20 further highlighted by Johnson 1981 where a competent second language
speaker is able to do. A meaningful practice also refers to an activity where language control is still provided and where the students are required to make
meaningful choices when carrying out practice Richards, 2005. Besides the mechanical and meaningful practice, the students should have a
communicative practice in a learning activity. The main idea in communicative language teaching approach is the ability of the students to communicate as much
as they can. According to Richards 2005, communicative practice refers to activities where practice in using language within a real communicative context is
the focus, where real information is exchanged, and where the language used is not totally predictable.
The distinction between mechanical, meaningful, and communicative activities are similar to that given by Littlewood 1981. Littlewood 1981
mentions the characteristics of pre-communicative and communicative activities. The characteristics are presented as follows.
Table 2.3: Pre-communicative activities Communicative Activities Pre-communicative activities
Communicative activities
Structural Activities Quasi-communicative activities
Functional communication activities Social interaction activities
c. Information Gap Activity
An important aspect of communication in Communicative Language Teaching is the notion of information gap in which the students exchange
information. The fact is, people mostly interact and communicate each other in order to get new information they do not possess. This is known as information
21 gap. As it is stated above about functional communication, the activities require
students to use their language resources to overcome an information gap or solve a problem in the society Richards, 2005.
d. The push for authenticity
Some argued that Classroom activities should as far as possible mirror the real world and use real world or “authentic sources” as the basis for Classroom
learning. Clarke and Silberstein 1977 thus argue: Class
room activities should parallel the „real world‟ as closely as possible. Since language is a tool of communication, methods and materials should
concentrate on the message and not the medium. The purposes of reading should be the same in Class as they are in real life p.51.
e. Feedback and Evaluation
Successful second language speaking development depends as much on teachers and materials. A teacher should encourage learners to support one
another‟s speaking development by giving appropriate materials. Hatch 1978 emphasizes that students will be helped by their interlocutors‟ input and feedback.
Hatch also adds that besides hearing input that is modified for the language ability, interact with competent speakers, students have a chance to hear a more
accurate model of language which is being used. Furthermore, besides the language input, learners also need feedback in the form of questions, comments,
repetitions, confirmation checks, requests for clarifications and reformulation Goh Burns, 2012.
f. Ten Core Assumptions of Current Communicative Language Teaching.
According to Richards 2005, there are ten core assumptions of current Communicative Language Teaching. The researcher developed the core
