Course: Developing and Teaching Language Skills

Student: Kevin Miguel Fernández Nieto

READING SKILLS LISTENING SKILLS

According to Michael McCarthy (1991), “The best reading materials will
encourage an engagement with larger textual forms (for example through
problem-solving exercises at the whole-text level) but not neglect the role of
individual words, phrases and grammatical devices in guiding the reader
around the text” [1]. However, Ur (1996) in her book A course in Language
Teaching emphasizes that “With less proficient learners, we usually simplified
texts in order to make them appropriate in level for our learners; and tasks also
may not represent any kind of real-life reading purpose. This is because such
materials on the whole are more effective at earlier stages of learning …” [2].
Based on the fact that beginner
students might receive tasks that
do not have any real-life reading
purpose because of their level, how
should teachers adapt reading
tasks in order to make them
effective devices in guiding less
proficient students while reading?
A good option to follow is to give a variety of exercises
based on a specific task, so students can decide
which exercise is better to their understanding. When
adapting tasks is important to focus on their purposes
rather than their design because the structure will
change depending on students' level. Also, if the
tasks cannot be modified, let students accomplish
their goals by working together. This can help them
not only to develop other learning skills, but also to
reach the right work.
Nibal Malkawi (2015) clarifies this last point when he writes “The effectiveness
of Reciprocal teaching strategy [activities in which students exchange roles
according some reading sub-strategies] for students of the lower basic stage
has been shown in helping students to retain what they have learned and to
employ in other situations” [3].
Michael Rost (1990) in his book Listening in Language Learning has noted that
“Input selection requires consideration of abstractness of content, cultural
aspects of the content, number of information points, media support provided,
length of extract, and level of linguistic difficulty. None of these considerations
alone, however, can predict the difficulty that a learner will experience, since
text difficulty relates to affective factors of learner interest and motivation, and
does not take into account support provided by the task” [4]. Also, according to
Penny Ur (1984), an expert in the world of language learning, real-life listening
should include “Heard discourse which corresponds closely to what the listener
expects and needs to hear is far more likely to be accurately perceived and
understood than that which is unexpected, irrelevant or unhelpful” [5].
Considering that many
students share the same
difficulties in listening
tasks because of their
lack of cultural
knowledge, how could
teachers increase
motivation in their
students to learn other
cultures?
It is important to take into account
cultural background issues in order to
develop more interesting classes, so if
students are exposed to real-life listening based on
their own cultural environment, they will feel
comfortable and less indisposed. Moreover, teachers should find the correct
way to introduce new culture aspects in the target language. They can use the
cultural background of their students as a example of how different or similar is
the target culture, and not address cultural knowledge directly.
Arif Saricoban (1999) in his article The Teaching of Listening observes that
“Lack of sociocultural, factual, and contextual knowledge of the target language
can present an obstacle to listening comprehension” [6].

[1] McCarthy, Michael. Discourse analysis for language teachers. Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp 168.
[2] Ur, Penny. A course in language teaching. Ernst Klett Sprachen, 1999, pp. 150.
[3] Malkawi, Nibal Abdelkarim Mousa. "The Effectiveness of an Educational Program based on Reciprocal Teaching Strategy for
Developing Reading Comprehension Skills among Lower Basic Stage Students at Public Schools at Al Aqaba Directorate of
Education."
[4] Rost, Michael, and C. N. Candlin. Listening in language learning. Routledge, 1990, pp 159.
[5] Ur, Penny. Teaching listening comprehension. Cambridge University Press, 1984, pp 4.
[6] Saricoban, Arif. "The teaching of listening." The internet TESL journal 5.12 (1999): 1-7.