19 communication rather than a focus on the mastery of the grammatical system of
the language. However, this method allows the students to discover the grammar rules by themselves Richards, 2006, p.13. As such, the researcher chose CLT as
the method in teaching leaning activity. Moreover, since the main skill which was taught was speaking, CLT is considered as an appropriate method to teach
speaking. It is because the goal of CLT itself is to enable students to communicate in target language Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p.128. In CLT, learners would be
developed on focusing on the use of language to communicate Nunan, 1989, p.13. This was also supported by Richards and Rodgers 2001 and Dornyei
2010 that the goal of CLT is to develop learners’ communicative competence. To be able to communicate in target language, the students need knowledge of the
linguistic forms, meanings, and functions. In addition, some related theories are added by Nunan 1989, p.12, a language is not only the matter of a system of
rules, but also a language is now generally seen as a dynamic resource for creation of the meaning. In other words, the students need to distinguish between knowing
the various grammatical rules and being able to use the rules effectively and appropriately when communicating. The further explanations of CLT are as
follows:
a. The characteristics of CLT
The most obvious characteristic of CLT is done with a communicative intent Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p.129. In CLT, students use the language as the
communicative activities. Morrow 1981 added as cited by Larsen and Freeman
20 2000, p.129, activities that are truly communicative have three features in
common: information gap, choice, and feedback. An information gap exists when one person knows something while the
other person does not Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p.129. Therefore, there will be information exchange from one speaker to another. The choice of what the
speaker will say and how the speaker will say is one of the parts of communication. If the speakers do not have choices to what they will speak, it is
not communicative Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p.129. Based on Larsen and Freeman 2000, p.129, “True communication is
purposeful”. A speaker can evaluate whether or not hisher purpose has been achieved based on the information the speaker receives from the listener. If the
listener does not have any opportunities to provide the speaker with such feedback, then it is not really communicative. It is because the speaker will not
receive any response whether or not the listener understands about what speaker said or ask.
Another characteristic of CLT is the use of authentic materials. Authentic is related to the real world. It is considered to give students the opportunity to
develop strategies for understanding language in actual use Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p.130.
From those characteristics of CLT, the researcher focused on and used those characteristics as the basic idea of the materials which were designed. The
researcher did not ignore those characteristics because the main method which was used in designing a set of English speaking materials was CLT.
21
b. The role of the teacher and the student in CLT
