Total physical response
Definition
TPR is a method of teaching language using physical movement to react to verbal
input in order to reduce the student inhibitions and lower their affective filter(stress) it
was originated by Dr. James Asher an American professor of psychology
Objectives
The general objectives of Total Physical Response are to teach oral proficiency at a
beginning level. Comprehension is a mean to an end, and the ultimate aim is to teach
basic speaking skills. A TPR course aims to produce learners who are capable of an
uninhibited communication that is intelligible to a native speaker. Specific
instructional objectives are not elaborated, for these will depend on the particular
needs of the learners. Whatever goals are set, however, must be attainable through the
use of action-based drills in the imperative form.
One of the objectives was that learning needed to become more enjoyable and less
stressful .Asher thought that a natural way to accomplish this was to recreate the
natural way children learn their native language .most notably through facilitating an
appropriate «listening» and «comprehension» period, and encourage learners to
respond using right-brain motor skills
Principles
► Makes emphasis in the physical activity as answer to the linguistic message
► The teacher uses orders in the communication with the student
► Listening comprehension and vocabulary is more development
► Language learning is more effective when it is fun
Features
The teacher directs and students act in response
Listening and physical response skills are emphasized over oral production
The imperative mood is the most common language function employed even well
into advanced levels, interrogatives are also heavily used
Humor is injected into the lessons to make them more enjoyable for learners
Students are not required to speak until they feel naturally ready or confident to
do so
Grammar and vocabulary are emphasized over the language areas , and spoken
language is emphasized over written language
Main techniques _Types of learning and teaching activities
Imperative drills are the major classroom activity in Total Physical Response. They
are typically used to elicit physical actions and activity on the part of the learners.
Conversational dialogues are delayed until after about 120 hours of instruction.
Asher's rationale for this is that "everyday conversations are highly abstract and
disconnected; therefore to understand them requires a rather advanced internalization
of the target language". Other class activities include role plays and slide
presentations. Role plays center on everyday situations, such as at the restaurant,
supermarket, or gas station. The slide presentations are used to provide a visual center
for teacher narration, which is followed by commands, and for questions to students,
such as "Which person in the picture is the salesperson?". Reading and writing
activities may also be employed to further consolidate structures and vocabulary, and
as follow-ups to oral imperative drills.
Theory of language
Asher does not directly discuss the nature of language or how languages are organized
, however the ordering of TPR classroom drills seem to be built on assumptions that
owe much to grammar based views of language
Asher does not directly discuss the nature of language or how languages are
organized. However, the labeling and ordering of TPR classroom drills seem to be
built on assumptions that owe much to structuralist or grammar-based views of
language. Asher states that "most of the grammatical structure of the target
language and hundreds of vocabulary items can be learned from the skillful use
of the imperative by the instructor" (1977: 4). He views the verb, and particularly
the verb in the imperative, as the central linguistic motif around which language use
and learning are organized.
Asher sees language as being composed of abstractions and non-abstractions, with
non-abstractions being most specifically represented by concrete nouns and
imperative verbs. He believes that learners can acquire a "detailed cognitive map" as
well as "the grammatical structure of a language" without recourse to abstractions.
Abstractions should be delayed until students have internalized a detailed cognitive
map of the target language. Abstractions are not necessary for people to decode the
grammatical structure of a language. Once students have internalized the code,
abstractions can be introduced and explained in the target language.
This is an interesting claim about language but one that is insufficiently detailed to
test. For example, are tense, aspect, articles, and so forth, abstractions, and if so, what
sort of "detailed cognitive map" could be constructed without them?
Despite Asher's belief in the central role of comprehension in language learning, he
does not elaborate on the relation between comprehension, production, and
communication (he has no theory of speech acts or their equivalents, for example),
although in advanced TPR lessons imperatives are used to initiate different speech
acts, such as requests ("John, ask Mary to walk to the door"), and apologies ("Ned,
tell Jack you're sorry").
Asher also refers in passing to the fact that language can be internalized as wholes or
chunks, rather than as single lexical items, and, as such, links are possible to more
theoretical proposals of this kind, as well as to work on the role of prefabricated
patterns in language learning and language use Asher does not elaborate on his view
of chunking, however, nor on other aspects of the theory of language underlying Total
Physical Response. We have only clues to what a more fully developed language
theory might resemble when spelled out by Asher and his supporters.
Theory of learning
Asher's language learning theories are reminiscent of the views of other behavioral
psychologists. For example, the psychologist Arthur Jensen proposed a seven-stage
model to describe the development of verbal learning in children. The first stage he
calls Sv-R type learning , which the educational psychologist John DeCecco interprets
as follows:
In Jensen's notation, Sv refers to a verbal stimulus—a syllable, a word, a phrase, and
so on. R refers to the physical movements the child makes in response to the verbal
stimulus (or Sv). The movement may involve touching, grasping, or otherwise
manipulating some object. For example, mother may tell Percival (age 1) to get the
ball, and Percival, distinguishing the sound "ball" from the clatter of other household
noises, responds by fetching the ball and bringing it to his mother. Ball is the Sv
(verbal stimulus), and Percival's action is the response. At Percival's age, children
respond to words about four times faster than they respond to other sounds in their
environment. It is not clear why this is so, but it is possible that the reinforcing effects
of making proper responses to verbal stimuli are sufficiently strong to cause a rapid
development of this behavior. Sv-R learning represents, then, the simplest form of
verbal behavior.
This is a very similar position to Asher's view of child language acquisition. Although
learning psychologists such as Jensen have since abandoned such simple stimulus-
response models of language acquisition and development, and although linguists
have rejected them as incapable of accounting for the fundamental features of
language learning and use, Asher still sees a stimulus-response view as providing the
learning theory underlying language teaching pedagogy. In addition, Asher has
elaborated an account of what he feels facilitates or inhibits foreign language learning.
Advantages of TPR
→ Students enjoying moving around the classroom
→ Not preparing long hours before the lesson
→ Effective for both adult and young learners
Disadvantages of TPR
→ Best suitable for beginners
→ Challenging for shy students
→ Rude and inappropriate language for the learner
Role of teacher
→ Teacher plays an active role and direct role in the class
→ Directed model learning in a fun way
→ Does not make correction to the instant
The teacher plays an active and direct role in Total Physical Response. "The
instructor is the director of a stage play in which the students are the actors". 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 turn taking is teacher rather than learner directed. Even when learners
interact with other learners it is usually the teacher who initiates the interaction:
Teacher: Maria, pick up the box of rice and hand it to Miguel and ask Miguel to
read the price.
Asher stresses, however, that the teacher's role is not so much to teach as to provide
opportunities for learning. The teacher has the responsibility of providing the best
kind of exposure to language so that the learner can internalize the basic rules of the
target language. Thus the teacher controls the language input the learners receive,
providing the raw material for the "cognitive map" that the learners will construct in
their own minds. The teacher should also allow speaking abilities to develop in
learners at the learners' own natural pace.
In giving feedback to learners, the teacher should follow the example of parents
giving feedback to their children. At first, parents correct very little, but as the child
grows older, parents are said to tolerate fewer mistakes in speech. Similarly teachers
should refrain from too much correction in the early stages and should not interrupt to
correct errors, since this will inhibit learners. As time goes on, however, more teacher
intervention is expected, as the learners' speech becomes "fine tuned."
Asher cautions teachers about preconceptions that he feels could hinder the successful
implementation of TPR principles. First, he cautions against the "illusion of
simplicity," where the teacher underestimates the difficulties involved in learning a
foreign language. This results in progressing at too fast a pace and failing to provide a
gradual transition from one teaching stage to another. The teacher should also avoid
having too narrow a tolerance for errors in speaking.
You begin with a wide tolerance for student speech errors, but as training progresses,
the tolerance narrows.... Remember that as students progress in their training, more
and more attention units are freed to process feedback from the instructor. In the
beginning, almost no attention units are available to hear the instructor's attempts to
correct distortions in speech. All attention is directed to producing utterances.
Therefore the student cannot attend efficiently to the instructor's corrections.
Role of students
Learners in Total Physical Response have the primary roles of listener and performer.
They listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the teacher.
Learners are required to respond both individually and collectively. Learners have
little influence over the content of learning, since content is determined by the
teacher, who must follow the imperative-based format for lessons. Learners are also
expected to recognize and respond to novel combinations of previously taught items:
Novel utterances are recombinations of constituents you have used directly in
training. For instance, you directed students with 'Walk to the table!' and 'Sit on the
chair!'. These are familiar to students since they have practiced responding to them.
Now, will a student understand if you surprise the individual with an unfamiliar
utterance that you created by recombining familiar elements (e.g. 'Sit on the table!').
Learners are also required to produce novel combinations of their own. Learners
monitor and evaluate their own progress. They are encouraged to speak when they
feel ready to speak - that is, when a sufficient basis in the language has been
internalized.
Role of instructural materials
The teacher’s voice , actions , and gestures , later the teacher may use common
classroom objects There is generally no basic text in a Total Physical Response
course. Materials and realia play an increasing role, however, in later learning stages.
For absolute beginners, lessons may not require the use of materials, since the
teacher's voice, actions, and gestures may be a sufficient basis for classroom
activities. Later the teacher may use common classroom objects, such as books, pens,
cups, furniture. As the course develops, the teacher will need to make or collect
supporting materials to support teaching points. These may include pictures, realia,
slides, and word charts. Asher has developed TPR student kits that focus on specific
situations, such as the home, the supermarket, the beach. Students may use the kits to
construct scenes (e.g., "Put the stove in the kitchen").
Total physical response (Essay)
When to Use
Total Physical Response (TPR) may be used to teach many types of vocabulary but
works best when teaching vocabulary connected with action. It is an effective strategy
to use with English Language Learners as well as with native speakers when learning
new words.
Originally developed by James Asher, an American professor of psychology, in the
1960s, Total Physical Response (TPR) is based on the theory that the memory is
enhanced through association with physical movement. It is also closely associated
with theories of mother tongue language acquisition in very young children, where
they respond physically to parental commands, such as "Pick it up" and "Put it down".
TPR as an approach to teaching a second language is based, first and foremost, on
listening and this is linked to physical actions which are designed to reinforce
comprehension of particular basic items.
A typical TPR activity might contain instructions such as "Walk to the door", "Open
the door", "Sit down" and "Give Maria your dictionary". The students are required to
carry out the instructions by physically performing the activities. Given a supportive
classroom environment, there is little doubt that such activities can be both motivating
and fun, and it is also likely that with even a fairly limited amount of repetition basic
instructions such as these could be assimilated by the learners, even if they were
unable to reproduce them accurately themselves.
The above examples, however, also illustrate some of the potential weaknesses
inherent in the approach. Firstly, from a purely practical point of view, it is highly
unlikely that even the most skilled and inventive teacher could sustain a lesson stage
involving commands and physical responses for more than a few minutes before the
activity became repetitious for the learners, although the use of situational role-play
could provide a range of contexts for practising a wider range of lexis. Secondly, it is
fairly difficult to give instructions without using imperatives, so the language input is
basically restricted to this single form. Thirdly, it is quite difficult to see how this
approach could extend beyond beginner level. Fourthly, the relevance of some of the
language used in TPR activities to real-world learner needs is questionable. Finally,
moving from the listening and responding stage to oral production might be workable
in a small group of learners but it would appear to be problematic when applied to a
class of 30 students, for example.
In defence of the approach, however, it should be emphasized that it was never
intended by its early proponents that it should extend beyond beginner level. (In
theory it might be possible to develop it by making the instructions lexically more
complex (for example, "Pick up the toothpaste and unscrew the cap"), but this does
seem to be stretching the point somewhat). In addition, a course designed around TPR
principles would not be expected to follow a TPR syllabus exclusively, and Asher
himself suggested that TPR should be used in association with other methods and
techniques. In terms of the theoretical basis of the approach, the idea of listening
preceding production and learners only being required to speak when they are ready
to do so closely resembles elements of Stephen Krashen’s Natural Approach.
Short TPR activities, used judiciously and integrated with other activities can be both
highly motivating and linguistically purposeful. Careful choice of useful and
communicative language at beginner level can make TPR activities entirely valid.
Many learners respond well to kinesthetic activities and they can genuinely serve as a
memory aid. A lot of classroom warmers and games are based, consciously or
unconsciously, on TPR principles. As with other "fringe" methods, however,
wholesale adoption of this approach, to the total exclusion of any other, would
probably not be sustainable for very long.
