HLT3701 Exam Prep Summary

Kayla van Deventer
6396 – 630 – 1
HLT3701 Exam Prep

HLT3701 – Home Language Teaching
Learning unit 1: Knowledge and Facilitation of Language Skills
in the Foundation Phase

Learning outcomes:
After studying this unit, you will be able to:
✓ Define four language skills, namely, listening, speaking, reading and
writing
✓ Design activities for facilitating language skills
✓ Select and apply appropriate methods for teaching beginner readers to
read
✓ Reflect on and adapt the teaching and learning of language skills
accordingly


Section 1: What are language skills and why are they important?
What are the four language skills? (p.15 – 16)
→ There are 4 language skills that are required for effective communication.
→ They are:
 Listening
 Speaking
 Reading
 Writing
Listening:

 Refers to receiving language through the ears.
 When listen, we make use of our ears to receive individual sounds, and make use of our brain to
convert these sounds into messages that means something to us.

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, Kayla van Deventer
6396 – 630 – 1
HLT3701 Exam Prep
 Listening, any language, requires focus and giving attention to the language we are hearing.
Speaking:

 Refers to the delivery of spoken language through the mouth.
 Refers to ability to communicate meaningfully in the language, by speaking grammatically
correct sentences and appropriate vocabulary.
 Refers to how you speak, with the correct intonation, stress, timing and speech.
Reading:

 Refers to the process of looking at written language and making sense.
 When reading we use our eyes to see the print and use our brain to Written language
convert the print into words and sentences that communicate refers to letters,
punctuation marks
meaning. and spaces.
 Reading can be silent (in our head) or out aloud (other people to hear)
Writing:

 Refers to the process of using written language to communicate thoughts and ideas in a form
that can be read.
 Make use of a pen or pencil (handwriting) or keyboard (typing) to write.
 To write clearly it is essential to understand the basic system of the language, incl. knowledge of
vocabulary and grammar.
Using Language skills: (page 16)

o Even though there is 4 skills, they do not function separately or in isolation.
o They are interrelated.
o In the classroom, whilst doing an activity on Language the chances for a lesson to include 2-4 of
these language skills, has a big possibility to be used together.



2

, Kayla van Deventer
6396 – 630 – 1
HLT3701 Exam Prep
Language skills can be grouped:
Four language groups can be grouped in 2 different ways namely:
➢ Written/spoken skills
➢ Productive (output) or receptive (input) skills
Written skills:
➢ In spoken or oral mode there is 2 language skills, namely listening and speaking.
➢ In written mode there are 2 language skills, namely reading and writing.
o Both depend on written language or print
➢ Important grouping because one language build on the other.
➢ Written mode is built on the oral mode
➢ If you don’t understand and speak a language, it is difficult to learn how to read and write in that
language.
➢ According to Snow, Burns and Griffe (1998), in the classroom, being able to understand and speak
a language is an important precondition for learning to read and write in a language.
➢ A child needs to be able to understand and speak a language before they learn to read and write
in that language.
➢ The 2 modes are used differently in everyday language. The oral modes relies on context to make
meaning.
➢ The written mode cannot depend on context to make meaning. It is decontextualised. The writer
has to establish the context in their writing.
➢ Oral language and written language need to be taught a little differently. We need to introduce
new written texts in order to draw children’s attention to the setting of the text and new
vocabulary, because written language is decontextualised.
Productive/receptive skills:
➢ The 4 language skills can be grouped in another way, by dividing them into language skills that you
produce, called productive skills (output) and language skills that you receive, called receptive skills
(input).
➢ Receptive skills provide language input
➢ Productive skills requires language output.
➢ Receptive skills are listening and reading because we get input through the spoken word and
written word.
o Known as passive skills
➢ Productive skills are speaking and writing, because we use these skills to give an output to
produce understandable language.
o Known as active skills
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, Kayla van Deventer
6396 – 630 – 1
HLT3701 Exam Prep

It is important as we teach to be aware of
receptive and productive skills, as they need to be
taught and supported a little differently.
Receptive language skills may require the child to
learn new vocabulary and language skills in order
to understand the input they are receiving.
Productive language skills require even more
support. Here the child needs to produce language
based on the language they already know.




Language or Linguistic profiles:
➢ 4 language skills apply to any language.
➢ You may be able to listen to understand one language but be unable to speak it.
➢ You may be able to understand and speak another language but be unable to read and write in
that language.
➢ You may be able to read and write a language proficiency but not able to speak it very well.
➢ Different proficiency level in different language skills and in different languages.
Example of a linguistic profile: (page 22-24)
Languages she can Languages she can Languages which she Languages in which
understand speak can read she can write
isiZulu isiZulu isiZulu isiZulu (well)
isiXhosa isiXhosa English English (well)
Setswana Sesotho (a little) Afrikaans Afrikaans (a little)
Sesotho English
English Afrikaans
Afrikaans Xitsonga
Xitsonga

Section 2: How can teachers facilitate the learning of language skills in the classroom?
Formal language development:
❖ 4 language skills are developed formally by following systematic lesson plans based on the
curriculum.
❖ Essential in order to ensure steady progress.
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