The document discusses the key aspects and issues related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, language assessment, and implications for language pedagogy. It defines listening as an ephemeral process that involves prosody and fast speech unlike written text. Speaking is used to achieve meaning in social contexts. Reading involves processing at various linguistic levels while pursuing goals. Writing is not just representing speech but uses strategies to develop ideas. Language assessment involves making judgments about learners' language knowledge and use. The implications discussed focus on developing appropriate skills and strategies for learners through different pedagogical approaches.

1. Prepared by: Nasrin Eftekhari
Instructor: Dr. Mahdavi
Language Skills & Assessment
(Schmitt )

2. What is Listening ?
It is important to note that listening is not merely an auditory
version of reading.
Among the unique features of listening are the following:
 ephemeral, one-shot nature.
 a rich prosody (stress, intonation, rhythm, loudness and more)
 natural fast speech, such as assimilation, making it markedly
different from written language, for example, /g∂mmt/ for
government.
 The frequent need to process and respond almost
immediately.

3. what is speaking :
 the notion of spoken language in use, drawing on insights
from discourse analysis which make it clear that language
is used to negotiate and achieve meaning in social
contexts .
 ‘Speaking’ is so much part of daily life that we tend to
take it for granted
 We speak in order to carry out various social activities.

4. What is Reading?
 processing at the:
 phonological,
 morphological,
 syntactic,
 semantic
 discourse levels
 goal setting, text-summary building,

5.  interpretive elaborating from knowledge resources
 monitoring and assessment of goal achievement
 adjusting processing to enhance comprehension
 repairing comprehension processing as needed
 intense processing-time constraints

6. What is Writing ?
 not just a representation of speech,
 manifestations of language users’ knowledge, perspective
and communicative competence
 relationship among the elements of writing (relational
aspect)
 use of various strategies for developing and
communicating ideas (strategic aspect)
 use of available discursive repertoire (textual aspect)

7. What is Language assessment ?
 Act of collecting information
 Making judgments about a language learners
knowledge of a language and ability to use it
 Require for specific purpose
 Educational assessment:
 Providing diagnostic information and
 Motivate learners

8.  ‘Assessment for communication’ (informing
certification and selection)
 ‘Assessment for accountability’ (publicly
demonstrating achievement of outcomes)

9. Issues in Listening :
Models of listening:
 Communication theory model
 Information processing model
 Social / contextual model
 Situated action model

10. Types of listening :
 One-way listening
 Two-way listening
Process of listening :
 Bottom up processing
 Top-down processing
Listening skills
Listening strategies

11.  Models of listening:
 How people manage to make sense of what they hear.
 Communication theory model:
 Make telecommunications systems more efficient
 ‘transmission’, ‘signal’, ‘reception’ and ‘noise’

12.  Information processing model:
are the concepts of input, processing and output, with the
human being seen as a limited processor, so that when doing
complex tasks, we have to devote more attention to one
aspect of the task and less to another.

13.  Social / contextual model:
In the social/contextual model, in contrast to
communications theory and information processing, we
are seen as participants in and creators of meaning, and
meanings are achieved in the interactional space between
us and not just inside our individual heads.

14.  Situated action model :
Evolutionary psychologists argue that humans spend much
of their time trying to understand in order to do things
(‘situated action’), rather than to archive information in
memory, as information processing approaches assume.

15.  Types of listening :
One-way listening:
 transactional function of language
 has strongly influenced the teaching of listening to L2
 E.g.watching a film or television or listening to the radio

16. Two-way listening:
 ‘listening-and-speaking
 involves dialogue or discussion
 Process of listening:
 ‘bottom-up’
 ‘top-down’ processing

17.  Bottom up processing:
Bottom-up processing involves piecing together
the parts of what is being heard in a linear
fashion, one by one, in sequence. This used to
be seen as a complete and accurate description
of successful listening.

18.  Top-down processing:
is holistic, going from whole to part, and
focused on interpretation of meaning rather
than recognition of sounds, words, and
sentences.

19. Listening skills
ENABLING SKILLS Perception
 1. Recognizing prominence within utterances,
including:
 Discriminating sounds in words, especially
phonemic contrasts
 Discriminating strong and weak forms, phonetic
change at word boundaries
 Identifying use of stress and pitch (information
units, emphasis, etc.)

20. Interpretation
2. Formulating content sense of an utterance,
including:
 Deducing the meaning of unfamiliar words
 Inferring implicit information
 Inferring links between propositions
 ENACTING SKILLS

21. 3. Formulating a conceptual framework linking
utterances, including:
 Recognizing discourse markers (clarifying,
contrasting)
 Constructing a theme over a stretch of discourse
 Predicting content
 Identifying elements that help you to form an
overall schema
 Maintaining and updating the context

22. 4. Interpreting (possible) speaker intentions,
including:
 Identifying an ‘interpersonal frame’ speaker-to-
hearer
 Monitoring changes in prosody and establishing
(in)consistencies
 Noting contradictions, inadequate information,
ambiguities
 Differentiating between fact and opinion

23. ENACTING SKILLS
Making an appropriate response (based on 1–4 above),
including:
 Selecting key points for the current task
 Transcoding information into written form (for
example, notes)
 Identifying which points need clarification
 Integrating information with that from other sources
 Providing appropriate feedback to the speaker

24. Listening strategies :
 Refer to the table on page 187

25. Issues in Speaking :
 Genres of speaking
 Generic structure
 Exchange
 Turn taking & turn types
 Topic management

26. Issues in Reading :
 Automaticity & word recognition
 L2 word recognition differences across L1s
 Vocabulary
 How much L2 lexis is needed?
 The role of context in guessing of word
meaning in L2 reading
 Dictionary use & L2 reading

27.  Reading rate
 Language threshold
 The role of background knowledge in reading
 Knowledge of text structure & discourse cues
 Metacognitive & reading strategies
 Extensive reading / impact of exposure to print

28. Issues in Writing :
There are aspects of writing:
 Relational aspects of writing
 Strategic aspects of writing
 Textual aspects of writing

29. Issues in Language assessment
 Construct definition
 Ability / performance constructs
 Specific / general purpose constructs
 Construct perspective & specificity
 Test methods
 Validation
 Test analysis
 Item difficulty
 Correlation

30. Issues in language assessment & language
teaching:
 Washback
 Alternative assessment
 Observation
 Portfolios
 Self-assessment
 Outcomes-based assessment

31. Implication for pedagogy; Listening
 Difficulty factors in listening
 Authenticity of text & task
 Strategy instruction
 Skills training

32. Implication for pedagogy; Speaking
 Should speaking activities focus on text or
sentences?
 How can a discourse-based approach be
applied in classroom practice?
 Should we use only authentic text?
 What procedures are there specifically for
pronunciation teaching?

33.  Elicited mechanical production
 Ear training for second language
 Sound for meaning contrasts
 Cognitive analysis
 Whole brain activities, communication
activities and games
 Learning strategies

34. Implication for pedagogy; Reading
 The need to develop reading fluency and word
recognition automaticity.
 The need to develop a large recognition vocabulary.
 The importance of discourse structure and the
instructional benefits of using graphic representations.
 The need for language awareness and attention to
language (structure) and genre form (meta-linguistic
knowledge).

35.  The importance of meta-cognitive
awareness and strategic reading.
 The importance of specific reading
strategies to support word learning and
reading to learn goals.
 The need for extensive reading.

36.  The importance of motivation.
 The benefits of integrated skills instruction
and content-based instruction.
 The need for a supportive (classroom and
institutional) environment for reading.

37. Implication for pedagogy; Writing
 Controlled composition
 The paragraph pattern
 The process approach
 Genre-based approach
 Issues that transcend traditions