changing physical and emotional selves along with their mental capabilities. It implies that it is not easy to teach teenagers. The teacher
needs to be creative in making a comfortable circumstance so that the students can study the language pleasantly. The teacher also needs to deliver
the materials in an interesting way. In addition, it is important to provide students with various activities which can give lots of opportunities to
develop their potential. Besides, the teacher needs to consider the psychological condition of the students for example by increasing their
self- confidence, self-esteem, and also motivation. Furthermore, Harmer 2001:39 states that if teenagers are engaged,
they have a great capacity to learn, a great potential for creativity, and a passionate commitment to things which interest them. It implies that the
teacher should provide activities which can engage and involve students in the activities. It is also important to teach with enthusiasm so that students
can enjoy the teaching and learning processes.
3. Communicative Activities
a. Definition of Communicative Activities
Communicative activities include any activities that engage the learners where their main purpose of the activities is to communicate
meanings effectively Littlewood, 2002:16. Harmer 2001:85 also states that communicative activities are typically involving students in real or
realistic communication. Below are the characteristics of communicative activities proposed by Harmer 2001:85:
1 desire to communicate, means that the students should have a desire to
communicate something. 2
a communicative purpose, means that the students should have a purpose for communicating e.g. to make a point, to buy an airlines
ticket, to write a letter to a newspaper. 3
content not form, means that students should be focused on the content of what they are saying or writing rather than on a particular language
form. 4
variety of language, means that students should use a variety of language rather than just one language structure,
5 no teacher intervention, means that the teacher will not intervene to stop
the activity, and 6
no materials control, means that the materials the teacher relies on will not dictate what specific language forms the student use either.
Harmer, then, defines that communicative activities are those which exhibit the characteristics at the communicative end. Students are somehow
involved in activities that give them both desire to communicate which involves them in varied use of language 2001:51. It means that such
activities are important to stimulate the students to communicate. In line with this, Harmer 2001:85 also states that a key to the
enhancement of communicative purpose and the desire to communicate is the information gap. A communication happens to close that gap so that
speakers involved in the communication have the same information at the end. Therefore, a teacher needs to create information gap in the classroom
activities if he wants to provide a real situation in communication among students.
Based on the explanations above, it can be concluded that communicative activities are classroom activities that involve students in
producing, comprehending, or interacting in varied use of the target language to communicate with many purposes. Communicative activities
can be conducted in the classroom by placing the students in a situation where they have to perform a task by communicating optimally. The
activities can encourage the students to speak in the target language so that they can give positive contributions toward speaking learning process.
b. Purposes of Communicative Activities
