6 The pupils may be involved in informal language analysis and noticing of
language items or rules through problem-solving and puzzles. 7
Games help to make learning more memorable and acceptable by using as many as approaches as possible, such as mime and movement, use of colour and
patterns, or personalization. The advantages of games listed above show that games are suggested to be
applied in the classroom to help learners learn the target language better. One of which is to use the target language to convey the communication in the games. The
use of the target language here is as the communication tool to get something done, rather than practicing for its own sake.
5. Communicative Games
a. Definition of Communicative Games
It is difficult to find a precise definition of communicative games, thus the researcher wrote some definitions of similar terms stated by authors.
Communicative activities include any activities that encourage and require a learner to speak with and listen to other learners, as well as with people in the
program and community. Communicative activities have real purposes: to find information, break down barriers, talk about self, and learn about the culture. Even
when a lesson is focused on developing reading or writing skills, communicative activities should be integrated into the lesson. Furthermore, research on second
language acquisition SLA suggests that more learning takes place when students are
engaged in relevant tasks within dynamic learning environment rather than in traditional teacher-led classes Moss Ross-Feldman, 2003.
Richards 2006: 16 states that communicative practice refers to activities where practice in using language within a real communicative context is the focus,
where real information is exchanged, and where the language used is not totally predictable. Moreover, Thornbury 2005: 79 says that communicative tasks fulfil
two important language learning needs: they prepare learners for real-life language use, and they encourage the automization of language knowledge.
Communicative activities are characterized by the following features proposed by Thornbury 2005: 79-80:
1 the motivation of the activity is to achieve some outcome, using language;
2 the activity takes place in real time;
3 achieving the outcome requires the participants to interact, i.e. to listen as well as
speak; 4
because of the spontaneous and jointly constructed nature of the interaction, the outcome is not 100 predictable;
5 there is no restriction on the language used.
To make a conclusion of the definition of communicative games, the writer combines the definition of game stated earlier that every activity that brings pleasure
is a game Kramer: 2000, further, a game is an activity with rules, a goal elements of fun Hadfield: 1999, with the definition of communicative activities, practice and
tasks. It can be concluded that communicative game is an activity with rules where
the participants have to use the language meaningfully and interact with others in fun ways to achieve the goal of learning the target language.
b. Samples of Communicative Games
There are many communicative games available out there. The games are various and demand students to speak as fluently as possible. The games are designed
to make language teaching and learning fun and engaging. Below are samples of communicative games proposed by Klippel 1984.
1 Choosing pictures
All the pictures are put on a table. Each student chooses two: one picture of something he likes; one of something he dislikes. Each student shows the two
pictures to the class and explains why he likes or dislikes them. 2
Back to back While the music is playing or the teacher is clapping, everybody walks around
the room observing other people’s clothes, hairstyle, etc. As soon as the music stops, each student pairs up with the person standing nearest and they stand back to back.
Taking turns, each of them makes statements about the other ’s appearance. After a
few minutes the music starts again and all partners separate. When the music stops a second time, the procedure mentioned earlier is repeated with a different partner.
3 A day in the life
The class is divided into groups. One member of each group leaves the room. The remaining group members decide on how the person who is outside spent the
previous day. They draw up an exact time schedule from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and
