THE USE OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING IN IMPROVING STUDENTS LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

I GEDE NIKA WIRAWAN

INTRODUCTION 1. Background Childhood is the most proper age in learning language. Although children acquire the language faster than adults but sometimes they still make error in using the new language. It means that the childrens acquisition should be investigated in order to know the best way to introduce a new language to the child. Chamot (1978:179), investigate the acquisition of English. In her investigation, she used error analysis to examine whether there was any interference from either French or Spanish or both. Where she found that comparison of the language could not explain the error, she turned to first language studies. Her study deals with grammatical problems in learning English as a third language; the data collected from her own son, who acquired French and Spanish before learning English. Error in using the language that always done by the child could be reduced by teaching the children by appropriate approach that can make them acquire the language easily. One of the approaches that are really suitable that can be used to improve students language acquisition is communicative language teaching (CLT). Bruce Applebaum (2007) found that CLT is a great approach to teach and create an environment conducive to learn and have authentic situations using the target language. Actually, communicative language teaching has been introduce for long time ago but not all of the people realize that there is a good approach available that can be used in the classroom when we teach the students. Besides, in Indonesia the research that had been held about the acquisition of elementary students in acquiring the language had not been pointed out by the researcher. That is why the study of communicative language teaching is really significant being done to be able for the teacher to know about the approach that can be used in the classroom in order to increase the output of the student in learning new language.

In Indonesia itself, the language acquisition of the students in elementary school is always ignored. Probably, it is because the assumption of the people that think the students in elementary school has not an appropriate age to learn the foreign language. Meanwhile, childhood period is the best time for the students to learn the language. Between the ages of three and the early teens the possibility for primary language acquisition constitutes to be good; the individual appears to be most sensitive to stimulate at this time and to preserve some innate flexibility for the organization of brain functions to carry out the complex integration of subprocesses necessary for the smooth elaboration of speech and language. After puberty, the ability for self-organization and adjustment to the physiological demands of verbal behavior quickly declines. The brain behaves as if it had become set in its ways and primary, basic skills not acquired by that time usually remain deficient for life (Lenneberg 1967:158). Because of that, the teacher should watch the students progress in acquiring the language, if there is a good progress of the students in learning the language, the learning approach that is used in the class should be changed. There are actually a lot of researches that had been done about childrens language acquisition but none of them try to solve the problem by giving the reader the most appropriate way to improve childrens language acquisition. They just concern in how to analyze the acquisition in children but never find a way that is could be used to be applied in teaching learning activity in the classroom. Meanwhile, this present study does not just point in children language acquisition, but also give the reader solution how to solve the problem that always faced by lots of teacher to choose the best way that can be used in the classroom activity that can also improve the students language acquisition. Another that, this study is also very crucial in order to be one of the step for another researcher to develop the study that is done in education

sector in order to improve our education sector in Indonesia that has been be left behind for a long time by other countries. Of course, CLT is not very difficult to be applied in our education system. In Indonesia CLT has the same principal with the method that is used in all of the education sectors in this country, student center, that emphasizing the activity in the classroom on the student. Teacher is just as the facilitator that helps students to achieve the target of the learning. So, CLT if we apply in our education sector in this country will not as difficult as applying the other approach that is not familiar with the students and teacher in this country. The syllabus and the procedure of CLT is really effective in forcing the students to be active in the classrooms activity that made this approach precise in activate the involvement of the students during the teaching learning process goes on. Actually, the condition of the education in Indonesia easily accepts this approach to be applied in its education system. 2. Problems According to the background explained above, there are many problems that could be formulated. They are: 1. What is the feature of communicative language teaching that can improve elementary school students language acquisition? 2. Why communicative language teaching is an effective way in order to increase elementary school students language acquisition? 3. How can we apply communicative language teaching properly in the class room activity with the purpose of increasing elementary school students language acquisition?

3. Aims of Study In making this paper, there are many aims of this study wanted to achieve, they are: 1. To identify the feature of communicative language teaching that can develop elementary school students language acquisition. 2. To find out the reason of the use of communicative language teaching in order to increase elementary school students language acquisition. 3. To explain the appropriate way to apply communicative language teaching in class room activity with the intention of increasing elementary school students language acquisition. 4. Scope of Discussion Related to the problems which have been formulated above, the scope of discussion of this study could be framed as followed: 1. The description of communicative language teaching feature; it includes the definition of communicative language teaching, the basic feature of communicative language teaching and the students and teachers responsibility in the classroom when using this approach. 2. The reason of the increasing of elementary school students language acquisition by the use of communicative language teaching in classroom activity according to the research that had been done that followed by the elementary school students. 3. The using of communicative language teaching in classroom activity includes types of learning, the syllabus and procedure of the activities that is appropriate for this approach. It also includes teachers roles and students roles during the activity in the classroom going on.

Literature Review, Concepts, and Theoretical Framework 1. Literary Review The study of language acquisition actually had been done by some researcher. One of them is Antini (2008) his work entitled The influence of Dora the Explorer on Children in Acquiring English. Her paper is concerned with language acquisition, especially on children in acquiring English. This paper can give us the explanation of the process on children in acquiring English. Hermin Listyowati (2000) also has ever made the research about language acquisition in his paper titled English Acquisition of the Local Traders in Alas Kedaton. In her research, she analyzed the traders in Alas Kedaton and found the result of the research that gives us the explanation of the traders step in acquiring English. She reviled that the traders steps in English acquisition begin with imitation. Besides, some related study has been conducted by Bagia Astawa (1998), in his paper titled Some Notes on Language Acquisition Process in Child Period. He tried to find out the process of language development on children 0-8 years old. All of the researches above do not focus on the language acquisition of the elementary school students, but they focus on the children in general. In this paper, the writer also point out the use of communicative language teaching that bring a big impact for elementary school students in acquiring the language studied. Similar studies have been done by some experts about communicative language teaching that can improve students language acquisition; one of them had been done by Jason Beale (2000) in his article entitled Is communicative language teaching a thing of the past? In his

article he reviews the success of communicative language teaching (CLT) in the context of language acquisition theory and research findings. It is argued that a fairly limited use of communicative principles has been evident in popular treatments of lesson structure, content, and syllabus design. In contrast, other content- and task-based models are potentially more communicative in shape. His study emphasizes on the teaching of strategies and form-focused exercises. Jason Beale article has challenged communicative approaches to address both the experiential and intellectual levels of language learning. In the other hand, Jason Beale study and this study is different where this study is not just focus on communicative language teaching, but also the effect of communicative language teaching to the students language acquisition. Another research related to the study of communicative language teaching was also done by Bruce Applebaum (2007), in his study entitle communicative language teaching: theory, practice, and personal. The study describe about communicative language teaching that is considered as a great approach to teach and create an environment conducive to learn and have authentic situations using the target language. The strength of his study is that he had shown the reader that the students who study using communicative language teaching have greatly enjoyed being able to use the target language in a meaningful way and in turn have showed more motivation in learning the target language. The difference with this study is that Bruce Applebaum study is just focus on theory, practice, and personal of communicative language teaching, in the other hand this study is not just focus on the theory but the relation between communicative language teaching and students language acquisition. Fernando Rubino (2005) also study communicative language teaching in his article titled Grammar in Disguise: The Hidden Agenda of Communicative Language Teaching Textbooks. The study analyzes the treatment of grammar in current foreign language textbooks in order to

find out whether textbooks that claims t adhere to the tenets of communicative language teaching really to do. The result of the study enables us to know that it indicates that the primary focus of the language instruction is still on output and that drills still have a strong presence I the beginner level classroom. In the other hand in this study, the writer is not emphasis on the grammar aspect of the learning but the acquisition of the students. 2. Concepts Communicative language teaching (CLT) refers to both processes and goals in classroom learning. The central theoretical concept in communicative language teaching is

communicative competence, a term introduced into discussions of language use and second or foreign language learning in the early 1970s (Savignon 1971). Competence is defined in terms of the expression, interpretation, and negotiation of meaning and looks to both psycholinguistic and sociocultural perspectives in second language acquisition (SLA) research to account for its development (Savignon 1972, 1997). Identification of learners communicative needs provides a basis for curriculum design (Van Ek 1975). Meanwhile, Language acquisition is the study of the processes through which learners acquire language. By itself, language acquisition refers to first language acquisition, which studies childrens acquisition of their native language, whereas second language acquisition deals with acquisition of additional languages in both children and adults. 3. Theoretical Framework In this study there are two sorts of theories that is used, the first one is the main theory which uses the theory of Krashen. The Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis, the distinction between acquisition and learning is the most fundamental of all the hypotheses in Krashen's theory, since it suggests that language comes to us in two rather different ways. Acquisition is one. You

acquire language by using it for real communication. Learning, which he describes as knowing about language, is quite a different thing. Acquisition is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers concentrate not on the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act. Learning, on the other hand, provides conscious knowledge about the target language. It is therefore less important than acquisition for basic communication, but it still plays an important role in language learning. To oversimplify a bit, learning is likely to occur in the study segment of an English lesson, while acquisition takes places during language activation. (Krashen: 1982). The second theory that is used in this study is the supporting theory that is taken from Canales theory. According to Canale (1983: 5), communicative competence refers to 'the underlying systems of knowledge and skill required for communication'. The four components of communicative competence can be summarized as follows: Grammatical competence Producing a structured comprehensible utterance (including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling). Sociocultural competence Using socially-determined cultural codes in meaningful ways, often termed 'appropriacy' (e.g. formal or informal ways of greeting). Discourse competence Shaping language and communicating purposefully in different genres (text types), using cohesion (structural linking) and coherence (meaningful relationships in language).

Strategic competence Enhancing the effectiveness of communication (e.g. deliberate speech), and compensating for breakdowns in communication (e.g. comprehension checks, paraphrase, conversation fillers). 4. Assumption It can be assume that communicative language teaching is the appropriate approach that could be used in order to improve elementary school students language acquisition. 5. Data source

Actually, there are three kinds of data sources that are available. They are primary sources, secondary sources, and territory sources. But, in this study, the data sources that are used by the writer are primary sources and secondary sources. The primary data is the data that we can get directly from the source, in this case the elementary school students. The students who are involved in the research are elementary school students in Gianyar Regency. They are from different grade that can enable the researcher to know the progress of the students in different grate of elementary school. There are twenty four elementary school students followed in the research that is chosen by double sampling. It is one of the sampling techniques that combine the sampling technique in choosing the sample. In this study the sort of sampling that are combine are stratified, quota and random sampling. Stratified sampling is a sampling technique that chooses the sample according to the stratification. Quota sampling is a sampling technique that chooses the sample according to the number that is needed without considering the number of the population. The last one is random sampling, in this type of sampling technique; the researcher chooses the sample randomly. Those sampling techniques are combined to get the appropriate people that could be

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involved in the research. The stratification that is used to take the samples is the grade of the students in elementary school and the number of the students that put in the research is ten students from the total number of the students that study in different elementary school in Gianyar regency. Elementary school students in Gianyar regency were taken as the samples because Gianyar regency is one of the regency in Bali Province that has a good progress in education sector. It enables the researcher to get the most effective result of the using communicative language teaching in the classroom. The number of the students engaged in the research is just twenty four students that can make the research manageable and efficient. The research was held in 2008 in the second semester. The secondary data is the data that is taken from research report, whether books or article, based on primary data sources. The secondary data that is used in this study are gotten from various sources of books and article that are related to the topic of communicative language teaching in order to increase elementary school students language acquisition. Those sources are necessary because they can suspend the explanation of the communicative language teaching. The information that is used is the most up-to-date data generally from the books and article that are made recently. 6. Research Method

In producing a pierce of scientific writing, a study must use a methodology. The investigation conducted within this study will be adopted the field research method, in which will be observed in the conversations. The methodology of doing research is the application of systematic steps, which will be used qualitative method. It is the method that to find out the answer of the problems and information normatively. In this research, there are three steps that are going to be

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followed. They are method and technique of collecting the data, method and technique of analyzing the data, method and technique of presenting the data. 6.1 Method and Technique of Collecting the Data Because the data that are used in this study primary and secondary data, so, the data was collected differently between gathering the data from primary data and secondary data. The primary data was collected through the following processes: 1. Teach the students foreign language for several months, in this case English, by using communicative language teaching related to the concept of this teaching approach. Teaching approach where negotiation for meaning is critical. The teacher becomes a facilitator. Collaborative learning and peer interaction is important. 2. After few months giving lesson using communicative language teaching, students was given question related to the lesson. Then, ask the students to answer the question as much as they can. 3. Collect all of the answer of the question and read them all. 4. Give the score of the students work, in order to know the acquisition of the students in using English. 5. Classify the data according to the grade of the students and make the diagram. In the other hand, the secondary was collected through the following procedures: 1. The sources of books and articles related to the communicative language teaching and language acquisition were collected from many ways, such as look for them in the library or through the web-searcher. 2. The crucial information associated with communicative language teaching and language acquisition was chosen as the secondary data.

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6.2 Method and Technique of Analyzing the Data The data collected were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The data that collected from the research that had been done to know the ability of the elementary school students is processed and analyzed quantitatively. In the other hand, to explain the feature and the application of communicative language teaching that can improve elementary school students language acquisition are analyzed qualitatively. Firstly, the secondary data from many sources were gathered. Then, they are classified according to the sort of information that is needed in describing communicative language teaching and language acquisition. Then, the appropriate data that can suspend the theory of language acquisition proposed by Krashen was chosen and eliminate the data that is not necessary. In the other hand, the primary data taken from elementary school students were classified according to the students grate in elementary school. After that, the data was served in the form of table. Next, the secondary data was used in describing the first problem, the description of communicative language teaching that can increase elementary school students language acquisition using the theory of Krashen. Acquisition is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers concentrate not on the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act. Learning, on the other hand, provides conscious knowledge about the target language. It is therefore less important than acquisition for basic communication, but it still plays an important role in language learning. To oversimplify a bit, learning is likely to occur in the study segment of an English lesson, while acquisition takes places during language activation. (Krashen: 1982).

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Afterward, the primary and secondary data was used in explaining the second problem. That is the suitable application of the communicative language teaching in the class room activity with the purpose of increasing elementary school students language acquisition. Finally, the last problem is also portrayed by the primary and secondary data. 6.3 Method and Technique of Presenting the Data The data was presenting formally and informally. Formally the data of the ability of the students in acquiring the language was served in the form of table to suspend the analysis of the third problem. And informally, the data that is gathered from many sources used to analyze the first and second problem is presented by using the word circuitry. 7. Research Design The phenomenon of language acquisition among the child in elementary school and CLT is one of the approaches that can be used in order to improve elementary school students language acquisition. They emerge the problem of CLT related to the acquisition of the children in elementary school. Through the problem, the data must be determined. After the data available, the analysis of the CLT that can improve the students language acquisition could be done in order to get the explanation of the problems. Through the explanation we can get the point that can explain the problem through making the conclusion.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Antini, Sri. 2008. The Influence of Dora the Explorer on Children in Acquiring English. Denpasar: Udayana University. Astawa, Bagia. 1998. Some Note on Language Acquisition Process in Child Period. Denpasar: Udayana University. Beauchamp, George A. 1964. The Curriculum of the Elementary School. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. Canale, M., Frenette, N., & Belanger, M. (1983). Evaluation of minority student writing in first and second language. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing. Chammot. 1978. Communicative language teaching: An aid to second language acquisition? Some insights from classroom research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. F.L. Billows. 1973. The Technique of Language Teaching. Hongkong: Dai Nippon Printing Co (H.K) Ltd. Hawkins, Eric. 1979. Teaching Languages Ideas and Guidance. England: British Broadcasting Corporation. Krashen, S.D. 1982. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lenneberg, E. H. 1967. Biological Foundations of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Listyowati, Hermin. 2000. English Acquisition of the Traders in Alas Kedaton. Denpasar: Udayana University. Murcia, Marianne Celce. 1991. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston: Heinle&Heinle Publisher Richard, Jack C. and Rodgers, Theodore S. 1986, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. London: Cambridge University Press. Rubino, Fernando. 2005. Language teaching. An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Savignon, S. J., & Berns, M. S. (Eds.). (1971). Communicative language teaching: Where are we going? Studies in Language Learning, 4(2). London: EDRS Publisher.

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