Different linguists have had different ideas on the distinction of communicative activities. Littlewood (1990) distinguishes them into two main categories, which he calls “functional communication activities” and “social interaction activities”. Harmer (1991) looks at the communicative activities with oral and written focuses. Therefore, he distinguishes them into “oral communicative activities” and “written communicative activities”. Harmer's idea seems clearer to the researcher of this thesis when studying the types of communicative activities.
In this section, we will look at those types of activities with a largely oral focus (although we should not forget the points about skill integration). Those
activities are all designed to provoke spoken communication between students and/or between the teacher and the students.
+ Communication games
Harmer (1991) has suggested that in communication games activities students are put into a situation in which they have to use all or any of the language they possess to complete a game-like task. This type of communicative activities produces the simplest patterns of interaction. The situation is always that one student (or group) possesses information which another student (or group) must discover.
Communication games activities include finding the differences (or similarities), describe and arrange; story reconstruction and/or poem reconstruction (Bygate, 1987). In each case of this type of activities, it is the overcoming of the information gap rather than the production of correct language that signals the success of the performance. In this respect, the focus of the activity is on “meanings to be communicated” rather than “linguistic form to be learnt” (Harmer, 1991). The activities of this type provide the teacher with a convenient bridge between pre- communicative and communicative language use, students are engaged in communicating meaning for a purpose, but they are not made to dispense entirely with the “structure crutches” provided by the teacher.
+Songs
There are many good rationales for using songs in English classroom. They are “authentic material”. They enhance student’s sense of achievement in that, for example, they can sing a song later by themselves. Music creates a relaxing atmosphere because the whole class sings together. Songs allows maximum participation by every student in both listening and speaking. Additionally, music makes a nice change from standard textbook and it is good for developing students’
instincts about intonation and rhythm. Eken (1996, p.46) states that songs can be used:
• to present a topic, a language point
• to practise a language point
• to encourage extensive and intensive listening
• to stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings
• to encourage creativity and use of imagination
• to provide a relaxed classroom atmosphere
• to bring variety and fun to learning.
In order to choose a suitable song, the teacher should keep in mind that (1) Songs must be a reasonable length, range, and rhythm. (2) Song should have repetitive lyrics or chorus that is easy to learn. This allows slower students to follow. (3) The emotional and conceptual content of a song should be appropriate to the age and maturity of your students. (4) Songs must be pedagogically appropriate to the lesson.
As demonstrated, songs are valuable in language teaching and learning. The teacher is obliged to successfully integrating songs into a language lesson.
+ Discussion
In this type of activity students “have to pool the information in the discussion” (Littlewood, 1990, p.27). The discussion may be about a proper problem, for example, “People who throw away rubbish in the forest should get a fine”. Students have to prepare arguments either in favor of this problem or against it.
Harmer (1991) has said that many teachers can be heard complaining that their students have nothing to say or that they have no opinions and are not prepared to discuss anything. Part of the problem here is the way in which some teachers approach discussion as an activity. If students are asked to express themselves fluently on a difficult topic in front of their peers in a foreign language (often with no warning), they may find themselves reluctant to do so. Therefore, before asking students to discuss as a whole class, teacher should put them in groups to try out the topic. This will allow them to give opinion in a less threatening environment than in
front of the whole class. It will also give the teacher a chance to see if the topic is interesting for the students.
Discussion activities are an important part of many lessons. The main thing to remember is that “proper organization can ensure their success. Lack of it can provoke their failure” (Harmer, 1991, p.125).
+ Problem solving
Problem solving activities encourage students to talk together to find a solution to (a set of) problems or tasks. According to Littlewood (1990), this type of activity dispenses completely with the need to share information. Students now have access to all the relevant facts. The stimulus for communication comes from the need to discuss and evaluate these facts, in pairs or groups, in order to solve a problem or reach a decision. For example, “ What should we do for the future of our planet?”.
Problem solving activities need not to be based only on everyday situations that arise inside or outside the classroom. The teacher may also present many unusual situations in order to stimulate the students’ ingenuity. In these activities, students must not only analyze information, but also argue, justify and persuade, in order to reach a common decision. They therefore provide a context for a still wider range of communicative functions. They also make it still more necessary for students to develop skills in managing the interaction at the interpersonal level. This fact often produces a high degree of personal involvement among the participants.
+ Simulation and role - play
According to Harmer (1991), the idea of a simulation is to create the pretence of a real-life situation in the classroom: students “simulate” the real world. Thus we might ask them to pretend that they are at an airport, or we might organize them to get together to plan an imaginary reunion. What we are trying to do artificially of course is to give students practice in real-world English. Students are asked to adopt a specific role in this situation. In some cases, they may simply have to act as themselves. In others, they may have to adopt aã simulated identity.
There is some controversy about the usefulness of simulations, particularly where students are asked to play roles, but many teachers feel that they have certain advantages because students do not have to take responsibility for their own actions and words. In other words, it is the character that speaks, not themselves. It has certainly been noticed that some shy students are more talkative when playing roles.
We will use the term here to denote an activity which involves decision- making, in which the participants may act as themselves or in social roles. It is not performed for an audience, and the participants work together within the constraints of the imaginary setting.
Simulations do not as a category provides any basis for predicting the kinds of language skills that learners will use: it depends what kind of simulation is being considered. For instance, a simulated committee meeting is likely to produce one kind of interaction, a simulated another interview, and a simulated public meeting a third. Indeed a single simulation often consists of several different kinds of interaction, including the three just mentioned. It is, however, possible to make some predictions, once the nature of the simulation is known.
Simulations general divide into three phases: firstly, a stage for giving the participants necessary information; secondly, the problem-solving discussion; and thirdly, follow-up work.
This kind of activity can be carried out during a speaking lesson for example.
After all, they make a report to share their views with the rest of the class.
To enhance the effectiveness of classroom activities, it is worth paying attention to the matter of grouping students for group work and pair work activities.
In fact, pair work and group work have become the dominant activities in the class. This is a quite effective way because students can work with different partners in the class. This makes them more motivated and keeps their interest during the class time. Thus, teachers should pay attention to more kinds of activities. These can change the atmosphere of classroom, create authentic
situations for students to practise speaking English and help them to develop their creativity and ability.
After doing this task, students can collect information to talk about the friend they have interviewed for reporting at the end of the lesson. Most students are eager to do the task because they can do it in role of the interviewers.
Littlewood (1992, p.49) says: “... simulation and role-play are well-established as techniques for organizing controlled, pre-communicative language practice, which prepares students later to take part in fully spontaneous interaction”.
Bygate (1987) states that role-play may be allocated in several ways:
Role-play controlled through cued dialogues.
Role-play controlled through cued situations and goal.
Role-play controlled through cues and information.
Role-play in the form of debate or discussion.
This type of activity could be used for students at different levels of proficiency in term of complexity of activities. Ladousse (1987, p.7) has shown:
“Role-play is one of communicative techniques which develops fluency in language students, which promotes interaction in the classroom, and which increases motivation”.