questions, or wh questions. = Recognizing key words. In a wiritten text = Guessing unknown words. From context. Getting the general idea. Of the text. Suggesting a title. For the text. 2.2, WRITTEN EXPRESSION (WRITING) Writing is the most difficult of the four skill. In the first place, because in English there are differences between the phonetic and written levels. Second, because it demands a level of correction in spelling, order of ideas, style and motor maturity which isn’t indispensable in spoken language. Oral language is more spontaneous and not as demanding in the «types of production, but writing has an advantage over speech: we have more time for the writing process, so we can write at our own pace, as well as rectify what we've written, Ccenoposiionesunit 3 inglés Learning how to write ina language is important for three reasons 1, Because in order to master a language it’s necessary to know how to use both the oral and written forms. 2. Because in real life we need to write. 3. Because it reinforces the learning of oral communication. Writing words or sentences helps retain them. > A) Material. There are plenty of reasons in everyday life for writing - from a shopping list to writing 2 novel. Keeping in mind the students’ age and interests, we could make ‘the following classification: a) Writing for oneself: lists, addresses, diaries, recipes, notes. b) Writing for maintaining social relationships: seasonal greetings, instructions, letters. ©) Writing for entertainment: songs, jokes, games. > B] Writing strategies (micro-skills). Writing correctly in a language requires a lot of practice and is @ slow ability to acquire. For that reason, in Primary Education it should be done in a guided way. The strategies that a student should learn are: = Writing words and elementary linguistic forms correctly. = Writing appropriately, according to the context = Writing with coherence, > C] Methodology. The aim in written production is also communicative. In other words, the student should be able to communicate ideas and feelings in writing, This objective has the following pedagogical implications "= Writing is a dynamic process that must be learnt step by step. '= There must be a reason for writing, Donn Byme, among other authors, claims we must have @ reader in ming when writing, = The topic should focus on the students'interests (hobbies, family.) = Allthe other skills should be integrated in the process of writing. = The student should be involved in the correction of his/her written work {individually or in pairs). Not only must we teach the learner to write words properly, but also to write his! her ideas with coherence. Ccenoposiciones 1unit 3 18 inglés The stages we must follow to teach writing are: 1. Copying: Although it is not a communicative activity in itself, it must be the first writing activity students have to do when introducing the written form. Copying is of great pedagogical value: ® It helps students reinforce spelling or sentence structure = It helps them to retain words. When writing a word, you become more conscious of it. Copying can vary from simply writing down the word to meaningful copying. For example: listing, putting in alphabetical order, classifying words, etc. 2. Controlled practice: After copying, the next stage consists of guided activities: putting sentences in order, spelling, writing sentences with given words, dictations... Later on, the teacher will introduce connectors of sentences: words such as and, so or but are used to join sentences or contrast ideas. 3. Production: \Written production in Primary Education should still be guided. Itis very important for the teacher to guide the students in the organization of their ideas, as well a in the type of vocabulary and structures to use. D) Typology of activities. Here are some of the activities thet will help to develop writing strategies: a) Spelling. Although they arenot proper communicativeexercises,theyare useful for consolidating spelling in English, Students can put in order or complete letters of a word, do crosswords, word-square or activities of completing with punctuation signs. b) Matching, Joining the beginning of a sentence with its ending, ©) Words in order. The words of a sentence must be written in the right order. d) Parallel writing. Students are given a model text and ate asked to write a similar one (dialogues, forms to be filled in) e) Completing. Completing a text with linking words or other words. ) Substitution drill. Students choose the right word among several words. 9) Dictations. This activity is a very useful tool for integrating skills. Dictations involve listening, writing and reading what has been written. hh) Reading comprehension. This activityis related to the skill of reading, Students are asked to answer questions about a text. i) Consolidating grammar. Writing in the past tense, constructing the question, out of an answer, finding comparative or superlative adjectives... Ccenoposiionesunit 3 inglés i) Communicative activities. These are activities which reproduce conditions of a real communicative situation. They ate «information-gap» activities, in which there is an unknown element between the addresser and the addressee, The missing information is what fosters communication. k) Summarizing. This exercise implies a higher level of competence. Students summarize the ideas of a text they have read, or a story they have listened to. 1). Translating. Translation has been neglected in EFL classrooms. Nowadays, its considered a valuable exercise, since in real lfe translating is a common activity. m)Guided composition. Students follow2 model when writing a text. The teacher should teach the organization of ideas in a coherent way - for example, the writing of a letter. 1) Free composition. Free composition is the most complex writing activity and, therefore, students will still need some assistance. The process of composing follows these steps: 1. Write down the ideas. 2, Make a draft, 3. Correct the draft. 4, Write the final text In Primary Education, this type of composition can include letters, descriptions, stories...using the structures and vocabulary that the students have learned. "= Whatisthe difference between the written medium and the oral meclum? Which istaught ist? What skis do students need to ead comprehensively? ‘= What ae the stages in teaching writing? Can you name four activites that can help teach students write corel? Similar to listening comprehension, when leaming to read students will have to decode graphs. ‘= Eventhough itis nota communicative activity, copying shouldbe the ist writing activity that students d, followed by controlled practice and production 1 Thetypes ofmatrials and methods used to tach reaing should emulate rea if. The diferent typeof activities shouldbe varied and appropriate to the student's level for example, for low level students associating a meaning toa word). Ccenoposiciones —unit 3 20 inglés 3 INTEGRATED SKILLS If we think about how we communicate in everyday life, we notice that, in general, we do not use these skills in an isolated way: we combine them. A simple example: jotting down a telephone number or an address implies both listening and writing But what are integrated skills? According to the Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, «the teaching of the language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking in conjunction with each other, as when a lesson involves activities that relate listening and speaking to reading and writing» Therefore, the teacher should design activities that combine several skills, so that the student can Improve his/ her level of communicative competence. Using integrated skils implies greater competence than using skills separately. ‘While it's true that there are stages at which skills are treated individually so that the student can concentrate on a particular ability, the focus can later shift to other skills, For example, students involved in an oral communicative activity will have to do some writing or reading to accomplish the task According to Donn Byrne, it’s essential to use varied groupings when designing integrated activities, such as pair work and group work, because they offer many opportunities for speaking listening, reading and writing, Let us look at some activities in which skill are integrated: a) Project works. At 2 basic level, topics will be about students’ interests: food, animals, descriptions, etc. In this activity, the skills of reading (looking for information) and writing are integrated, but the skills of listening and speaking can also be integrated if the student or students present their work orally. b) Role-play. This is a very useful activity for integrating skills During role-play, students have to play a role in an imaginary situation, with their classmates as audience. In the frst place, they practise reading and writing, because usually they have read a model dialogue, and later they have to write parallel dialogue in their notebooks, Then they have to perform it (speaking), while the class listens ©) Dictations. Listening and writing are the main skills involved, but we can also add the skill of reading if the dictation is done in groups. A member of the group reads the text out loud, while the other students listen and write. '= Should we give equal weight to all kl areas in each lesson? How should we integrate the diferent sil areas in one lesson? = What kindof kil areas ae practiced ina role-play? In project work? '= When we use language we combine many sil areas. In a similar way, when we teach we should combine different kill areas. 1 Insome stages we treat skilsindvidualy butin later stages we integrate other hls, © Project work, roleplay and dictation areal acts that integrate varios sil areas. Ccenoposiionesunit 3 inglés 4 COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE Communicative competence is the final goal in the English teaching process. Our current educational system says that Primary students have to develop their communicative competence progressively. is vital, therefore, to analyze the term communicative competence to find out its pedagogical implications ‘The term communicative competence is defined as «what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively competent in a speech communitys. It was coined by Hymes, with the purpose of contrasting a communicative vision of language with the American linguist Noam Chomsky’ theory on competence. For Chomsky, competence meant only the ability of the speaker to perform and understand grammatically correct sentences. Hymes maintained that this theory was incomplete, and that a cultural dimension should be incorporated. A speaker does not only need the ability to use grammatical structures, but also to learn how ‘to use those structures within a community. The linguists Canale and Swain (1980) expanded the previous description of Hymes’ by establishing four dimensions of communicative competence (subcompetences) Grammatical competence. This refers to the correct use of the linguistic code: the mastery of grammatical structures, vocabulary and pronunciation. Chomsky called it linguistic competence. 2. Discursive competence. This is the ability to relate and combine grammatical forms to achieve coherent texts 3. Sociolinguistic competence. This is the ability to produce and understand messages which merge social context, participantsand purpose:the appropriate use of language. 4, Strategic competence. It refers to participants’ verbal and non- verbal strategies: beginning, maintaining or finishing communication, and avoiding «reaksin the transmission of the message. These are the necessary procedures for communication to be effective, ‘These four skis are complemented by socio-cultural competence, which implies the knowledge of certain cultural factors, which help to understand the messages ‘thoroughly. The pedagogical implications derived from these subcompetences are: = The teacher should alm at effectiveness in the four skills in students communication. The students should learn how to understand and express messages orally and in writing. ® Presenting new items of the language in a specific context is a fundamental premise, since it helps in the understanding of the message. = Communicative purpose is encouraged from the very beginning, through verbal and non-verbal language. ® The teacher should let students know about traditions, social conventions and the ways of life of the people who speak the target language. Ccenoposiciones enunit 3 inglés ‘= What are the diferent types ofcompetences? Who developed them? "= What are the pedagogical consequences ofthe diferent types of competences? Aspeaker does nt only need to know how to use grammatical structures but so how to use them within a community. hiss called communicative competence, = We must also consider grammatical, discus soxlo-cltural competence = Considering all competences we understand that the teacher must have in mind te four sil areas, the importance of presenting language in context, the «communicative purpose andthe cuture of people who speak the target language when teaching. sociolinguistic strategic and i- Toexpand on the material covered inthis section goto Unit section 21.2 2 CcenoposiionesRes In this chapter we have analyzed the teaching and learning of the four linguistic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, It is important to be able to recognize them, particularly because oral English is so different to its written form. ‘These four main skills or macro-skills-each made up of many micro- skills - are a constant part of people's life, nd teachers should remember this fact when teaching English. People communicate by combining two or more of these skils, Therefore, the process of learning these skills must be seen, methodologically speaking, from an integrated point of view. In other words, relating the four skills to each other. Ifwe also consider that receptive skills (especially the auditory ones) are of paramount importance in the process of learning a foreign language, the student will develop communicative competence, which is the curricular aim of the current educational law. ‘cenoposiciones inglés unit 3 23unit 3 inglés eee BREWSTER, Jet al: The Primary English Teacher’ Guide. Penguin. 1992. BYRNE, D: Teaching Oral English. Longman. 1991 BYRNE, D: Teaching Writing Skis, Langman. 1991 EDGE, J: Essentials of English Language Teaching, Longman. 1993, HARMER, J: The Practise of English Language Teaching. Longman. 2005. MADRID, D. and MCLAREN, N- Didactic Procedures for TEFL. La Calesa. 1995. MCDONOUGH, J. and SHAW, C. : Materials and Methods in ELT. Blockwell. 1995. RICHARDS, J. and ROGERS, T.: Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge. 1986. Ccenoposiionesunit 3 tal ais ORAL SKILLS. WRITTEN SKILLS. INTEGRATED SKILLS. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE. 1. ORAL SKILLS = The listening skill is of prime importance in Primary Education, ® Listening comprehension is a receptive skill but itis not a passive ability its an active process ® The listening skill has other sub-skils: identifying the main idea, extracting specific information, predicting = Aistening lesson follows these stages: pre-istening, while-istening and post-listening. ™ The productive skill aims at speaking fluently in an appropiate way. A speaking lesson follows these stages: Imitation, practice and free production. 2. WRITTEN SKILLS ™ Reading comprehension shares similar features with listening; its a complex, active process ® Reading has other sub-sils: skimming, scanning, infering, predicting, ® A reading lesson follows these stages: pre-reading, while-teading and after-reading = Writing is the most difficult skill it requires a lot of practice and itis a slow ability to acquire = The main objectives of writing are writing appropiately and with coherence. = The stages of teaching writing are: copying, controlled practice and production. 3. INTEGRATED SKILLS 1 The teacher should teach the skills in conjuction with each other or relating listening ‘and speaking to reading and writing. 4. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE 1 The inal goal in Foreign Language Teachingis the students'communicativecompetence. This competence can be defined as a set of sub-competences: grammatical, sociolinguistic, socio-cultural, discursive and strategic. Ccenoposiciones inglés 5unit 3 2 inglés DEVELOPMENT OF LINGUISTIC SKILLS (—USTENING —> or understanding > JORAL SKILLS Oral SPEAKING ; expresion Material Stroteaies Methodology Typology of activities y READING > | Written WRITTEN | understanding * | skins 5 warming —» | Written expresion PROJECT WORKS. _Pomecrereo ] | cae C ROLE-PLAY DICTATIONS GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE DISCURSIVE COMPETENCE COMMUNICATIVE ‘COMPETENCE SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPETENCE STRATEGIC COMPETENCE Ccenoposiiones