Modes of Human Activities
Mode of Human Activities
Involving Language
There are eight modes of human
activities involving learning. These are-
1. Listening
2. Speaking
3. Reading
4. Writing
5. Viewing
6. Shaping
7. Watching
8. Moving
Let us discuss
them one by one-
1. Listening:
The language of individual begins to develop at birth through listening. It is
the basic skill that provides for the development of speaking, reading and
writing skills. Children learn language by listening to these around them. They
not only listen to the spoken words, but also to the rhythm and intonation
pattern of the language they hear.
2. Speaking:
Speaking involves making use of vocal sounds to communicate meaning to others. But
these sounds are not produced in an overt effort on the part of a child, but
needs effort, practice and training.
3. Reading:
Reading is the interpretation of written symbols. It involves visual
perceptions of the symbols and the connection of meaning with those symbols. It
is also a way of taking information that has been recorded in print by another
person. The reader has to decode a written message in the light of his
experience.
4. Writing:
Writing implies the use of printed words to communicate with others or
recording ideas for himself and others. It involves use of graphic motor skills
and for a reader to understand what the writer has expressed, there should a
commonality of experience related to the written message.
5. Viewing:
Viewing implies interpreting visual media, which includes photographs,
illustrations, maps, diagrams as well as video presentation through television,
internet, CD’s etc. It can also include live performance in theatres and
classroom. The messages received from such media must be comprehended using the
same thinking skills needed for comprehending the print material that is read.
6. Shaping:
It refers to gradually molding or training and organism to perform a specific
respond (behavior) by reinforcing any responses that are similar to desired
response. A child is to be trained in the art of expressing his thoughts
through shapes and figures. His ‘shaping’ should also passes the thinking
skills because shaping is also a way of expressing his thoughts. It is a visual
form of language.
7. Watching:
It means attending the movements. It refers to looking or observing attentively
or carefully the monuments around an organism. It is a way of learning through
visual observation. By watching a child comprehends the different aspects and
processes inherent in a particular design or program and produces it when
necessary.
8. Moving:
It refers to using the whole body or the person himself to perform task. It implies
changing or capable of changing positions to produce desired effect.
Listening and Speaking SKills
Through
listening and speaking, students will be expected to-
a. Contribute
thoughts, ideas and questions to discussion and compare their own ideas with
those of others.
b. Ask
and respond to questions to seek classification.
c. Defend
or support their opinions with evidence.
d. Listen
critically to other’s ideas and perspectives.
e. Contribute
to and respond constructively in small groups and whole group discussions.
f. Use word choice and emphasis thereby making a
conscious attempt to produce the desired effect.
g. To
engage in, respond to and evaluate a variety of oral presentations.
h. Listen
attentively and demonstrate awareness of the needs, rights and feelings of
others.
i. Detect examples of prejudice, stereotyping or
biasness in oral language, recognized their negative effect and attempt to use
bias free language.
j. Make a conscious attempt to consider the needs
and expectations of their evidence.
Reading and Viewing Skills
Through reading
and viewing, students will be expected to-
a. Select
independently text appropriate to their range of interests and learning needs.
b. Read
widely and experience if a variety of children’s literature weight and emphasis
in genre and authors.
c. Use
and integrate a variety of reading strategies with increasing independence to
construct meaning.
d. Reflect
on and discuss their own processes and strategies in reading and viewing.
e. Answer
with increasing independence their own questions and those of others by
selecting relevant information from a variety of texts.
f. Demonstrate an increasing ability to make
connections among texts.
g. Consider
information from alternative perspectives.
h. Identify
the conventions and structure of a variety of print and media texts.
i. Respond critically to text by applying a growing
range of strategies to analyze and evaluate a text as well as demonstrate a growing
awareness that all texts reflect a purpose and a perspective.
However, the
trend in the present time is a combination of method rather than using method
according to the circumstances or the class. There are also different kinds of
materials and techniques of teaching or reading and those have to be made use
of by the teacher to develop the habits of correct reading in the students.
Flash cards, blackboard etc. can be used to develop reading. Moreover,
different skills of reading like loud and silent reading, intensive and
extensive reading, skimming, scanning, inferring, extrapolation etc. should be
emphasized while developing the reading ability as a whole.
The Writing Skills
The skill of
writing is important as it enables the learners-
a. To
learn the motor skills of good handwriting.
b. To
learn spellings, punctuation, use of capital and small letters etc.
c. To
reinforce vocabulary and structures already mastered orally.
d. To
keep a written record of what has been learnt.
e. To
address for achievement tests.
The pupils
should be made to write only those structures and vocabulary items which he has
practiced orally and read well. The mechanism of writing includes-
a. To
make letters of the right shape and size.
b. To
have proper spacing between letters, words and lines.
c. To
use capital letters and punctuation marks correctly.
d. To
have a fluent hand movement in writing.
Writing, Shaping, Watching and Moving Skills
Through writing, shaping,
watching, moving, students are expected to-
a. Use
a range of strategies in writing and other ways of presenting to frame
questions, find topics of personal importance, to record, develop and reflect
an ideas, to describe feelings, reactions, values and attitudes and to formulate
goals for learning and applies strategies to monitor learning.
b. Make
language choices to enhance meaning and achieve interesting effects in
imaginative writing and other ways of representing.
c. Create
written and media texts, using and increasing variety of forms and at the same
time demonstrate and understanding that each form requires specific features,
structure and pattern.
d. Address
the demands of an increasing variety of purposes and evidence.
e. Select
and present strategies to develop effective piece of writing and other representation.
f. Use technology with increasing proficiency to
create, revise, edit and publish texts.
g. Select,
organize and combine relevant information from three to five sources.
