Communicative competence consists of grammatical competence as well as sociolinguistic competence, that is,
factors governing successful
communication. Hymes 1972 in Cumaravadivelu 2006: 6 identified these
factors, and has used an acronym SPEAKING to describe them: -
Setting refers to the place and time in which the communicative event
takes place.
- Participants refer to speakers and hearers and their role relationships.
- Ends refer to the stated or unstated objectives the participants wish to
accomplish.
- Act-sequence refers to the form, content, and sequence of utterances.
- Key refers to the manner and tone serious, sarcastic, etc. of the
utterances.
- Instrumentalities refer to the channel oral or written and the code
formal or informal.
- Norms refer to conventions of interaction and interpretation based on
shared knowledge.
- Genre refers to categories of communication such as lecture, report,
essay, poem, and so forth.
All of the elements of communicative competence grammar, discourse, sociolinguistics, pragmatic, strategic and psychomotor are involved in human
interaction. All aspects must work together for successful communication to take place.
CLT, besides, according to Richards 2006: 2 as the kinds of classroom activities that the best facilitate learning, Brown 2001: 48 also adds that
interactive nature of communication is at the heart of current theories of communicative competence, as the goal of CLT.
b. Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching
The most obvious characteristic of CLT is that, based on this chapter explanation above, almost everything that is done with a communicative intent
communicative competence. In the communicative competence, fluency and accuracy are of the main characteristics, and they are seen as complementary in
accomplishing a given task. Richards and Rodgers 2001: 157 mention that “fluency and acceptable language is the primary goal: Accuracy is judged not in
the abstract but in context”, and this is an obvious point since the emphasis of CLT is on the communicative process between learners or teachers-learners,
rather than mastery of the language forms. In communication, the speaker has a choice of what she will say and how
she will say it. If the exercise is tightly controlled so that students can only say something in one way, the speaker has no choice and the exchange, therefore, is
not communicative. In a chain drill, for example, if a student must reply to her neighbor‟s question, then she has no choice of form and of content, and real
communication does not occur. Another characteristic of CLT is the use of authentic materials. It is
considered desirable to give students an opportunity to develop strategies for understanding language as it is actually used.
Finally, activities in CLT are often carried out by students in small groups. According to Larsen-Freeman 2000: 130, small numbers of students interacting
are favored in order to maximize the time allotted to each student for communicating.
c. Communicative Tasks
1 Definition of Communicative Tasks
Long 1985: 89 in Nunan 1989: 5 states that a task is a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward. According to
Hornby 1987: 885, a task is a piece of work to be done. However, these are
non-linguistic definitions of a task.
Richard, Platt, and Webber 1986: 289 in Nunan 1989: 6 state that a task is an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or
understanding language as a response, for example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, listening to an instruction, and performing a command. The
value of tasks is that they provide a purpose for the activity which goes beyond the practice of language for its own sake.
Meanwhile, Breen 9187: 23 in Nunan 1989: 11 states that a task is any structured language learning effort which has a particular purpose, an appropriate
content, a specified working procedure, and a range of the outcomes for those who undertake the task. Therefore, task is assumed to refer to a range of work plans
which has important purpose in facilitating language learning; from the simple and brief exercise type to more complex activities, such as group problem-solving
or simulations and decision making. Those definitions suggest that a task for language learning has a particular
purpose, involves a meaning focused activity, has clear instructions, and engages the learners in using the target language actively. Based on the statements, relates
to language learning, it can be concluded that a task is a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting
in the target language.
