Language skills
What are language “skills”?
Skills relate to different aspects of using language; such as listening, reading, writing or speaking. Skills are our
ability to do these things. They are usually divided into two types: receptive and productive.
What are receptive and productive skills?
Receptive skills are those used in understanding : reading or listening.
Productive skills involve producing language; speaking or writing.
The four language skills are related to each other in two ways:
-the direction of communication (in or out)
Input is language perceived by the learner
Output is language produced by the learner
-the method of communication (spoken or written).
Input is sometimes called "reception" and output is sometimes called "production".
Spoken is also known as "oral"
.Input refers to (receptive skills), output refers to (productive skills).
The order of the four skills: Listen to speak, Read to write [LSRW].
Receptive skills are always first.
Writing skill
Writing is a visual form of communication .
We write to express and impress .
Writing is both a process and a product .
Writing is the act of composing a text.
Writing is a system of graphic symbols that can be used to
convey meaning
Types of Writing:
There are four main types of writing:
expository, persuasive, narrative, and descriptive.
Expository – Writing in which author’s purpose is to inform or explain
the subject to the reader.
Persuasive – Writing that states the opinion of the writer and attempts
to influence the reader.
Narrative – Writing in which the author tells a story. The story could be
fact or fiction.
Descriptive – A type of expository writing that uses the five senses to
paint a picture for the reader. This writing incorporates imagery and
specific details.
Identify which type of writing is being described.
1. ______________ A story about the time you got lost at Disneyland
2. ______________ A web page telling how to create a web page
3. ______________ The Harry Potter books
4. ______________ A letter to the governor explaining why the tax
increase is a bad idea
5. ______________ Writing in which you record details of a trip taken
6. ______________ An essay discussing a theme from Romeo and Juliet
7. ______________ An article attempting to convince readers to boycott a
store chain
8. ______________ A poem about the sights and sounds of rainfall
9. ______________ A paper about the horrible treatment of the people in
Darfur
10. ______________ The cover story in the morning newspaper
11. ______________ A brochure advertising a luxury hotel and resort
12. ______________ A paper discussing the after effects of a war
Creative writing :
“an open and imaginative form of writing in which the author freely expresses their unique
thoughts and feelings”. It is the focus on authenticity, imagination, and expression which
separates creative writing form other forms.
Short stories, poetry, novels and plays often fall into the creative writing
category.
Types of classroom writing performance
Classroom writing performance is limited. Consider the following five major categories of
classroom writing performance:
1. Imitative writing, writing down, copying
At the beginning level of learning to write, students will simply “write down” English letters,
words, and possibly sentences in order to learn the conventions of the orthographic code.
Some forms of dictation fall into this category.
2. Intensive writing, controlled writing
Writing is sometimes used as a production mode for learning, reinforcing, or testing
grammatical concepts. This intensive writing typically appears in controlled, written
grammar exercises. This type of writing would not allow much, if any, creativity on the part
of the writer.
A common form of controlled writing is to present a paragraph to students in which they
have to alter a given structure throughout. So, for example, they may be asked to change all
present tense verbs to past; in such a case, students may need to alter other time
references in the paragraph.
Guided writing loosens the teacher's control but still offers a series of stimulators. For
example, the teacher might get students to tell a story just viewed on a video tape by asking
them a series of questions: Where does the story take place? Describe the principal
character. What does he say to the woman in the car?...
The purpose for these activities is to reinforce key items of structure
3. Self-writing
A significant proportion of classroom writing may be devoted to self-writing, or writing with
only the self in mind as an audience. The most salient instance of this category in classrooms
is note taking, where students take notes during a lecture for the purpose of later recall.
Diary or journal writing also falls into this category. However, in recent years more and more
dialogue journal writing takes place, where students write thoughts, feelings, and reactions
in a journal and an instructor reads and responds, in which case the journal, while ostensibly
written for oneself, has two audiences.
4. Display writing
Writing within the school curricular context is a way of life. For all language students, short
answer exercises, essay examinations, and even research reports will involve an element of
display. For academically bound ESL students, one of the academic skills that they need to
master is a whole array of display writing techniques.
5. Real writing
While virtually every classroom writing task will have an element of display writing in it,
nevertheless some classroom writing aims at the genuine communication of messages to an
audience in need of those messages. The two categories of real and display writing are
actually two ends of a continuum, and in between the two extremes lie some practical
instances of a combination of display writing and real. Three subcategories illustrate how
reality can be injected:
(a) Academic. The Language Experience Approach gives groups of students opportunities to
convey genuine information to each other. Content-based instruction encourages the
exchange of useful information, and some of this learning uses the written word. Group
problem-solving tasks, especially those that relate to current issues and other personally
relevant topics, may have a writing component in which information is genuinely sought and
conveyed. Peer-editing work adds to what would otherwise be an audience of one (the
instructor) and provides real writing opportunity.
(b) Vocational/technical. Quite a variety of real writing can take place in classes of students
studying English for advancement in their occupation. Real letters can be written; genuine
directions for some operation or assembly might be given; and actual forms can be filled
out. These possibilities are even greater in what has come to be called "English in the
Workplace" where ESL is offered within companies and corporations.
(c) Personal. In virtually any ESL class, diaries, letters, post cards, notes, personal messages,
and other informal writing can take place, especially within the context of an interactive
classroom. While certain tasks may be somewhat contrived, nevertheless the genuine
exchange of information can happen.
The teacher’s role : Motivator, Resource, Feedback Provider
Rhetoric is the study of how words are used to persuade an audience.
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion.
With a rhetorical analysis, people study how writing is put together to create a particular
effect for the reader. So, on the flip side, rhetorical writing involves making conscious
decisions to make your writing more effective. To break it down, there are 3 techniques
of rhetorical writing to consider:
Ethos ,logos, and pathos.
Ethos
Ethos refers to the writer, or you. To persuade your readers, you need to build your
credibility. Readers want to know who you are, why you’re competent to speak on the
subject, and what your motive for writing may be. You may want to discuss your
background, including your education, employment, or personal experiences. If you don’t
have a background that shows you’re an expert, you can use credible resources and data
to support your ideas and show that you know what you’re talking about.
You can also build your credibility through your writing. Watch your tone, style, voice,
organization, word choice, and grammar and punctuation. Superior writing will show your
level of professionalism and intelligence to your readers.
Logos
Logos comes from the same root as logic. When considering the logos of your writing,
look at the actual content and organization of your ideas. Have you included plenty of
data, research, and statistics to support your claims? How well do you use reasoning to
persuade your audience? Is there a logical flow to your paper?
Logos begins with the pre-writing process. As you outline your paper, start with a strong
introduction paragraph with a solid thesis before going into your supporting paragraphs.
Also, be sure to include plenty of evidence to strengthen your claims.
Pathos
The final piece of the rhetorical triangle is pathos, or the emotional appeal. This focuses
on your audience and how you can appeal to their emotions. Emotions move people to
act. If you want to persuade your readers to do something, appealing to their emotions
will be very beneficial. So, try to connect with your audience by learning about them.
Then, share stories, personal examples, questions to get your readers thinking about the
subject, and other ways to appeal to their emotions.
5 Elements of a Rhetorical writing :
Purpose
reason for writing, inform, instruct, persuade, entertain.
Audience
individual or group who reads and takes action
Genre
Type of writing
Stance
attitude/tone
Media/Design
means of communicating via visual
The SOAPSTone Strategy for Written Analysis is a simple method of rhetorical criticism
designed to help with the process of analyzing texts, writing about written texts, and even
planning for the writing of an original text. SOAPSTone is an acronym, standing for Speaker,
Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone.
Approaches in teaching writing :
Genre -based writing: You can show the learners how to produce a
particular text type e.g ( letter , business,)
Product -based writing : It focuses on the final product. That is , the
final text that the writer will [Link] a product-oriented classroom
( learners spend much of their time studying and then imitating model
texts provided by the teacher or the textbook
Process -based writing : It focuses on the procedure ( ) اإلجراءاتstages (
) مراحلinvolved in arriving at the final product- the ( thinking, planning,
drafting and revising) that the writer engages in to arrive at an
acceptable text..
The main idea behind a process approach is that it is not enough to look only at what
the learners have produced. In order to improve their produc- tion, it is useful to
understand how it was produced.
The process Approach to writing It involves various stages:
1. Prewriting / Discussing / Brainstorming
1. Writing / Drafting
1. Revising / Editing
1. Publishing
It starts with prewriting and ends with publishing.
However, 5 basic stages of the writing process are
prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.
Prewriting: Prewriting is important as it is the first
stage, where a writer choose the topic and narrow
down the points as well as he determines the purpose
of his writing. Additionally, the writer should consider
his audience whom he needs to address. Find your idea
and then try to develop your idea and accumulate
pertinent information that support your idea. The next
step is to plan and structure your idea.
Drafting: Drafting is nothing but putting your points
and ideas on paper and arrange these points in a
readable manner. Writers usually research about their
topics at the prewriting stage and then they
accumulate the entire information at this stage. First,
the writers do a rough draft and then they try to
arrange their points in a best possible way and
gradually prepares a final draft.
Revising: Revising is another imperative stage, where
a draft is scrutinized thoroughly and points
incorporated in the draft are rearranged. At this stage,
new points are added and some points are replaced
and removed as per the requirements. However,
revision is indispensable to make the outlook of the
writing catchy and cogent.
Editing: Fine the tone of the writing and check each
line thoroughly. Check spelling, grammar, punctuation,
sentence structure, document format and other things.
Check the entire content as mistakes should not leave
behind. However, editing is the stage where writers
can modify their lines as well as theme. It is always
better to give your writing to someone for editing.
Publishing: Publishing is the last stage where writers
submit their work to the publisher. Make sure your
written document should be completed before giving to
the publisher. However, each writer’s goal is to publish
his work and reach to the readers.
Top down and bottom up approach :
a top-down processing, which focuses on the background knowledge a reader uses to
comprehend a written text.
• is an approach of/or relating to a hierarchical structure or a process that progresses from a
large holistic unit to smaller, detailed subunits.
• is an approach to a problem that begins at the highest conceptual level and work down to
the details.
Bottom-up processing, so called because it focuses on developing the basic skill of matching
sounds with the letters, syllables, and words written on a page.
• Progressing from small or subordinate unit or units to a larger or more important unit, just
as in the case of planting seeds.
• It is an approach to a problem that begins with details and works up to the highest
conceptual level.
Micro-skills
• Produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of English.
• Produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
• Produce an acceptable core of words and use appropriate word order patterns.
• Use acceptable grammatical systems (e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns, and
rules.
• Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms.
Macro-skills
• Use cohesive devices in written discourse.
• Use the rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse.
• Appropriately accomplish the communicative functions of written texts according to form
and purpose.
• Convey links and connections between events and communicate such relations as main
idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and
exemplification.
• Distinguish between literal and implied meanings when writing.
• Correctly convey culturally specific references in the context of the written text.
• Develop and use a battery of writing strategies, such as accurately assessing the audience’s
interpretation, using prewriting devices, writing with fluency in the first drafts, using
paraphrases and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor feedback, and using feedback for
revising and editing.