Integrating Language Skills yes or no

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Integrating Language Skills yes or no?

• Peter Lucantoni
• 8th Annual ELT Conference,
• 23-24 April 2008
• Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

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Who is Peter Lucantoni?

• Started teaching in 1979
• Lived and worked in Europe and Middle East
• Author for Cambridge University Press, Longman,
  Macmillan, Hodder Murray
• Cambridge TKT, CELTYL, CELTA DELTA trainer
• Cambridge CELTYL assessor
• Regional Team Leader for Cambridge ESOL speaking
• examinations
• Own language institute training centre,
  Education First, in Cyprus

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Overview

• What does integrated mean?
• What are skills?
• Are language skills different?
• What are language sub-skills which ones do
  learners need use?
• What does integrating skills mean?
• What does segregating skills mean?
• Where does this leave us integrating language
  skills yes or no?

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• What does integrated mean?
• When we integrate things, they combine, or work
  together to make something more effective
• An integrated system or organisation combines
  different groups or ideas in a way that works
  well

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• The teeth on a zip need to combine in order for
  the zip to become effective
• Equally true is that language skills need to
  combine, to be integrated, in order for
  communication to become effective

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• What are skills?
• People who have a skill demonstrate the ability
  to do something well a skilled footballer
  scores goals, a skilled pianist plays well, a
  skilled carpenter makes beautiful furniture

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• We are not necessarily born with the skill to do
  something
• Usually, skills are developed during life
  Ronaldo, our pianist and carpenter all needed
  plenty of lessons and practice before they became
  skilled

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• And the ability to do something well needs to
  continue to be consolidated and practised or we
  can easily lose our skill
• If Ronaldo stopped practising, would he continue
  to be a skilled footballer? And what about our
  pianist and carpenter?

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• Are language skills different?
• Yes, and no ?
• Having skill in a language (or languages) is not
  the same as language skills

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• The former means being good in the language the
  latter refers to the language skills of reading,
  writing, listening, speaking, thinking

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• However, being skilled in a language necessitates
  also having good language skills and sub-skills
• To be completely effective in a language we need
  to be competent in reading, writing, listening
  and speaking, as well as in thinking about
  language

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• What are language sub-skills?
• People who use a language employ a number of
  sub-skills, or strategies
• Sub-skills are chosen depending on the task to be
  completed

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• A language learners proficiency in the various
  skills will be different furthermore, every
  learners needs in each skill will be different
  from the next learners needs

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What are language sub-skills?
skimming
analysing
note-taking
presenting
for details
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• One of our roles as teachers of E2L is to help
  learners to develop those skills and sub-skills
  which they
• are weak in
• and need for a particular purpose
• Also, we need to help them identify which
  sub-skills are most appropriate for a particular
  task

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• So, learners need to be able to identify which
  sub-skills are required for a task, then to
  implement them
• Outside the classroom, this happens
  automatically people are able to select those
  sub-skills that are most important to their task
  (Harmer, 1991)
• But language learners need to be trained to
  identify apply sub-skills, they need practice
  consolidation, in the same way that Ronaldo does

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• What does integrating skills mean?
• It is important to remember that in real-life
  language skills and sub-skills are rarely used in
  isolation
• Language users employ a combination of skills at
  the same time (Harmer, 1991)
• Therefore, skills should not be learned or
  practised in isolation

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• Language skills are integrated they cooperate
  with each other (Lucantoni, 2002)
• The learner must develop skills and strategies
  for using language to communicate meanings as
  effectively as possible (LIttlewood, 2001)

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• Confidence and independence need to be built and
  developed in using language in real
  communicative situations
• While language and grammar are important,
  communicative competence is our goal
• And of course an integrated approach to language
  teaching learning will find room for focusing
  on specific areas of language where necessary

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• What happens without integration?
• The parts do not touch, support or interact with
  each other
• the language itself becomes the focus of
  instruction (language for language's sake) the
  emphasis is not on learning for authentic
  communication (Oxford, 2008)

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• What does segregating skills mean?
• Many language courses still adopt segregation of
  skills
• Does not prepare for later success in academic
  communication, career-related language use, or
  everyday interaction in the language (Oxford,
  2008)
• Restricts language learning to very narrow range

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• We need to remember that strategies
• are not always linked to one particular
• skill
• Many strategies, such as paying
• selective attention, self-evaluating, asking
  questions, analyzing, synthesizing, planning, and
  predicting, are applicable across skill
• areas (Oxford, 1990)
• Thus common strategies help learners
• to fasten the zip

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• However, in reality, single-skills approaches
  are often no such thing!
• A lesson which focuses on writing skills will
  without doubt include development of other
  language skills, not least thinking about the
  topic
• Some courses that are labelled
• according to one specific skill might
• actually reflect an integrated-skill
• approach after all (Oxford, 2008)

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• Where does this leave us
• integrating language skills yes or
• no?
• Content-based learning
• Task-based learning

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• Content-based learning
• Students practise all language skills in highly
  integrated, communicative fashion
• Learn content such as science, geography, maths
• Content-based language instruction is valuable at
  all levels, but nature of content usually differs
  by proficiency level

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• Task-based instruction
• Students participate in communicative tasks
• Tasks activities that require comprehending,
  producing, manipulating, or interacting in
  authentic language while attention is principally
  paid to meaning rather than form (Nunan, 1989)

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• Both approaches expose learners to authentic
  language
• Challenge learners to interact naturally
• Learners realise that English is not just of
  academic interest, nor simply to pass an
  examination
• Highly motivating for students

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• Bibliography
• Lucantoni, P, Teaching Assessing Skills in E2L,
  Cambridge University Press 2002
• Harmer, J, The Practice of English Language
  Teaching, Longman 1991
• Littlewood, W, Communicative Language Teaching,
  Cambridge University Press 2001
• Oxford, R, Integrated Skills in the EFL/ESL
  Classroom, http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_p
  ric/is_/ai_3410705918 180408
• Oxford, R, Language learning strategies. What
  every teacher should know, Heinle Heinle 1990
• Nunan , D, Designing tasks for the communicative
  classroom, Cambridge University Press1989

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• Peter Lucantoni
• peter_at_educationfirst.ac.cy
• lucantoni_at_gmail.com
• 357-99386227