should be able to understand and apply the aspects of competence such as structure, vocabulary, and expressions of communication in order to actively communicate.
Canale and Swain 1980, as cited by Richards and Rodgers 1986:71, identify four dimensions of communicative competence. The first one is Grammatical
competence, which refers to linguistic knowledge that contains the knowledge of lexical items, morphology, syntax, semantics, and phonology. It helps the students
solve the problems of what wordssentences to say and how to produce them accurately.
The second is Sociolinguistic competence, which refers to an understanding of the social context in which communication takes place, including role
relationships, the shared information of the participants, and the communicative purpose for their interaction.
The third is Discourse competence, which refers to the interpretation of individual message elements in terms of their interconnectedness and of how meaning
is represented in relationship to the entire discourse or text. The forth is Strategic competence, which refers to the coping strategies that
communicators employ to initiate, terminate, maintain, repair, and redirect communication.
e. Communicative Activities
Activities conducted in classes using communicative approach should focus on the use of the target language, not only on the understanding of the language.
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Richards and Rodgers 1986:76 state that the range of exercise types and activities compatible with a communicative approach is unlimited, as long as the exercises
enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum, engage learners in communication, and require the use of such communicative processes as
information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction. Littlewood 1981, as cited by Richards and Rodgers 1986: 76 distinguishes
two kinds of communicative activities: functional communication activities and social interaction activities. In functional communication activities, the students are
placed in a situation where they must perform a task by communicating as best as they can, with whatever resources are available. In social interaction activities, the
students take part in real communications that include social contexts.
3. Teaching Speaking a. Nature of Speaking and Oral Interaction
Discussing the nature of spoken language cannot be separated from distinguishing between spoken and written language first. According to Brown and
Yule 1983, as cited by Nunan 1989:26, written language is characterized by well- formed sentences which are integrated into highly structured paragraphs, while
spoken language consists of short, often fragmentary utterances, in a range of pronunciations. They also add that in spoken language there is often a great deal of
repetition and overlap between one speaker and another, and speakers frequently use 14
