Nguyen Thuy Hoa Tap chi KHOA HQC & CONG NGHE 133(03)/!: 115-119
TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE - A STRESS-FREE APPROACH TO LEARNING A FOREIGNE LANGUAGE
Nguyen Thuy Hoa College of Information and Commumcalion Technology - TNU SUMMARY
Among several approaches to teaching and teaming a foreign language. Total Physical Response (TPR) is one that simulates the way children naturally acquire their mother tongue. Insfructors give commands to students in tbe new language, and students respond through gestures. This article explores the principle and feature of TPR, and its advantages and disadvantages. This article also presents a study on the use of TPR in teaching English of the first -year non-English major students at Thainguyen University of Information and Communication Technology (ICTU) and provides some suggestions for applying TPR.
Key words: Total Physical Response, stress-free approach, commands. ESL, James Asher THE INTRODUCTION
What is TPR?
Total physical response (TPR) is a language teaching method that was developed in the 1970s by American psychologist James Asher, a professor at San Jose State University, California. The method is intended to simulate the way children acquire their mother tongue. Asher (1974) notes that children first learn their mother tongue through responding physically (e.g., pointing, nodding, waving, shaking their beads, and other meaningful actions) to the commands their parents give before they are capable of uttering words. TPR works in tbe same way:
the teacher commands "stand up," "point to the blackboard", "raise your hand," etc., and the whole class responds physically. This method is linked with the "trace theory" in psychology, which implies that tbe more the target language is associated with physical actions, the sfronger its recollection is in the memory. Asher (1984) further notes that children initially observe and comprehend the language their parents use for a short period, which Asher calls the "Silent Period," and then begin to produce the language.
Accordingly, he points out that students should not be forced to produce the language immediately and oral practice should be
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delayed in language classrooms until the students are ready. Dr. Asher considers TPR as a method of teaching language using physical movement to react to verbal input in order to reduce student inhibitions and lower their affective filter (sfress).
Principle and feature of TPR
One of the major principles of TPR is lowering the affective filter to facilitate the leaming process. Students' anxiety should be lowered to that of a more natural setting so that they do not feel threatened in a language classroom (Asher, 1984). TPR creates a motivating environment by encouraging students to participate and involve themselves in actions, which builds their enthusiasm as they feel free to move around. Therefore, TPR students experience the language in a relaxing and comfortable atmosphere. Such an approach definitely injects fun and amusement into the leaming, and students feel relaxed enough to imitate their teacher and express themselves kinestheticaliy.
Comprehension is an integral aspect of TPR.
Teachers should initially pay attention to students' comprehension of language and delay a focus on speaking until a later stage (Asher, 1969). Thieie and Scheibner-Herzig (1983) also confirm that students' comprehension should come before oral practice. Thus, students should not be forced to respond to the language until they are
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Nguyen Thiiy Hda Tgp chi KHOA HQC & CONG NGHE 133(03)/!: 115- H9 ready; they must be exposed to plenty of
language input until they feet confident to produce their own output (Asher, 1984), Richards and Rodgers (2001) assume that students need time to develop before they begin uttering speech, which will emerge naturally.
TPR builds students' self-esteem. When responding physically to commands, students feel secure because actions are easy to understand and follow, and they therefore have the ability to communicate without any barriers. This certainty builds their confidence and gives them more encouragement to participate freely without feeling disappointed or useless in language classrooms, even if they are low-level students (Celestino, 1993).
It is surety the case that TPR makes everybody feet positive and able to frust their own ability.
Teacher roles
The teacher plays an active and direct rote in Total Physical Response. It is the teacher who decides what to teach, who models and presents the new materials, and who selects supporting materials for classroom use. The teacher is encouraged to be well prepared and well organized so that the lesson flows smoothly and predictably. Asher recommends detailed lesson plans: "It is wise to write out the exact utterances you will be using and especially the novel commands because the action is so fast-moving there is usually not time for you to create spontaneously".
Classroom interaction and tum taking is teacher rather than learner directed. Even when learners interact with other learners it is usually the teacher who initiates the interaction.
Asher sfresses, however, that the teacher's rote is not so much to teach as to provide opportunities for leaming. The teacher has the responsibility of providing the best kind of exposure to language so that tbe learner can internalize the basic rules of the target language. Thus the teacher confrols the language input the leamers receive, providing the raw material for the "cognitive map" that
the leamers will construct in their own minds.
The teacher should also allow speaking abilities to develop in leamers at the learners' own natural pace.
Teachers should refrain from too much correction in the early stages and should noi interrapt to correct errors, since this wilt inhibit leamers. As time goes on, however, more teacher intervention is expected, as the learners' speech becomes "fine-tuned,"
Learner roles
Leamers in Total Physical Response have the primary rotes of listener and performer. They listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the teacher. Leamers are required to respond both individually and collectively. Leamers have little influence over the content of teaming, since content is determined by the teacher, who must follow the imperative-based format for lessons.
Leamers are also expected to recognize and respond to novel combinations of previously taught items
Leamers are also required to produce novel combinations of their own. Leamers monitor and evaluate their own progress. They are encouraged to speak when they fee! ready to speak - that is, when a sufficient basis in the language has been internalized.
Advantages of TPR
TPR is a lot of fun, students enjoy it and it can be a real stirrer in the class. It lifts the pace and the mood. It is also very memorable.
It really helps students to remember phrases or words. It is good for kin aesthetic learners who need to be active in the class.
It can be used in large or small classes. U doesn't really matter how many students you have as long as you are prepared to take the lead, the students will follow.
It works well with mixed-ability classes. The physical actions get across the meaning effectively so that all the students are able to understand and use the target language. It doesn't require a lot of preparation or materials- As long as you are clear what you
Nguyen Thiiy Hoa Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE 133(03)/!: 115-119 want to practice (a rehearsal beforehand can
help), it won't take a lot of time to get ready.
It is very effective with teenagers and young leamers. It involves both left- and right- brained leaming.
Disadvantages of TFR
It is not a very creative method. Students are not given the opportunity to express their own views and thoughts in a creative way.
It is easy to overuse TPR.
It is limited, since everything cannot be explained with this method. It must be combined with other approaches.
A STUDY The subjects
The subjects under tbe study were 70 1 st year - non - English - major students at ICTU.
Instruments
The survey questionnaire concerns the students' attitude towards the use of TPR, its significance and problems that students face when using TPR, and some implications that students suggested.
Procedure
The survey questionnaire was administered with 70 students. The P' oral test was conducted at the first class and the second one was done after two months applying TPR.
RESULTS
Data-analysis and Discussion
Table: Descriptive statislics for students' survey questionnaire:
Choices Questions
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
'•
7 1 % 1%
3 % 1%
86%
11%
97%
100%
B 2 1 % 64%.
57%
36%
1%
86%
1%
0%
C 7%
17%
14%
34%
11%
7%
1%
0%
O 0%
17%
26%
29%
1%
3 % 0%
0%
11% • Mark 1-2 n Mark 3-4 Mark 5-6 Mark 7-8
• Mark 9-10
Pie chart 1: Oral Result I
34% 36%
• Mark 1-2
• Mark3-4 Mark 5-6 Mark 7-8
• Mark 9-10
Pie chart 2: Oral Result 2 As shown in Table 1, 71% of students said that TPR is very interesting. 86% of students said they TPR in class, with classmates and under the control ofthe teacher. But students still do not have many opportunities to use it outside the classroom, except some who participate the English club (64%).
In fact, there are many challenges to students using TPR. According to answer questions 6, a large number of students focus their English learning on learning new vocabulary and grammatical structures in order to do the tests (86%i). Many students believe that English language communication skills are not as important as grammar. However, when applying TPR, 97% of students feel very confident and not stressful. Thus, 100%) of students said that PP TPR should be applied to the school regularly.
The first stage in college is a difficuh period for the students, especially in English. As shown in the oral test, 11 % of students with poor grades (1-2 points), while 14%j achieved 3 or 4 points. Most students scored 5 or 6 (49%), only 2\% of students had good results 117
Nguyin Thiiy H6a Tgp chi KHOA HQC & CONG NGHE !33(03)/l: 115-119 (7-8 points). There are very few students who
score 9-10 points (4%).
The above results reflect the fact that students are not familiar with tbe oral test. After a period of being encouraged to listen and act, students have more confidence. The results in the second test showed that the students' ability to use English improve. Student scores 1, 2 reduced to 3%). The percentage of students scoring average dropped more than 10% (36%). Number of students scoring (7-8) has increased up to 34'%. 14%) of students got excellent score.
SOME SUGGESTIONS
It is assumed that this method helps to reduce the gap between the low- and high-level leamers because it is comprehensible to everyone. Unfortunately, being under pressure to finish a huge number of activities within a certain time frame means that teachers are always in a rush; therefore, they may tend to ignore the weak students and focus more on the good ones who help them finish the curriculum in the expected time.
Teachers should be able to focus more on the efficiency of the learning process rather than on the ultimate outcome. Some suggestions for modifying and adapting the TPR textbooks to meet the TPR principles are:
Split the new words between different lessons, instead of having them in one class, so that students can absorb them effectively.
The number of activities must be lessened so ttiat teachers focus on tbe quality and not the quantity of leaming outcomes. Also, the activities should be less demanding, because children usually have trouble concenfrating on different things at one time, such as "listen and read,"
TPR could be complemented with other methods after a period of time, as it is impractical to run the curriculum with physical actions for a long time. Students may gradually be invited to share their comments and express their own opinions in a simple way.
Teachers must be aware of the importance of the silent period to allow more time for their students to explore a language before trying it.
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Teachers should be taught how to respond to students' errors appropriately in a manner similar to parental feedback. They must be provided with some efficient techniques for correcting errors made by young leamers.
Teachers must know how to choose appropriate sfrategies for controlling noisy leamers. In order to ensure students are relaxed, teachers should cultivate a friendly and positive attitude.
TPR can be a successful approach for teaching young leamers, as it may produce several beneficial results that assist in language leaming. It is a teaching method that incorporates fun and amusement, and therefore creates a stress-free environment that helps students feel comfortable with a new language. On the other hand, this approach may not be utilized to its optimum potential, due to the length and demands of the curriculum and the tack of qualified teachers. Furthermore, some TPR textbooks include a lot of activities that cannot be covered in the allotted time, and some activities are beyond young learners' cognitive ability.
REFERENCES
1. Asher, J. (1969). The Total Physical Response to second language leaming. Modem Language Joumal, 53(1), 3-17, Available at www,jstor.org/
stable/322091
2. Asher, J. (1984). Learning another language through actions. Los Gatos, CA: Sky Oaks Productions.
3. Brown, D, (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. White Plains, NV: Pearson.
4. Celestino, J. (1993). Total Physical Response:
Commands not confrol. Hispania, 76(4), 902-903.
Available at www.jstor.org/stable/343928 5. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and principles in language teaching Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
6. Richards, J. C, & Rodgers, T, S, (2001), Approaches and methods in language teaching.
Cambridge, Eng land: Cambridge University Press.
Nguyen Thiiy H6a Tap chf KHOA HQC & CONG NGHE 133(03)/1: 115 - 119
T O M T A T
T O T A L P H Y S I C A L R E S P O N S E - M O T DU'CING HU'CWG H O C N G O A I N C f K H O N G C A N G T H A N G
Nguyin Thiiy H6a Trudng Dai hoc Cong nghe ihong lm va Truyen Ihong - DH Thdi Nguyen Trong so cic dutmg hudng day va hoc ngogi ngQ, Total Physica! Response (TPR) la mpt duong hudng m6 phong c^ch fre em hpc tiing m? de m6t each tu nhifin. Gi^o vi6n hudng dSn dua ra cac yfiu cSu, m | n h lenh v^ hoc sinh dua ra cii chi dk dip Igi nbung cac yeu cSu, menh tfinh do. Bai viet sau day gidi thieu nguyen a c , dac tinh ciia TPR, nhGng uu dilm va nbuac dilm ciia no. Bai viSt ciing trinh biy nghien cthi vi^c sir dyng TPR frong giang dgy tflng Anh cho sinh viSn nSm thii nhit, khong chuydn tgi Dgi hoc Cdng nghe Thong tin vA TmyIn thSng (ICTU) va cung cSp mot s6 ggi ^ cho viec ap dyng TPR mot c ^ h hifiu qua trong viec giang day hpc vifin bdt d4u hpc tieng Anh.
Tu kh6a: Total Physical Response, stress-free approach, commands, ESL. James Asher
Ngdy nhgn bdi: 10/11/2014; Ngdy phdn biin:24/11/2014, Ngdy duyit ddng: 03/4/2015 Phdn biin khoa hoc: ThS. Duang Cong Dgi - Trudng Dai hoc Suphgm - DHTN
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