COMMUNICATION SKILLS

WEEK 2

RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS

Listening, Reading and Speaking
 INTRODUCTION
• Listening is the ability to identify and
understand spoken language.

• Listening is referred to as receptive skill.

 INTRODUCTION

• The receptive skills (listening and reading)-

used in language acquisition enable the
productive skills (speaking and writing)
(Saricoban, 1999).
 INTRODUCTION
• Listening is the communication skill used most
often in the assimilation of information and
the most neglected in foreign language
teaching (Norris, 1993).

• When you learn a language, you develop both

the receptive skills and productive skills.
 RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE
SKILLS
• Receptive skills are reading and listening.

• Receptive skills are the ways in which people

extract meaning from the discourse they see
or hear.

• These skills are sometimes known as passive

skills.
 RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE
SKILLS
• Receptive skills include understanding when
you listen and when you read.

• You receive the language and decode (break

down) the meaning to understand the
message.
 RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE
SKILLS
• Productive skills are speaking and writing.

• They can be called active skills.

• This is because individuals use the language

that they have acquired to produce a
message through speech or written text.
 RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE
SKILLS
• Example
When you are learning a language like English,
Hausa or Ga, you are learning all of these
skills. You may be strong in some and weak in
others.
 RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE
VOCABULARY
• Another example of receptive and productive
skills is related to your study of vocabulary.

• It is quite easy to develop your receptive

vocabulary skills.
 RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE
VOCABULARY
• You can study words independently,
memorizing the definitions, the word forms,
the connections and different uses of the
words in context.

• Your receptive vocabulary can grow and when

you see a list of words to study in your class,
you might recognize some of them already.
 RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE
VOCABULARY

• That is great but it is important to use these

words correctly when you speak or write.

• If you are able to do that, it means they have

moved into your productive vocabulary.
 RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE
VOCABULARY
• This is the goal of your vocabulary study in
Communication Skills class.

• You will come across many new words in your

reading texts or hear some in class

• You study are the ones that you should try to

use when you write or speak.
 HOW WE READ AND LISTEN
(RECEPTIVE SKILLS)
• When we read a story or newspaper, listen to
news or take part in a conversation, we
employ our previous knowledge as we
approach the process of comprehension.

• We deploy a range of receptive skills. The

ones we use will be determined by our
reading or listening purpose.
 HOW WE READ AND LISTEN
(RECEPTIVE SKILLS)
• What a reader will bring to understand a piece
of discourse is much more than just knowing
the language.

• In order to make sense of any text, we need to

have “pre-existent knowledge of the world”
(Cook, 1989:69). Such knowledge of referred
to as Schema (Plural- Schemata).
 HOW WE READ AND LISTEN
(RECEPTIVE SKILLS)
• Each of us carries in our mental
representations of typical situations that we
come across
 Independent Practice
• Just like the example of vocabulary, you can do
extra reading and extra listening on your own
to improve your receptive skills.

• Improving your productive skills by yourself is

more difficult. You can write something alone
but you can improve more by speaking to
another person.
 Independent Practice
• In both cases, you can see if your message is
understood.

• However, just like the example with

vocabulary, the more that you develop your
receptive skills, the more that they can affect
your productive skills in a positive way.
 Independent Practice
• Reading more will help you write better.
Listening more, will help you improve your
speaking skills
 Independent Practice

• Listening is the ability to identify and

understand spoken language. Listening is a
receptive skill.
 Independent Practice
• Listening is the communication skill used most
often in the assimilation of information and
the most neglected in foreign language
teaching (Norris, 1993).
 Independent Practice
• Effective listening is dependent upon the
listener’s decoding skills, i.e. the listener’s
ability to make sense of the message.

• Unlike written and spoken evidence,

successful listening is more difficult to
measure.

• The first listening skill taught is the ability to

recognise the need for more information.
•
 Independent Practice
• Productive skills improve from stronger
receptive skills.

• This semester, make a decision to do all you

can outside of class and take advantage of
your time inside of class and you will improve
both your receptive and productive skills!
 Independent Practice
• When decoding skills are acquired in a more
systematic, purposeful way (e.g. in a
classroom) the language learner will be able to
understand and respond more fully.

• He begins to build a cache of vocabulary in

memory and becomes able to identify the
purpose of a message.
 Independent Practice
• As language learners advance from beginner
to intermediate levels, errors in listening
become less frequent.

• Decoding becomes less of a conscious effort as

the learner builds upon experience and
knowledge.
 Independent Practice
• In the classroom, listening for meaning is what
is stressed and that is exactly what you must
do.

• This enables the listener to discard irrelevant

information in a message and concentrate on
the relevant portion.
 Independent Practice

Through repetition, the learner’s decoder is

enabled to attribute meaning to the reduced
signals.
 Homonyms, Homophones, and
Homographs
• There are certain words in English referred to as
homonyms.
Generally, the term homonym refers to
• homophones (words that are pronounced the
same but have different meanings, such as pair and
pear) and
• homographs (words that are spelt the same but
have different meanings, such as "bow your head"
and "tied in a bow").
 Homonyms, Homophones, and
Homographs
• Homophones, and homographs are words that
are easily confused because they look alike or
sound alike (or both) but have different
meanings.

• The following list should help you recognize

the differences between many commonly
confused words.
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Accept- take in
• Except- other than

• Ad- advertisement
• Add- combine

• Advice- guidance
• Advise- recommend
•
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Capitol - building where legislature meets
• Capital- chief city
• Capital- punishable by death

• Aid- assist
• Aide- one who gives assistance

• Ail- to suffer poor health

• Ale- a beverage
•
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Bale - a large bundle
• Bail- to release a prisoner
• Bail- to clear water

• Deer-bush animal
• Dear- loved one

• Bear- the animal

• Bear- to carry or endure
•
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Raise- lift
• Rays- beam of light
• Raze- demolish

• Sail- fabric used to move a ship

• Sale- the act of selling
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Principal- main issue/important
• Principal- head of a school
• Principal-rule

• Seen- past participle of “see”

• Scene- part of a play

• Stare- gaze
• Stair- step
•
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Stationary- not moving
• Stationery- writing material

• Threw- past participle of “throw”

• Through- adjective

• Whine- to complain
• Wine- alcoholic drink
•
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Vein - a blood vessel, streak, or crack
• Vane - device for showing wind direction
• Vain- conceited, fruitless

• Waste - to spend, wear away

• Waist- mid-section of the body

• Whether- if
• Weather- condition atmosphere
•
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Lesson - an example or unit of instruction
• Lessen- to decrease

• Know- have knowledge

• No- negative

• Led - past tense of

• Lead- the metal
• Lead- to direct
Some Commonly Confused Words
• Jam- to force or block
• Jam- jelly
• jamb - part of a door or window

• Alter- table in a church

• Alter- change
 PRONUNCIATION

• This means making sounds of speech, the way

in which a sound, word or language is
articulated in conformity with accepted
standards.

• This definition means there are accepted

standards of articulating words in every
language.
 PRONUNCIATION
• Mispronunciation of words could lead to
misinterpretation of words.

• That is why it is important to know how to

articulate words as they are supposed to be
articulated or pronounced.
 Some Commonly Mispronounced
Words
• Ask : This is not pronounced like “axe”. All the
sounds are pronounced and remember the
“S” sound comes before “k” sound

• Error is pronounced like “era”

• “Horror” is also pronounced like “hora”

 Some Commonly Mispronounced
Words
• Debris : ‘Debris’ has a silent ‘s’: DUH-BREE.

• Et cetera (etc.) And while we’re avoiding ‘ex’

sounds, make sure you’re saying ET CETERA
not ex cetera.

• Elite
This word is pronounced EH-LEET not eh-lite.
 Some Commonly Mispronounced
Words
• Hyperbole : the ‘e’ sound at the end is
emphasised. Say HY-PER-BOH-LEE not hyper-
bowl.

• Mischievous is pronounced MIS-CHI-VUS.

• Quay
Say ‘quay’ like the word KEY.
 Some Commonly Mispronounced Words

• Subtle
The ‘b’ in ‘subtle’ is silent: SUH-TULL.

• Buoy
Say ‘buoy’ like the word BOY.

• Wednesday
The d is silent.
 Some Commonly Mispronounced Words

• Quantity/Quality/Qualify: The first vowel

is /ɒ/ (BrE)
• Education: The first consonant is /dʒ/

• Rake, Bake, Date: the vowel is /eɪ/

*Past Tense Morphemes: Walked, Crooked, Ate

(variant British Pronunciations and American
Pronunciation)
 ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE RECEPTIVE
AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
• Read every day. Read something you enjoy
and understand Read for pleasure and
meaning.

• Spend a little time in a close reading activity.

Read carefully, paying attention to new words
in context and sentence grammar.
 ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE RECEPTIVE
AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
• Write a short summary of what you read. It
could be sent to your study mate for
assessment.

• Listen to the news to add on to your

vocabulary bank.
• Watch a good movie or TV show with no
captions. Try to understand from the context
and language you know.

• You can turn on the captions (if possible) to

check.
 ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE RECEPTIVE
AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
• Pay attention to new words. When you hear or
read a new word, write it down.

• Look it up in a dictionary.

• Collect examples of how it is used. Make word

lists to practice. Review word lists regularly.
 ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE RECEPTIVE
AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
• Do any additional assignments in your book or
learning management system site (MOODLE)

• Check for correct pronunciation of words in

good pronunciation dictionaries.
 SELF TEST
• Try and put your receptive and productive
skills to use. You can do this by getting a good
book from the library or bookshop.

• Give yourself up to about one or two weeks

and read extensively. Write down any
unfamiliar words and look them up in the
dictionary.
•
 SELF TEST
• The next task is for you to come up with as
many sentences as possible using the words in
different contexts.

• In your speech and writings, make it a point to

use them as part of your vocabulary.
QUESTIONS
????