It involves memorizing things you want to be able to say in your new languageand using them to communicate with other people. There is an emphasis on language as a social activity and as a means of communication with people. It is important to understand what is said, but the intent is to learn to say everything elicited. Native speakers often highly value good pronunciation.
Repetition helps things stick.
Comprehensible output can become comprehensible input. You need exposure to language in a variety of social settings. Language is used interactively in conversation. Language has social meaning. If you want to communicate with speakers of a language, you will be more motivated to learn it.