The 4 Language Skills and How To Practice Them in Spanish

Speaking Spanish involves so much more than just speaking. 

In fact, it requires developing four basic language skills which together empower you to master the language. 

Keep reading to learn about these four language learning skills, including a definition for each one of them, their benefits, and strategies to master them—with plenty of activities and resources included. 

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Table of Contents:

• What Are the 4 Basic Language Learning Skills?
• The 4 Language Learning Skills
• Develop These 4 Language Skills To Improve Your Spanish

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What Are the 4 Basic Language Learning Skills?

When you decided that you wanted to speak Spanish, what you actually decided was to learn the Spanish language. 

That’s a process that involves developing the four basic language learning skills, also known as the four communication skills. 

These essential skills are: 

1. Listening
2. Speaking
3. Reading
4. Writing

Think about it and you’ll see that this makes sense. You don’t want to simply be able to speak Spanish without being able to listen to and understand it. Similarly, this applies to reading and writing in Spanish as well.

The 4 Language Learning Skills

Academic language skills are categorized into receptive language skills (listening and reading) and expressive language skills (speaking and writing). 

Let’s cover each one! 

Receptive Language Skills

Also known as “passive language skills,” receptive language skills are those needed by the receiver to decode the message. These abilities are listening and reading. 

Listening

Listening is a psychological process that involves receiving a message, constructing meaning from it and responding to it. However, if you want to truly develop your listening skills, you need to engage in active listening. 

Active listening is “a lot more than simply hearing what someone is saying.” It requires concentration. You dedicate “your full attention to the words being spoken.” 

In other words, you must “listen while actively engaging with the content you’re hearing.”

Benefits

The benefits of developing your Spanish listening skills include the possibility to communicate with native Spanish speakers in oral form, engage in conversations, understand Spanish songs and podcasts, and watch shows and films in Spanish. 

How to Master It

To master the listening skill, you need to immerse yourself in Spanish language and practice. Here you have some ideas, examples, and resources on how to do it: 

Activities and Resources

• Listen to Spanish podcasts
• Watch Spanish TV shows and films
• Listen to Spanish music
• Engage in a conversation with a native Spanish speaker
• Change your GPS, Siri, Alexa, language to Spanish
• Watch YouTube videos in Spanish
• Watch Spanish slow news
• Use lyrics training
• Listen to LibriVox audiobooks
• Visit SpanishListening

Reading

On your path to Spanish literacy, working on your reading skills is crucial. Reading is a process that requires decoding written words. Some researchers consider it the most difficult skill to learn. 

The good news is that Spanish is a phonetic language, which means that every letter has one (and one only) sound associated with it. So, if you know the sound of each letter, you can read what’s written (even if you don’t yet understand what it means).

Benefits

• “Opens the door to a new world of stories, cultures, and traditions”
• Read renowned Spanish authors in their native language 
• Access Spanish-speaking world newspapers
• Enhance your vocabulary
• Understand contracts and official paperwork in Spanish

How to Master It

There are many strategies to improve your Spanish reading skills. The following lists includes the most popular ones: 

Activities and Resources

• Label everything in Spanish around your house
• Use the Language Learning with Netflix Extension
• Read aloud
• Use a Spanish reading app
• Read Spanish newspapers online
• Use this comprehensive Spanish Reading Guide 
• Read bilingual books
• Read classic Latin American authors

Expressive Language Skills

These language skills are those that you need to produce Spanish expressions either in spoken or written language. 

Speaking

Speaking is arguably the most coveted language learning skill. People want to speak Spanish to be able to communicate orally. Students of the language “should be able to make themselves understood” using their oral language skills.  

Speaking is “the basis of all human interactions” and it’s not only as a goal, but also a learning strategy. What’s more, developing your speaking skills involves working on your pronunciation abilities. 

Benefits

When you learn to speak in Spanish, you open a door to a world of 559 million people who speak the same language. Only Mandarin has more native speakers than Spanish. 

How to Master It

To speak a language you need to speak it, which is stating the obvious, but also very true. To speak Spanish, you need to find ways to practice it and force yourself to apply what you have learned so far. 

Activities and Resources

• Find a Spanish language partner
• Get a Spanish tutor
• Go to a Spanish conversation club
• Use the World’s Most Complete Spanish Pronunciation Guide
• Practice Spanish Tongue Twisters

Writing

This language skill requires you to be able to express yourself in written texts. But the goal isn’t just to learn to write in Spanish. Developing proficient writing abilities allows you to communicate your ideas clearly and efficiently.  

Benefits

Learning to write in Spanish allows you to communicate via email, chats, letters, or even social media with the Spanish-speaking world. It also helps you to develop your spelling and focus on your grammar. 

How to Master It

Mastering writing in Spanish is perhaps one of the most challenging tasks for all levels of learners. When you make a grammar mistake while speaking, it may go unnoticed. 

However, when you make a grammar mistake in writing, it will likely be noticed. To avoid these mistakes, apply the following writing strategies:

Activities and Resources

• Start with simple sentences and add later transition words
• Keep a Spanish journal
• Interact with Spanish social media accounts
• Engage in Spanish-speaking chats
• Learn about texting in Spanish  
• Set your keyboard to Spanish
• Find a Spanish pen pal

Develop These 4 Language Skills To Improve Your Spanish

By developing the four basic language skills, you’ll improve your Spanish in a balanced way. What’s more, working on any of these language skills strengthens the development of the other three, as they’re all closely connected. 

Remember that speaking Spanish (and listening to, reading, and writing it) allows you to talk, relate, and do business with more people. Just in the United States, 53 million people speak Spanish. 

Sign up today for a free trial class at Homeschool Spanish Academy with one of our certified, native-speaking teachers from Guatemala. We teach over 24,000 actively enrolled students every month and offer flexible scheduling and tailored Spanish programs. 

Join one of the 40,000 classes that we teach each month and you can experience results like these

Want more free Spanish resources and learning strategies? Check these out!

• 6 Benefits of Spanish Immersion for Children
• Homeschool Spanish Academy vs the Cultured Kid 
• How To Learn Spanish at Home for Beginners
• 10 Ways Learning Spanish Can Improve Your Child’s Behavior
• 8 Places to Learn Spanish in Costa Rica
• Equipping Your Child for Fluency: 8 Tips for Teaching Spanish
• 7 Spanish Reading Games for Kids: Boosting Literacy Skills
• Are Online Spanish Classes the Future of Language Learning?