LSRW Skills

The four language skills are listening, speaking, reading and writing. They develop in that order, and each supports the next. A primary teacher who spends all the time on reading and writing is building the top of a structure whose base has not been laid.

The four skills

Listening and reading are receptive skills; speaking and writing are productive. Listening and speaking are oral; reading and writing are written. CTET asks for these groupings directly.

Building each skill

• Listening — story time, instructions to follow, songs, sound games, listening for a specific detail. Listening is active, not passive: give the class something to listen for.
• Speaking — pair talk, describing a picture, retelling, role play, news of the day, discussion in the child's own language before the school language.
• Reading — read-aloud by the teacher, shared reading, paired reading, a print-rich room, a class library corner, silent reading time.
• Writing — labelling, sentence starters, free writing without immediate correction, writing for a real reader, drafting and improving.

Two things about reading

Loud reading helps a teacher check decoding, but silent reading is faster and better for comprehension, and it is the form of reading used for the whole of later life. A classroom in which children only ever read aloud is not building readers. Fluent reading aloud, moreover, is not proof of understanding — a child may decode perfectly and grasp nothing, which is a distinct difficulty needing a distinct remedy.

Writing comes last

Writing demands handwriting, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and organisation at once, which is why it is the hardest skill and why Class 1 begins with talk and pictures rather than paragraphs. Early writing should be accepted with invented spelling; correcting everything at the first attempt stops children writing at all.

✗ Listening is a passive skill that needs no teaching.  |  ✓ Listening is active and must be taught with a purpose — listen for what.

✗ A child who reads aloud fluently has understood the passage.  |  ✓ Fluent decoding and comprehension are separate; check the meaning separately.

Frequently asked questions

What is the correct order of the four language skills?

Listening, speaking, reading and writing. Each supports the next: a child listens before she speaks, and speaks before she can read or write with meaning, which is why oral work must come first in primary classes.

Which language skills are receptive and which are productive?

Listening and reading are receptive because the learner takes in language. Speaking and writing are productive because the learner produces it. Listening and speaking are oral; reading and writing are written.

Is loud reading better than silent reading?

Loud reading lets a teacher check pronunciation and decoding, but silent reading is faster and better for comprehension and is the form used through life. Both are needed, with silent reading increasing as children grow.