Whom will the leaner use the language with?
The 3
rd
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2001 have mentioned that CLT in language teaching starts form a theory of language as communication. The goal of language teaching itself is to develop communicative
competence. Furthermore, Widdowson 1978 said that CLT focuses on the communicative acts underlying the ability to use language for different purposes. Briefly,
it can be inferred that CLT focuses the language teaching on communicative proficiency rather than on mere mastery of structures.
In designing the course, we firstly conduct need assessment to know the real context and to find out the information about learners’ needs. Hutchinson and Waters
1987 argued that learners were seen to have different needs and interests, which would have an important influence on their motivation to learn and therefore on the
effectiveness of their learning. As English for hotel staff, in this case receptionist, belongs to English for Specific Purposes ESP, therefore knowing about the real context and their
particular needs are important to determine what kind of material that will be taught, how it will be taught and how it is evaluated Graves, 2000.
Considering the result of needs assessment which reveals that receptionists in Inna Garuda Hotel are still lack of speaking English ability in which they are demanded
to be fluent, therefore we decide to employ CLT as the guidance in designing the course. CLT itself is deemed to be the most appropriate approach to adopt as it focuses the
learning in communicative purposes. Richards and Rodgers 2001 mentioned that CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning that aims to allow interaction
and communication. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses. Hence, these characteristics of CLT have underlain us in adopting this approach.
In terms of learning and teaching activities, it is important to design the types of activities and exercises which demand the learners to practice their speaking skill as the
goal of the course is to make the learners able to speak English fluently. In this case, Richards and Rodgers 2001 emphasize that CLT provides various types of activities and
exercises that enable the learners to attain the communicative purposes, engage them in communication and require the use of such communicative processes as information
sharing, negotiation of meaning and interaction.
As the context is hotel conversation, therefore it is a must for us to design the course which enables the learners to experience the similar situation in which they are
working in. Littlewood 1981 had distinguished two major types of activities in CLT, functional communication activities and social interaction activities. In relation with our
course, we mostly focus on the second type which is social interaction activities as it includes conversation, dialogues and role plays, simulations, and improvisations. These
types of activities are counted to be done within the course as they enhance the learners to practice their English speaking skill in the target context.
The emphasis in CLT on the processes of communication rather than mastery of language forms leads to different role for learners, teachers and materials. Breen and
Candlin 1980 describe the role of learners as negotiator in which they will negotiate with themselves and other learners within the classroom activities. In other words, the
learning is focused on the learners as they are demanded to be involved directly and taking apart during the learning process through
practices. Moreover the teacher’s role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom and
between the participants and the various activities and texts. It can be inferred that teacher here is seen as assistance where he or she will guide the learners to learn. In terms of
material, its role is to promote communicative language use, meaning that material here is used as the object to learn the language.
In relation with the course that we design, we employ task-based materials of CLT as it is prepared to support CLT classes in which the goal is to use the language in