Modes of integrating all four skills

1. MODES OF INTEGRATING ALL
FOUR SKILLS
Objectives:
• to familiarize students with course content
• to raise students’ awareness of the importance of skills integration in teaching
Lesson 24

2. Lead-in
• What are the language skills?
• What is the difference between receptive and
productive language skills?
• Are language skills used in isolation in real life
situations?
• Is it possible to teach language skills in integration? If
yes, how?

3. OPENING ACTIVITIES
Watch the following video segment and answer
the following questions:
̵ What topic is developed in this lesson?
̵ What activities are used in this lesson?
̵ How many language skills are worked in this
lesson?

4. OPENING ACTIVITIES
Read the following quotation. What kind of instruction do
you think the authors are encouraging?
From the 1970’s, most ELT professionals have noticed
that that the teaching of language skills can not be
conducted through separate and discrete structural
elements. In real life, people do not use reading,
listening, writing skills in isolation. All these skills
together serve as a bridge that connects a person with
a society (Pysarchyk & Yamshynska, 2015, p. 78).

5. WHAT IS THE INTEGRATED SKILLS APPROACH?
A favorite image for teaching EFL is that of a tapestry, as it is woven from
many strands.
For the instructional circle to produce a large, strong, beautiful, colorful tapestry,
the just-mentioned strands must be interwoven in positive ways.
EFL: The characteristics of the teacher
(e.g. teaching style, prior experience,
etc.), the learner (e.g. personality,
language learning beliefs, etc.), the
setting (e.g. available resources,
institutional values, etc.) and the
relevant languages (e.g. the native
language, the target language, their
cultural background, etc.).

6. WHAT IS THE INTEGRATED SKILLS APPROACH?
Besides the four strands mentioned above, other important
strands exist in the tapestry.
Optimal EFL communication is present when all the skills are interwoven
during instruction.
In a practical sense, one of the most crucial of these strands
consists of the four primary skills (listening, reading,
speaking and writing) and associated skills (vocabulary,
spelling, pronunciation, syntax, meaning and usage).

7. WHAT IS THE INTEGRATED SKILLS APPROACH?
SEGREGATED SKILL INSTRUCTION
It is a traditional instruction approach, in which the mastery of discrete language skills
like reading or speaking is seen as the key to successful learning. Additionally, there is
typically a separation of language learning from content learning.
Focus on the forms of language predisposed curriculum designers to segment courses
into the separate language skills.
Administrative considerations still make it easier to program separate courses.
Certain specific purposes for which students are studying English may best be labeled by
one of the four skills, especially at the high intermediate to advanced levels.

8. WHAT IS THE INTEGRATED SKILLS APPROACH?
INTEGRATED SKILL INSTRUCTION
It is an innovating approach that consists of the linking of the language skills for the
purpose of real communication. This instructional approach favors integrated skills, that
is, the skills are interlocked, exactly as they are in everyday life. This is so as it is
understood that practice with any given skill reinforces other skills.
Production and reception are two sides of the same coin. Often one skill will reinforce
another.
Written and spoken language bear a relationship to each other.
Most of natural performance involves not only the integration of one or more skills, but
connections between language and the way we think, feel and act.

9. HOW CAN TEACHERS INTEGRATE SKILLS IN A
BASIC WAY?
Simple integration
The easiest form of integration is within the same medium (either oral or written), from
receptive to productive skills.
Receptive skill Productive skill
Oral medium listening speaking
Written medium reading writing
In other words, we would use a listening text as a model for the students’
speaking, and a reading text as a model for the students’ writing. This is common
practice among teachers, and we will call it simple integration.

10. HOW CAN TEACHERS INTEGRATE SKILLS IN A
BASIC WAY?
Complex integration
This involves constructing a series of activities that use a variety of skills. In each of the activities,
there is realistic, communicative use of language. For example, look at this sequence of activities:
Reading activity: Students look at a poster giving information about an English Club.
Oral activity: Students make up a dialogue between the club secretary and a person who
wants to join the club.
Writing activity: Students complete a membership application form for the English Club
based on their partner’s information.
Notice how one activity is closely linked thematically to the next. The information
that the students get from the reading is useful in the oral activity, while the writing
activity is based on information from the oral activity.

11. Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive
Approach to Language Pedagogy (3rd edition). USA: Pearson
Longman.
Pysarchyk, O. L., & Yamshynska, N. V. (2015). The importance of
integrating reading and writing for EFL teaching. Advanced
education, 3, 77-83.
Oxford, R. (2001)., Integrated Skills in the ESL/EFL Classroom. The
journal of TESOL France, 8, 5-12.
REFERENCES