Total Physical Response

‘Babies

don't learn by memorizing lists;

why should children or adults?’

from a lecture by Dr. Asher at Cambridge University, England

TPR is…a method of teaching

language using physical movement

to react to verbal input in order to reduce student

inhibitions and lower their affective

filter (stress).

The Origins• TPR was originated by Dr. James J. Asher

who is a professor emeritus of psychology at San José State University.

• Dr. Asher observed that the dropout rate of second language students in a traditional program is often as high as 95%.

• He wondered why so many people have a hard time learning a second language although almost no one has no trouble while learning their first language.

Dr. Asher came up with a couple of explanations:

• Many teachers use methods that were not used while learning the first language.

• There is often found stress in the second language learning environment.

• Therefore, Asher decided

to create a stress-free approach to

learning a secondlanguage that used

many methodsfound in the first

languagelearning experience.

• According to Asher, TPR is based on the premise that the human brain has a biological program for acquiring any natural language on earth - including the sign language of the deaf. The process is visible when we observe how infants internalize their first language.

• TPR is offered as an example of a general approach called ‘comprehension approach’.

• Comprehension approach places the value on the student’s understanding of the target language, and thus it emphasizes the listening skills.

• The Natural Approach, like TPR, is regarded as a comprehension-based approach because of its emphasis on initial silent period in the production of language.

The Natural Approach

• The NA was developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen in 1977. It came to have a wide influence in language teaching in the United States and around the world.

• The most striking proposal of the NA theory is that adults can still acquire second languages and that the ability to 'pick up' languages does not disappear at puberty.

• The theory behind the NA implies that adults can acquire all but the phonological aspect of any foreign language .

• While learning adults have two paths to follow: Acquisition and learning. However, children have only one: Acquisition.

• For Krashen, even Grammar Translation Method is not as old and traditional as the method of acquiring a language in its natural environment, a method which has been used for hundreds of thousands of years.

Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

Hypotheses

• The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis • The Natural Order Hypothesis • The Monitor Hypothesis • The Input Hypothesis

• The Affective Filter Hypothesis

The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

• The Acquired System vs. The Learned System • Learned competence functions (LC) as a monitor

or editor.• ‘Learning does not become acquisition.’ Stephen

Krashen• Grammar study (learning) is less effective than

simple exposure (acquisition). 

The Monitor Hypothesis

• The relationship between acquisition and learning and the influence of the latter on the former.

• ‘Fluency’ in second language performance is due to 'what we have acquired', not ‘what we have learned’.

• Three conditions :(1)Having enough time; (2) focusing on form; (3) knowing the rule.

The Natural Order Hypothesis

• Language rules are acquired in a predictable order and certain rules tend to be acquired before others.

• The implication of natural order is not that second or foreign language teaching materials should be arranged in accordance with this sequence but that acquisition is subconscious and free from conscious intervention.

The Input Hypothesis

• Explains how successful “acquisition” occurs.

• Concerned with 'acquisition' not 'learning‘

• ‘Comprehensible input' should be provided. (Krashen defined the present “level” as i and the

ideal level of input as i +1.)

The Affective Filter Hypothesis

• A number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative, but non-causal, role in second language acquisition.

• These variables : Motivation, Self-Confidence and Anxiety.

• People acquire a second language only if their affective filters are low enough to allow them to receive adequate input.

Asher -> Right Brain Learning

Language acqusition happens through motor movement.

Brain Lateralization

Sufficient amount of right hemisphere learning

Language production & other abstract language processes

Reduction of Stress

Stress-free environment

Relaxed and pleasurable experiences

Focusing on the meaning interpreted by movement

In order to reduce stress;

Design

Ultimate Aim: To teach basic speaking skills

Major Classroom Activity: Imperative Drills

Syllabus: Sentence-based

Primary Roles: Listener – Performer

Feedback: Parent – Children example

Plan: No basic text. Concrete materials and realia is used instead.

Objectives

To teach oral proficiency at a beginning level and the ultimate aim is to teach basic speaking skills.

To produce learners who are capable of free communication, which is understandable to a native speaker.

SyllabusThe syllabus is predictable from the exercises used in the class: A sentence-based syllabus with grammatical & lexical criteria being primary in selecting teaching items.

TPR requires initial attention to meaning rather than to the form of items. Grammar is thus taught inductively.

Learning Activities

Imperative drills are the major classroom activity in TPR. Other class activities include role plays and slide presentations.

Conversational dialogues are delayed until after almost 120 hours of instruction.

Roles of Learners & Teacher

Learners have the primary roles

of listener & performer. Theylisten attentively and respondphysically to the commandsgiven. The teacher who has adirect and active role has theresponsibility of providing thebest kind of exposure tolanguage.

“It is wise to write out the exact utterancesyou will be using and especially the novelcommands because the action is so fast

moving, there is usually not time for create spontenaously.”

-Asher (1977:42)

Materials

For absolute beginners lessons may not require the use of materials since the teacher’s voice, actions and gestures may be sufficient. The teacher can use basic classroom objects such as books, pens etc. As the course develops, the teacher will need to collect new materials. These may include pictures, realia, slides, word charts.

TPR Student Kit - Supermarket

Procedur

e

•Review

•New Commands

•Role Reversal

•Reading and Writing

Review• Teacher gives a

summary of the last lesson.

• Teacher repeats the verbs/items etc. that were learned in the previous lesson.

New commands

• Giving the commands.

• Three commands at a time.

• Varying the sequence of commands.

How much of a language can be taught

through the use of imperatives

An Advanced Lesson of TPR

Teacher: Rachel, walk to the blackboard. (Rachel gets up and walks to the blackboard.) 

Teacher: Class, if Rachel walked to the blackboard, stand up.      (The class stands up.)

Teacher: Rachel, write your name on the blackboard. (Rachel writes her name on the blackboard.) 

Teacher: Class, if Rachel wrote her name on the blackboard, sit down.

      (The class sits down.) 

Role Reversal• Students commanding their teacher

and classmates.

Reading and Writing

• Writing the new items on the board.

Some Characteristics of TPR

• Focusing on meaning and comprehension.• Seated in a semi-circle.• Great deal of listening and acting.• Directing a performance in which the

students are actors.• Verbal response is not necessary.• Humor is easy to introduce.• Teacher always uses the target language.• Overcoming the fear of speaking

Advantages of TPR

• Students enjoying moving around the classroom.

• Not preparing long hours • before the lessons.

• Effective for both adult and young learners.

Disadvantages of TPR

• Best suitable for beginners.

• Challenging for shy students.

• Rude and inappropriate language of the learner.

References Books

• T.Diaz-Rico, L. (2004). Teaching English Learners Strategies and Methods. Pearson Education, Inc.• Herrell, A., & Jordan, M. (2004) Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners. Pearson

Education, Inc.• D.Moore, K. (2005). Effective Instructional Strategies. Sage Publications, Inc.• Gonzalez, V., & Yawkey, T., & Minaya-Rowe, L. (2006). English-As-A-Second-Language (ESL)

Teaching and Learning. Pearson Education, Inc.• Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University

Press.• C.Richards, J., & S.Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge

University Press.

Web Sites

• http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/khakuta/LAU/ICLangLit/NaturalApproach.htm• http://naturalway.awardspace.com/articles/article002.htm• http://www.tpr-world.com

Articles

• The Learning Strategy of the Total Physical Response: A Review James J. Asher http://www.jstor.org/stable/323182

Thank You For

Listening