2.3.4. Types of Communicative Activities
In communicative language learning, classroom activities must
be done in a communicative way. Therefore, Littlewood (1981) distinguishes two
types of communicative activity to be performed by communicative language
learners. Those are the functional communication activities and the social
interaction activities.
2.3.4.1. Functional Communication Activities
For Littlewood (op cit.), the classroom needs communicative
activities that emphasise the functional aspect of communication. Therefore,
for example, when learners have a problem to solve, or information to exchange,
they can use whatever language they have at their disposal. That is, the main
purpose of the activity is that learners should use the language they know to
get meanings across as effectively as possible.
This means that language learning activities should be done in
their real context so that language learners may not be disgusted thinking that
the language they are learning can not satisfy any of their real communication
needs.
2.3.4.2. Social Interaction Activities
Littlewood (op cit, p.20) says that «The competent
speaker chooses language which is not only functionally effective, but is also
appropriate to the social situation he is in». For him, learners still
aim at conveying the meaning effectively paying greater attention to the social
context in which the interaction takes place. Therefore, their success is
measured in terms of acceptability, or in terms of producing the language which
is appropriate to specific kinds of social situation. (op cit.)
This implies that a competent communicative language learner
is the one who is able to relate the classroom activities to the social
interactions he is often involved in. This is so because the society is the
main application field of a language. Therefore, every language user must
relate his language to the norms of his society.
2.3.5. Essential Processes in Learning to Communicate
Rivers (1983) presents schematically the following division of
essential processes in learning to communicate.
Figure 2: Essential processes
in learning to communicate
Perception
Cognition
Abstraction
Skill-getting
Articulation
Production
(or Pseudo-
Construction
Communication)
Reception Motivation to
Skill-using Interaction
communicate
Expression
Source: Rivers (1983, p.43)
For Rivers, the ability to communicate, to interact verbally,
presumes some knowledge (cognition) both in the perception of units,
categories, and functions and in the internalizing of the rules relating to
them. (It is a process of abstraction). He adds that students learn to produce
language sequences, which means that they learn through doing. Then, to use the
skill he has already got, the learner must interact with other language users.
Therefore, through interaction he expresses himself and shows his ability to
receive the message from his interlocutor, and this enhances motivation to
communicate. (op cit)
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