Unit - 1

LSRW Skills

1.1 Active Listening: Meaning and art of Listening

Listening is giving your attention to sound and interpreting what you hear. The process involves initially hearing a sound, identifying it, and then processing its meaning.

Listening is receiving language through the ears. Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences. When we listen, we use our ears to receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these into messages that mean something to us.

Listening in any language requires focus and attention. It is a skill that some people need to work at harder than others. People who have difficulty concentrating are typically poor listeners. Listening in a second language requires even greater focus.

Listening is the first of the four language skills, which are: -

In our own language, listening is usually the first language skill that we learn.

1.1.1 Active listening

Active listening is the ability to focus completely on a speaker, understand their message, comprehend the information and respond thoughtfully. Unlike passive listening, which is the act of hearing a speaker without retaining their message, this highly valued interpersonal communication skill ensures you’re able to engage and later recall specific details without needing information repeated.

Active listeners use verbal and non-verbal techniques to show and keep their attention on the speaker. This not only supports your ability to focus but also helps ensure the speaker can see that you are focused and engaged. Instead of thinking about and mentally rehearsing what you might say when the speaker is done, an active listener carefully considers the speaker’s words and commits the information to memory.

1.2 Pronunciation, Tongue-Twisters

Pronunciation" refers to the way in which we make the sound of words.

To pronounce words, we push air from our lungs up through our throat and vocal chords, through our mouth, past our tongue and out between our teeth and lips. (Sometimes air also travels through our nose.)

To change the sound that we are making, we mainly use the muscles of our mouth, tongue and lips to control the shape of our mouth and the flow of air. If we can control the shape of our mouth and the flow of air correctly, then our pronunciation is clearer and other people understand us more easily.

Speakers of different languages tend to develop different muscles of the mouth for pronunciation. When we speak a foreign language, our muscles may not be well developed for that language, and we will find pronunciation more difficult. By practising the foreign language pronunciation, our muscles develop and pronunciation improves.

As well as creating correct vowel and consonant sounds using the muscles of our mouth, tongue and lips, there are other important aspects of pronunciation, including:

1.2.1 Tongue twisters

A sentence or series of words that is hard to say correctly is called a tongue twister in English. They are also a great tool for language learners to use to practise their English pronunciation. These fun phrases can be difficult for even native speakers, with confusing alliteration and combinations of similar words. Practicing these challenging sentences out loud will help you to get the hang of various sounds and get your pronunciation just right.

Some tongue twisters are:

1.3 Stress in English Language

STRESS:
English is known as a stressed language.

Stressed languages are languages spoken with differing degrees of emphasis on the words and syllables in the sentences.

Although stress and intonation are an important part of English pronunciation, learners must remember that it would be impossible for anyone to speak naturally with a set of rules in mind.

By far the best way to improve one's pronunciation is through constant contact with native speakers of English, either through conversation, by watching films and news channels, or listening to the radio.

However, the patterns of stress outlined below may be useful to learners, for example when preparing a discussion or a presentation, and help them to feel more comfortable.

WORD STRESS:

In English we accentuate or stress ONE syllable in a word.

We pronounce that syllable louder than others.

There are words with just one syllable (e.g., mind), and words with one STRESSED syllable and one or more WEAK syllables (e.g., remind, reminder, reminding).

In the examples below, bold letters indicate stressed syllables.

1) When a noun or adjective stems from a one-syllable word, (for example art, mind), the stress usually stays on the syllable of the original word.

STRESSED WORDS WITHIN SENTENCES

Not all words receive equal stress within a sentence in English.

Content words are stressed. Content words include:

Nouns (e.g., school, station, train)

Normal verbs (e.g., run, work, speak)

Adjectives (e.g., beautiful, tall, friendly)

Adverbs (e.g., quickly, noisily, badly)

Function words are unstressed. Function words include:

Determiners (e.g., a, an, the)

Auxiliary verbs (e.g., can, have, may, will, etc.)

Conjunctions (e.g., and, but, as, etc.)

Pronouns (e.g.  you, he, she, us, it, them, etc.)

Even if the listener does not hear some quickly pronounced function words, the meaning of the whole sentence should be clear. This is how native speakers of English communicate.
Emphasis is put on the most important words.

For example: "Would you like a cup of tea?"

It is a general rule of English that when there is a sequence of equal stresses, the last stressed word should be the strongest, or the loudest - which in the above case would be tea.
Try to imagine receiving a text message like "train delayed home late".
You understand that this means: 'The train has been delayed. I will be home late"
Only content words are used in the message but the meaning is quite clear.
In English, words are stressed according to the meaning the speaker wants to convey.
For example, depending in which word in the following sentence is stressed, the meaning changes:

• Are you going to the cinema tonight? (or is it someone else?)

• Are you going to the cinema tonight? (or not?)

• Are you going to the cinema tonight? (or somewhere else?)

• Are you going to the cinema tonight? (or another night?)

During a conversation, learners should listen for stressed content words in order to understand the meaning of the whole sentence.

Likewise, they should practice stressing content words in their speech so that other people will understand them.

1.4 Reading Style

Reading is a method of communication that enables a person to turn writing into meaning. It allows the reader to convert a written text into a meaningful language with independence, comprehension, and fluency, and to interact with the message.

Reading is a great habit that can change human life significantly. It can entertain us; amuse us and enrich us with knowledge and experiences narrated. There exist some reading techniques, which if mastered at a growing stage can help us, be better and far more comprehensive readers. These skills might not necessarily be learned as rigid theories or rules but if understood well once they can definitely enhance the reading skills and increase the quality and quantity of output that we get from after reading.

 Skimming

This reading technique is used for getting the gist of the whole text lead. We generally use this technique at the time of reading a newspaper or magazine.

Under this technique, we read quickly to get the main points and skip over the detail. It is useful in getting a preview of a passage before reading it in detail or reviving understandings of a passage after reading it in detail.

Scanning

Scanning through the text is a reading strategy that is used for getting some specific points by looking at the whole text. For highlighting the important points of a book, the readers can skim through the summary or the preface or the beginning and end chapters of that book.

For example, this technique is used for looking up a name from the telephone guidebook.

Churning:

Churning helps us interpret the text from a viewpoint. Churning also helps us infer the unstated facts in the text. Knowledge of word-meanings is very important for churning.

To churn is defined as to stir or shake milk or cream with intense movements in the process of making butter, to stir up and agitate, or to produce something at a rapid and regular rate. An example of to churn is for a boat to create waves while moving quickly through the water.

Assimilation:

Assimilating is the final stage of reading, when we set the information in our memory, for use in future. The process of taking in and fully understanding information or ideas.

Assimilation is a cognitive process that manages how we take in new information and incorporate that new information into our existing knowledge. 

1.5 Effective Writing Tool, Writing: Methods

Paragraph types and paragraph purpose are two different things. Paragraph types can generally be categorized as introduction, body, or conclusion. They can also be described by their form, generally inductive and deductive. Finally, paragraphs can also be categorized by their purposes, which can be to introduce, to conclude, to compare or contrast, to narrate, to describe, to classify, to define, to show cause and effect, to show a process, to inform, to summarize, to evaluate, to synthesize, and to persuade. Many times, a paragraph may do more than one of these things at the same time, so sentences serve these purposes instead. Conversely, sometimes a whole essay will generally serve one of these purposes. 

Various techniques are used in Paragraph Development.

Inductive Paragraphs

Inductive paragraphs begin generally and end more specifically with a point, topic sentence, major idea or thesis. There are a few reasons someone might write an inductive sentence. In an introduction when a reader needs to be drawn into your topic before learning what your point about that topic is going to be. The second reason someone might write an inductive paragraph is if they believe the reader might disagree with their point. Therefore, they may begin with a number of facts to persuade the reader to logically lead the reader to the writer's conclusion. The other major situation in which a writer might want to use an inductive paragraph form would be to introduce an argument or idea that they are arguing against. That idea must be introduced first before arguing against it and eventually leading to the writer's point.

Deductive Paragraphs

Deductive paragraphs begin with their point (topic sentence), and then go on to support and develop that point. This is the most common type of paragraph in academic essays and the type with which you are probably most familiar. Many times, body paragraphs are deductive, and conclusions almost always are deductive paragraphs, beginning with a more nuanced restatement of the thesis. 

Expository

Expository writing is used to convey factual information (as opposed to creative writing, such as fiction). It is the language of learning and understanding the world around us. Expository writing is everywhere in everyday life, not just academic settings, as it's present anytime there's information to be conveyed. It can take form in an academic paper, an article for a newspaper, a report for a business, or even book-length nonfiction. It explains, informs, and describes.

Linear Method

Linear means consisting of lines or one dimensional. A logical sequence is followed by the sentences of a paragraph. The arrangement can also consist of a system of outlines or enumeration (listing/ numbering) of events.

The classic arrangement of paragraphs in a text may be described as “linear” or time-based. In other words, the narrator typically starts at the beginning and moves logically to the end.

Interrupted:

Whenever the writer gives a break to the line of thought and gives a turn to the idea to produce the desired effect, he uses this method.

A paragraph break is a single line space/ an indentation for both: marking the division between one paragraph and the next in a body of text. It is also termed as a part break.

Paragraph breaks conventionally serve to signal the transition from one idea to another in a stretch of text, and from one speaker to another in an exchange of dialogue.

Spatial Method or space order:

The dictionary meaning of the word 'spatial' is 'of relating to space and the relationship of objects within it'. The term 'Spatial order' means the method of writing in which the ideas or the elements in an essay are arranged in the order of their physical location. This helps the reader, to visualize what the writer sees and therefore, it is better to understand the physical qualities of the Subject matter.

The method further helps the reader, to envision the layout of the land, the writer describes or the phenomenon of each component with in the machine. So, spatial order is the logical divisions of a subject, on the basis of how they are arranged in order of space / place.

Chronological:

A chronological paragraph is one that shows a sequence of events in the order they occurred. The goal is to convey a clear sequence through time, and to do that it will have to use transitional words (first, next, then, finally, as soon as, subsequently, etc.)

This is the natural order if narration in which one event leads to another. It is used to document time of an action, event or the steps of an instruction. Chronological order is also used to document (write) steps in an instruction. For example, the documentation of emergency medical services provided by an emergency medical technician chronological order (in order of time).

References:

1. Technical Communication, (Second Ed.); O.U.P., Meenakshi Raman & S. Sharma New Delhi, 2011

2. Personality Development, Harold R. Wallace et. al, Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd; New Delhi 2006

3. Personality Development & Soft Skills, Barun K. Mitra, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2012.

4. Practical Communication by L.U.B. Pandey; A.I.T.B.S. Publications India Ltd.; Krishan Nagar, 2013, Delhi.

5. Developing Communication Skills: by Krishna Mohan, Meera Banerji; McMillan India Ltd, Delhi,1990.