What are the four macroskills in English and their uses?

In English, as in with most languages, the four main skills needed to communicate effectively are:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

In terms of language acquisition and communication, these four skills are often referred to as macro-skills.

The four English Macro-skills
When someone learns a new language, the first thing they'll learn is to "listen" to that nguage - and identify the different components of speech.

Next, they'll learn to imitate what they've heard - and speak for themselves.

Listening and speaking are considered the two parts of "spoken" language. The terms input and output are used to describe the function of these two skills - with listening being the input of data, and speech being the output.

Reading and writing are the next two macro-skills, and they function along the same input/output principle. Sometimes, people refer to the principle of input/output as reception/production.

What's a linguistic macro-skill? What's a micro-skill?
When it comes to learning language, macro-skills are broad skills that need to be mastered in order to communicate effectively.

The term "micro-skills" refers to specific areas of language that define the rules, semantics, and structure of language. These micro-skills include:

• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Punctuation.