The four macro skills used in the English language are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.
It is necessary to be proficient in each of these, but it is imperative to be equally proficient in all of them equally.
It is not enough for us to be able to just listen and speak, we also need to be able to read and write, we could never function successfully in adult life with just one or two of these skills.
For example, I can read your question on here and write an answer to you, but if you were with me right now you, could also ask me the question and I would listen and respond to you verbally.
Reading and writing are fantastic tools but without listening and speaking they would be worth much less.
