Languages are generally taught and assessed in terms of the ‘four skills’: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Reading is a key component of learning a second language and it is without a doubt important as a language does not consist solely of the spoken word. There are many benefits to developing excellent reading skills in the target language; one benefit is the culture that one gains by reading in the target language. Through reading, students gain access to literature written in the target language. This literature shows the students what authentic materials in the target language look like as well as provides them with insight into the cultural beliefs and values.
These skills should be addressed in a way that helps students meet the standards you set for them and develop their communicative competence gradually.
Listening and speaking: these two skills are highly interrelated and work simultaneously in real life situations. So, the integration of the two aims at fostering effective oral communication. This integration will assure real-life and purposeful communication.
Reading and writing: they form a strong relationship with each other as skills. They are tools for achieving an effective written communication. Students need opportunities to develop their reading and writing skills. Developing students’ competencies in reading and writing requires exposing students to gradually challenging reading materials and writing tasks. The aim is making students read and write effectively.
The purpose of language learning is to improve the speakers’ four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, with the base of large vocabulary and good grammar, but this is not the final purpose. The final purpose is to let speakers be able to use the language. For instance, why do people study English? If a man is only good at listening and speaking, can people say that he is good at English? No. If a woman is only good at reading and writing, can people say that she is good at the language? No. In addition, most of the speakers do better in reading and writing than in listening and speaking. They can read and write, but they can hardly communicate. They can hardly express themselves with their own words. We are not able to change the examination system, but we can improve our learning method. So when speakers want to use a language well, do not forget to know all the abilities of the four skills.