I am a native English speaker, so I cannot directly answer your question, but I thought I would share a perspective I have held for several years:

I think that speaking and writing use very different areas of the brain.  Even with my native-speaking students, a person may be a good, fluent speaker, but still write poorly with disorganization, terrible grammar, and unclear ideas.

We often think of the four language skills as being closely related to each other, but I think they are more distinct from each other than many people think.

Dear @Michael W. Marek 

Thank yo so much for sharing your experience.  I usually encourage the eclectic approach  in which all   the four skills were used and tested . But to be Frank, I encourage oral communication in addition to them.

Regards 

Liqaa 

First of all let me say thank you so much Dr. Liqaa for your important question especially for non English native speakers, I fully agreed with Dr. Michael W. Marek, where this phenomenon is also spread in other languages, but I think that, best method to improve English language skills is by active and continuous oral communication with other speakers, beside that listening to standard English channels like BBC, Euro news,..etc.

I hope to be right in my so simple comment.

Regards, Emad 

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"How to Bring Up Lagging Speaking Skills – Foreign Language Advice

......    Well here are five things you can try.

1. Speak more.

2. Read Aloud.

3. Write More.

4. Talk about a topic.

5. Drill short phrases.

6. Do grammar drills.

Wrapping Up

Remember, you don’t have to be perfect at speaking to enjoy a language. But it is fun feeling your speaking come up to speed, and following the tips above should help you get there."....

Please, goto the link for more details...

http://www.languagesurfer.com/2014/04/01/how-to-bring-up-lagging-speaking-skills-foreign-language-advice/

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"10 Steps to Improving Your English Language and Pronunciation Skills 

1. Learn and become aware.

2. Monitoring. 

3. Repetitive Review.

4. Repetitive Practice. 

5. Self-Correction. 

6. Write down your questions. 

7. Keep a running vocabulary list. 

8. Think in English.

9. Talk to yourself out loud at home.

10. Train your Ears. "......

Please, see the attached website for further reading....

http://www.elementalenglish.com/ten-steps-improve-english-pronunciation-language-skills/

Hello Dr.Emad 

Ya, you are right. The most right way to acquire good language for foreign learners as I think, is to test it orally with other speakers. Thank you so much.

Liqaa 

 Dear @Hazim Has him Tahir 

Thanks a lot for these precious advices .

Liqaa 

You are welcome Dr. Liqaa, I just want to submit something benefit, thank you very much.

Emad

http://www.elementalenglish.com/ten-steps-improve-english-pronunciation-language-skills/

http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/Study%20Skills%20Guides/3%20Research%20skills.htm

Dear Dr. Emad

Good Day,

I had that reference quoted in my second reply.!!!!!  See that, please... (http://www.elementalenglish.com/ten...lish-pronunciation-language-skills/)

Dear Dr. Hazim,

I am so sorry, trust me this was by chance only!!, you posts are highly appreciated, so please forgive me. I am declaring here that this post is for our beloved colleague Dr. Hazim. I hope that I correct my fault!!

Regards, Emad

https://www.eslpod.com/new_home4/home_files2/video-embed.html

Whenever I encounter an unknown English word

I try to look up the translation in an online

dictionary like LEO.

http://dict.leo.org/englisch-deutsch/nachschlagen

My memory partially resides on external data

carriers. I store translations and meanings

of words in a big semantic network.

http://www.augos.com/ki/semnet_en.html

Wikipedia often has the option to switch between

languages.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sollwert

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setpoint_(control_system%29

Conjugation tables can be found with Google:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=conjugate+catch

Sometimes you've got to determine which alternative

is a correct or better one. This can be done with "vs."

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=melted+vs.+molten

With wildcards it is possible to find sample sentences.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=he+%2A+the+door

For pronunciation and meter I recommend

Carl Sagan's Cosmos on Youtube.

Regards,

Joachim

As a foreign language speaker, how are you developing your English language, whether spoken or written?

Agreed with the sharing from other researchers / scholars that to improve English, we need to read more, write more & speak more.  Want to add also we need to search more i.e. every time when we encountered a new unfamiliar vocabulary, we need to be committed to find out its meaning, grammatical usage, pronunciation & understand / remember them.

Dear @Dr. Emad,

Good Day,

I am very sure, you did not do that intentionally.

Thanks a lot dear colleagues Dr.Emad and Dr .Hazim for your valuable references.

Liqaa 

 Dear @Joachim Pimiskern 

Thank you so much for your enriching answer and valuable references. 

Liqaa 

Speaking is the most important part and many people have. A good skills in writing and reading but speaking is hard .

So we have to manage all but we shall concentrate on it.

Regards

I agree with you dear Hang Ping Fung . I like your addition ' search more' because it is really important as I think.  Also, counslting the dictionary daily is a healthy habit to develop a language. 

Liqaa 

Dear Maximus 

Writing and reading take the priority in learning a language if the sake to be able to read and write but if your intention of learning a language is to be a good speaker then you should focus on speaking (interaction) and listening. 

Liqaa 

I am a Japanese and lived in Dalian, China, as a fourth year pupil of an elementary school (10 years old) when the World War II was ended. Then, I had a chance of learning English at a private class after the school for about a year and got the English education up to the level of third year junior high school students of those days.

Thus, English became one of my most favorite lessons in junior and senior high schools. I looked up in a dictionary the new words that appeared in English textbooks and repeatedly read each story in the textbooks until I memorized it. When I was a university student, I liked to study physics by the textbooks written in English.

After I became a researcher, I studied English conversation with Linguaphone’s self-study language product. I also read several books Written in English about how to write articles in English. In my spare time, I was always enjoying to read such English science books as written for the general public but interesting also for scientists.

Thanks colleague Dr.Mohamed Hassan . I agree with speaking is hard but crucial skill in learning a new language.

Liqaa  

Dear Maximus

I think that interaction with native speakers of the language is the most important source of developing fluency.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc4gh5gP1AE

Dear Dr.Tatsuo Tabata 

Thanks a lot for sharing your interesting experience. It is really ideal series of steps to learn a language. 

Liqaa 

I agree with you dear Dr.Arwa. Thank you so much for your enriching answer. 

Liqaa 

Some tips for developing fluency. 

https://www.google.iq/amp/m.wikihow.com/Develop-Fluency-in-English%3famp=1#ampshare=http://www.wikihow.com/Develop-Fluency-in-English

Very useful YouTube presentation thank you so much Dr.Arwa. I always used to use YouTube to enhance my English language 4 Skills, there are Gill, Jade and others.

Thank you so much.

Regards, Emad 

https://www.engvid.com

I started by listening to the news. Reading books or newspapers will find you new words which you can look up. Lastly, try talking to English speakers, even if they themselves are not native English speakers.

Dear Michael Issigonis 

It is absolutely mature way to learn a language from a news. Thank you so much for sharing your interesting experience. 

Liqaa 

Dear dr , I think the best way to learning English as a foreign language is autonomy using  social media and any extensive reading and writing skills . 

Thanks dearest Dr.Fatima.Yes, I agree with you that one can rely on social media and extensive reading to develop language skills. 

Liqaa 

Some tips for developing fluency in a clear way 

https://youtu.be/KaA_mxga3PQ

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"6 Ways to Immediately Improve Your English Communication Skills

 ’Words don’t come easy.’

You may have memorized endless lists of vocabulary, you may know all the grammar needed to hold any conversation and still find yourself at a loss when wanting to express yourself.

There are various reasons behind this phenomenon – some of them more obvious than others.

In this article, I would like to give you a few tips to help overcome the difficulties you might be experiencing, using some of the simplest methods to improve your English communication skills.

1. Slow Down Your Speaking Speed

2. Give Yourself Time to Think

3. Learn Sentences, Not Only Words 

4. Learn to Listen

5. Practice Your Interrogatives

6. Produce, Produce, Produce."....

Please, goto the website link for more details....

https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/ways-to-improve-your-english-communication-skills/

Dear Dr Liqaa

To perfect my English speaking,  speak it to my university colleagues and students irrespective of their Home language-English or otherwise. I read a lot of English newspapers and magazines. If I encounter  words that I do not know I consult both my English dictionary and the thesaurus. I also listen to radio programs that are broadcasted by English Home language announcers. Movies in which characters engaged in English discussions are also helpful.

 Thank you so much dr Hazim for these important information. 

Liqaa 

Dear Thokozani Ndaleni 

Thank you so much for sharing your valuable experience with English. I think it is interesting matter to develop ourselves in learning a language by rechecking it daily. 

Liqaa 

Dear doctor Liqaa, 

I think that learning English or any language requires autonomy. This means that the learner should learn by his own because what he receives at the institution is not enough to master the language. The learner should listen to native speakers of English to improve his listening and speaking skills. He needs to practice speaking English outside of the classroom (at home, with friends,...) Also, reading is an effective way to enrich vocabulary and grammar. Another effective way to learn  English is to have a language partner whenever possible. The partner helps to learn not only the linguistic features of English, but also the cultural features; knowing that culture is an important part in language learning. Moreover, EFL learners may benefit of the social media like youtube, facebook, Twitter... to find funny ways authentic materials to learn.

Best regards.  

 Thank you so much Dear Dr.Fatima Said Abdaoui for your enriching answer . I agree with you that all these ways are useful for developing fluency in English. 

Liqaa 

Dr. Liqaa I recommend speaking and listening. This is fundamental to develop communication skills in the students. 

Dear Nubian 

I agree with you totally.  Thank you so much for your answer. 

Liqaa 

It is an good question Dr. Liqaa you mentioned. from my point of view, vocabulary is considered as the skeleton of the language and to be the basis of the other skills of the language. In this regard, I remember the quotation of British linguist David Wilkins (1972) when said: "While without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed" (p. 111). Then, developing each skill can be developed based on its features. For sample, speaking and listening, the best way is by providing a communicative context for the students ans so for the other skills

Thanks dear Salam Nahwi for this objective answer. The serial order that you provide for learning and developing a language  is very logical and I agree with you totally. 

Liqaa 

Very useful tips for developing fluency attached in this link..

https://www.google.iq/amp/m.wikihow.com/Develop-Fluency-in-English%3famp=1#ampshare=http://www.wikihow.com/Develop-Fluency-in-English

Dear Liqaa, an interesting question as usual. As for me, I always listen to BBC channel. Listening to this channel makes increases my fluency and trains my ears to English as it must be spoken. Never to forget to check new words in the dictionary.

Dr. Liqaa I`m a foreign language speaker and I am still learning. For me,  it is very useful to listen to the news in English on the radio as well as on tv:  BBC, CNN, and other interesting English programs.  I consider that the integration of the four skills is very helpful for foreign speakers.  It is a good way to learn new vocabulary, It also helps people with the pronunciation and fluency. 

تدريسها بشكل فعلي .. وجدي في منذ  المرحلة الاولى في التعليم الابتدائي

Thanks a lot Dr.Mazin Alsalman 

Learning a language need to be continue not just in primary stage. Thanks for your comment. 

Liqaa 

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"100 Things You Can Do To Improve Your English

Have a read of the below list and we are sure you will find a lot of helpful tips to improve your English!

1- Don't be afraid to make mistakes. ...

2- Surround yourself in English. ...

3- Practise every day. ...

4- Tell your family and friends about your study plan. ...

5- Practise the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening.

     More items...

Please, goto the website and read the rest of the article, hope you enjoy.....

http://www.langports.com/100-things-you-can-do-to-improve-your-english/

You are right dear Nubia learning a language is a life long learning process. This learning does not occur without integration of all the four skills. 

Liqaa 

Thanks a lot dearest Dr.Arwa for sharing your interesting experience. I really like to hear the BBC channel specifically I like this accent so much. 

Liqaa 

Thank you so much Dr. Hazim for your cooperation. 

Liqaa 

Hello,

Conversation with native speakers is an excellent way to improve your speaking if you are learning a foreign language, and Indeed, the more vocabularies you know, the better your spoken language will be.

Hello,

Keep writing everything in English even for the simple things like shopping list, meeting notes, or diary is one way to develop and preserve my English in my non English speaking community. Reading books and newspaper in English also helps me adding my vocabulary, so I can use in conversation. Sometimes, I invite native speakers who visit my town to practice English with my students. So, I can get chances to improve my fluency as well as giving chance to my students to improve their speaking skill.

 Dear Dr. Aamal

You are absolutely right. The communication with native speakers of English considers one of the best exercises to improve the language. 

Thank you so much for your answer. 

Liqaa 

Dear Nia 

Thank you so much for sharing your interesting experience . Ya , you are right.  All these daily tasks can improve our language no doubt. 

Liqaa 

Thanks a lot dear Dr.Joachim .

I appreciate your valuable answer. 

Liqaa 

Dear Liqaa Habeb,

It is a very interesting question for those who speak and write English as a foreign language and teach it at schools.

I would like to tell you that teaching English as a foreign language requires a lot of effort and determination.

Murray, A (2010) states that to be an effective teacher requires a combination of professional knowledge and specialized skills as well as your own personal experience and qualities.

Improving your English is related to Continous Professional Development an with the way one has grown up professionally.

In my case improving my English fit within the several issues which characterized professional development.

Peer teaching and mentoring:  Preparing my lessons trying to be creative and dinamic. Listening to the older staff teachers and asking them to giveme feedback on important things related to teaching EFL.

Learning from others is key.

Joining teacher´s associations: I am a member of the Cuban Teacher´s Association (GELI), IATEFL, Association of Cuban Pedagogue-ELI.

Socializing with peers: I attend EFL activities where I share my experiences with other teachers of English from other institutions. I join academic networks such as Research Gate, Mendeley and Link In. Sharing and socializing is of great value. In this way I improve my English language.

Attending qualification courses: This is a very important aspect if you want to improve your English. Participating in workshops, webinars and conferences help you a great deal.

Wrting for publishing: It is an aim to grow up professionally and improve your writing skill.

Best of luck,

Ildefonso

Dear Litart Litarature 

I highly recommend what you state specifically the importance of sharing and socializing of experiences in developing the actual state of the foreign language.   Thank you so much for sharing your valuable experience. 

Liqaa 

  http://www.englishjet.com/english_courses_files/test_level.asp Regards, Emad

Thank you so much Dr.Emad for this interesting language checker. 

Grateful to you. 

Liqaa 

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

Please, goto the attached website link to watch an interesting clip that entitle "06 Tips To Improve Your English Today! - Free English speaking tips.

Learn English with Let's Talk - Free English Lessons".......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATxdWAyp4LE

Dear All. My mother languages are German and Spanosh, and Cazalan.

You are welcome dear Joachim .

Hello Liqaa:

Since Phonemic Awareness is very important, especial consideration has to be placed in teaching it accordingly. As a TESOL professional this is especially important.  As we develop a class curriculum, we must emphasize the inclusion of phonemic awareness. In addition, most of our learning and teaching as a TESOL professional has to include empathy for our students since they come to us from many different walks of life. It is not the same to learn from or teach ELLs, ESLs, and EFLs and we must be aware of these differences.

While learning a language, is useful to know the difference between incidental and deliberate learning because it allows us to strategically plan our learning. I personally think that both can be useful and much depends also on what is the level of the language learner. However, I tend to use much more incidental learning because by doing so I learn Italian while watching an exciting movie, reading an interesting book, speaking with my girlfriend and so on.

As Hulstijn (2003) points out, learning a second language can either mean months and years of intentionally study, by deliberately committing to memory thousands of words along with grammatical words, or it can mean incidentally learning by picking up‖ structures and lexicon of a language, through getting engaged in a variety of communicative activities, namely reading and listening, while the learner's attention is focused not on the form but on the meaning. 

Dear Guillermo 

Thank you so much for your outstanding answer.  I appreciate what you recommend. 

Liqaa 

Hello and good morning Liqaa:

You are quite welcome.

Guillermo

Proficiency in a language is acquired

initially  with

Later on it is passion driven

Very interisting question and resourceful answers. Thanks all.

Any foreign language can be learn with proficiency through daily practical use in communication like in schools and business especially English language. Social media and world entertainment contributes to language proficiency of every individual. Philippines is one of the countries in the world that people were proficient in English and into multi-lingualism because of local languages available.

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

Here is a very excellent course to improve your English.

Try and enter the attached website link, you will see something that says: "Improve Your English Communication Skills". Just follow the instruction and join for FREE!

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/improve-english

Thank you so much dear prof.Krishnan for your valuable answer .

Liqaa 

Thanks a lot dear Dr. Shah Md. You are most welcome. 

Liqaa 

 Outstanding experience with learning English dear John Paul Rivera Gorgonio . Thank you so much for your enriching answer. 

Liqaa 

Joachim Pimiskern have provided nice references -well done sir

Thank you so much for your participation Syed Amir Gilani. 

Liqaa 

Dear Sarra 

You are absolutely right. Listening is a good beginning for foreign language learners. Thank you so much for your answer. 

Liqaa 

Learning English language should be fun, through 

• Listening to Songs & Radio programmes
• Watching TV programmes
• Singing
• Enjoying Cinemas
• Enacting in Plays
• Articulating
• Participating & Demonstrating in oratorical and writing competitions etc.,

Useful tips dear Krishnan. Thank you so much for your participation. 

Liqaa 

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"Improving Your English

.....   

Immerse yourself in English as much as possible

Immerse means to be surrounded by something. If you are immersed in English, it is all around you. Of course this isn't always possible, but you can do some things to surround yourself in English from time to time.

Listen to the radio in English. If there are no English radio stations where you live, listen to one on the internet.

Watch TV and movies in English. If you have English channels on your TV, watch them. If they have subtitles (the words written in your language) underneath the picture, see if they can be turned off. Some people even tape paper across the bottom of the screen so they can't see the words. Most DVD's are great because you can choose the language you want to hear.

Speak English to your friends. Get a conversation buddy (friend) and speak in English as much as possible. If it is a person whose native language is the same as your own, you may feel silly speaking in English at first. But don't worry. Continue to do it and it will become more natural to you. Finding friends whose native language is English is even better. Ask your friend to correct you when needed.

Study or travel to an English-speaking country. Of course the best way to immerse yourself in the English language is to live in an all English environment. You'll find yourself surrounded with the language everywhere you turn. It can be a more difficult and expensive choice, but you may find it to be a very valuable and helpful experience.

Other ideas. Take an English class, join an English group, find a tutor, read English magazines. Do whatever you can to immerse yourself in the language.".....

Please, see the link for more details.....

http://www.5minuteenglish.com/30.htm

Thank you so much Dr.Hazim for your participation. 

Liqaa 

Learning EFL in younger age is more easy than attempting to learn after growing up. During Child stage the openness facilitates more learning. As people grow by age, they develop imaginary veils of inhibitions which prevents them to attempt learning.

Yes dear Krishnan, this is what we call it a critical period hypothesis where the learners face difficulties in acquiring second or foreign language in specific age. Thank you so much for your answer. 

Liqaa 

Both written and spoken are essential

Dear Syed Amir Gilani 

You mean that you work to develop both skills written and spoken and that is good no doubt. Thank you so much for your answer. 

Liqaa 

its simple just think and express in English 

welcome Liqaa Habeb-- yes i mean that 

You are absolutely right dear Muhammad Mustafa Qamar.

Thank you so much for your answer. 

Liqaa 

Try oral communication even if we commit gramatical mistakes. We need to read english newspaper to improve our vocabulary. We need to have friendship with english native people so ghat we can learn from them also.

Very useful advices to practice a foreign language dear Anirbid Sircar. 

Thank you so much for your answer. 

Liqaa 

If we wish to develop a foreign language ,at the first side you should not consider the same as foreign language but you  should respect the same as your mother tongue.It is this respect & love for the foreign language , it helps us to learn ,to study ,to understand including the grammatical as your mother tongue.

One must have for liking for English language right from the within so that the one can grasp the language easily & conveniently . When we respect the language it will certainly come within us with an interest as if it is our own mother tongue .

This is my personal opinion  

Thank you so much Mohammad Aljradin .You are right. 

Liqaa 

Dear Rohit M Parikh 

It is necessary no doubt for everyone to love what he/she do in order to gain the best results. Thank you so much for your enriching answer. 

Liqaa 

Provide a comprehensive language development with wide range of contents, materials, through interesting methodology, make the experience of ESL effective and practical.

https://www.shu.edu/english-second-language/

Dear Krishnan Umachandran 

I appreciate your rich comment. Thank you so much for your answer. 

Liqaa 

By practice, practice and practice.....

Practice is very important in everything. 

Thank you so much for dear Anirbid Sircar. 

Liqaa 

Foreign language experts with a good understanding of cultures are in great demand in the corporate world.

Employabilty has its say

http://m.jagranjosh.com/careers/foreign-languages-1286365272-1