The integration of the four skills in the context of teaching and researching English

In reviewing the literature on second language (L2) teaching and more specifically the
integration of the four skills within L2, Eli Hinkel highlights the following:

As an additional outcome of increased global mobility and the

internationalization of English, instruction in L2 speaking skills has been
placing a greater emphasis on the sociocultural features of communication and
oral production. The 1990s saw a remarkable growth of publications associated
with the importance of L2 sociocultural and pragmalinguistic competence. For
this reason, current oral pedagogy has the objective of enabling nonnative
speakers to communicate effectively and to negotiate cross-cultural interactional
norms success- fully (Kasper & Roever, 2005; McKay, 2002). The teaching of
L2 sociopragmatic skills elucidates the issues of power in communication, such
as the impact of social status, social distance, and linguistic register on L2
speech.

Scholars working on language socialization go on the same direction, positing that

culture cannot be withdrawn from one’s learning of a language.