Already in the late 1800s, a French teacher of Latin by the name of Francois Gouin was hard at work devising a method of language teaching that capitalized on the way children naturally learn their first language, through the transformation of perceptions into conceptions and then the expression of those conceptions using language. His approach became known as the Series Method, involving direct conceptual teaching of language using series of inter-connected sentences that are simple and easy to perceive, because the language being used can be directly related to whatever the speaker is doing at the immediate time of utterance (ie, one's actions and language match each other). His thinking was well ahead of his time, and the Series Method became swamped in the enthusiasm surrounding the other new approach at the time in the form of the Direct Method.
Objectives
One of the primary objectives underlying Asher's TPR methodology 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 rather than left-brain language "processing".
Larsen-Freeman, in her book Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (1986:118-120) provides expanded descriptions of some common/typical techniques closely associated with TPR. The listing here is in summary form only.
(1) Using Commands to Direct Behavior
(The use of commands requiring physical actions from the students in response is the major teaching
technique)
(2) Role Reversal
(Students direct the teacher and fellow learners)
(3) Action Sequence
(Teacher gives interconnected directions which create a sequence of actions [also called an
"operation"] - as students progress in proficiency, more and more commands are added to the
action sequence. Most everyday activities can be broken down into a sequence of actions)
TPR has become a worldwide business (see www.tpr-world.com), so it makes sense to try and determine which of the principles involved are business/marketing-orientated and which are strictly pedagogic. TPR.com would have you believe that you can use TPR as the be-all and end-all for language teaching, right up into very advanced levels.
I personally feel that the original theories underlying the method, orientated around creating an effective and stress-free listening period in combination with physical responses (the same way we all began learning our own native language as babies) are the safest ones to stick to. I therefore view it as an almost pre-requisite technique for teaching young students or older students at beginning levels, but a method that needs to be supplemented with other approaches as students progress in proficiency. In the same way, it is an excellent method for young/beginning teachers to learn, as TPR lessons tend to be a lot of fun and the techniques involved are relatively simple. As with any other method or technique style, overdoing it will eventually create boredom and a feeling of repetition, which is enjoyable for neither students nor teachers.
I have enjoyed using varieties of TPR for a long time, and if there is a weakness to be found it would have to be the difficulty involved in employing TPR for the purpose of teaching abstract language. Not all the things we do are "physical" and not all of our thinking is orientated around the visible physical universe. To some extent you can be innovative and even develop "physical" manifestations of abstract and/or mentally-based verbs and nouns, but it loosens the connection and thus weakens it. I personally try to limit TPR activities to the directly obvious, visible and physically "doable". I believe this makes it a great method for young learners before they develop enough cognitively to start considering more abstract concepts.
I have also experimented with a technique that I felt grew naturally out of the TPR sphere, which I called at the time "Total Conceptual Response." Through this technique, students were encouraged to draw pictures or symbols for words and/or phrases and units of meaning that are personal to them - a manifestation on paper representing their own perception of various concepts. They share these with fellow students to (1) see how effectively the representation transfers to other people, (2) to get fresh ideas on how to portray the language "visually", and (3) build up a personal language "picture dictionary" that portrays language conceptually rather than translating it. It tends to involve humor in the same way TPR does, but involves the students more personally and more creatively. The way one student conceptualizes "ambition" or "success" is usually different from other students, and it can be an entertaining process to see what drawings and symbols emerge. I liked the "Total Conceptual Response" technique because it had elements of learner autonomy and problem-solving, and actively moved students away from the habit of making direct translations back into their native language.
Some 80 years later, in the 1960s, James Asher began experimenting with a method he called Total Physical Response, and its basic premise had a lot in common with Gouin's. The method was to become well known in the 70s, and it drew on several other insights in addition to the "trace theory" that memory is stimulated and increased when it is closely associated with motor activity. The method owes a lot to some basic principles of language acquisition in young learners, most notably that the process involves a substantial amount of listening and comprehension in combination with various physical responses (smiling, reaching, grabbing, looking, etc) - well before learners begin to use the language orally. It also focused on the ideas that learning should be as fun and stress-free as possible, and that it should be dynamic through the use of accompanying physical activity. Asher (1977) also had a lot to say about right-brained learning (the part of the brain that deals with motor activity), believing it should precede the language processing element covered by the left-brain.
TPR is now a household name among teachers of foreign languages. It is widely acclaimed as a highly effective method at beginning levels, and almost a standard requirement in the instruction of young learners. It is also admired as a method due to its inherent simplicity, making it accessible to a wide range of teachers and learning environments.
ERES
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