Basic Language Skills as a Tool for Enhancing Students' Learning: A Case Study of Undergraduates' Perceptions

Abstract

Four basic and interrelated language skills i.e., listening, reading, writing and speaking have long been used by language teachers as a prerequisite as well as an indispensable part of foreign language teaching. In this context, the key intent of this survey design quantitative study was to examine views of undergraduate students about the extent of efficacy of these basic language skills in enhancing their learning and how students approach and use each of the skills. The data used to reach the conclusions were collected through a 23 item self-developed questionnaire comprising four sub-scales i.e., listening (5 items), reading (9 items), writing (5 items), and speaking (4 items). The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 207 male and female students randomly selected from three departments of one public university in Pakistan. Based on the descriptive and inferential analyses of students’ responses, it was concluded that students consider all the four basic language skills as an effective and helpful tool for enhancement of their learning as well as delivery of information. The study finally recommends teaching these skills to students at early educational levels with different methods and approaches to make them more successful and willing learners.