Brown Ch 15 Integrating the four Skills

In the context of a whole language approach to language learning,

the trend in recent years has been towards integrating the four skills

E.g an integrated reading lesson might contain:

• Pre-reading discussion
• Listening for information about the topic
• Focus on reading strategies (such as scanning)
• Writing a paraphrase of a section of the passage

Integration: Why didn’t it happen in the past?

Focus on form LT suited a separate skill approach

Administratively convenient to program separate courses

Sometimes specific skills can be profitably

taught predominantly alone

Integration – so why now?

Production and reception are inextricably bound

Interaction requires both sending and receiving messages

Using language realistically requires integration

The four skills can reinforce each other

It’s not just the four skills but the whole social
personal emotional context in which they occur
Five Models of integration proposed by Brown.

1. Content-based instruction.
Content rules, language learning is subordinate.

E.g. Immersion, Sheltered English, Writing across

Curriculum, ESP 

Note: content-based learning is problematic for beginners.

Problem of content dominating preferred order of language
pedagogy, and how can you be an expert in everything?
2. Theme based instruction
Weak form of CB. Language and content more equally valued.

Question: Are all theme based units likely to appeal to all students
equally? What is your experience with theme based classes?

Both Theme based and Content based teaching (according to Brown)

reflect the need for automaticity, meaningful learning, intrinsic
motivation, communicative competence.

The environment: “With this topic you are sure to find immediate
intrinsic motivation- we all want to survive!...”.
What do you think of Brown’s program? .
3. Experiential learning
(learning by doing, and inductive learning through discovery activates
strategies which result in learning autonomy).

Overlaps CB and TB learning, but usually learner centered with an

emphasis on psychomotor aspects of language learning by involving
the learner in physical actions in which the language is subsumed

The apotheosis of TPR?

 4. The Episode Hypothesis (shades of Gouin).

Language embedded in a series of episodes (a story) is

better produced, understood, and recalled (Oller).

How convinced are you by the differences between dialogues on

P 240 and p 241.

The episode hypothesis and skill integration

Episodes can embody realistic language

Episodes can be presented in spoken or written form

(requiring reading and listening).

Episodes can stimulate written or spoken questions

Students can create their own episodes or complete an unresolved episode.
The episodes can then be dramatized.

How easy is it to create episodes (e.g., for a semester course)?

5. Task-based Language Teaching

Meaning is primary

Some problem has to be solved using communication

There is some relationship (eventually) with real world activity

Task completion is important and task correction is desirable

Evaluation of success depends on completing the task

It is important to distinguish pedagogical tasks
from real world tasks

A task-based curriculum is analytic rather than synthetic

It focuses on both process and product, with an eye

eventually to real world behavior

Sequencing and grading tasks is problematic

TBLT is (as Brown suggests) or can be defined in terms of

pragma-linguistic goals

Final hint – be eclectic with the five approaches to

integration