Skills

Listening

Reading

Extensive

Intensive

Extensive

Intensive

listening to (or being involved in) massive amounts of text

text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly

high levels of comprehension

listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks

listening at or below one’s comfortable fluent listening ability

getting more detailed understanding of some segments of the text

transcribing certain segments in the text

guessing the meaning of a word or phrase from context

looking at certain grammatical structures in the text to see how they can aid comprehension

without a breakdown of comprehension, feeling overwhelmed, or the need to take breaks

the process of reading longer easier texts for an extended period of time

involves learners reading texts for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills such as encourage reading fluency

for example: magazines, comic books, novels

involves learners reading in detail with specific learning aims and tasks

to help students construct detailed meaning from the text such as identifying main ideas and recognizing text signals

for example: reports, news articles, blog posts

example of activity

  • Choose a topic that will keep your interest and that you are familiar with.
  • Listen carefully, but listen for main ideas, not details. Try to understand the important points of the video or audio recording.
  • Try to find sources that offer basic information. If it is too in-depth, you may get frustrated when dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary.
  • If you feel that you can't understand most of what is happening, try finding an easier source. Listening is one of the most difficult skills for language learners.

(Er-central, 2013)

(British Council, n.d.)

(Savaş, 2009)