Reflections on the theoretical basis and teaching practice of TPR teaching method

【Abstract】This essay explains TPR language teaching method from different aspects. It also gives some advice on helping foreign language teachers in understanding and applying TPR to the practical teaching. Meanwhile， the paper also gives some suggestions about how to use TPR in China.

【Key words】theoretical base; TPR;  acquisition

【作者簡介】王悦琦，吉林外国语大学。

Total Physical Response， called TPR， is a teaching method that combines language and behavior. This teaching method was first proposed by the psychologist James J. Asher of San Jose State University in the preface of “Learning Another Language Through Actions.”

1. Theoretical Basis of TPR Teaching Method

The principle of the“memory trace”of psychology holds that “Deep and strong memory can make people associate and reproduce memories easily， which can be accomplished not only by oral form， but also can be achieved by physical activity.” People can deeply realize the usage of verbs， thus can increase the odds of success of memory reproduction.

According to the basic characteristics of second language acquisition theory， James J. Asher promotes the following three criteria： First， language learners have the ability to generalize the basic structure of language at the beginning of language acquisition; Second， language acquisition follows the principle of “in this place， at that time，do this”; Third， the usage of imperative sentences in classroom teaching and learning is that it will help students increase the amount of language input.

1.1 Reflection on the TPR Teaching Method

1.2 Language Input

The pleasant learning environment created by the TPR and the teaching design of the nature of the game， compared with the traditional teaching method， the students are more able to invade the learning environment， and the body memory is compared with the language region of the left brain. At the same time， a large number of imperative sentences used by teachers as language demonstrations and language output of the classroom instruction， so that students can more deeply feel the semantics of certain practical verbs.

1.3 Language Output

TPR is that students can use the content they learn in an immersive classroom environment in a timely manner， so that they can construct the mind map and grammatical structure of knowledge. In this way， the student’s language output is not a single word but the entire sentence. The language is internalized by the student as a whole. Moreover， in the TPR teaching environment， the teacher does not blame the mistakes of the student’s language output.Take a more tolerant attitude and make students aware of some serious syntactic problems in a mild way. For example， in an English class in a primary school， when studying the sentence pattern of “This is my...”， one student said “It is my friend.”instead of “This is my friend.” The teacher use a humorous way said to the students that “Is he a dog？” After hearing this sentence， the students laughed and then understood the teacher’s meaning， “No， he isn’t.” Then the teacher immediately picked up “So， you should use...” “This is my friend.”

2. The Teaching Mode of TPR

2.1 The Teaching Model of “listening， observing and imitating”

Primarily， when using the TPR， teachers pay great attention to the “listening” ability of the students. After issuing instructions， teachers use their body language to show the meaning of what they say. Students understand the language by means of the teacher’s oral instructions and body language. After that the students use the body movements to make a correct response based on the correct understanding of the meaning of the words.

The teaching process is as follows： （1） The teacher makes the specific instruction and use his/her body language to explain the meaning of it at the same time. （2） The teacher repeats the instruction and demonstrates the movement， asking the student to imitate it immediately. （3） The teacher only speaks the instruction and let the student imitates the movement. （4） The teacher only says the instruction and requests the student to repeat the instruction， and makes the movement at the same time. （5） Inviting a student to the front of the classroom， say the instructions. And then the teacher and the rest of the students demonstrate it. For example， when the teacher D teaches unit 9 in my room. The phrases and sentences， “open and close ...” are needed to be taught. Before starting， teacher D asks the students to observe what she was doing “Look at me.Guess.” The student gives the correct answer by observation. “Open / Close your book.” “Open / Close your pencil case.” “Clean the blackboard.” and the like. Then， Teacher D randomly walked to the middle of the student and issued an instruction to let the student make the corresponding action of the instruction. Finally， teacher D asked the student “Chant and do.” The teacher plays the audio data， lets all the students make the corresponding actions again， and does the Chant together. As it mentioned above， teacher D’s teaching process follows the principle of “listening-observing-imitating.”

3. The Application of TPR Teaching Method in Primary School English Teaching

3.1 Direct Teaching Method

Focusing on intuitive things is one of the most significant psychological characteristics of primary school students. The more intuitive the teaching aids used in the classroom， the more they can attract students’ attention. For example，when teaching the Unit 8 At the fruit shop， teacher D prepared the real fruit as the teaching aids， such as， apples， bananas， pears in advance. Before explaining all kinds of fruits， teacher D first asked the students： “What’s your favourite fruit？” After the student answered， teacher D drew the fruit on the blackboard immediately. An then the teacher showed the real fruit and the fruit was regarded as an encourage and reward to the student who answered the question. This kind of physical connection with words  can help students quickly understand the meaning of new words. The combination of the left and right brain also allows students to quickly remember the meaning of the word as well.

3.2 Teaching Method of Performance

It is difficult for pupils to concentrate on one things ，especially for the class， for a long time. Active is the nature of primary school students. In practice， teacher D combines the character of the students with the English teaching. For example， for Unit 9 Small Animals， teacher D needs to use the words hand， shoulder， head， eye， nose. Thus， the teacher uses an English song ，“Head， shoulder， knees and toes”， as the lead-in parts of the class.

3.3 Teaching Method of Painting

Let students understand the meaning of words in painting， and combine the language knowledge system of students’ left brain with the image analysis system of right brain. For example： teacher D used the game of “you draw， I guess” in explaining Unit 9 Small Animal. One student painted and described the animals he painted， and another student guessed.

3.4 Teaching Method of Game

Students’ curiosity and enthusiasm are stronger in primary school. Thus， using the forms of games which are competitive， can make them energetic， and greatly stimulate their interest as well. For example： teacher D takes advantage of this characteristic of the students. When teaching the key sentence “This is my...” of the Unit 9 in my room， the teacher uses the way of group competition.Teacher D let the students to make use of all available resources in the classroom to make sentences. Students can divulge their thinking to a great extent in this competitive situation environment. Many students answers are creative. For example， “This is my friend”and the like.

It can be seen from the above that the TPR teaching method can be transformed into a variety of teaching modes and methods in the process of practical application. Intuitive， painting， and game... Whatever the forms are， it aims to achieve the same goal： To create a pleasant teaching environment that allows children to acquire language naturally using different TPR teaching modes.

4. Advantages of TPR Teaching Method

4.1 Teachers and Students

Teachers’ tolerant attitude towards students’ errors in language output is conductive to establishing a good teacher-student relationship and helping the students build up confidence in the language they learn.

4.2 English Consciousness and English Thinking

The combination of “reaction and stimulation” in the left and right brain can not only contribute to help the students to build up the framework of language， but also can be conducive to the development of students’ divergent thinking.

4.3 Precautions for Using TPR Teaching Method

4.3.1 Applicable Population

TPR teaching method is only applicable to young children， or elementary school education. There are only a few vocabularies and structures of the language can be taught by only using TPR teaching method. As it is more suitable for English teaching in the primary stage. Thus when you use it in a high level stage， it should be combined with other teaching methods. Only then can the corresponding teaching effect be achieved.

4.3.2 The Management Mode of Classroom Teaching

The general number of primary school classrooms in China is about 45-50 people per class. When applying the TPR method， it needs a great cooperation of the students.Therefore， the problem gradually emerged. If the discipline of the class can not be guaranteed， no matter how good the teaching method is， it will not achieve the  desired result.

References：

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