1. Skills are things that people must be ableto do to be competent in a language,relatively independently of the situation orsetting in which the language use canoccur
2. The content of the skill-based languageteaching is a collection of specific abilitiesthat may play a part in using language.
3. The primary objective of a skill-basedinstruction is to teach a specific
language skill, such as listening for gist,using proper intonation contours, readingfor the main idea, or using cohesive devicesin writing. These specific skills are immersedwith specific linguistic competencies, such aspronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, anddiscourse
4. The skills-based approach drew itstheoretical roots from behavioral psychology and structural linguistics.Specifically, it is based on the followingprinciples:
(a) The whole is equal to the sum of itsparts;
(b) There are differences between spokenand written language;
(c) Oral language acquisition precedes thedevelopment of literacy;
(d) Language learning is teacher-directedand fact-oriented;
(e) Student errors are just like ‘sins’ whichshould be eliminated at all cost.
5. Advocates of the skill-based approachview language as a collection of separateskills. Each skill is divided into subskills(micro and macro skills).
6. These subskills are gradually taught in apredetermined sequence through directexplanation, modeling and repetition.
7. The mastery of these skills are constantlymeasured using discrete point testsbefore learning a new one.