The phrase 'building blocks of language' in traditional language teaching refers to focusing on which components?

• A. Sounds
• B. All of the above
• C. Words
• D. Sentences

Answer: (B)

Language is built from smaller units: sounds, words, and sentences. In traditional language teaching, each level is treated as a foundational block—sounds (phonology/phonics) for how language is produced, words (vocabulary) for meaning, and sentences (grammar) for how words are organized to convey thoughts. Because every one of these components supports how we understand and produce language, focusing on all of them gives a complete toolkit for language learning. If you only work on sounds, you can pronounce things but might not form meaningful phrases. If you only learn words, you may have vocabulary without the way those words connect into sentences. If you only study sentences, you miss how words and sounds come together. So, all of the above is the best choice since sounds, words, and sentences together are the building blocks of language.