Four basic language skills

Language educators have long used the concepts of four basic language skills:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

The four basic skills are related to each other by two parameters:

• the mode of communication: oral or written
• the direction of communication: receiving or producing the message

We may represent the relationships among the skills in the following chart:

The following modules will briefly describe some characteristics of each basic skill.

• Listening comprehension skill
• Speaking skill
• Reading skill
• Writing skill

• Index to guidelines by stage and basic language skill

• Overview module: Four basic language skills
• In overview module: Introduction to guidelines for a language and cult...
• In modular book: Guidelines for a Language and Culture Learning Program, by Carol J. Orwig
• In document collection: Other Resources
• In bookshelf: Language Learning

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 21 March 1999

© 1999 SIL International