Total Physical Response

When I try to find approach and methods to teach children, I found so many of them, but there is one that really catch my eye, that is TPR, in my opinion TPR does suit to teach children especially vocabulary (one of the basic thing that students need to learn) due to its concept, practice and theory behind it which is described below

TPR is one of the English teaching approaches and methods developed by Dr. James J Asher. It has been applied for almost thirty years. This method attempts to center attention to encouraging learners to listen and respond to the spoken target language commands of their teachers. In other words, TPR is a language teaching method built around the coordination of speech and action; it attempts to teach language through physical (motor) activity.

Asher's Total Physical Response is a "natural method" since Asher views first and second language learning as parallel processes. He argues that second language teaching and learning should reflect the naturalistic processes of first language learning. For this reason, there are such three central processes:

1. a.    Before children develop the ability to speak, they develop listening competence. At the early phases of first language acquisition, they are able to comprehend complex utterances, which they hardly can spontaneously produce or imitate. Asher takes into accounts that a learner may be ma-king a mental blueprint of the language that will make it possible to produce spoken language later during this period of listening;
2. b.    children's ability in listening comprehension is acquired because children need to respond physically to spoken language in the form of parental commands; and
3. c.     When a foundation in listening comprehension has been established, speech evolves naturally and effortlessly out of it.

Asher believes that it is crucial to base foreign language learning upon how children learn their native language. In other words, TPR is designed based upon the way that children learn their mother tongue. In this respect, TPR considers that one learns best when he is actively involved and grasp what he hears (Haynes, 2004; Larsen-Freeman, 1986; Linse, 2005).

There are three theories behind TPR , the first is Childhood language acquisition theories; Children are exposed to huge amounts of language input before speaking. Language learners can also benefit from following this “natural” progression from comprehension to production, instead of the more normal situation where learners are asked to produce instantly. The next theory is the right brain/left brain divide; the left brain can be described as logical, one-track, and cynical. It is used when analyzing, talking, discussing, etc. Most classroom activities in Japan are aimed at the left brain. The right brain is used when moving, acting, using metaphor, drawing, pointing, etc. It is targeted by sports and extra-curricular activities in schools. When language is taught by lecturing or explaining, the cynical left brain is targeted and the information is kept in short term memory (if at all). It is soon forgotten as it never becomes “real” to the student. When language is taught actively through movement, the right brain “believes” the information and retains it, in the same way that skills such as swimming or riding a bicycle are remembered long term. And the last theory is lowering stress and the affective filter; students learn more when they are relaxed. This is because the affective filter, a mental barrier between the students and the information, is raised when students are nervous or uncomfortable. When the affective filter is high, learners find it harder to understand, process, and remember information. TPR helps reduce the affective filter because it is less threatening than traditional language activities. Students do not have to produce language. Mistakes are unimportant and easily (and painlessly) corrected by the teacher. Language is remembered easily and long-term.

As always, there must be advantages and disadvantages of anything, not to be mentioned TPR, These are some advantages of using TPR to Children:

1. 1.       It is a lot of fun. Learners enjoy it, and this method can be a real stirrer in the class. It lifts the pace and the mood;
2. 2.       It is very memorable. It does assist students to recognize phrases or words
3. 3.       It is good for kinesthetic learners who are required to be active in the class;
4. 4.       It can be used both in large or small classes. In this case, it is no matter to  have how many students you have as long as you are prepared to take the lead, the learners will follow;
5. 5.       It works well with mixed-ability classes. The physical actions get across the meaning effectively so that all the learners are able to comprehend and apply the target language;
6. 6.       It is no need to have a lot of preparation or materials using the TPR. In this regard, as long as you are competent of what you want to practice (a rehearsal beforehand can help), it will not take a lot of time to get ready;
7. 7.       It is very effective with teenagers and young learners; and
8. 8.       It involves both left and right-brained learning;

In addition to such advantages, TPR has disadvantages. Among them are:

1.       Students who are not used to such things might find it embarrassing.
2.       It is only really suitable for beginner levels
3.       It is not flexibly used to teach everything, and if used a lot, it would be-come repetitive
4.       Teacher will have trouble teaching abstract vocabulary or expressions
5.       Not good for long period without switching it with other activities that help teach the target language

To sum up, in TPR, the teachers are responsible for giving commands and monitoring actions taken by the learners. On the contrary, the learners are imitators of teachers’ verbal and non-verbal models. In teaching-learning process, the first phase is modeling. In this case, a teacher issues commands to learners, and performs the actions with them. In the second phase, learners demonstrate that they grasp the commands by performing them alone; the teacher monitors the learners’ actions. Above all, the interaction between a teacher and learners is signified by the teacher speaking and the learners’ responding nonverbally. Later on, the learners become more verbal and the teacher responds nonverbally (Larsen-Freeman, 1986; Rodgers, 2003).

Classroom practice

Context                : Teaching Vocabulary 2

New words         : jump, run, hop, stop, on the spot

Preparation        : Every pupil holds a coloured card;  there are five  of six different colours.

Procedures  :

1. The pupils stand in a circle.

2. The teacher gives commands and models the action. After a while he/she stops modeling.

Instructions:

Pupils with blue cards, jump up and down. ... stop.

Pupils with red cards, run on the spot. ... stop.

Pupils with yellow cards, hop one leg. ... stop.

Pupils with brown cards, walk on the spot. ... stop.

Pupils with orange cards, hop on your left foot. ... stop.

Blue cards, run on the spot. ... Don't stop.

White cards, jump up and down. ... Don't stop.

Brown cards, walk on the spot. ... Don't stop.

Blue cards, stop running on the spot.

Orange cards, hop on right leg. ... Don't stop.

Brown cards, stop walking on the spot.