Once again, I have found some time to be able to keep this blog alive. For now, am I going to continue with the topic of English teaching approaches and methods. As soon as I am done with them though, will I try to move on to something slightly different. TPR (Total physical response), is a method I had been meaning to talk about for a while. I might have probably talked about it a couple of years ago. Nonetheless, am I convinced that this time around, I am going to be able not only to explain TPR, but also expand on it in a better fashion. Without further ado, let us begin.

 

"TPR" was developed by Dr. James J. Asher during the 1960s. Its view of language, is that grammatical structures and vocabulary are the most important aspects of language. Albeit, when first learned, they should not be acquired the traditional way. Hence, its language learning focus explains it more accurately: First of all, learners learn by being exposed to the target language. Thus, comprehension should come before production. What is more, learners need a silent period (A time when learners hear the language before they can produce it) so as to acquire the language. Consequently, students must not be interrupted until they are ready. Besides, it is thought that language is learn best when joint by doing things physically. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that for all of the above to successfully take place, learners have to be calm and soothed.

 

Furthermore, it would be most appropriate at this point to substantiate what I have been writing about so to speak. Well, there are few things we have to understand regarding the human brain first. You see, the aforesaid has two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is more logical and rational. It thereby performs tasks that have to do with science and math. Conversely, the right hemisphere performs tasks that have to do with creativity and the arts. In addition, the both are joined by a part called "corpus callosum". Back to TPR however. Dr. Asher noticed as follows: He considered that the Broca's area (speech/frontal lobe) and the Wernicke's area (comprehension/temporal lobe), were both located on the left side of the brain. Be that as it may, learners needed to use the right side of the brain in order to acquire new words/phrases for the first time. This is because the right hemisphere does not analyze content when first encountered. Since, its function is not to reason things out. Not to mention that the right side of the brain is used to listen. Thus, it makes more sense to listen first, and then use the left hemisphere to produce the newly learned word after some thought. Hence, the reason why the traditional teaching method does not work with beginners most of the time.

 

In review, there are countless benefits to applying the TPR method in the classroom. Long-term retention being one of them. Even so, as I have said in previous posts, resorting to only one method/ approach would not be a smart thing to do. Due to the simple fact that students need variety and change in the classroom from time to time. Needless to say, that some methods work better with some learners than others owing the their types of intelligences. Despite the fact that I have covered a considerable chunk of information, there are yet a couple more points I have not touched on. Still and all, I believe the source material would be more helpful in aiding your learning process through further explanations. One last peace of advice from me would be to do use this method in your class whenever you have the chance. Try not acting as the YouTuber from the video I am going to share did. He took vicarious excitement out of watching videos of other teachers using this method in real life. The aforesaid (ESLexplorer) might be indeed exceptionally smart. Nonetheless, only by putting the technique into practice, will he fully comprehend and connect with it.

Sources:
- http://www.travlanders.com/DL/TPR-Int...
- ESLexplorer YouTube channel.
- The TKT Teaching Knowledge Test Course Modules 1, 2 and 3, Cambridge University Press, 2011.