As
noted by Gumperz (1972, as cited in Wardhaugh, 2002), “communicative competence
describes speakers’ ability to select from the totality of grammatically
correct expressions available to them, forms which appropriately reflect the
social norms governing behavior in specific encounters” (p. 249). In this
sense, it can be concluded that teachers must give consideration to combining
those two different types of communicative activities in the EFL conversation
class. Such an attempt can be realized through the syllables designed to
encourage students to participate both in “planned discourse” (e.g.,
eacher-directed situation drills) and “unplanned discourse” (e.g., free
discussions) throughout the classroom activities. In other words, adopting the
different “teacher roles” from each type of activities (i.e., authentic vs.
non-authentic communicative activities) in classroom will be effective to help
students achieve improved communicative competence in the target language.
According
to Johnson (1995), teachers are responsible for making the classroom atmosphere
encouraging, supportive, and open to any and all students’ contributions and
participation. As shown in the authentic communicative language activities,
such as free discussions and interview, where the interaction takes place with
the main focus on meaning of conversation, teachers should adopt non-authentic
communicative activities. That is because the EFL students need the sufficient
amount of accurate input and the opportunities to get feedback on their
performance through controlled communicative activities. (Through the course
evaluation, students in my conversation classes expressed this need for formal
instruction on their grammar and vocabulary.) Therefore, incidental feedback or
form-focused instruction in the shape of communication during the authentic
communicative activities will be effective ways to supplement students’ ability
to participate beyond their current level of competence in the second language.
In
addition, students are encouraged to strategically use a certain type of expressions
in predictable discourse situations. Providing students with opportunity to
learn the second language norms as well as to negotiate meaning in class will
lead the students to higher levels of L2 proficiency.
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