Learner Elements of Teaching and Learning

4 Communicative Language Teaching The communicative approach which is also known as Communicative Language Teaching CLT focuses on what to teach and how to teach aspect. The “what to teach” aspect stresses the significance of language functions rather than focusing solely on form. Meanwhile, “how to teach” aspect is closely bound up with the idea that language learning will take care of itself. A lot of exposure as well as opportunities to practice the language are also significant for the students’ development of knowledge and skill. Activities in CLT typically involve students in real communication. The successful achievement of the communicative task that learners are performing is more important than the accuracy of language they use. Role play and information gap are such activities that are commonly used in CLT. What matters in CLT is that students should have a desire to communicate something. The focus is emphasized on the content or meaning rather than form. This approach also gives primary attention to the use of variety of language. 5 Task-based Learning Task-based learning presents the students with authentic task they have to perform. Task-based learning is often regarded as a kind of ‘deep-end’ strategy. In other words, the students are presented with a task they have to perform and when the task has been completed, the teacher discusses the language that was used and makes adjustments on the students’ performance.Task-based learning consists of three basic stages: the Pre-task, the Task cycle, and Language Focus. In the Pre-task the teacher introduces the topic to the students and may highlight useful words and phrases. This is done to help students to understand the task instructions. Then, during the Task cycle, the students perform the task in pairs or groups while the teacher plays role as a monitor. The students then discuss about how they will report the task and they then report what they have been discussing either orally or in writing. In the final stage, the Language focus stage, the students examine and discuss specific features of any listening or reading text which they have looked at for the task. Task-based learning implies a shift away from some traditional teacher roles. The teachers cannot always act as controllers if they expect the students to perform the task by themselves. TBL, however, is not free from critics. This methodology is often criticized for its applicability to lower learning levels. It also fails to promote the kind of language used in discussions or social interactions. There is also a difficulty dealing with how to grade tasks in syllabus. Tasks, however, are now widely used in language teaching. It is difficult to decide which methods which are most appropriate for teachers’ own teaching situation. Teachers must carefully consider the best approach to addressing students’ difficulty, needs and promoting success on learning language. When both teachers and students are comfortable with the method being used, success is much more likely.

B. Reviews of Related Studies

Several studies have been conducted in the area of pragmatics especially speech acts. One of them is the research conducted by Dr. Margana, M.Hum, M.A. 2011, a lecturer of English Education Department of State University Yogyakarta, entitled “Pragmatic Knowledge for Second Language Learners”. The research focuses on the analysis of speech acts, especially the illocutionary acts and the illocutionary forces, and the conversational implicature. The object of his research was the English teachers of secondary school levels in Yogyakarta. After conducting his research, he found that during the process of English language teaching and learning, the English teachers of secondary school levels in Yogyakarta tend to perform speech acts in the forms of representatives, directives, commisives and expressive. Each of the illocutionary acts is classified in terms of its illocutionary forces. Regarding the use of implicature, the results show that in classroom communication practices the English teachers of secondary schools performed two types of conversational implicatures which include generalized conversational implicatures and particularized conversational implicatures. His final conclusion is that pragmatic knowledge is of great importance to facilitate students of secondary school levels to easily understand the utterances carried out by the English teachers during the classroom communication practices. In effect, the misunderstanding and miscommunication can be minimized. Another closely related research is the research conducted by A. Dzo’ul Milal 2010, entitled “A Study of Classroom Discourse in a Language