Language Skills : Traditions, Transitions and Ways Forward

This volume brings an international perspective to language skills - an area of importance to both theorists and practitioners in all contexts of language teaching and learning. The twenty-seven chapters included here are arranged into six sections devoted to fundamental background issues, spoken interaction, perception of speech sounds and production skills, reading contexts and purposes, writing challenges for advanced learners, and technology and language skills. Explored themes range from the conceptualization of language as skill and the development of L2 skills in communicative and intercultural approaches, through challenges in teaching specific skills and their components, to the consideration of the possibilities and limitations of the use of modern technology in assisting students in skill acquisition. The volume's contributors point to the multiaspectuality of the process of developing language skills with reference to different age groups, diverse educational and social contexts, as well as instructional activities focusing on isolated and integrated skills. The book also includes original empirical studies concerning learning, teaching, and testing numerous aspects of language skills in L2 attainment. The book will be of interest to researchers, classroom teachers, and specialists in language education, philology and applied linguistics, as well as to graduate students involved in the study of language skills acquisition and instruction.