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From this unit, I have learnt that the receptive skills (listening and reading) are as important as productive skills (speaking and writing) in any language, including English.
There are two categories of reading and listening, yet so often our listening/reading is a mix of the two categories:
- For a purpose: when the reading/listening helps us achieve some particular goal.
- For entertainment: when we find the reading/ listening pleasurable or enjoyable in some way.
Reading/listening doesn't require only our eyes or our ears, but also our minds to literally understand words and process them in our "pre-existent knowledge" to gain true understanding.
The understanding of a context will depend on the following specialist skills of the readers or listeners:
- Predictive skill: predict the content of a article/dialogue from its headline or introduction.
- Scanning: for specific information
- Skimming: for general information
- Detailed information: need to concentrate when reading/listening, to understand everything in detail
- Deduction from context: deduce the meaning of individual words or phrases from the context by seeing beyond the literal meanings of words.
There are problems with teaching and learning of receptive skills, mainly in connection with the language contained in the text, the topic and the tasks the students will perform. Reading presents fewer problems (in sentence length, word length, and unfamiliar words) than listening. The more language the students are exposed to, the more they will learn. And we have many ways of approaching language difficulty:
- Pre-teaching vocabulary: teach the students essentially difficult/unknown words and structures prior to starting a reading or listening activity. However, the teacher should also encourage the students' skill of understanding texts without knowing every word by letting them access some unknown language during the activity.
- Careful selection of texts: carefully expose the students to a variety of authentic and non-authentic texts, which will allow students access to material that contains more suitable language to the students' ability and also gives them confidence in their skills.
The choice of topics is important because it can help to motivate the students and get them engaged with the material if the chosen topics are in their interest. The teacher can generate interest in the topic by knowing the students and what interests them. Based on this knowledge, the teacher then can choose a variety of topics, over a period of time, to ensure that all students are equally catered for in the end.
If the teacher can get the students engaged in the Engage phase activity, there is a high possibility that they will read or listen with real enthusiasm, whether or not they were originally interested in the topic.
Comprehension tasks are an important feature in the teaching of receptive skills. They should be a challenge that is realistically achievable, to promote understanding.
The basic keys to successful receptive skill lessons are:
1. Choose material that interests/motivates the students
2. Build interest before reading/listening
3. Pre-teach necessary complex vocabulary or structures
4. Vary the type of material
5. Use the material to practise different skills
6. Use realistic comprehension tasks that aid understanding
7. Incorporate activate phases that naturally lead on from the text
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