TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE
· Professor James Asher of San Jose State University developed it.
· Asher views adult second language teaching as a parallel process to first language acquisition as children.
· Children learn a language primarily as commands, which children respond to physically.
· TPR was influenced by development psychology, learning theory and humanistic pedagogy.
Approach
Theory of Language
· TPR has a grammar-based view of language.
· Most of the grammatical structure and hundreds of vocabulary items can be learned from the skillful use of the imperative by the instructor.
· The stimulus response is viewed as the learning theory supporting this method.
· TPR can also be linked to the “trace theory”. It claims that the more intensively a memory connection is traced, the stronger the memory association will be. Retracing can be done verbally and in connection with motor activity.
· Asher draws on influental learning hypotheses:
1. People are born with an innate bio-program for language learning.
2. Brain lateralization defines different learning functions.
3. Stress distrupts learning. The lower the stress, the greater the learning.
· Asher sees three process as central:
1. Children develop listening competence first. They are able to understand complex utterances that they are not able to spontaneously produce.
2. Children acquire listening comprehension by responding physically to commands given by caretakers.
3. A foundation built on listening comprehension results in natural speech acts.
· Brain lateralization
§ TPR is directed toward right-brain learning.
§ Children acquire a first language through motor movement – a right brain activity.
§ The right brain must be activated before the left hemisphere can process language for prıduction.
· Reduction of stress
§ First language acquisition takes place in a stress-free environment.
§ Second language acquisition usually occurs in a stressful environment.
§ If adults can learn in a safe environment, similar to when they were children, they are more likely to learn the target language.
Objectives
· The general objective is to teach oral proficiency at the beginning level. The final goal is to teach basic speaking skills.
· With TPR, a learner should be capable of uninhibited communication that is intelligible to a native speaker.
· Goals must be attainable through the use of action-based drills in the imperative form.
· TPR would use a sentence-based syllabus, with grammatical and lexical criteria being important in selecting teaching items.
· However, meaning is more important than grammatical structures.
· Grammar is taught inductively.
· Imperative drills are the major classroom activity.
· Role plays and slide presentations focus on everyday situations.
· TPR students are both listeners and performers.
· The teacher is the one who decides what to teach.
§ Teachers write detailed lesson plan.
§ Although the teacher has an active role, heshe is to provide opportunities for learning.
§ The teacher must expose students to the language to give them opportunities to internalize the basic rules of the target language.
§ Teachers should give feedback following the example of parents. In the beginning, little correction is given, later a teacher should give more correction.
§ Texts aren’t necessary. Instead, teachers will need pictures, realia,slides and word charts.
Advantages of TPR
1. It is fun and easy. Students will enjoy getting up out of their chairs and moving around.
2. Simple TPR activities don’t require a great deal of preparation on the part of the teacher.
3. TPR is aptitude-free. It is inclusive working well with a mixed ability class.
4. It is good for kinesthetic learners who need to be active in the class.
5. It is a good tool for building vocabulary.
6. It is memorable. Actions help strengthen the connections in the brain.
7. Class size need not be a problem.
Disadvantages of TPR
1. While it can be used at higher levels, TPR is most useful for beginners. At higher levels, preparation becomes an issue.
2. Students aren’t generally given the opportunity to express their own thoughts in a creative way.
3. It is limited in terms of language scope. Certain target languages may not be suited to this method.
4. It can be a challange for shy students.
5. It is easy to overuse TPR.
· The principles that help elaborate Asher’s idea are:
1. Second language learning is parallel to first language learning and should reflect the same naturalistic processes.
2. Listening should develop before speaking.
3. Once listening comprehension has been developed, speech develops naturally and effortlessly out of it.
4. Adults should use right-brain motor activities, while the left hemisphere watches and learns.
· Benefits of TPR:High speed long-term retention, stress-free, instant understanding of the target language, regardless of academic aptitude.
TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE
Introduction
· TPR is based on the premise that the human brains have a biological program for acquiring any natural language on earth.
· The learning process is visible as infants internalize their first language through body conversation.
Process of NL Acquisition
· At the beginning, infants imprint the patterns and sounds of the target language in their minds. After the child decodes enough of the target language, speaking appears spontaneously.
· At first, the infant’s speech might not be perfect, but gradually the child’s utterance will approximate more and more that of a native language.
Four Basic Theories
1. Trace theory: The oral repeat, gesture or body action can help the recall or association of memory.
2. Imperatives: The language that kids contact most before they speak is the imperative that parents said. Thus, Asher asserted that the adult should learn imperatives first.
3. Emotion: Asher thought emotion affected the result of learning, and in the process of learning, the tension should be lowered to promote learning effects.
4. Comprehension Approach: Comprehension should be formed before production. So, listening ability should be trained first in language teaching. Only after the students have developed cognitive listening ability, can teachers start to train their oral expression ability.
Characteristics
· Using comprehension as a means to speaking
§ To clarify meaning, the teacher issues commands, then performs the actions alone. Learners just listen.
§ Teachers issue the commands and learners demonstrate that they can understand the command by performing the actions.
§ Switch roles and students give the commands.
· Using imperatives to direct behavior (the main technique to teach TPR):
§ Imperative is a powerful tool that can be used to guide students to understand as it manipulates their behavior. The actions will make the meaning of the imperatives clear.
§ Imperative is an easy way to promote students to move about and to loosen up.
· Movement and action sequences
§ Skill in SLA can be more rapidly assimilated if the teacher appeals to learners’ kinesthetic-sensory system. So, understanding and retention is best achieved through total movement of the learners’ bodies in response to command sequences.
· Role Reversal
§ The teacher interacts with the entire class through oral commands, to which they provide physical responses. After 10 to 20 hours of instruction, students begin to speak and they can also command their teacher and classmates to perform some actions. But students shouldn’t be encouraged to speak untill they are ready.
Advantages
· Long-term memory: intensive listening, physical actions, and response make learning more impressive.
· Stress-free: like playing a game, interesting and comprehensible input.
· High speed: instant understanding.
· Suitable for all levels.
· Useful for newly arrived ESL.
Disadvantages
· TPR is magical to jump start people of all ages into the target language, but repetitive practice will tire the learners.
· It cannot do entire job of language and need to cooperate with other methods.
