Communicationis "the process by which people exchange information or express theirthoughts and feeling" Longman Dictionary (1995:266). Richards, J. and Schmidt, R. (2002) add thatthis kind of exchange happens between two or more persons who take the roles of speaker or sender whotransmits a message and a receiver whom this message is intended to.



Communicative tasks havebeen defined as tasks that "involve the learner in comprehending,manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while theirattention is principally focused on meaning rather than form" (Nunan, C.1989: 10). They contrast with other, more traditional language tasks thatrequire learners to pay attention to specific linguistic properties (phonological,lexical, or grammatical) in order to learn them or to practise using them moreaccurately.


Nobuyoshi, J. and Ellis, R. (1993) say thatcommunication tasks are important for both fluency and accuracy. They aidfluency by enabling learners to activate their linguistic knowledge for use innatural and spontaneous language, such as when taking part in a conversation.One way in which this is achieved is by developing strategic competence,defined by Canale (1983) cited in Nobuyoshi, J. and Ellis, R. (1993) as theverbal and non-verbal strategies used to compensate for breakdowns incommunication and to enhance the effectiveness of communication. Theycontribute to accuracy by enabling learners to discover new linguistic formsduring the course of communicating, and also by increasing their control overalready-acquired forms.



It is important toencourage pupils to communicate and use the language in their real life. Themost important opportunity to achieve this is by providing communicative tasks insidethe classroom. They are the best way to improve the skill of speaking. Ur, P. (2002) suggeststhat we should be careful when we choose or create a speaking activity. Shesuggests characteristics of a successful speaking activity such as:

Learners talk a lot. The successful speaking activity provides an opportunity for the pupils to have an enough time to talk. The teacher should reduce his talk and pauses.

Participation is even. All pupils must have chances to talk. Teacher should help the weak pupils to participate in the speaking activity.

Motivation is high. The successful speaking activity makes the pupils interested in the topic of the activity in order to make the learner eager to speak.

Language is of an acceptable level.

(Ellis, 1982) adds that communicationtasks have the following features:
There must be a communicative purpose.

There must be a focus on message rather than on the linguistic code.

There must be some kind of information gap.

There must be opportunity for negotiation when performing the task.

The participants must choose the resources - verbal and non-verbal - required for performing the task.




We can also divide thecharacteristics of a successful speaking task into four categories. They canevaluate and judge the effectiveness of a communicative task.
The first category involvesthe purposive characteristics. This appears when pupils use the language for apurpose which can be shown when they are motivated. To create a purpose,activity should be designed to meet learners' needs and target languagestructures and provides interaction, which guides pupils to have reason forspeaking.



The second categoryfocuses on the interactive characteristics. For example, when learners exchangeinformation and match their language level to others. Learners apply speakingskills in real time conditions. Interaction appears when learners ask andanswer questions, seek solution to problem and guess or predict.



Participativecharacteristics construct the third category of a successful speaking task thatprovides opportunities for each pupil to have a role within group and maximizeslearners' participations. The task involves most pupils to talk and minimizesteacher's correction.



The fourth category involvesthe flaunt characteristics. The effective communicative task allows pupils tospeak privately and spontaneously. It focuses on conveying effective meaning.Pupils are encouraged to use their own words and not interrupted by teacher whoshould ignore the grammatical mistakes and focuses on fluency rather thanaccuracy.


References
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Language toYoung Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Candlin, C. (1987) Towards Task-BasedLanguage Learning. In Candlin, C. and D. Murphy (Eds.) Language LearningTasks. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall.

Nunan, C. (1989) Designing Tasks for theCommunicative Classroom. Cambridge, CUP

Richards, J, C. and Schmidt, R. (2002).Dictionary Of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics. Harlow: Longman

Scott, W.A. and Ytreberg, L.H (1990). TeachingEnglish To Children. Harlow: Longman

Ur, P. (1996) A Course In English Language Teaching.Cambridge: CUP.

Wray, D. and Medwell, J (1991). Literacy andlanguage In The Primary Years. London: Routledge.