COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Communicative Language Teaching is an approach to teaching a foreign language, which emphasizes on learning to communicate through interaction in the foreign language.

According to teachers who use Communicative Language Teaching method, the fundamental purpose of using this method is to help and enable students to communicate in target language through interaction. Students need to know and understand about the linguistic form, meaning, and function.

The role of teacher in classroom is as a facilitator. Teacher is responsible to build up possible situation to develop communication in classroom and set-up exercises. Teacher in this method is talking less and listening more. During the activities he/she acts as an adviser, answering student’s questions. Sometimes teacher also acts as a monitor or referee, monitoring student’s performance in their communicative activities and exercises. Students role are as a communicators. Students are more active than teacher. Students do most of the speaking. Classroom during communicative activities is far from quiet.

The common interactions in classroom are between students. Teacher is only as a facilitator.
Characteristics of the learning process are students communicate in target language through communicative activities such as, games, problem-solving tasks, and role plays.
Students are motivated to learn target language because they feel they are learning something useful.

The area of language which is emphasized is language functions. Language functions might be emphasized over forms. While the skills of language which are emphasized are reading, writing, listening, and speaking. These 4 language skills are taught to students since the beginning of learning process.
Students’ native language is permitted to be used in classroom. However, it is expected that students use target language to communicate in classroom as best as they can.

Teacher evaluates students’ comprehension by evaluates not only students’ accuracy but also their fluency. Teacher also can evaluate students’ comprehension in his/her role as an adviser. Teacher also gives writing test in order to know students’ writing skill.

Teacher responds to students’ errors during fluency-based activities by tolerate it. The teacher may write the errors and return to students later with an accuracy-based activities.

Some techniques and materials:
Scrambled sentences
Language games
Role play
Picture strip story