What is the first language skill that children develop?

Listening is the 1st language skill that develops. We know that students -and especially young ones- are not very good at it. Teachers tend to think that good listening means just sitting quietly. We must realise that listening should be a cognitively active process where students think and question themselves about what they're hearing (McDevitt, Spivey, Sheehan, Lennon, & Story, 1990).