When we learn a language, there are four skills that we need for complete

communication. When we learn our native language, we usually learn to

listen first, then to speak, then to read and finally to write. These are called
the four language skills.

Listening
Listening is receiving language through the ears. Listening involves
identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and
sentences. When we listen, we use our ears to receive individual sounds
(letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these
into messages that mean something to us.
Listening is any language requires focus and attention. It is a skill that
some people need to work at harder than others. In addition, teaching the
learners a lot of listening activities is a good way of enlarging their
vocabulary. People who have difficulty concentrating are typically poor
listeners.
Like babies, we learn this skill by listening to people who already know
how to speak the language. This may or may not include native speakers. For
practice, we can listen to live or recorded voices. The most important thing is
to listen to a variety voices as often as you can.
Therefore, to become a fluent speaker in English, we need to develop
strong listening skills. Listening is not only helps we understand what people
are saying to us, but it also helps us to speak clearly to other people. It helps
us learn how to pronounce

word properly, how to use intonation and where to place stress in words and
sentences.

Speaking
Speaking is the delivery language through the mouth. Speaking is
also known as the productive skill in the oral mode. It, like the other skills, is
more complicated and it seems at first and involves more than just
pronouncing words. To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our
body including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips.
This vocalized form of language usually requires at least one listener.
When two or more people speak or talk to each other, the conversation is
called a dialogue. In addition, speech can flow naturally from one person to
another in the form of dialogue. It can also be planned and rehearsal as in
the delivery of a speech or presentation. Of course, some people talk to
themselves! In fact, some English learners practice speaking standing alone
in front of a mirror.
There are three kinds of speaking situation that we should understand
which are interactive, partially interactive and non-interactive. Interactive
speaking situations include face-to-face conversations and telephone calls, in
which we have a chance to ask for clarification, repetition, or slower speech
from our conversation partner. Whereas in partially interactive situations its
involve giving a speech to the audience and no interruption during the
speech. The speaker nevertheless can see the audience and judge from the
expressions on their faces and body language whether or not he or she is
understood. The non-interactive speaking can be defined as recorded speech
such as when recording a speech for radio broadcast.
To conclude, speaking can be formal or informal. Informal speaking is
typically used with family and friends or people you know well. Formal
speaking occurs in business or academic situations or when meeting people
for the first time. Speaking is probably the language skill that most language

learners wish to perfect as soon as possible. Fluently in speaking can help

build up our confidence level while speaking to others