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Integrated skills It has been conventional to think of communicative language teaching in terms of the so-called 4 skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In fact, learning a language is the mastering a set of skills. In language learning, the skills are the ability to understand the spoken language, the ability to speak the language and the ability to read and write it. So the four language skills should be correlated because these different skills are closely related to each other. The success of one depends upon the knowledge of the other. The method of language teaching known as audiolingualism regarded speech as primary and a great deal of emphasis was placed on speaking practice, with reading and writing being introduced later largely to reinforce language which had already been practiced through speech. Investigations into the characteristics of spoken and written language have shown that speaking is not first a database form of writing and that writing is not first an attempt to put spoken language on paper. Consequently, we no longer treat one skill as a reflection of another. Each skill tends to be treated in its own right. The amount of time given to each skill will depend on the 'needs' and 'wants' of the learner as specified in the syllabus. As variety is also important in the language classroom, all four skills have their place. Some people seem to be better at learning by listening and speaking while others are better at learning by reading and writing. So using all four skills is important in order to give all students a chance to use their abilities as best they can. In my opinion, the method of teaching a language is primarily a " Practice Method". The ability to speak, read and write a language can best be acquired through repeated drills and practice. Integration of skills is a feature of current practice. This means that any one lesson may exercise all four skills. For instance, the information that is provided in a listening comprehension exercise will be used for spoken or written practice later in the same lesson. Similarly, reading comprehension may provide the basis for spoken discussion which will recycle information obtained in the reading phase of the lesson. Now we have already discussed about integrated skills generally. As the pendulum swings wider than before, the more advanced ideas and techniques are dramatically going to bloom in the future. To my knowledge, new waves of arguments will appear when the old ones fade away.
