6 Developing language-related skills

Developing skills is about being able to put knowledge into practice, and improving through repetition. Think about, for example, the skills needed to ride a bicycle or to bake bread, or the craft required to make objects, furniture or clothes through carpentry, pottery, sewing, knitting, etc. Acquiring skills implies learning by doing, and it requires practice.

Crucially, it also involves making errors and learning from them. This is important to realise as a language learner: mistakes will be made along the way. You need to embrace the risk in trying new things out, and accept that occasionally getting it wrong is all part of the learning process! The key thing to remember is that your aim is to be understood, rather than to produce perfect sentences immediately. Communication is more important than accuracy.

In this section, you will find out more about developing the main language-related skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking and interaction skills.

Language-related skills also include translation and intercultural communication. You will find out more about these skills later in Week 7.