https://jurnal.unigal.ac.id/index.php/jall/index https://jurnal.unigal.ac.id/index.php/jall/index JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), ISSN 2598-8530, February, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2020 Received Accepted Published December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED BY ENGLISH TEACHERS IN TEACHING ENGLISH Deka Nur Mahenza Dekanurmahenza24@gmail.com University of Bengkulu, Indonesia Rudi Afriazi rudiafriazi@gmail.com University of Bengkulu, Indonesia Gita Mutiara Hati gitawitanto@gmail.com University of Bengkulu, Indonesia ABSTRACT This study aimed at finding out the communicative activities implemented by English teachers in teaching English at grade eleventh of one of the States Senior High Schools in Bengkulu, Indonesia, and the communicative activity frequently implemented by the English teachers. This study used the mixed method design which was the combination of a qualitative and quantitative approach to collect and analyze data. The subject of the research was two English teachers who teach speaking subjects at the school. The instruments used in this research were the observation checklist and interview. The findings found that there were thirteen types of communicative activities that were used by the English teachers. The communicative activity that was mostly used by the teachers was the question and answer session. So, it is concluded that the teachers provided the communicative activities. Then, it is suggested for further researchers to conduct a study with a similar field of this present research, such as communicative activities in listening or reading skills. Keywords: Teaching English, Communicative Activities INTRODUCTION English as a foreign language involves four skills; they are speaking, writing, reading and listening. In teaching English, those skills must be integrated served as much as possible. One of those language skills that influenced language ability is speaking skills. Speaking skill is important to be developed by English as foreign language students. Bahrani and Sultani (2012) stated that one of the main concerns of most of the language learners in both EFL and ESL contexts is JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), ISSN 2598-8530, February, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2020 29 how to improve their speaking skills. This is because speaking is a crucial part of the language learning process. Moreover, if speakers do not know how to use their structure, vocabulary, and pronunciation in their speaking, misunderstanding will happen. Brown and Yole (2003) support this viewpoint that “one needs to master rules of speaking, usage of vocabulary and pronunciation”. In addition, Brown (2001) defines speaking as a complex skill requiring the simultaneous use of different abilities. Five components are generally recognized in speaking. They are pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. In speaking activities, the students usually get some problems that make them difficult to speak or say anything. They can feel shy in speaking, they lack of vocabulary or afraid of uttering sentences. The students are worried about making mistakes or feel shy of the attention that they get after speaking and they also do not have the motive to speak or express their feelings. They want to speak fluently but, in many chances, they still fail in speaking. They are able in the acquisition, grammatical, and lexical knowledge of the speaker but they are not able to practice. So, they decide to be silent (Bahrani and Solthani, 2012). As a matter of fact, the teachers need to provide speaking activities that can help the students to be active speakers in class. Some of them are called communicative activities. Communicative activities have an important role in creating opportunities for students to use the language for a communicative purpose (Herlina, R, 2018). Generally, communicative activities are “fluency- based activities” which encourage students to use a foreign language in interactive learning (Teat, 2001). Furthermore, communicative activities involve and encourage learners to acquire knowledge of the language and prepare them for use in the language for real-life. To achieve this outcome requires learners to interact not just talking to someone, but also listen to what he says and react to it. Moreover, communicative activities include any activities that engage the learners with their main purpose of the activities is to communicate meanings effectively (Littlewood, 2002). Harmer (2001) also states that communicative activities are typically involving students in real or realistic communication. In other words, communicative activities are JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), ISSN 2598-8530, February, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2020 30 activities that give students both a desire to communicate and a purpose that involve them in a varied use of language. With communication being the goal of second language acquisition, the emphasis is on the development of correct speech habits. Speaking involves more than pronunciation and intonation. At the functional level, speaking means making oneself understood. At a more refined level, speaking requires correct and idiomatic use of the target language. According to some theories from experts, the researcher summarizes some advantages of using communicative activities in teaching English especially speaking skills. Harmer (2001) states that communicative activities involve and encourage students to acquire knowledge of the language and prepare them for use in the language for real life. Communicative activity is a term that has been introduced by the lecturers. Moreover, Littlewood (2002) mentions that communicative activities can give contributions to speaking learning, such as: providing whole task practice, improving motivation, and allowing natural learning. Furthermore, there are some previous studies related to the significance of communicative activities in teaching speaking. First, a study from Oradee (2012) entitled Developing Speaking Skills Using Three Communicative Activities (Discussion, Problem-Solving, and Role- Playing). This study found that 1) The students’ English-speaking abilities after using the three communicative activities were significantly higher than before their use. (Pretest = 60.80; Posttest = 85.63). 2) The students’ attitude towards teaching English speaking skills using the three communicative activities were rated as good. Second, a study from Muhassin (2016) who conducted research entitled Teachers’ Communicative Activities in Teaching English as A Foreign Language (TEFL): A Study at Sman 9 Bandar Lampung. The result of the research shows that there are 24 communicative activities implemented by the English teachers at SMAN 9 Bandar Lampung. The research also reveals that the dominant communicative activity of each English skill implemented in TEFL at SMAN 9 Bandar Lampung is teachers’ asking the question in speaking, note-taking in listening, pre-question in reading, and making sentences in writing. Third, a study from Hien (2013) which revealed the benefits and challenges in the application of communicative activities at the school were JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), ISSN 2598-8530, February, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2020 31 realized. Fourth, Sumilia, E., Puspita, H., Elfrida. (2019) “Students’responses Toward Teachers’questions In Senior High School 8 Bengkulu” which revealed that the most dominant response used by the student is student response (specific). The students were more interested in using response (specific) in answering the teacher question. Based on the researchers’ experience of entrepreneurship at the school, the researchers observed that the English teachers used various methods and activities in teaching speaking so that the students become active in speaking. Therefore, the researcher analyzed the communicative strategies used by English teachers in teaching English at eleventh grade in one of the senior high schools in Bengkulu. METHOD This study employed a mixed-method in collecting the data. The researchers used a descriptive method to describe the communicative activities used by the English teachers in teaching speaking at the school. The subject of the research was two English teachers. The instruments used in this research were the observation checklist and interview. This observation checklist was adapted from some theories (Banciu, 2012; Thornbury,2005; Littlewood,2002; Kayi,2006). The researchers observed the English teachers for three meetings of each teacher. The researchers used the checklist by giving checklist mark (√) for the activities that the English teachers used in teaching English in the classroom. The researchers were helped by the two English teachers who became the subject of this research. The data in this research was collected by some steps. First, the researchers prepared the instrument then asked permission from the English teachers to observe them. Then the researchers came to their class. Third, the researchers recorded and observed the teachers’ teaching activities. The researchers took 3 meetings to observe. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION This research aimed at finding out the communicative activities used by teachers in teaching speaking at eleventh grade. Besides, this research aimed at knowing the most and never communicative activities used by teachers in teaching speaking. The result of this research was analyzed by using theory from javascript:void(0) javascript:void(0) JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), ISSN 2598-8530, February, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2020 32 Banciu, (2012); Thornbury, (2005); Littlewood, (2002); Kayi, (2006). There were 21 communicative activities based on the theory. The researchers did the research by observing two English teachers. The result of each teacher’s activity was as follows. Table 1 Summary of The Types of Communicative Activity Used by teacher 1 and Teacher 2 Teache r Mee ting Type of communicative activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 1 1 st √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 2 n d √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 3 rd √ √ √ √ √ √ 2 1 st √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 2 n d √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 3 rd √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ Total 1 6 4 4 5 3 4 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Note: 1. Question and Answer 2. Dialogue 3. Situational Practice 4. Retelling 5. Discussion 6. Translation 7. Information gap activities 8. Roleplay 9. Simulations 10. Guessing games 11. Pair-Tapping 12. Brainstorming 13. Interview 14. Story Completion 15. Reporting 16. Playing Cards 17. Picture Narrating 18. Picture Describing 19. Find the Differences 20. Debate 21. Class Survey There were thirteen communicative activities that were used by English teachers in teaching speaking at grade XI, they were; questions and answers, discussion, dialogue, situational practice, retelling, translation, information gap, simulation, brainstorming, interview, story completion, reporting, and class survey. The first communicative activity used by the teachers in teaching speaking was question and answer activity. Asking questions is a natural feature of communication, but also one of the most important tools which teachers have at their disposal. Questioning is crucial to the way teachers manage the class, engage students with content, encourage participation and increase understanding. The second activity was a discussion. Discussions are a commonly used activity in a speaking lesson. A topic is introduced to the students via reading or listening passage and then they are asked to discuss a related topic in order to come up with a solution or a response. The third activity was a dialogue. In this research, the teachers used dialogue as one of the communicative activities. Dialogue is the speech of fiction, the talk between two or more characters. The good dialogue draws the reader into an imaginary world and works to keep her there. The third type was retelling. Retelling is a procedure that enables a child to play a large role in reconstructing stories. Retelling Story, then, is post-reading and post-listening a story in which readers and listeners tell what they remember from what they have read or listened. Retellings provide a large amount of data for a writer to insight into Students’ comprehension process. They also provide an opportunity for the students to present his/her ideas. Another activity was a true/false activity. True/False items are often used to assess the explicit meaning of individual sentences or idea units in spoken language, but can also be used in other ways: for example, in judging the accuracy of summaries of opinions expressed in a text. Assesses decide whether each of a number of statements is true (is supported by the text/ recording), or false (is contrary to the text/ recording). Sometimes a third option - not stated (no information in the text/ recording) – is included. The sixth activity was translating Indonesian sentences into English. English can be transformed into Indonesian. This is a common process in learning a language. Since English may apply different grammar from that of Indonesian, a student may find difficulties in learning English grammatically. Ungrammatical English is due to the interference of Indonesian grammar. The formal elements of Indonesian are used within JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), ISSN 2598-8530, February, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2020 34 the context of English, resulting in errors in English. Seventh and the last activities were answering questions and pre-question. Based on the result, it can be concluded that the dominant communicative activity used by teachers in teaching speaking at eleventh-grade students was question and answer activity. However, there were some activities which were rarely implemented by English teachers in teaching speaking at grade eleventh, they were situational practice, role play, simulation, guessing game, pair-tapping, brainstorming, interview, reporting, playing cards, picture narrating, find the differences, debate, and class survey. There were some communicative activities used by English teachers in teaching speaking. Regarding the result, there were two findings of this research. First, there were thirteen types of communicative activities that were used by English teachers in teaching speaking at eleventh-grade students, they were; questions and answer, discussion, dialogue, situational practice, retelling, translation, information gap, simulation, brainstorming, interview, story completion, reporting, and class survey. Second, communicative activity the most used in teaching speaking was question and answer activity. This finding was supported by Liitlewood (2002) who stated that communicative activities involve and encourage learners to acquire knowledge of the language and prepare them for use in the language for real-life. Achieving this outcome requires learners to interact not just talking to someone, but also listen to what he says and react to it. Communicative activities include any activities that engage the learners where their main purpose of the activities is to communicate meanings effectively. As the finding of this research, it revealed that there was three dominant activity used by teachers in teaching English, moreover questions and answer activity becomes the most dominant communicative activity used by the teachers. Question and answer activity is a natural feature of communication, but also one of the most important tools which teachers have at their disposal. Questioning is crucial to the way teachers manage the class, engage students with content, encourage participation and increase understanding. According to Kayi (2006), in using the teacher asks questions, the teacher asked the students some questions related to the material given. The teachers usually used question and answer activity in pre- and post-activity. The teachers asked the students some JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), ISSN 2598-8530, February, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2020 35 questions related to the material that will be taught and the material that has been taught to ensure whether the students understand the material given or not. Another type of communicative activity dominantly used was discussion. Discussions are a commonly used activity in a speaking lesson. A topic is introduced to the students via reading or listening passage and then they are asked to discuss a related topic in order to come up with a solution or a response. This research result revealed that the teachers also applied discussion activity to promote students’ speaking ability. In applying discussion activity, the teachers usually divided the students into some groups to discuss one or more topics. The students need to work and share their knowledge in a group activity. The third dominant type of communicative activity used by teachers was dialogue. In this research, the teachers used dialogue as one of the communicative activities. Dialogue is the speech of fiction, the talk between two or more characters. The good dialogue draws the reader into an imaginary world and works to keep her there. The teachers asked the students to work in pairs then guided them to practice a mini or short dialogue from the textbook and other sources in their seats then practice the dialogue in front of the class. The students need to show their gestures and facial expressions while practicing it. Furthermore, these research findings also confirmed two previous studies related to the use of communicative activities in teaching English. A study by Muhassin (2016) who found that there are 24 communicative activities implemented by the English teachers at SMAN 9 Bandar Lampung. The research also reveals that the dominant communicative activity of each English skill implemented in TEFL at SMAN 9 Bandar Lampung is teachers’ asking the question in speaking, note-taking in listening, pre-question in reading, and making sentences in writing. Communicative activity that is done by them leads to mutual interaction in the classroom (Sembiring, 2018). This present research also found that question-answer activity as a dominant communicative activity used by teachers in teaching English. Then, a study by Oradee (2012) who found that 1) The students’ English speaking abilities after using the three communicative activities were significantly higher than before their use. 2) The students’ attitude towards teaching English speaking skills using the three communicative activities were rated as good. The result of the previous study and present research was similar. JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), ISSN 2598-8530, February, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2020 36 CONCLUSION The result of this research confirmed some previous studies result even though there were some differences umber of communicative activity used by the teachers. A large number of the sample may cause a different finding of this present research from some previous studies. The conclusions of this research can be concluded as follows; first, there were thirteen types of communicative activities that were used by English teachers in teaching English, they were; questions and answer, discussion, dialogue, situational practice, retelling, translation, information gap, simulation, brainstorming, interview, story completion, reporting, and class survey. Second, Communicative activity that was mostly used by the teachers was the question and answer activity. 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