CHAPTER I1

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION- A THEORETICAL OVERVIEW

l . l'heoretical ground

2. (ieneral nature of the basic language skills

3. Inter-relatedness of the language skills

4. Summary

CHAPTER I1

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION- A THEORETICAL OVERVIEW

Introduction

Language is man's power. It 15 the manifestation of his attempt to verbalize his

idea, thoughts ant1 feelings. A properly of linguistic signs is their arbitrary relationship

with the objects they lepsesent. The language users rnultiplicate their linguistic

resources to produce 11eu expressions and new sentences for new situations.

Language faciiit;\tes cultural transmission. Communication is the bond by which

living crcaturc> are bo~tntl to each o~her. Whatever be the modem machinery of

communicatioii. languagc lorms tile basic unit of i t . Many psychologists including

Watson (1924) at-e corivinced of the importance of language that they maintain

ianguage is the very bass of thought Language is an essential part of many cognitive

processes and I I is difficult to imag~nr any kind of civilization in which there is no

form of languase.

Theoretical ground

The prc~ccss of Stcond Language Acquisition L? is a very complex one. Much

work in this area has been dealt with linguistic concepts in a more or less haphazard

fashion witho~lt a firm theoretical bdsis. Onc reason for this state of affairs comes

from within the field itself. The initial Impetus for studies of second language learning

came from contrastive i~nalysis, a well established field with its own traditions and

interests, ;md the emergence of error analysis, a discipline which .developed in

I-eaction ro the unsubstiintiil~ed clairns made by proponenls of contrastive analysis

regarding the boiirces o i learner difilculty in second language learning. During the

1970s i t hecanii: apparent that the study of second language acquisition was a viable

topic for rnvetlgation, in and of itself, its jurisdiction no longer came from the

coiicei-n of language pz~lagogy a 11ad been the case within the frame work of

contrastive analysis and error analysis. Inste$d its jurisdiction came frdm the insight

that it provideti about the nature of the process of acquisition. Second language

acquisition is concerned with (1) what is acquired of a second language, (2) what is

not acquit-ed ot .I seconcl language, ( 3 ) the mechanisms that bring that knowledge

about, and ultirrrately (4) explanatioir Sor this process in terms of both its success and

failure.

From thousands of studies uns can piece together a convincing description of

[he child's dawning grssp of language, but no one has yet been able to provide a

satisfactory explanation uf how children acquire language. An adequate explanation

must lake into account the niaturatioiral, cognitive and social precursors of language.

12ivers (I'IYO) :lesct-ibed the early trcriJs in second language teaching. The structural

linguis~s cmphtiised ovt:l-t pattei-neJ behaviour of responses to stimuli. With repeated

reinforcement a habit I establishzd as according to reinforcement theorist like

~ho$ake in !92Os ancl 1930s. A~rdio lingual approach became the predominant

tnethodology i n reaching English ro I'urcign students who flocked into the universities.

In the late fiftics i t began to spread I I I L O school classrooms two. Here emphasis is on

presentation of the language in oral lorrn, spoken form first and then aural-oral made,

(first listening, then producing utlelances with graphic representation of what they

have been 1e;irning). Dlilling wah t~loitly used and many a time through contrastive

linguistic rnetliotl.

In rile i:ai-ly 1960s c r i t i c i s n ~ ~ were leveled against this approach Linguistic

ll?eorists ~iccla ic~l tlien~b~:lvcb to be Ir;\nkly mentalistic. Transformational generativc

linguistic theory pointed oui the apparent simultaneity of surface forms of a languagc

i n difl'ereiit utxrances inlay canlo~iilagc important differences in meaning. Hence

indiscrirnii~ate selection of surface features for drill exercises may result in students

making sei-ious errors wlicn begin to extend by analogy.

Dibcussing on language learn~ng, Carrol1.(1953) distinguished b'etween habits

and interiialiscd ~rulcs or rule governing behaviours. Carroll maintained that a 'rule'

\vas a construct. ~ildependei~t of ac~ual behaviour whereas a habit was what the person

had actually irarned, thal is the behavioural manifestation of the internalisation of

rules. An cytenslon of C;isrcill's approach might well be applied to Krashen's 'feel and

I-ule'. To C:arroll an automatic process is one that (nearly) always becomes active in

response to particular Input configuration where the input may be externally or

internally zenei-aliszd and include the general situational context.

To Krkishan ( 1961 j conscious rule learning is not essential for second language

acquisition. Krashan's Monitor modci says "conscious learning is quite different from

iicquisition an(: may be iolally an independent system. Conscious learning does not

iilitiate utterancr. or prod~icc fluency It also does not contribute directly to acquisition.

M'e knou rhai "adults habe two independent systems for developing ability in second

language. iubconscious language acquisition and conscious language learning and

that these syscrnis are inter related in o definite way, subconscious acquisition appears

to be far inors irnportiilrt". However. Krashen does not spell out in any explicit

fashion what t ! i i rclatic~iiship may lbc and continues to speak of the acquisition and

learning ,!;SIC~II 111 the ,;inic term\ ;IS to the a[-tick 1978. In 1982 he stated i n his

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theory of ncqulsltion and iearning tlial irrespective of age and the first language (LI )

of learnel-S, there 1s similarily in lhc order of acquisition of certain grammatical

structure. 'l'he structures reflect the natural acquisition process which iS common for

both L1 and L:.

In Schlesinger's,( 1977) Model, learning another language means acquiring

new categorisation of sen- antic relatioris in accordance with the realisation rules of the

new language. This can result in the realisation of new cognitive structures (new

ways of perceiving relationsl.

B;~iI\.stock (1983) remarked that language is acquired by understanding

117essages that coirtaln neLv s[ructur-CS slightly higher to the learner's current level of

competence. Urilarnilia~- Inr~guage i s understood with the help of context, extra- I

linguistic inl'or~nation and kr~owletlgc of the world. As per his input hypothesis there

should be suffic~ent variety and quantity of input so that it provides (I+I) for different

learners at different ievcis of conlperence and enables them to review the already

acquired structures constantly.

Structural linguist~cs by Bloomfield,(l933) is remarkable. It is the study of

language based or1 speech samples.

Biological theories

As per t l~r biologist or- innalis~. language development is primarily a matter of

maturation because according to the linguist :'. :L: Chomsky,(1975 - 79), the structure

of languagc is laid down i n the gzrlcs of a child. I-Ie called this innate capacity a

"Language Acqu~sition llcvice" LAD which gives the child the communicative

ability. All hu~nan languages share an underlying deep structure, which he calls a

'universal grainlnar'. 7'liis conslsts of principles, conditions and rules for the

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semantic, \yntactlc and jil~onological possibilities of human language. One's job is to

figure out h o ~ + lhc partii:c~lar language system of his community actualizes linguislic

~~riiversals. T ~ O L I ~ I I children learn ent~rely different and mostly fragmentary language,

they come up with the sillne. I-ich cc~li~plex language system.

Chomsh! 119681 ~l'urned 101 the language a central place tn general

psychology, sillcc then language related studies by psycholinguists have proliferated.

Chomsky's theory supp,)rts the vicv. of creative language use because many of the

sentences children utter have never been heard by them in that particular form.

Dialogue senterices and i:onversatiori situations were used as spring board for creating

riew utterances. Opportunities shoulcl be provided in class for student - sanctioned

discussions and tor extempore dialogue in situations that stimulated these in which

student might find themselves in the second culture. Shorter exchanges of eight or ten

lines can enablc student> memorise useful building blocks of language that they could

adapt and val-y I ( > expres, nicssage vr'their own devising. This C h m s k y a n theory has

led to the rev~;al of' an older approach to stihulate in the classroo~n an environment

that will appro:iiinate thi: context in which children acqulre their first language.

Cliomsky was antagonistic to the mechanical unthinking practice of structures.

In his LAD, children aciluil-e language by making hypothesis about the form of the

g[-ammar- of thcir first 1;rrtg~lage. Thcy then compare it with the innate knowledge of

possible graninlar based on the pr~ncrples of universal grammar. In this.way the child

internaliscs a kliowledgt: o l the grammar of the native language (This Cha~nsky call's

'cornpctence' 1 ~ r l d this ~ontpetence n i ~ k e s language use, ('or performance') possible.

Languagc ilsc IS thus rule-governed behaviour to create new utterances that conform

ro the rules rhch have intcrnalizcd The term 'rule governed behaviour', 'creative

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, language ilse' : ini i 'hyp~~thescs tcstlti:: soon were 1.eplact:d by 'building'in habits' and

' S Z L I U ~ L I ~ I ~ I I pri~ctice' as tire c i l t c h ~ ~ r i i of language teach~ng.

Cooper ( 1966) .cl;~iming that fit-st and second language learning are analogous

and that a c c o r i ~ l language is not leacned in any functionally different way than a first

language. nevert the less, lists some oi the cognitive differences i n the occasions. "In

spite of t l~ese differencch", he says, "there seems to be little evidence that the central

language learning theor): differ for- 1116 child and the adult".

Tile notion prevalent among early analyst that errors were the result of

interfcrcticc i l l the learning of a secoirti language from the habits of the first language

(Bright atid i 'Greger ( j970) has elver1 way to a more positive thinking according to

which the 1e;irnt.l-'S posbession of' h i \ native language is fiicilitative and that errors are

not to be regal-ded as sign of inh~bition, but simply as evidence of his strategies of

learning.

Many lir~guists support the vlcw that there are sufficient similarities between

first and second language accjuisition to support a common theory on the processes of

their acqursition. Krasherr ( 1978) Ellrr (1986).

Ilehaviouristic theories

Bcl~avio~rrists argue that l;~ngu:~ge is learnt in the same way as one learns othcr

forms of behaviour, (Skinner 1957) primarily through imitation and reinforcement.

The common assumptions at-c ( I ) children are born with a general learning potential

which is part of their generic inheritance, (2) language (including the learning of a

language) occur5 entirciy through the nature of the environment shaping the

individual hehavlour, (31 bchavioul-s (including the language) is shaped through the

reinforcerrlcnt or particula1- responses 21nitted in the presence of particular stimuli, and

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(4) in the hapitis of vet-v colnplex bcliaviours such as language, there is a progressive

selection or narrowing ( 1 1 ' responses which are positively reinforced, although more

sinlple and gerreral responses receive positive reinforcement initially. Such

reinforcement i h given litter for responses which are more complex and which more

nearly rnatch the i~ltiniatc behaviour-al goal.

Skinner, ( 1957). b l o w and Scaats regarded the acquisition of language as a

matter of condir~oned habit fhrniar~i~n. Skinner's theory of language acquisition is

more relei:ant iir~ce learning a language is a bevavioural change. Though children

irnitatc adult speech no two children's speech pattern is the same nor their style the

same.

Bcver ~ui-ncd out ;~rtent~oll the pc(-ceptual and semantic strategies that

facilitate languagc acqu;\ition. B10\vi1,(1973).concen~rated on semantic as well as

grammatical relations. Skinner l ' i - 7 ) and Sidney, Bijou and Baer (1965) see

language simply as vocal behaviour r t~ ; i t is reinforced by the action of another person.

Children, build sentence out of gi-~~irlmatical frames, a process that allows them to

produce scnter~ces that arc different from sentences they hear. They make small

generalis;itions, inferences and analogies before the sentence. (Whitehurst 1982)

Gradually chiIdl.cn accc~niulates a pi~tchwork of thousands of separately acquired

frames, patterns, responses and rules

Social learning theories

Socio-ltnguistich rapidly devclnped irl the 1960s and 1970s. To them language

is more comrn~~nicativc isather than the competence - performance. The basic

principles of natural language learn~ng is the distinction Krashen (1982) has drawn

between acquisition of a lang~tage through the pores of learning and the formal

. 30

cognitive sense Language acquisil~on takes place during episodes of authentic

communic;ition i n the language in i~nsrructured interaction. To Bruner(1966) " Use is

a powerfi~l dererr~ii~iant of rule struciure". To combine <:hamsky's view and socio-

linguis[ic view 'colnmunicative co~npctence' was coined. Hymes, (1971) provides an

excellent discussion of the compelence - performance controversy and socio-

linguistic 1l1ode1.s of commu~~icative competence and language use. Hymes describes

co~nmunicarive competcncc as \\hi11 a speaker needs to know ta .communicate

effectively in culturally significant ~etiings. The most important task of the socio-

l i n~u i s~ ic resc;~rci~ w a the ide~~~ilication of the rules, patterns, purposes and

consequerlces 01' language i1.x and a11 account of their interrelations".

Ccr1;iin 1y11csoof higher rnclical func~ioris such as deliberate attention, logical

illemo~-y. verbal and coilceptual t h o ~ ~ g h ~ and complex ernotions cannot emerge and

take form in the develop~nental proicss without the constructive assistance of social

interaction. Rivei-S, ( 1971).

Accol-ding to Lenneberg, ( 1967) language can be acquired only during a

sensitive period i n human developllicnt i.e. when the children are two years old, and

lasts ul i t i l they reach malurity. At ti~iies the ability to learn a language declines and by

the late ken i r is difficult or even i~npossible. The end of the sensitive period, said

Lennchel-r L , (1971) .coincide\ with the maturation of the brain. The mature brain loses

its plasticity and can no longer make the adjustment that the acquisition of language

requires. Soci;il learning theorists ~ ~ f o u l d add that imitation plays a major role in the

acquisition of speech and that both conprehension and speech are based on

observational Ieal-ning (Bandura, 1'177). The social theorists call children's language

acquisitio~l a\ delayed selective imitt~tion. (Whitehurst and Vasta,1975).

all the possihlc \uurce\ 01' language acquisition and admit t h e fact that the more .-

.i .: socialised the cllild is thc richer his 1;lnguage would be in positive contexts. : . - - ~.

Social Cognitive lnteractiori Theories

Tlic interaction approach to language acquisition agrees with the biological

contentio~r that maturation is vital and that, until children reach a certain cognitive

level, thr) cannot acquire language. I t also agrees with the behaviourist contention

that social intsl-action i the place to look for the emergence of language. But

interaction theorists maintain that innate mechanisms cannot, by themselves, explain

the child's grasp of lansuage. B loo~n . (1970) draws attention to the interactions of

cognitive - perceptual dcvelopmcnt, linguistic experience, and non-linguistic

cxperieiicc in riic langu:~ge developinent. "Induction of underlying structures", she

says. "is i~rtim;rrcly rela1i.d to the dciclopment of cognition", and further "children's

speech i very much lied to c o ~ ~ t c x t and behaviour". The basis for linguistic

conipetcnce also goes t)e)ond contiitioning and observational learning to include

nonlingui.\tic aspects of human interaction: turn-taking, mutual gazing joint attention,

co~ltext, ;isutiij)tiotis ancl cultural coitventions. The forms of language are acquired, so

cllildrerl c,in cicrry out cornniunicarrvi~ lunctions iBatesj979).

V>gorsk) , ( 1978) asserted rti.lr cliildi-en learn through social interaction and

language is ari important F,\c~litatol- o f lcai-ning. T o him ihe cognitive structure is the

organisation of knowletige i n the b ra~n and knowledge is categorised into category

systems, the 1 1 called s~:heinata. Learning occurs when existing schemata is enlarged

or restructured.

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To llcn~he) ( 1991 I both pcnpcciivcs, social inlet-action and cognitive processes

ila\,e important i r~ipl ica:~o~r~ fol- thc classroorn teacher. The first perspective is

L'ygotsky'\ (197to zone of proximal ilevelopment. The zone of proximal development

is the ilillcrencc bctweerl LIII individual's current level of development and his or her

potential level of development. He vlews language as an important mediator between

learning arid dcvclopmei~t Language develops mainly because of a child's need to

coinmunicate with people in the iciivironment. During the child's development,

language co~~;.el-ted to internal hpcech as it becomes an internal process and

organises the child's thoughts. The becond perspective is Krashen's (1982) concept

and its applicdtlon to language acquisition. To Krashen child should be given

maximum exposure to the language (Krashen and Terrell, 1983). The child is a

cognitive being making sense out ul his world, including the world of language. But

the child i~ as dceply a social beltif and this learning of language both reflects and

uses his \ocinl x l f . Thc cognitivl~is see the child as a cognitive ac'tivist and the

interactioilists \i'e i t as a iocial actlvl\l.

Children discovers a good deal by asking questions. At first they have

difficult);. h u ~ I:~rer- they rcalise the ;~tljustment. Once they understand the rule they

gcneralisc i t . 1.anguagc I the pl.otIuct of the child's active interaction with an

er~virorltnent provided t ~ y other hulrlan beings. As Gleason and Weintraub (1978)

point out cognitive developtnent cni~ rcsult from interaction with the physical world.

but children cannot acq1;tre languagc merely through simple exposure to i t as passive

listeners. Some of the \ iews of the lnteractionist approach is most promising. They

borrow freely troin othei- approacho Bohanioon and Leubecker 1985.

Piliger,~ 1962) fo\:uscs on language as an abstract system of sign relations and

on the prepo\~tional ancl content in~lependent properties of linguistic representation

which make I [ a powerful tool for the development of abstract reasoning. As children

acquire languase, they acquire a sign system which bears important relationships to

both cogliltivc and social aspects of their life. Zone of proximal development is

operationaiiscd i n tern15 of the process of social interaction between children and

adults which allows chiIdl.cn to acqu~re complex series of actions in problem solving

situations befol-e they have the meni~ll capacities to decide an actions on their own.

Piaget rel'ei-s 10 the social functions of a language and some aspects of its content

dependence as docs Vygo[sky in h13. d o n e of proximal development. Piaget and

Vygotsky ililfer on the relation bct\vccn development and learning. Piaget believes

that dcvelopl~lcnt proci:eds learli~l~y, where as Vygotsky believes that learning

Piaget has been insti-umentnl 1 1 1 shaping the relationship between language and

thought. Using the basic function of assimilation the tendency of the organism to

incorporate environmental stimuli into a system of mental structure accomodation (the

process o l adapting to the environrncrli), children constantly strive for equilibrium.

During thc 1980s. change5 occurred in the conception of communication and

language develop~nent. Language was 110 longer presented as an idealized system of

syntactic rules, hut as ;I complex s)s[em of communication. Context is no longer

regarded as a ,itnple elicitol- of Jn innate mechanism. Young children are context

sensitive ;ind the~i- cogn~~ ive pei-forn~ancc is determined by what they think others

want forni theill. Childrcn use and ,Icveiop their comtnunicative skills in order to

34

make senic of iheii- erivii-oiirnent. T l l~s environment is nluch more social and cultural

than phy5ic;il

A geiicral level o f cogi1itls.e competence is necessary for rudimentary

communicative competerlcc. Special~sed conceptual competence may be needed for

the cornprehen>ion of sophisticated tt:chnical information. Effective communication is

possible only when a person exercise skills in at least three domains-linguistic,

cognitive and \vci;il.

Thc p~ychoiingiiistic and socio linguistic perception coupling the

constructi\.ist [)I- cognitive theories of Piaget; (1962), arid Bruner (1966), and the

~xycholinguistic lheories described by Smith and Goodman and the socio - linguistic

theory of Vygotsky,(l97X) focus on rile cognitive aspect of language learning.

Bilingualsim

The western motiel of monolingalism which is concomitant with their ethnic

and cultural homogeneity cannot bc accepted in India due to the language diversity in

India. Indian scholars tiiive shown that bilingualsm is a cultural state of language

behavioilr in\<~ulvcd in ; i social group's interaction, particularly in India which is

basically iri~iItiIingilal ancl plu~-i-c~~Iri~ral .

Bilingualsim as :! concept war introduced in the language census, for the first

time in 9 0 ISiIingualsi~~~ or mul~ilingualsim is the use of one or more then one,

language by a community for inter-group communication apart from the language

used by i r in rlic home cnvironmenr The studies conducted in 4600 coinmunities

66.4% people arc bi1ingu;il. F'OI/J99:?)

35

Ho~rb) . I 1977) il-icic are iOii0-4000 languages with a little more than 150

contries to ~iccoliiri~odat~: them. Mosi bilinguals are probably more fluent and more at

ease in one of i hc~ r lanfi~agcs. The learner, i t has been suggested, may also use ( L I )

to initiatc ilttes.:llces wlrcn they do not have sufficient acquired knowledge of the

target languagi:' X'rashen (1981 ). ..In other words the learners can use L I as a

resource for :idi~t.)c tranilation to u~c rcome their limitations". A number of studies

since 1960's h;i\:c shown the positlvc effect of bilingualism on cognition. Ellis (1986)

Dugdale,( 1996) .~clinowlcdges that pervious experiences bi-or multi-linguistic and so

on affects the speed with which a new language is acquired.

Language Across the curriculum

L ; i ~ ~ g u a c across ihe curr~ciilum (LAC)" is a tern1 used in many parts of the

world to denote an approach to [caching language skills and strategies such as

reading, speaking. writing. listening i;tnd soqetimes representing view etc) within the

context of contc~lt area\. ill contrclht to teaching the language skills and strategies

within a separate time pei-iod i n the curriculum. The under assumption are that

language has a heuristic function that learning language is more process -oriented than

content -orlentcd. L.angui~ge learnin: is expedited when it is contextualised and that

tI11-ougli expres\lyc writing and tiiscus.;ion (or talks), infi~rmation is filtered through

pcrsonal cxpcl-icnccs. '1-AC' has lur~icd into an educational movement in the 1990s.

Parker (1985) rcfci-s tv LAC a ir "true alternative perspective on learning and

teaching".

Tlrc lii,t two dt,<:ailes h a w seen an upsurge of communicative language

teaching. With the a d v t ~ t 01' commi.iilicative approach the two skills: listening, and

36

\peaking liavc r-cic~ved a ncw inil>ciii\. Several years ago, in (1928). Rankin's study

observcd tilat i11c anloulll ol timc tlc:.oted to the language arts is inversely related to

t i s o c l I I I I ~ L I I I I f a i r . Ilc found that 70 percent of working day is spent

i n verbal ionlm~~nic:~tic.n anti of t l i ~ \ communication tirne 45% percent is spent in

listening 10 percent in sjxoking, 16 pcl-cent in reading and 9 % in writing

Tornkitis and Hoskisson. (1995) reported that communicative competence

developed through a discussion and understanding of language process, it is nurtured

thorough gcri~linc comrrii~nication activities. These activities include conducting oral

interviews of conirnunity residents. participating in debates on topics of relevance to

students ~. l . i t ing stories and sharini; these stories with genuine audiences keeping

learning logs i t 1 science classes and writing letters to state or national political figures

In conjunction ~ b ~ t l i soci;ll studies thcr~les.

Richartl, ( 1996) iicfines colnnlunication, "as the lransmission of information

and u n d e ~ \ t d n d ~ n g from onc person 01 group to another through the use of common

~jrnbols" People'\ attitude detetlninc how they appro,teh problem situations and

o ~ h e l people Row 11 I \ bellcved that chlldren learn to read and write through

irnmersioii in a 1angu;lge r i c h er~vironment. The new approach is based on

observa~ions o!' how childrcn learn 1 0 talk. This connection between talking reading

and writing suggests that all three arc Inore alike than they are different.

Ovcr the past decade, hundreds of elementary and junior high'school pupils

have participatecl in recipl-ocal teactling. Such children show substantial gains in

reading comprehension compared 11.) controls exposed to alternative instructional

strategies with the samc I-cading m;~terials. Lyscynchuk, Prcssley and Vge,(1990)..

lieciproc;il le ;~ch~n? creates a zone c 1 1 proxin~al developnlent in which children, with

37

the and o i rcacliers and peers. gradually assume more responsibility for the task.

Rcciproc;il te;rcl~iirg a l s ( ~ keeps re;rtIing activities whole rather than breaking than

tio\vn into ~>olaicd hkills renloved I I - ~ I I I the complexities of real text passages Engliert

and Balinciar,~ i 'J9 I ).

Childreii's languige developrlient in the elementary years is the development

ant1 use o l new words. Cl-iiltlren's u~iderstanding of words grows in two stages-fast

and slow. I11 tlic last stagc cliildren q~.rickly notice new words, and assign them in new

categories. In ihc slow \laze children have to work out differences and relations

between \ ~ o r d > . Iri thc elernenti~r-i they learn words through reading, through

conversatiull anti by asking others what n word means. They use a wide variety of

sentences. Duri112 this stagc they 11ccd vivid literature to read as a means of learning

about dii i 'cre~i~ >ynlaclir lorms an,l styles. In addition, by involving in writing

;ictivities childrcri 1ea1-n l ~ o w to LISC ,\yntax in written expression. During the nliddle

\$ears childi-cl)', iihility to understaiid the message of' words increases. They learn

synonym>. a ~ l t ~ ~ n y r n s , holnonynfi and idiomatic expressions. Through all the

processes of 1;lnguage developnient what is acquired is language proficiency that is

the use of the 1;111guage with speed and accuracy.

l ' l ~ c nicr\i personal and personalised area of curriculum is language arts. To

~indesstar~J purson's I a ~ y u a g r I S to understand that person. Language has no

coherent content. I L 1s tllc vchicle used to encode and decode content derived from the

experiences of feeling. th~nking, sensitivity and other facilities. Language art is a

dependent curriculum area which lnust be supplemented by other language areas.

Objective\ of'lariguage learning

Moderri hchools do not even partially fulfil1 the function of the development of

language ahilit~es. The language arts programme provides for both incidental learning

and systematic Icarning. K~iddell I 1974) has produced seven goal statements for the

language arts.

1 . The ;ibiliry to communii:ate cleaslv in oral and written forms in a variety of social

setting.

2. The ab~lity io ~~nders t ;~ni l and use oral and written language in both receptive and

exprebslve I ' IISIII~.

3. Thc ab~l i ty I V use comprehensio~~ and problem solving strategies according to the

purpohcs es1;ihlished I I I reading ;incl listening selections.

I . The ability io decode new wor i l and encode or spell words in a variety of reading

and writing bit~~ations.

5 . The ah~li ty ri ) L I S ~ rescar-ch ancl htudy skills to interpret content in subject matter

areas

6 The a b ~ l ~ t y io expreii. Interpret enjoy creative thoughts.

7. A srnsitivity and apprcciatio~l of language and literature in a variety of life

situationb.

The overall objective of lear~iing a native as well as foreign language is to

listen a t tc~~t ivel ) read con~prehensively, speak clearly, write legibly and spell

correctlq. The \pecific instructional objectives also include developing a sense of

appreciation for simple poems, aciji~iring knowledge about the elements of the

language, reproducing the language and developing interest in the language. The

39

p]-ogramnlc o l language arts must rt:ccognise the functioning of the language in the

development c1 ;I language. in the maintenance of a c~llture and in the continuity of

the develt)prnei~t O S a gcneralion. A very natul-al process of development is utilising

language Sol- purpose and receiving genuine, emphatic warm and responsive

intervention. Tllc symbols and pattt:rns of language are abstractions applied to the

realities of the objects. events and values experienced by ;l culture and by individuals.

\\'itho~lt thesc lipplicatio~rs the n~astcly of the language skills and tools are somewhat

inert and valueles until :~ctivated 111 a social experience. These aims are materialised

by way o i hahlt f o r m a ~ ~ o n . The s y t e m operates largely without one's awareness.

, . I hcse language habits are ileeply set in the nervous system of the individual and in

the mtiscular. 111IcI1ect~liil and emotiolial processes. Much of the language learning is

the lea~-nlllg of complicated skills dnd learning skills are largely a question of

adequate and e:l'cct~ve p!-actice.

L , ; i n g ~ ~ ; ~ y acqui\ltio~l has two variables: l a n g u a ~ e and the learner. As there

are deep level i~ni lar i t lcs across d ~ i e r s e human language so there are deep level

similaritie~ acio\s the diccrse h u ~ i ~ a n who acquire them. Similar physical and

cognitive \truct~ire\ 31.1: piirt of the makeup of all humans, whatever kind of

C I I ~ ~ ~ O I I I I I C I I ~ \\C Ih;~ppeli to be born in10 and raised in. Clearly Language Acquisition is

dceply rooted i l l the phyi~cal and cog~~i t ive structure and possibilities of human share.

I%loonl's 'l 'nxono~ng

Bloom\ taxonollry of educational objectives is one of the most popular

classiCicatlon\ o i educational oulci)rnes. This classification places all expected

educational outcomes along the th~ee-fold division into cognitive, affective and

psychomolor daniains and their sub-domains. This suggests that educational outcomes

40

iri language tear:hing. v]/ . the variou languag skills, can ;dso be classified along with

those major di l~~cl~sions. 'Shc relevant classifications adopted from the three domains

Lire listed 'I\ uriiicr

Cognitive 1)onlain

1 . Knowlcdgc

Tcrmirir)logy: delinitions, rangc of meaning of words, specific facts;

Convenlions: Spcecli and mliting; Classifications and categories: types of

literatul c

2 . Comprehension -

T I . ; I I ~ S ~ ~ I I . I O I ~ : non-l~teral statenrcnts;

Interpretation: thi. iliough of ;i work as a whole;

Extrapoliirion: prediction of implications and corollaries.

3. Applicatio~~

Gcrieral itleas, princ~ples, gclii:ralizations, laws, restructuring, classification.

3. Analpi\

Itlentiti'.a~iori: ur~stared assun,l~fions, facts and hypothesis;

Analysi\ .ind relationships. Interrelationship among ideas;

Organl~~ir~onal princ~ples: four and pattern of literary work as a means of

uncler\fu~iding irlcanltig.

4. Synthesis - -

Producaon of a uliiilue corn~~~unication: skill in writing, organization of ideas

and starenients, p~t t rrns , co~i.~munications, compositions;

Productlcm of a proposed set of operations: specifications, operations.

5. Evaluation

J u J g c ~ i ~ c ~ i t ~ iri 1c1.111 of 1111erni1l evidence: logical accuracy, consistency,

falliicic\. precisio~l, cxactnes?,

J ~ ~ d g e n i c ~ i t s in tci-ms of external: efficiency , economy, alternatives, theories.

I - I I S hound\. ;Ilrangenlcnts, differentiation's; I

M i l I ~ n g ~ i c ~ \ to rec,:lvc: other' hpcech;

Co~itruIIc~I 01- ~e le i ted attenti(~n. listening, responding to, answering, discrimination of

rno~~ii t i ~ i i l ilicanlng In i~iusic, rh:,thms, nuances.

2. Kehponding

Acilu~e\ceiice in responding: diriction, instruction, demonstration;

Sntihlncuon in ri,ipi)tise: reailing for recreation, speeches, plays; presentation.

wrlilngs.

1. Valui~i :~ -

AcccpIaricc of a viiluc abilitl tc \peak ancl write effect~vely:

t'rcl'erci~cc t'or a value view po~l~th, agreements;

i'ilnl~iitloii 4. Or,

Ci~~iceptual~zation c r l ' i ~ value: di\;ussion, theorizing, comparison;

Or+in~rdtioii of a ,;lluc system: clefining formulating;

5 , Characleri~;~tio~i -~

Grnc~~alireil set: rcvisioii, colllplction.

Psychomotor l h rna in

1 . Pcl.ccpt~on- Selccllon, trarisiatlon

Z (;u~;lc;l liespoiise\- Speecli. I~ronunciation, writing

3. Mcili;i~i~sm - LVrii~ng, productioil of S O U I I ~ S .

l l i e cilgrittive dot i ia~n in Hloo~i i ' s schemata includes language behaviour ranging

1rom simple rciall o l ni.itci~als to ht,ghly original and creative ways of combining and

sy~ t thes i s i t i~ n c n 1~1e;is and tna~erials . The affective domain includes objectives expressed as

interests, attitudes. apprec1;itlon and val i~es, while the psychomotor domain relates to aspects

like handwriting dnd speech. The act~vit ies prescribed by Bloom may be expanded by

attaching \ ~ ~ b - s k i l l s of language behavtour to each of the objectives.

The skiz! txised conci.ptualisali3tl of language teaching visualises language as a

t a m t i ~ ~ t e t - t ~ ~ t ~ i i a l i o l ' he linguists identified the performance objectives

based 011 t l i ~ \ ,

Abstract of the subiect -matter taxonomv

Stag,: internal Behaviour External Behaviour ~~~ ~.

I . Mechanical Skills: Percepiroi~: The student perceives Reproduction: The student diffcrenccs between two or more initiates foreign. Language

'The stuilcnl pcrl'i~ii~is via rotc sounds let ters or and speech, writing, gestures, songs mcmoty rat1ii.r t l i ; i r i lhy makes di~tinctions between thcni. and proverbs. ... undcrhtand~i~$

.--p-..-. . ~ -

2. Knowledge: I ? ~ c o ~ I I ~ I ! o I ~ : Thc student shows hi; Recull: Thc student rccognllcb facts he has learned b demonstrates he members the

I'he student dcrnil~i\tratcs answering true false and multiple information taught by knowledge i,S kic~i , l r i i l l : i and i l u r b t i o n s answering fill-in or short data related 10 i < ~ r c ~ g r ~ l angu t~c answer questions. lcarntny

--p. -

3. Transfer: Rrceprioi~ The student under Applicafion: The student speaks stand> recombined oral or written or writes in a guided drill

The studcnl ubcs 111s LnclwleJ& passagcs of quotations not situation o r participates i n i l l ncw s~tuations. encountcrcd previously. cultural simulations.

.~-

4. Con~niunicat i~)~l : Co,~i,~tr~lii.risiotr: The student .YE(~-expressiori: The student undersiai~tls a foreign language uses the foreign language to

'lhe student uics tlic toreign niessagl: 1 a cultural signal express his ~ersonal thoughts 1;inguage inrld eull~~l:ll as natur:ll containjnj! uniamiliar material in orally or in writing. He uses vehicle\ for ii~iliiiiui~~cation an uttla~i~liiar situatioti . gcstures as part of his

cxpression. -~ -

5. Criticihm: A r r n i ~ i i i : The student breaks down Synrllesis: The student carries languagc \ I I a literary passage to its out original research or

The student ;inalyici iir essent~al clcnicnts ol' style, tone, individual study or created a evaluates tlic iore~yn languagt: theme ,lni: so forth plan for such a project. or carries oul i~rgtlncllc reseal.'il.

Ili,oli~~icii,cr: The studcnt evaluatl:~ and juilgc\ thc appropriateness ar~d cffect~vci~css of a 1;inguage sample or lilcr,ir! passagc.

p

Abstract of' the Affective Taxono~ny

Stage --

I<eceptivity:-I'hc , ~ ~ ~ d e n t is A~nr - r~ i~ . s s : The student is Attentiveness: The student open to Icnr~ritig ahou~ a aware i!f the existence of attends to information about Soreign lati~uagc and culturc, langut~ges and cultures other foreign language and culture

than hi! own and of the fact both in and out of class. He that d~llt.rcnces exist between pays attention to the careful them preparation of his

assignments. ~ p---- ~

1. Responsiveness: Tolrrcin~e: The student is Interest and enjoyment: The tolerant of the differences in student is .interested i n

The stuJe11t respoiitls foreign-language expression activities related to foreign- positively to learning about a and 111 foreign patterns of language study, enjoys the foreign language 2nd cultl~i-c. living. Hc does not reject or activities presented to him,

make S ~ I I of foreign ways. and gains satisfaction from participation in them.

-p---. ~~

2. Appreciation: V u l u i , ~ ~ . The student views the involvenlertl: The student study o l forcign language and voluntarily participates from

Thc studer~l of h ~ h oun accc>rcl culture ;I. valuable, worthwhile time to time in activilics att:~chcs valuc to 1;lnguagc and and in~port,~nl. designed to improve his cl~liural C X ~ U ~ I C ~ C C \ language skills or incrcase his

knowledge of the foreign language and culture.

3. In t e r r~a l i z ;~ t io~~ : C u t ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ r ~ i ~ ~ l i : u t i u t ~ : The Coii~tnirtnent: The student student dzvelop~ a personal makes a major investment of

The stude~il l o~ ln i his vwtr \ystetli .]l' values relating to time and energy in thc idcas and vaiucb based un foreig~, 1;rnguage study. pursuit of further learning. ioreign l;lngu;ige learri~rig experience,

~ .-

4. Characterization: Intrgrr~tiott: The student Leadership: The student integrates foreign language takes a major role in

Foreign latigua$e and culturr. valued into personal value promoting language 'learning have become a n integral part systelii and instruction. o i the stildent', life to [lie extent that he 15 ch;rriicteri/.ed lhy i~ctivltics in thib area.

. . -

' ~t luo r ' s 'T;rl~le of 1,anguage Skills

Blvul llas plcpared a table to specify the skills used by native speakers in

a co~i i rnun~cat ive cvelrt. Bloor has divided them into two columns. In the first

coluilin i \ given skills tlrnt are .tcquired naturally, while in the second column is

llsteil t I i c l \ i . \kills which ale 1lorn1aIly taught in thi: cducation system. Bloor's

'rabic 01 language ,kills is repr,;~duced below:

Scheme ol' classification of language behaviour o r skills

In children's Language Acqu~hi~ion a goal is set arid activities are provided to

assure its altalllirlciit. T p i c a l l y the learning is divided into ( l ) chunks such as sub

skills and concepts. ( 2 ) ~ q u e n c e the sub skills or concepts i n a simple to complex set

01. steps ( 3 ) pr-escnt therii to the children and provide practice activities so that they

attain mastcry of the concepts, skill\ or processes (4) test periodically to check for

mastery arid to guide ~ubsequeril Icn~.ning activity. The sub learning should be

sequencetl in some reasonable order. I'he language to be learnt is also to be split into

basic part\. 1,ariguage cnvironmenl, family members, caregivers all influence

language learning. But for I-igorous language learning a curriculum is essential. The

l scientifically \;~liii proccdul-e in language learning involves listening first to be

followed by speaking, reading and f1n:rlly writing. The skills develop in sequence as

inter-relatcti p;irts of the language cur-riculum. On a holistic approach the sub skills are

never PI-aclicctl iri isolat~on.

Morris (1965) glveh a sirnpl~: classification of the general skills of language

behaviour.

.I-l1cy L1r.C

1 1 . Urider-\lar~tlir~g uI1;tt is read

iv . E\p~.cssrrlg idea5 In writin:

This Jivisio11 o l language behavioui- into the four base skills, viz. Listening

skill reatllrig skill, spcaking skill and writing skill has been endorsed by different

language teaching experts like Lado, (1962) Valette, Heaton, (1975) Byrne, (1976)

Stork, (1976) Van Els (1984) et al. and Harmer (1979). Listening and reading are

receptive skills and speaking and writing are expressive or productive skills.

Chomskey's transformational generative grammar paradigm for language education

distinguishes between these two fundamental abilities as (1) Language competence

and (2) Language performance. He explained competence as the ability to speak and

understand a language while 'performance' is the actual application of this ability to

behaviour

A close parallel to Chomskey's paradigm is the division of language abilities

into linguistic and communicative competence by Allwright. The following diagram

makes his point clear. According to Allwright (1979)

CC - Communicative competence

LC - Linguistic competence

Some areas of linguistic competence are irrelevant to communicative competence.

But linguistic competence in general, is treated as a part of communicative

competence. Harriot (1970) views that linguistic behaviour resembles skilled

behaviour in its (a) hierarchical nature (b) dependence on feed back (c) automatisation

and (d) anticipation. He conceived language skills as a hierarchy rising from

phonological to grammatical and semantic skills, each level of skills in its turn

forming a sub hierarchy

Phonological skills: Speech perception, the effect of content and articulation

(;l-;trnn~atic;tl \liill\: \ V t i ( l \ t'orni r l;i,se\, syn t~~x , left to right dependencies, and top

Semantic skillh: SI;II S C I I I ~ I I ~ C s t ru~ .~~ i r c .

( ;15N1<1<:\1, KA'I'I!RE OF TI-IE FOUR Bi\SIC I,AN(;UAGE SKII,I,S

S I I C I . I I I ; . I ; ; c ailr. W ~ I L I I 1-.111p1oy common word symbols, involve the

crliorrlllig ( l i \ l ~ ~ r l i t l y ; ~ r l t l iv;iriing) I I ~ I L I tllc o ~ ~ t g o (speaking and writing) of language.

'l'tlc t ' i ~ l l o i \ ~ ~ ~ ~ Iigiil.c ~ ) ~ I I . I I ~ I ~ S thc c~~coding and decoding process as it is used in

( O I I I I ~ ~ L I I I I C . ~ ~ I I I ~ : ~ l i ~ . ~ ~ i g i . . . 111 t h ~ s rr~~rtlel tile speaker A first conveys a message to

I:,lcnc~ 13. \ \ l 1 1 1 , I I ' I ~ . I d i ~ ~ ~ i j i : i g anti i~irc~-pretirlg the message becomes speaker B who

I 1 I I 1 i 1 1 r A . Ilc ilccodes and interprets the message and becomes

,,- -'X.

Listener B j MC isagc or 3 _-__.________ _._ , , - - - . . A ..

.- : (Reader B ) :

i J I

---. ~~~ .--.

4

: Speaker B I I I I I C I I : ::. ', I or --_____------__- 8

I (Writer B) :

'* ~~ -

, ~ ~~~ j i I ~l<L,:l<lcl , \ l 8

- ...

' I , , ( ; ~ ~ i ~ ~ l ~ l i , ~ n , I ' )> :? i "Lislcning is the ~nciliurn through whicll we

: I I , :lop ill,. schc111v 111ar we are going to use for structuring our

47

linguistic ron-iprrl~cr~sio:~" lr is the l'undamental communicative region. Children in

the e lcme~~ta ry 5t;ige spc~id Inore th;111 half of their school day engaging in listening

activities. The l i r t stanclartlised test #if listening was published in 1953. Listening is

the principal aveuues fol- Ical-ning,. Onc hears a set of sounds and manages to ~ n a k e

sense of them, uiing t h e ~ r extensive kriowledge of sounds, words, language rules, and

the world

Li\rening is a process by w h ~ c h one fits incoming information into what one

already k ~ ~ o w s . i t is the mcdiunl tl~rough which learning takes place. It is one's

primary 1carni11g modality throughout most of one's life. Self-talk is instrumental in

e f fec t i~~e and eificicnt self-cognition of one's behaviour for all aspects of one's life. It

makes thc conrplcx psychological processes that begins with the sensation of sound

and the entire iprvcess o l deriving meaning from the conlmunicative event. An active

listener is one wiio is able grasp i;le rcc]uireinent of the situation and expends the

amount 0 1 energy and attention that tlie cil-cumstances demand.

Listenii~g is a ~coniplex operation integrating the distinct components of

percept1011 arid lingui,~tic kno\\lcdge Psychologists have tried to explain the

phenomelion I'ru111 several view poirits each of which can given some clues to our

student p r ~ h l e ~ i i s i i i 1istc11i11g to a IOreig~i language. Listening is an active process of

constructing a ilirssage irc)in a stream of sound with what one knows of the

phonolog~cal, semantic and syntactic: potentialities of the language. T h e process of

messase construction is receptioii. Perception and reception are required for

interpreting mcshage listenctl by speihers.

It is essential t c ~ understand what others say. Speech perception is vital to

listening which refers to rhc proccss whcre by the listener's auditory system translates

48

wund vihr:itions into a rtrilig of sounds, which the listener perceives to be speech.

Weak po\\tr ol concentra:ior~, egocelitricism or short auditory memory make people

poor lihtcners 111 cven niothcr tongu~~. I t has been estimated that of the time adults

\pend in ion~niurlieatioi~ activitieb 45 percent is devotcd to listening, 30 percent to

speaking. 16 pc~ceiit to reading and 9 percent to writing and these data are from a pre-

~elevision. p!-e-talking pictul-e, pre-dictaphone etc. Listening plays the most vital role

in the teaching lea!-ning process, Many factoi-s influence the skill of listening, in

~lnderstaniling 1.egisters. dialectal vai- ati ion and complexities of structures which one

cannot pi-oducc i n one'\ own spceclh. Long before children can read they hear and

receive i~rt'urniation aboi~t :l~e \vo~-l~I around them through listening. Students who

listen well arc (11 an enorlnous ;iiiiantage virtually in every school task-following

direction\. iindcrh~anding content, dixerning the intention of teachers and peers. Little

;Ittention I \ _gi\cli IU helping htudents acquire good listening.

l'rocess of' 1,isterling

Adcquate developrrlen~ ot

listening skills 1s important for a11

individual for advanced lcarr,ing and

thinking. l,is[en~ng is oaslc to the

language art\. The process of

listening incl~~i les thl-cc stages.

auding, listening and hearing. The

lowest level ol' listen~ng-auding-

rcfcrs to sounil u.Ives bi,ing seceivcd

and modi i~ed by the ear. Sol-neone 1 1 ;

h e p c i t ticaririg physicall)

perceives the prchencc ol hound, bill

would nor be ;~blc to make out whai

the sounds are. Hearing i h purely L

physical phenonienon and i t canno1

be laugh1 Listening is 111 the middlt

of the hie~archy i n whlcl~

individuals become awal-e of thy

sound sequence.. The) are able to

identify and rrcognisc thc soul~c!

sequence> as known L V O S ~ Y . If the

words arc in t l ~ e ~ s listening capacity.

0 C .- 2 G) Speech sounds I

Auditory acuity Masking

Auditory fatigue Binaural considerations

Attention and concentration

Auditory -+ discrimination

m C .- C m + Y) 3

Experience and background

Delivery I

recogni ed word -------.--------.- W :

Rate of input Unrelated associations

Experience and background

Meaning % Figure 2. The total act of receiving auditoy

cnmmunicatinn

that is they have heard the \vords brlore, they know what the words mean. Auding is

50

at the higlicst lc\el of the hierarch) and involves not only giving meaning to the

sounds, b~ i t a s s ~ l l ~ ~ l a t i n g iliid integrating the oral message. An individual at the auding

level woulii be able to sather the rn;lin idea of a spoken passage, discerns, analyses

makes inferences and performs all the other high level comprehension skills that are

usually associared with reading. Creative problem solving, as well as critical listening

are also skills involved in this level Although we look at each level as a separate

entity, the act of listening functions a \ a whole.

I>evels of listening

Pa\\ive li>tening is at the nroht rudimentary level. At this 1evel.the listener is

only h e a r ~ l ~ g tlie hound\, hut nrcly or ]nay not be recording the information. The

listener i \ not v ~ r y nluclr interesteti in the material or the source of information.

Mostly adults Lire [~assivc. listeners to Iheir environment.

Active listening or factual listening

Listening is the active oral i i i take of language. The listener must be able to

assimilate the flow of sound symbols into meaningful concepts. The active listener

attends to what 1s required snly ;iiliI can make objective predictions about what the

listener \ + i l l s r y I~le is able to detcrrnine the stance of the listener. He can make

inference.$ about the mchsase. Active listening requires various thinking strategies.

Active li>tcneis ai-c active consurnels of information. They interact with the speaker,

they intcrprcr. a r~i~lyse , synthesise aird evaluate information as well as go beyond the

iiiforniation to w i n e up with alternative solu~ions, techniques and s o forth. Content is

:I cue to lihtcii. Auding, listening hearing and all other mental processes are very

active here The listenel- processes. words and sentences and remembers the facts and

5 1

accepts t h i ~ facts Systernutii. learnln? takes place only through this type of listening.

Aotive l i s ~ e n c ~ i .i~-i . ideal Ii\teners.

Interpretative listening

Thih i \ purely activc listetling to discern relationships among persons and l

events and material. Miera~.chical rclationships. cause and effect relationships, and

temporal ;~nd hpatial relationship5 are analysed and ideas are hypothesized. The

children at t h i h srage after listening to a passage can answer questions dealing with:

a. Linding the nuin idea

c. sending hctwc.cn the liries

d. reasoning cause and effect

f . ,ernantic variation of ii~eaning

Evaluati\.e listening

Tile lisrericr here holtis in~prc\sions of what are hearing against the template of

what tic know\ I'liey apply the crrlcria of plausibility and truth and are vigilant of

bias and faculty logic. Tiic Ir;tener 1s very alert.

Appreciate listening

I t I > the Irhtentng for- deriuisrg pleasure and enjoymerlt from poems, stories,

nl~isic or any otllcr art iurnl that f i t \ some mood feeling or interest. The amount of

pleasure (lerived depend, upon one's 'resthetic sense.

Critical listeninx

111 rhls age chi1J1-cl! are i:ipo\ccl to a plethora of news, advertisements anti

informatior~ fro111 the tnlihs iliedia. Olily way the teachers can help to lessen the impact

of propaganda or half-iruth on them is to emphasize critical listening skills in the

classroom. Cl-~tical listening is the p]-ocess of examining spoken material in the light .

of related, objective evidence, comparing the ideas with some standard or consensus,

and them cor~cl~iciing 01- acting upon the judgement made. Critical listening incurs

special dilficulties that alxe from face to face relationships. The child at this level

after listening ro a passage can answcr questions dealing with:

C . fantasy or rcaiity

d ~hlcctlvlt) oi \ u h ~ e ~ t i \ ~ t y

Creative li\tening

Creative listening leads to divergent thinking which in turn results in

originality and ncwness. Cl-eative l~hteners tentatively consider all possible solutions

before dccisior~ tilaking. Crc:~tive listening calls for higher mental capacities

Rletacognitire listening

It is the highest or-der o l i~stening and this is the most difficult level of

listening. This involves all highel- order of thought process. The material also would

be too tough ro he compt-ehendcd. Not all human beings are capable 'of performing

this skill liigor-<>us rnei~(aI training IS an indispensable pre-requisite to execute this

extra ol-di~iary I ' U I I C ~ ~ O I ~ ~ ! I ~ .

Sub-skill5 of' listening

LViIkinsotl refer. ro rile tasot~o~ny of listening skills drawn up by Nicolas and

Brow11 2nd attc.rnpts to tlritin~uishir~,;: bctwecn 'receptive' and reflective skills

Keceptivc >kills I-eiers to

ability to keep rclated details in mind

abilirq io obsel-\,c a sitisle details

;abil~t! to ren~emhcr a series of details

- ability to follow oral direction

Ketlectivc sktlls reiers to

- ab~lity io use co~i~cxtual clues

- ability 1 0 i-ecogl~isc o~-g;~~iisatio~ial element

- ;~h~licy ro selcct 11-lain icicn, as opposite to subordinate ideas and details

- ;ibiliry to recognise tllc relationship between main ideas and subordinate

idcab,

Speaking

Spcecli is the f i r i t productive language system to occur. Speech is apparently

rooted in and generated fi-on1 the meanings and experiences decoded by the receptive

language iorms of listetling. In Iealning to speak a child reproduces (encodes) the

phoneme. morphemes. grammar. phrases, structure and (the deep and the surface

structure! of ihc liste~iilig environrnent. The child also formulates the semantic

relationship with (lie re:ll \~vr ld , tlic iuternal and conceptual linguistic relation of an

abstract \\orld, the syntactic pattern5 g.)f grammar and the philosophical rules by which

54

meaning I \ cornrnunicatcd ttirough \pcech." Speech is the utterance of articulate

sounds or \ ;oicc rendered significant lhy usage, for the expression and communication

of thought,. Speech requiles the lcai-ner to reti-ieve almost instantaneously the precise

sounds, grammatical fu~lctic~ns, wor~l order arrangements and content vocabulary.

Oral comin~inication is one of the most basic methods of maintainingcontacts with

other people. 'She child whose speech is different can have severe adjustment

pl-oblerns i r ~ school.

Speech i h verbal language conin~unicated by the sender to the receiver. It

involves u complex proces of identriying ideas, or feelings, formulating those into an

appropriate and irammariccll sequence of words, sentences and finally co-ordinating

the speech prudiicing nicch~nisins of human autonomy to produce speech sounds,

ii~tonatiori. piicl~. \ ~~ .cs> aiiil junct~iicb. LLLI I~ I I ; I~C enables the speaker to encode the

ideas, emotion5 ;ind teeli~igs followi~~g special rules. A good speaker is able to judgc

the level of spcuhrrig that is appropriale for a communicative situation.

Children need many opportuii~ties to express themselves to try out ideas and to

(.et feed hack When children intci;~cts with adults they test their own knowledge 2

;tbout their language. Children's language grows when it receives reinforcement from

adults and children's self-concept. are enhanced when they feel that what they have to

say is vaiuable. Listeniiig tu childrer~ and respecting what they have to say encourage

thern to engage in more conversations. The more conversations that children engage

in the better listeners tliey becorr~e because to engage in a meaningful conversation,

they must listen to the speaker. The teachers should have confidence first of all, to

communicate orally with the children easily and efficiently. To promote effective oral

communic;ition ronducive, physical. emotional, social and intellectual environments

55

sliould bc provided. 4.11 en1iironnic11t in which listening occurs without distractions

will also be more corlduc~ve to oral expression.

AII attractive spcech pattern should account for effective voice, pitch,

\.ibration, luudnes quallty, 2nd tirne lactor. Departure from the normal in any of these

lactors car1 pl-oducc a spcecli pattern. which is unpleasant.

Thi. teachcr neeils to encourage children's language development with

activities that stimulate specch. Spccch stimulation activities involve the speech arts.

The speech art\ iiuy ~ ~ C I L I C C inf'oi-~rliil conversation purposeful discussion message

annouiicem~~nt reports givi~ig talk.\, quiz, telephoning, singer play, creative drama,

puppetr-y, \ t o ~ y tclling. choral speaking, role playing, pantomime, nonverbal

behaviour etc.

Purposcs 01 ' ori11 language prc:jgranlrue are:

I. To provide an a!iriosphere that wll encoruage the child to speek freely about

experiences in &lily living.

2. To provide opportunities for co-operative group undertakings, personality

deicloprncnt and satisfaction in school work.

3 . To encourage originality and variety of expression

J. Ti, tievclop the ticsirc for a rich vocabulary to meet individual, vocational and

5 T o iicvclop the l iab~t of acc~ilate observation to make the child conscious of

thc rlcl~ncbj of cxprriencc criid to encourage h ~ m to express his ~ d e a s and

errrutions

Components ol' speech

U'ehs~r rs ' \ New I'ucntieth Ilictionary describes communication as the act of

iinpal-ting. co111cir11ig 0 1 dcliveri~ig f ron~ one to another as the communication of

hnawledgc oplnlons, 01 I'aclb." To i3xccute this function the speaker should be well

equipped with ;I good command over the language. Adequate knowledge of

phonology. synii1.x and semantjc 111clnory are very essential. The smallest unit in a

sound system I S phonenic, which is distinct qnd discrete. Syntax is the word order or

icntence pattcsn\ and Engliih language has unique sentence structure. Semantics is

the branch of linguistics. which describes the techniques of word formation.

Tllc main componenl:.; of spccch are pronunciation, stress or accentuation and

intonatioii. At hcliool, studer~ts p~-acilce pronunciation through laud reading and oral

drills. Correct pi-onuncinrion is the most attractive part of speech and it should be

irliistcd 1'1i11n \ , C I ~ young. S1.1-ess o i .went is the force with which one utters a word.

l c i ng ail unphorietic language, English vocabulary has distinct accent for each word

as well ;I\ fol- ltic der~valions of ~ .ach word. Intonation is the tone of sentence

utterance. 'l'heic ,Ire risiiig, ialling aod level intonations to convey different emotions

and meaningb. Intonatio~i 111ay niiir word stress. Punctuation is an exquisite part of

ipcech 10 rentier tliCfkreiit shatles of meaning and feeling, the absence of which may

confuse tile lisicncr. ?'h? noil-native. become conscious of the hazards of the foreign

languaze and can be dclibesately sl,)w for one or two seconds in an unanticipated

situation. Conge~iial atr~iospliere i \ al\o conducive to healthy speech.

01-;11 language is crucial 10 the development through enriched experiences.

L.nnguaz~, play\ an inlportailt parr i i i iissisti~lg children understand the world around

them. work arid play cffc.ctively with others and gain satisfaction through self

57

cxpressiorr~. Spztiking I > an indicatior~ of personal adjustment and improvement in

speaking rnay ciepcnd more upon finclrng and removing causes of frustrational conflict

than upon extl-a drill. 11 the school day is full of significant activities, language is

needed to cart-? ihern out; and oral language serves a legitimate function recognised

by the school and childleli and they are motivated to improve their expression. Oral

skills are not taught as an end i n ~tself. Procedures for relating, listening, speaking,

reading and writing are aural-oral language chart, experience reading chart, language

eames pattern pr-nctice drills etc. TCI Stork speech is the most difficult of language

skills.

Sub-skills of speech

B;ilcer anii Seabury ( 1!965) lrsted the following components of speech.

(a ) t>abrc content or iilcas

(b i org:u~rsalion 01' idcas

(C! ilevelopn~ent of S L I ~ ~ O I - I I I I : details

(dr ~~djustrllf to hpeciel situaii~~ns

( e ~ lhod~l) actions fo r purpose\ of comtnunication

[ f i voice Ilsage

(g1 cnirricrarron, al-trcirlatioir and pr-onunciation

( h , language

( i ) c~daptat~on to t l~c speech hiluation

( J ) Itjte1111.1g

5 8

Stoldt . ( 107.3) says i!lat ora! skills in language can be placed under three

categoric, viz. I I ) Di~crii~~inatioii (2) Aural listening comprehension (3) Oral

productiolr In hci- modcl of test ol oral production ~ a l e t t e includes the following

~pecific abllitics.

Reading

Ttie majoi objective of learliii~g a language is comprehension. " The process of

understariding liuiguage often called language comprehension involves using

permanently stored knowledge to interpret new input". Lachman and Butterfield

1979. Language comprehellsion 1s another of those hidden cognitive processes that

resist systematic measu~emeut and iilvestigation. In recent years, however, the pattern

has changed. Research on language comprehension is now extremely popular and

~researchri- havc iieviscd clever nlethods to make these covert pfocesses more

;iccessiblc ancl rricasurable. (lornpreliension involves the two receptive skills namely

listening ; I I I ~ l-e;tclii~g. C~)rnl~rcher~sivri is a construct, which cannot be observed.

5 9

1ie;iJing ~.onipt-clicnkion is ;I complcx intellectual process involving a number

of abilitici. 'I'lic two niaijot abil~tieh involve word meaning and verbal reasoning.

Thordikc put I'i)rih his .itater-iient that treading is a very elaborate procedure, involving

:I \\ 'cigt~i~ig 0 1 ~ ~ ; i i I l o l I I I ; L I I ! e lel l icr~~s i n a sentence, their organisation in the proper

~reiatiol~ 10 oiic .inothc~ i i l r ~ l the co-operation of many forces to determine final

response. "Rc:~ding 1s tile process by which an individual comprehend situation and

informatiix~. I tca~i i r~g rcqull-es a \vi~le variety of cognitive skills. As Fisher notes,

I 1981: P. -18') 1 1 involvus :iequencii~g of eye movements, decoding, encoding, and

ittilisilig t t i igu~st~c awareness. It de~nands knowledge of orthographic regularity and

irregularit! It tritegrate letters; words, sentences, and passages with past experiences.

Surely reading is one of our most complex daily activities. It is the most important

component of education. Though i t I > consid~red as a linguistic skill, it is practiced in

all othel- subject periods of school hours and outside. The first major book on

psychological p]-ocesse in reading was published i n 1908. When the same book was

republished in 1968 b) I-luey, no new information on many aspects of reading had

been gatlierecl during tile intervening half a century. But within the .last ten years

dozen5 o l booh\ 011 reacting have bee11 written.

Process of' reading con~prehension

Rc;~dins compl-cllension is an interaction between the processing of the

physical \timiili ( b o t t o ~ l ~ - i i ~ ~ process~r~g) and the content provided by expectation and

pi-evious kno\uledgc (top down processing). Reading comprehension means extracting

r~icaning iiotli the material or reducing the ambiguity to the maximum. The processes

included iri i t ale organltatii~n, ge~>eralization and appreciation. Organization is the art

of seeing the r-clationsliip of facts 10 the whole; grouping and arranging them to a

60

meaningfill \ Y I I I I I ~ , and 2valuating the parts. Generalization is the process by which

the reader \ e i c c ~ \ relev,irrt 111ilani11gi and accepts the correct meanings. Appreciation

consists 0 1 k i n a ilhout the ;~uthor and the particular function of the given

inatcrial. !\ ~ ) ; L . \ J ~ C CLII I l)c read ~ v i t l i harying degree of comprehension, The scale of

comprehensiori ranges from pract~cally no meaning to a complete understanding. The

degree ot c o ~ i i p t c t ~ r n s i o tiepends on the complexity of the material purpose of

reading pc1ic1>li1al p c e < l ~ ~ o r d recogliiiion or language familiarity, physical conditior~

of the reader 2nd his ~.c:i~Iing skill. Appropriate speed is also a criterion for successful

I-eading.

Levels of' reading

Bused (111 the purpese of I-cading there are different categories of reading

compseheli \ i~~r~ l'hcse .Ire level.\ in (he hiel.iirchy of thinking. Smith (1969) divides

the comprehr~!.\ii~r~ s k i l \ inlo four c;~tegories; each one is cumulative in building on

the otlict>. They are ( 1 ) liberal comprehension (2) interpretation

(3) critical ~reail~ng ( 3 ) cieauve reading. Liberal level calls for lower level of thinking

skills only to recall a fund of knowledge. Interpretative demands higher level of

thinking ahiI~tic\ like seasoning, dtawing conclusions, analysis, synthesis, ability to

infer etc. C : ~ I I I C ; L I level I \ II':XL in the hierarchy, which is related to critical listening.

Both l-eqLlII-e\ critical tliinklng. C:I-eativc reading uses divergent thinking skills to go

beyond and come up wiili alternalivc solution. Another classification is (a) factual

level (h ) interpl-ctative level (c) evaluative lc\'el or critical level or application level.

Yet. nnoli~cl rmi, is ( 1 ) faclual levcl (2) generalization level and (3) critical level.

Reading dia ,s~ios~s ~ d c n t ~ t i e d i o ~ levels of comprehension-independent level.

instructio~~al li'vcl. t ' l-~~s:~.ati~nill I e ~ c l iind capacity level. -

61

Factors influencing reading

TI~L' all;lll:is of reading comprehension infers that there are several objective

and subjectlvc It~ctors. \i.hicti influcilce person's reading ability. "Reading cannot be

~lliclerstooii or c.\l~la~ned cxccpt as ;I Ical-ning process, i t is inter-related with all aspects

of language development autl it is altecled by the many factors operating in the total

learning pi.ocess.. . . . . . . . Since reading is an integrated process it cannot be divided .

into discrete factors anti studied objectively". Kennedy (1974). The first level of

requirelnent tor cltective reading 1 i both the perceptual abilities. necessary to

I-ccognise I arid rerlien~ber wol-cls and the conceptual capacities essential for

iiriderstnndi~i~ anit interprcti~ig fx r s ;ind ideas. This is constituted by the five broad

component, 11ar11cly ( l i foi~ndarion (2) background (3) word recongnition (4)

c o ~ n p r e h e n \ ~ o ~ ~ .~rrtl ( 5 1 ~~r i l i s a t~o l~ Five other sets of factors, mental and

el~vironmc~ir;~l. \ \ I I I C I I act irltel-deperidcntly to produce the composite power of reading

iibility circ I i r P C I I C S ~ I ~ I ~ I I I I U I - I I ~ (2) level of general intelligence (3) ability of visual

;111d auditu~.) rccog~litio~i ;i~id discri~~iill;~tion of word pattern (4) environmental factors

in reading abi!ity ( 5 ) crnc,tional attitude interest, individual application and

confidence. IJebcor and l>allmann r 1967) describes some of the conditions related to

maximum p~ogrcbh i n learliing to re;lcl They inclulde physical health, mental health,

\ ~ g h t and l ~ c ~ ~ r i n g . ~l~tclligcnct?, bachgl-ound or experience, knowledge of language,

desire to rc;ttl. [rill-pox oI rciiding. lntcrest in reading and reading skill. All these

tlicrors fall i~ndrr three main lleads viz: physiological, psychological and

cn\,ironrnc~lt;~l.

62

Mechanism of' re;~din):

KcLiditlg cncornilosss wide variety of cognitiive skills, Eyes make a series of ,

little jump, a\ 111cy nlo\c ;II:~OSS (hc page. These very rapid movements of eyes from

one spot to the licxt i n urdc~. to bri~ig thc centre of the retina. where the vision is thc

sharpest, into p~l \ i t~on over the words one wants to read, is referred to as succadic

rnovernerll i n lhc perceptual procesh of reading. Perceptual span or fixation is the

I-cgion e c t ~ ~ I L I I I I I : : thr piIL!*ie bct\vccn succadic movements. The length of print

covered bc~wct .~> two l ' i \ a t io~~ is c ; ~ l l ~ d eye span. A good reader has longer eye span

and can tiihe 111 longcr trctches of !he reading matter at once. A poor reader has

shortes ebl: I . His :yes regrcss on the individual letter. Inefficient reading is ,

marked L I \ L I ~ I I I ) hy frccll.~ent regrcsslon. A typical good reader may pause for 115

cecond each tin~c \rhilc :I pour- reader (night pause for % second. When.one reads, the

letters in a \entcllcc foll(f\i. tll-ie after anothel- like beads in a string and the sounds i n

[he syllabic\ arc t~;il~srrlit~ccl ;.I about tile same time. This is the parellel transmission.

Visual N O I L ~ ~ c c o ~ n i t i o r ~ , oi the ncxr \wp, is the acco~nplishrnent of the recognition

iv01.d~ by looking at the 1a~tc1-n of \voids. Sternberg and Powel) (1983) point out that

when one rcadh (me o i t i : ~ ~ ~ypically attempts to use the context in which the word

occurs to figure ~ . I L I ~ the ~ilc.;ining of an unfarnili:~r word. They propose that context can

~xovide several kinds of iiilor~natioll cues about meaning.

I n o~.der to extrilcr rncuning f ~ . u ~ n a content the reader may adopt intensive

)reading, scanning. receptive rcading, skimming and so on depending upon the purpose

of reading.

S u b skills of reading comprellension

(a) Rccog~~isc thc con~i~.iunii.ativc iunctions of a text

i b ~ Alr,~iri rhc gist ic~t~tcc.tnes)

ic) Idc~irif '~ \pcci f~c dct;~ils

(d) Di\tingui\h inaili ideas from supporting details

(e) Recugil~se the speak t l . ' ~ (wr~ier ' s ) attitude towards the topic and towards the

listc~iei :JI treader

if) Infc~ idear and inlorlnation not explicitely stated

(g) Aiiucip;clc or predict !he contcl~t of the text or the development of the observer

(h) Kecogn~bc familiar words

(i) Infct- itit. ionrcxt of the discour\i:

(j) Use the context to understand tlie meaning of unfamiliar words.

Go:)il cii~~il)~chcii.ict-h are ahlc to do infcrcntial reasoning, they can state the

iiiain or c c ~ ~ i r a l ~ J c u v i inI'o~-~~lalioil. lllcy C;III assimilate, cognise, compose m;lke

rclationsliis. I I ~ . :,nilicsize ancl evaluate information. Good comprehenders

engage in ii~eariii>gful lcai-ning by ;~ssimilating new materials to concepts already

existing ill lilrll c o g n ~ t ~ \ ' c sIru~:tul-e.

0l)jectives of reading

(a) exie!rtiing iirid enri~.hing, the cxpcrience of the child

(b) bru:~cl~niiri._ iiiterczt:. ancl tastes : I : icading

(C) fos re r i~~g [lie persoi~al social ad j~~s tment of the child

(d ) pro~i t l ing ~ u s t h w h i l c 1-ecl.cational inierests and skills

(e) encoul~igirlg critical alialysis of ideas

If1 d e \ c l o i ~ ~ r ~ g iesoi~rcel~~lness ill locating information

(g) prolnotr~~g s e l f d ~ r c c ~ i o n and

(h) ach~cv i~ l f si~tisfrlctory progless in such basic skills as word recognition.

voc;ibular-) dcvelopt~lent, conlprehension and speed.

I n <>~.dc.r to rea l i e these objectives i t all levels attention must be given to

reading in e \ c r j phase of the programme ]rather than merely at specific periods.

Reading i \ c l o e l y I-clatcd to vocat~onr~l efficiency. The ever reaching goal of teaching

reading is to a l l o ~ ~ one to l~s ten to thc windows and people of the world.

\flriting

Hail 15 cnlrslr the special components of writing as:

i . ('unii!rlL

2 . Iiornl

3 . ~ ~ ~ r ~ l l l l l l l ~ ~ r

4. S ~ y l c and

5 . klech;~~iics

tlcaton nt~c~nplcil the grouplng of varied skills writing good prose into four main

Ill.eaS.

I . C;rainrnatic;li skills

. . 11 . S : y l ~ s t ~ c skills

. . . 1 1 1 . blcihanical i k ~ l l s

iv. Juclger~icnt k i l l : ;

v . 7 '11~ f . o I l ~ \ v ~ ~ i g sub-sk~ll have been identified by Valette and Disick.

a. K?psc~~~luction

d Self-expression and

e. Synliicsis

Wrl l in~ began wltil pictogram. and proceeded to ideogram, which is symbolic,

It led to logogram. Then the symbol for the sound of the spoken word used to refer to

that entity. I t 1s called rehus writing. Symbolic writing is where a writing system

employs a \ysteni of syrnhols, which represents the pronunciation of syllables. Then

came into existence a set of s,ymbols, each representing a single type of sound, which

are called alphahcr.

Writing nieans t!le ability ~rlcans the ability to shape letters of alphabet,

knowledge of the right combination of letters, and the skills of expression through the

written word. It IS a typical psychomotor ability. Child's drawing helps vary much in

shaping lcttcrs. I'he c h ~ ~ d adopts several techniques before he finally shapes the

letters. Before cI11ldi.en use a selection of letters with any ability one can notice first a

slow revelation of cer~ain graphic principles - principles such as directionality

flexibility to unit generativiry and recurrence. The smallest unit in writing is a

rraphemc. The learning of letters proceeds not letter by letter, but by feature by L.

feature. Mot~vatio~i to write will, obviously grow naturally out of the child's pleasure

in drawing and painting. 11 is ;also depcndcnt upon the child's availability of materials

riccessary and thl-ough social expericnces of other people doing so; then there arises a

positive desil-e to write by imitating others process of writing.

At the si~riplest level writing in the foreign language involves spelling and

word order. Exercise to develop writing skill might logically includes copying; short

dictation\. transit-~rrnaticlr~s and rearranging of scrambled sentences, Writing is a daily

activity 111 1 1 1 classes and all periods. In most classes, a common time is observed for

writing, bur writing can also be a free time activity.

Donald Muray has written a description of the writing process that

professional wrilers appear to use. 'l'his description seems just as viable for school

writing. In iMurr;iy's model ,writing is a process of continuous thinking, experiencing

and reviciving I'he ac:~vit!., writing proper, develops in three stages rehearsing

drafting a n d revisii~g. Rehearsing I S the stage in which writers discover what they

have to say. Teachers car1 encourage rehearsing by means of brainstorming session, in

which children think ancl wsite dowrl as many details as they can about a person, a

place or- an event that is {meaningful to them. In drafting the writer experiences clearly

what he ha\ to U). I t enable> the wrircr to put hislher thoughts outside of himself and

to considcl- ~hern as if thcy belonged 10 someone else. He or she can appraise the work

with same Jctachmcnt. iicvicwing can lead to further rehearsal and further drafting

sometimes li' ncccssary. [he writer prunes words or adds more patch up phrases or

sentences all in the ef'ort to speak the meaning in the piece more clearly and

smoothly. Profe\sional hritess write with dexterity and the process include some more

higher steps na~rirly prewriting composing, writing editing, publishing and evaluating.

Thc purpose of wrliing 1s to communicate one's ideas, information, or

feelings. Writing is a complex tliitiking process analogous to problem solving. It

relates neiv informatiori to the ex~st ing mental set. Writing has generally two

processes iran\cribing and composing Transcribing includes the skills of penmanship

l spclling a ~ i d punctuation Cornpositioii is the selecting and ordering of words to form

thought uriirs llandwriting i, anothcr of the most important skills of writing. As

67

English I \ all ~iriphor~ctic language, its spelling i,s crucially anomalous and

~nconsistcr~l. llence. 11 cdusfi all the ~Jifficulties in writing to its users of all age-level.

Spelling I S a \c~~sor i - rnoto~- responses to the sensori slimuli, that is the written or

printed MOI-d i r i 1.eadi1ig. Good visual memory increases spelling efficiency.

Tradition;il approaches ri, spelling ivel-e founh to be a squander of time. Motivational

approaches can exhilarate positive attitude in children to spelling through play way

methods, like spelling games spelling charts, rhymes etc with cues for spelling. No

one can master the 500000 English words. A word frequency list of 5000 words needs

lo be taught specifically for spelling. It would act as a blanket to ensure fluency in

writing. Curl-eci punciuation capitalization good paragraphing and format also mark

efficient wr~ting. Holding of ihe writ~ng material properly, movement of figures and

wrist muscles slnoothly. good power oi vision are all requisites for good writing.

Each word I $ a conccpt. Children's receptive as well as expressive vocabulary

should expar~d at the coriceptual level to facilitate fluency and flexibility in writing.

Children have i;irger speaking vocabulary while adults use extensively writing

\~ocabul;~r-q. Expc)sure to thr: 1angu;lge through experiences and situations and

intensive pr-i~gr;tr~lrne alone can aid sti~derlts to enrich their vocabulary. Grammatical

col.rectness i s XI asset to writing, inculca~ion of this ability should proceed

automatically from the i l 1 i i ~ 1 c 1 . 1 ~ ~ teaching of grammar and usage where by students

meet with a~lcqliatc nuiilbcr of exarnpies. Good style can be achieved only through

regular iisc of thc Iangudge and extensive reading which provides accessibility to

profound ancl ciati. writing\. A hilal-~o~i, writer is a source of cheer to others.

Sub skills of \vl.iling

The lollowing sub-skills have been identified by Valette and Disiek

a. Repl.oductioii

h. Recall

c. Applicat~on

d. Self-expre\sio~i and

Levels of writing

Manly there are two types of writing expository writing and creative writing.

Expository writings is the narrative style used in reporting, summarizing, comparing,

clarifying, classifying, ancl other factorial exercises. The purpose of the

communicat~o~i IS to trani~nit meaning without aesthetic, literary illusion. The basis of

these kind. ot \\ritings are conc:.?~? experiences of the pupil (writer). Secondary

school \tuiiint> are expected to d s \ ~ , l o p this ability in English at the end of their

. , school cotirre. But the ;..?;;a;.t:? rrczcnt situation is disheartening m d genuine

attempt should be made to remedy i t . Creative writing is the use of figurative

language and l~terary techniques to transmit an aesthetic message. Both expository

and creati1.e writings are comrnun~cations, but the later usually follow affective

experiencilig, where as expository writings are based on cognitive experiences.

Children should experie~lce the literary forms and techniques through their listening

and speakins. Creativity is an inherent art more fostered than taught and mastered.

L.e:u-ning to write 15 a ~nodilication of behaviour rather than a mere acquisition

of kno\vleiise kind skill. Evcn with motivation to express oneself in written form,

coherent readable material need not necessarily flow from the pen. Nor is such writing

mcrely a rllatter OS conlposir~g carefully constructed grammatical sentences. Lucid

69

writing I \ only possihlc *hen wrltcn have clarified thcir own thinking on the subject

and kno\v ho\v lhcy w ~ s h to do i t . Arapoff (1967) calls the process basic to writing

'purpocful sclcct~on arid organisation of experience'. One of the objectives of the

Englihll c o u r x 1s ability to write well and expressively in English, arranging them into

central anil subordinate ideas and developing lines of thought which carry their

readers to the heart of the Inatter. Co~nposition topics can be discussed in groups and

draft clahot.at~ori of the a m e in sm;~ll groups followed by a discussion in the large

gl-oup g i \ e an opporturiity to students to rectify inaccurate spelling and grammar.

Immediate correction shuultl ensue, otherwise wrong habits once formed would be

difficult to e r a x

Wholesone physic, balanced emotion and linguistic excellence are essential

for exubet-ant \vriting. Mucldled thinking, emotional disposition and inadequate

language ~ s o f ~ c i e n c y i ~ o u i d hamper rne exigence to write. Children's literature should

be prolitic. Variety of ~ d c a s for sr~niulating. writing ranging from lists of kinds of

writing and t o p ~ c i for wr~ting to spec~fic activities that can be conducted in classroom

at any level should be exalted. Any one of such activity is valuable if it triggers the

individual's ilriaginatioti or touches a prc-existing emotion or attitude in student.

Communication by writing is a natural human need. T o quench this spontaneous urge

self-confidence to write is to be kindled up.

Sul)s-skills of Listening

R c c c p t i ~ c s k ~ l l s ahilit) to keep related details in mind ;~l)ilir? to observc ii single detail5 ability to rcmemher a series of dcrails ability to select main ideas as opposite ahility to follow oral d~rection [U subordinate ideas and details

l I - ability to recognise the relationship between main ideas and subordinate I

I.__- d L ideas.

Sub-skills of speaking Sub skills of writing

a. Reproduction h. Recall c . Application d . Self-expressian and

,

Sub skills of reading

- basic content or ideas - or,oanis;itio~r c~f idea5 - dcveloprnent of supporting dctails - adjusting to spec~al situation^

bodily actions for purpuses of cum~iiunicatior - voice usape

enun;iar:nn. :irticuiat~on and jlronunciaticn 13nguagc adaptat1i:n t:i :tis h;>i.i.<h irtu~tl:,:t l i t sn in?

Recognisc the communicative functions of ;I text Attain the gist (outcomes) Idet~tiiy specific dctnils

- Dist~nguisi~ main idc.1~ from supporting details Recognisc the speaker's (writer's) attitude towards [he topic and tuwards the listener or reader Infer idea:; and inS(~rmation not explicitely stated Anticlpate or predict the content of the text

or the development of the observer Rcc~~gnise familiar uurds lnl'e) thc context ol'tlie discourse

Use ttlc context to understand the meaning of i ~ i ~ f a t i ~ ~ l i a ~ ~ weird\

Fi,q~trr S. S1 Ilrrtr~itic- Rrprr.sr~zrtrfion of tile Basic Lang~rage skills in English

Inter relatedncss of skills

N k develops 111 isolation. Practice for one skill, for instance listening

would obviously improve the skill of speaking and writing. Similarly a person who

writers well should certainly be a good listener, speaker and reader.

output -h

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Figurr 4. L S I I I I ~ , ,spruking, rcodirzg, rtrzd writing developed in sequence as I11terr?1~1(,~1 ~ L I I - / S o j t l ~ e 1u1zi:uage 01.13 curricrclum

~ i s t F b and reading

Thel-e arc basic p:irallels betiveen listtming and reading comprehension. Both

are receptive hk~lls and both are dependent upon experiences to determine their

quantity and qt~ality. 1,isteiling skills are developed before reading skills. Young

children prefer to listen rather than to read independently. Listening comprehension

improves when tile listener is relaxed, when he is psychologically alert, the context of

the discourse is familial- and the speaker is familiar.

Children gain more comprehension and retention from listening because of the

important ~ddet i cues they leceive from the speaker such as stress given to words or

phases facial expressions :~nd so on. The case where students can understand a

passage when i~ is read to them, but cannot understand it. when they read i t themselves

indicates ha t the words are in the students listening capacity, but they have not gained

the skills neceshary fo r ciecoding words from their written from. A person who does

not do well i r i llstcning comprehension skills will usually not do well in reading 1

c:omprehension sk~l ls . These two skills contain some similar aspects.

Listening and speaking

Listening and speaking, are the most commonly used con~municative processes. , .

These two skilli are taken for granted in schools. Usually what happens is that

jtudentq do nor possess proper langudge background to equip them either listen to

spoken English or speak i t . Kothing is practically done to improve these skills. From

descriptive studies of language acquisition i t has been found that children learn

language fi-om the speech around them. They learn the rules that govern the usage of

words so that they can comprehend and produce properly constructed speech. Since

\ k i l l in list<nirlg is so closcly rela~etl to speech development and subsequently

I-eflective oi;il t l~~\clopnic~i ts . knowlcclgc of the various aspects of listening becomes

cssential loi tl-ii. propel ~i~iiierstanti~ng of the development of speech. Auditory

discrimination and auditory lnernory span are very essential for language acquisition

and for leat-!ling to read and speak. Auditory discrimination is the ability to distinguish

hetwee11 s o ~ ~ n d \ . Auditv~y memo(-y span is defined as "the number of discrete

i:lernents grilspcd i n a givei-I mornc~ll of attention and organised into a unity for

purpose o i imnirdiate reproduction or immediate use". A deficiency in this hinders

effective listenin:.

Listening and writing

Acti\c. I~srening is mostly needed to execute the complex productive skill,

writing. All chiltirerl are xivet1 formal instruction in communication through writing at

hchool, but genci-ally child re^: do not develop this useful skill adequately to perform i t

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correctly. Sccoritl~il-y scliool students merely engage in copying which do not require

higher lis~cnirig skills. LVher~ it conles for expository writing and oreative writing

student hesitate just because no proportionate weightage is given at school to other .

language arts-listening, speaking and reading. Once due concentration is lavished on

these, writlng on their own would never become a burden for them. ,

Reading and speaking.

Rctitling proceeds clccoding to speech. Reading aloud is exercise in

pronunciat~on. ~ ~ l i i c h leads to good speech. Wide reading habit is exposure to the

language. C:on\etl~~entl> thc pc!-soli obtain!; a rich funct~onal vocabulary and

familiarises hinisclf with the vivid types of bodyline of language. This will be

advantageoils to h ~ n i to use the language orally without mistakes. Speaking is the least

developed skill among non-native speakers of English and the major reason is lack or

general seacling A good reader will be a fluent speaker. Lack of real comprehension

\vill be eviclcrit l ~ o m ni~sapplicatiorl of stress, juncture and intonational rules and

improper usc o l words R~ghtfully trai~ied, reading is a silent activity.

Reading and writing

T h e e I \ \ C skills arc mutuallq supporting to each other. Reading improves

writing and vicc versa. Anyone who is a good reader tends to be a good writer

Researches show that their relationship is complex. Writing instruction enhances

rending pcrtorrndnces. They are vet-) powerful tools of learning. They engage the

children i n gear variety of reasoning operation. Frequent reading is associated with

superior w~-~ring. Additional reading lrnproves expository writing. Quality of reading

affects the quality of wrirlng. Chi ldrc i~ '~ writing reflects the material they are familiar

with. The! learn stylistic Curictions irom rkading. Good models give them useful

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lhrmat. \I'~.iilrig rc~nfoices word recognition and discourse structure and increases

familrarii) wirli ~bords. Reading helps to widen one's intellect and furnishes one for

creative ti1ii111p. Writin: C ; L I I S for attention. Writing as well as reading can be seen as

a proble~ir \olvi~ig 131-ocess rim requires specific skills and reasoning. An integrated

language PI-ogrlirllrne enhures the developmen( of the language habits.

The inter-dependence of language skills has been investigated elaborately.

I-iarwood, (1950) found Ilia1 listening skills had a parallel relationship to reading skill

and in its oral aspects and was closely related to speech. Armstrong (1951) conducted

a study o l rile auditory and visual vocabulary of children and arrived at a conclusion

[hat the sirc ol a child's vocabulal-) had value as a predictor of reading ability.

Landerville 41oe (1956) and Seyinorz (19e5) have endorsed the close association

between listening and reading skills. As per Vineyard Bailey (1960) listening and

]reading are com~nunicative skills and hence i t is reasonable to expect that they could

be based, in parr at least, on common skills, and therefore, would be closely related.

White, (l978 I has pointed out that when we write we also read, since ;he process of

c:reating a piece of discourse depends crn reading over what has already been written

in order to iormulatr the next step, preparatory to writing it down. Stressing on the

inter relatedncss of the four language skills, he says that the four skills are used as a

means of prcenting and extending one and the same set of language forms and

iunc~ions. Scllcrb, 'l';uig and Yusif (1080) found significant relationship between

treading and irriting skills. Ileaton obscrvcd that it is difficult to separate the skill from

one another. Baruah put up two ~riodeis of clas,sifying the four skills, i) productive

and receptilc skill\ i i ] aural-oral and graphic motor skills. To him the skills

overlap. ?'he 1riodc1 1s give11 below

i PIou11:11ve

l Receptive

(Aclive) !Passve)

l Aural- Graphic. oral motor

I

i I -7 Speaking Wrltng Llsterlmg Read~ng Listening Speaklng Read~ng Wrlting

Figure 5. Bilnririi '.S ~t~odels of clussi/i~.ution of tlrefour language skills

Summary

l 'he In\ebtlgator traced the theoretical ground of language acquisition in

qreneral in tile first part of this chaptcl-. The general nature of the basic language skills i>

1s accounted 171 thc 5eco11d part and then the inter-relatedness of skills one examined.

'The revlelb cap,ic~t,ited rhr investlgdror to have a clear notion about the individual

ikllls W ~ I L ~ wdi of great use in the co~istruction of the language ability test battery.