9.1 INTROD

Notes

9.1 INTRODUCTION Skills, in general terms, refer to endowments (natural or acquired), which an individual possesses and which may, therefore, be used to perform specific tasks. A natural skill is one which bequeathed to one by nature. That is, one may be born with it or grow up with it, such that is it may be taken as an integral part of the person. An acquired skill is one, which is learnt either in a formal or an informal environment. Skills, whether natural or acquired, are of immense benefit to the possessor, since they place him or her at an advantage over another person, who is unskilled. An unskilled labourer, for instance, has a major disadvantage at a construction site in that he or she may be the last to be hired. The skilled labourer, on the other hand, is easily hired because it is expected that his or her skill would be an asset when the construction work demands it. In the same vein, a skilled communicator is of immense benefit to his or her organisation. What are the relevant language skills that promote communicative activities and how are they inter-related? Basically, there are two types of language communicative skills: receiving and sending. Receiving skills ar...