What are the four domains of language? ​

The four domains of language (or the four skills) are the four ways that we interact with language.  We speak and listen; we read, and we write. Of these skills, two of the skills, speaking and writing, are considered productive skills since we create language with each of these. On the other hand, listening and reading are described as receptive skills because we are receiving the from an outside source.  This is important to know because the type of skill (or language domain) it is determines how to support its development.

​Listening:  A Receptive Language Skill

Definition:  Listening is actively making meaning from verbal input.

What Listening Involves

  • Getting clues from environment: facial expressions, gestures, background noise, setting, the people.
  • Using knowledge about the setting, topic and language to make inferences & predictions.
  • Distinguishing which words and groups of words are important and carry the meaning.
  • Understanding & interpreting the meaning of key words and groups of words. Including - pronunciation, colloquial vocabulary, ungrammatical utterances, and redundancy.
  •  Usually, some kind of response.

What Qualities does an Effective Listening Lesson Have?

  1. Has pre-listening activities that help students anticipate and predict what they will hear.
  2. Allows students to know the kind of text and purpose for listening in advance.
  3. Gives students a purpose for listening, which can include one or more of the following:
    1. To get general information;
    2. To get specific information;
    3. To accomplish a task.
  4. Requires some kind of response like taking notes, answering Qs, making a decision.
  5. Uses appropriate material:
    1. The topic is of interest or value to the students;
    2. It is at the right level;
    3. It offers environmental clues, when possible;
    4. It is authentic, when possible.
  6. Gives students more than one chance to listen, each time with a different purpose.
  7. Has follow up activities which include the other skills.

Typical Listening Activities

  • Non-verbal recognition: Students hold up hands, cards, etc upon hearing something.
  • Sequencing items: Students listen and order specific things in the order they hear them.
  • Answer questions: Students listen & answer T/F, multiple choice, or short answer Qs.
  • Complete the cloze: Students listen and fill in the blanks or note-taking shell.

The Four Domains of Language