19 is the part of Communicative Language Teaching since it focuses on the
communicative competence of language teaching.
a. Background
Being able to communicate is the main target of teaching speaking. Some writers observed that the learners could produce sentences accurately in a lesson,
but could not use them appropriately when communicating outside of the classroom. Other writers said that being able to communicate required more than
mastering linguistic structures. Learners may know the rules of linguistic usage, but be unable to use the language Diane L, 2000:121. It is clear that being able
to communicate requires more than linguistic competence; it also needs communicative competence. In brief, it can be said that to be able to
communicate, learners need to be taught about communicative language. Communicative Language Teaching is firstly proposed by Christoper Candlin and
Henry Widdowson that say it needs to focus in language teaching on communicative proficiency rather than on mastery of structures.
Focusing to the language teaching on communicative proficiency relates to the Principle of Communicative Language Learning and Teaching Brown,
1994:245. It offers five characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching which also becomes principle of teaching speaking, those are:
1 Classroom goals are focused on all components of communicative competence
and not restricted to grammatical and linguistic competence. 2
Language techniques are designed to engage the learners in pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purpose. Organizational
20 language forms are not central focuses but rather aspects of language that
enable the learners to accomplish those purposes. 3
Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communication techniques. At times, fluency may have to take on more
important than accuracy in order to keep the learners meaningfully engaged in language use.
4 In communicative classroom, the learners ultimately have to use the target
language, productively and receptively. 5
It can be easy observed that teacher does not try to be the central figure in the classroom and the only provider feedback. Most of the speaking activities are
carried out in groups, so it is obvious that other learners provide the target amount of feedback.
From those principles above, Brown also stated the aims of Communicative Language Teaching as follows:
1 Building communicative competence in language teaching.
2 Developing the procedures of the teaching four language skills that
acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication. According to Littlewood, Communicative Language Teaching can be
achieved by using a procedure in which the learners work in pairs or groups employing available languages resources in problem solving tasks 1981:1. By
learning in groups, the learners are supposed to be active to discuss, ask question, state their ideas and be cooperative in solving the problems they face. It gives
opportunity to both teacher and learners to learn each other. Furthermore, the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
21 opportunity give them experience in learning since experience is the best way for
learning something.
b. Theory of Learning
