13 earlier sections it is mostly related to interactional activity. Hymes 1971 states
that being able to communicate requires more than linguistic competence; it requires communicative competence. In addition to that, Halliday 1973 also
states that being able to communicate requires more than mastering linguistic structure, due to the fact that language is fundamentally social. Those conceptions
show that language is considerably more communicative rather than structural. By means, the communicative approach will not focus on the grammar pattern of
language in its process of learning as stated by Tarone and Yule 1989: In recent years, there has been a major shift in perspective within
the language teaching profession concerning the nature of what is to be taught.… [T]here has been a change of emphasis from presenting
language as a set of forms grammatical, phonological, lexical which have to be learned and practiced, to presenting language as a
functional system which is used to fulfill a range of communicative purposes.
From what Tarone and Yule have stated, it can be concluded that the trend of language learning has changed to be more communicative rather than focusing on
grammar-based method. In addition to that, Canale and Swain 1980 find those rules grammatical rules useless since language users are unaware of the rules of
language use. Canale and Swain‘s finding above implicates that in real
communication the formal and complex grammatical rules are less important than the meant messages which are transfered during the process. In other words, in
communicative language learning process, the grammar-based methods will not be best suited.
c. The Role of Consciousness in Language Learning
This section will discuss the conception of consciousness as an aspect that is correlated with interaction in language learning. The researcher assumes that
14 consciousness connected to social activities is integrated within communicative
language teaching and learning process. In broader sense, according to van Lier 1996, consciousness can be
closely associated with interpersonal concept, which originates in interaction with the world and is closely tied to sociocultural development. In addition to that,
Vygotsky in van Lier 1996 defines consciousness as the objectively observable organization of behavior that is imposed on humans through participation in
sociocultural practices. Discussing about consciousness, Schmidt 1990 distinguishes four
common senses of consciousness as follows: 1 Consciousness as intention, which means doing something on purpose in contrast to incidental learning, 2
Consciousness as attention which includes noticing and focusing while learning, 3 Consciousness as awareness, in this sense consciousness means having
knowledge of perceptually or cognitively. In language learning it is often associated to knowing rule and noticing which similarize it with the consciousness
as attention, and 4 Consciousness as control, in this term, the consciousness level has been considered to be a kind of automatization through routine activities.
Through the statements above, it can be concluded that consciousness in learning, particularly language learning process, is taking an important role
individually or interpersonally. In other words, the researcher will pinpoint that when learners consciously learn a language or interact with the others in purpose
of learning a language, they will put themselves in a sociocultural circumtances. In other words, it means that the learners are involved in building social changes
and development, and inevitably absorb the knowledge transfers within the social
15 processes. The learner will take conscious actions when interacting to others,
including learning language as a means of communication. The essence of this concept of consciousness to the research questions is that from their lived
experiences it can be seen whether or not the learners take conscious action to put themselves into interaction and communicative process of language learning.
d. English Acquisition
