Hadfield,J. and Hadfield, C. (1999) divide communicative activity into different stages.The setting-up stage which introduces the learner to the topic of the activity.In this stage teacher demonstrates the activity and explains to the pupils whatto do to become familiar with the topic of the activity. The Hadfields (1999:3)say, "the setting-up stage of the lesson is also a good time to practisethe pronunciation of any words and phrases that your learners will finddifficult".

The second stage is thespeaking practice which is the core of the activity. This stage providesopportunity for the learners to communicate in pairs or groups. The Hadfields(1999) say that this stage is the bridge for learners between the classroom andtheir real life. They add that this stage give the pupils practiceopportunities for purposive communication in meaningful situations.

In this stage there aremany different techniques which can be used to create meaningful context topractise speaking. These techniques are: ask and answer, describe and draw,discussion, guessing, remembering, miming, and ordering. Completing a form androle play. For more details about these techniques, see appendix 1. In my communicativetask I will use the ask and answer technique.

The third stage is thefeedback stage where the learners show to the rest of the class the things theyhave done in their pairs or groups. It is a chance to find and resolve theweaknesses done by the learners during the stage of speaking practice.

It is important to takeinto account some useful ingredients before and during any communicative task.These ingredients are suggested on English Club web site:
Identify a realistic communicative context and a clear purpose.

Ensure there is an information gap or opinion gap.

Generate pupil interest.

Allow pupil preparation time if necessary.

Model and monitor.

Involve students in the self-correction.

Provide a sense of conclusion.


Read also: Communicative Tasks