engleski

Early Learning and Teaching of English. New Dynamics of Primary English

Listening and reading have often been subordinated by speaking and writing due o the general belief that they are secondary language skills without being ends in themselves but 'means to other ends' (Nunan, in Richards & Renandya, 2002:238). Such an approach to language proficiency consequently implies the idea of second/foreign language knowledge primarily related to the ability of producing language (receptive vs. productive language skills). This sharp division by reference to the activity of the language user - passive vs. active (Widdowson, 1978) - was seriously questioned in the 1980s with the emphasis on comprehensible input seen as 'the essential ingredient for second language acquisition' (Krashen, 1985:4). This was the time when SLA researchers started paying attention to listening in particular because they considered listening crucial for providing the learner with input in the language classroom. In other words, his/her failure in understanding input makes learning hardly possible. Making sense of the message by relating it to background knowledge is one of the main demands not only for the listener but also for the reader, so listening and reading are viewed as very similar processes.

speaking, reading, EFL, young learners, metalanguage awareness, wide context

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