FTCE Professional Education Practice Exam

According to James Cummins, what are reading and listening classified as?

1. Productive skills

2. Receptive skills

3. Conversational skills

4. Academic skills

The correct answer is: Receptive skills

James Cummins, a prominent linguist known for his work on bilingual education and language acquisition, categorizes skills involved in language comprehension into two main types: receptive and productive skills. Reading and listening fall under the category of receptive skills because they involve the intake and understanding of language rather than its production. Receptive skills allow individuals to process and comprehend the language that they hear (listening) or read (reading). These skills are foundational for language learning, as they enable learners to gather information and make sense of the world around them through the language input they receive. In contrast, productive skills—such as speaking and writing—require the learner to generate language themselves. The distinction is important for educators and language instructors, as it helps in structuring lessons and understanding the varying components involved in language acquisition and proficiency.