I think that language learners have a preference for 1 of the 4 methods of communication when learning a language.

What do you think is the best of the 4 for learning a language and why?

Alkanadi:I think that language learners have a preference for 1 of the 4 methods of communication when learning a language.

What do you think is the best of the 4 for learning a language and why?

Sorry this is not a direct answer to your question.
I believe the most efficient way to learn a language is to work on all four aspects simultaneously.
This was reinforced by an experience I had just today while attempting to help someone to learn English as their third language. (L1 Arabic, L2 French).
This person has good written understanding of the language, we could communicate by writing to one another. However this person has had little exposure to spoken English, and had great difficulty understanding anything I said, or verbally expressing themselves in even the simplest of sentences.

For an adult, learning to read a foreign language (that uses the same alphabet) is always simpler - unless you are visually impaired.

In terms of 'best for learning the language', each of these things is a valuable skill in its own right. You can prioritise one skill over the other according to what you want the language for, but I wouldn't say you've 'learnt the language' if you've neglected one area completely.

It's usually easiest to be exposed to vocab and grammar from reading than just from listening, since you have more time to process the information, go back to it as you like, and so on. But reading and listening together is better again; we learn best through multiple exposures in multiple contexts.

Speaking and writing, even in Esperanto where spelling and pronunciation are regular, are quite different. In writing you are practising how to be accurate and clear when you don't necessarily share the same space or context as your reader, and you tend to have a lot more time. Whereas in speaking, accuracy is less important compared to being able to communicate ideas RIGHT NOW even when you might not be able to think of the right word. These involve different strategies.

And of course, any vocab or grammar you've been exposed to, I don't think you can say you've learnt it without actually using it, either in speaking or writing. And this can be pretty vital for long-term memorisation.

In terms of what I enjoy though; I'd go with reading and speaking. Reading is relaxing, and speaking is tense and thrilling.

I selected all four because I think that all of them are necessary; they all develop different aspects of language usage that are necessary to becoming fluent. I work on all for of them as much as I can, and in as many different ways as I can.

Reading: The forum here, literature, poetry, blogs, etc.

Writing: Poems, my journal, my blog about essential oils, the forum here, email and PM correspondence, etc.

Speaking: Practicing prononciation by talking to myself, the cat, and mostly disinterested people, and by reading aloud; practicing real-time communication on the Tujmesaĝilo here and on IRC; still looking forward to the day when I will have the opportunity to do both aspects at once in face-to-face conversation (can't Skype; no webcam).

Listening: Songs, stories, speeches, interviews, and an audiobook of Alicio en Mirlando, as well as assorted whatever I find on YouTube.

My preference is for reading because I'm quite timid and not very confident. That said, I think it's important to use all of them as far as possible.

I would agree that all four are necessary if one wants to become truly fluent in the language. Alas, in my current situation, I can only do three. There is plenty to read on the internet; writing I can practice at Vikipedio, Lernu, and web chat; listening I can do with YouTube videos.

Alas, speaking is the most difficult, not least when you have nobody to talk to! Actually, I sometimes carry on conversations with myself in Esperanto, usually holding a cellphone to my ear so that people don't think I'm totally strange! But it's not the same as having a real interlocutor. Someday I will look into Skype.

Ultimately though, for a language like EO, I think you can get pretty far just with reading and writing. Thanks to the complete phonetic regularity of the language, transitioning is not hard. I remember the very first time I heard a full-on EO conversation (at a convention, recorded and uploaded to YouTube), I was able to understand 95% of it. By that time I was already fairly proficient at the written side.

Christa627: (can't Skype; no webcam)..

You can do voice only skype calls (unless it has changed recently) so all you would need is a microphone or, ideally, a cheap headset