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Total
Physical Response
M.K
Bhavnagar University
Department
of English
Sem 3
Name- Hema
Goswami
Roll no. 13
Enrollment
no. 2069108420180020
Paper no.
12- English Language Teaching
Topic: Total
Physical Response
Introduction
Language
teaching methods have cast light on the language teaching theory and practice.
Some methods are still in controversy regarding their usefulness. However it
never devalued its effectiveness. Language teaching has a long fascinating but
rather tortuous history. Many different methods are:-
i)
The
Direct Method
ii)
The
Grammar Translation method
iii)
Audio
Lingual Method
iv)
The
structural method
v)
Suggestopedia
method
vi)
Total
physical response
vii)
Communicative
language teaching method
Each of the
different methods has contributed new elements and has attempted to deal with
some issues of language learning all these method caries different social and
educational needs. A teacher who is going to apply any of these methods, then
he/she has to consider several questions in their mind that who the learners
are?, to whom they are going to teach?, what is their level of language?, and
many more (Dong-ling)
Total
Physical Response
Total
Physical response is one of the most simplest and active method of language
teaching. It is developed by James Asher, a professor emeritus of psychology.
There is coordination of language and Physical movement. Instructors used
target language to give commands to students with body movements, similarly
students respond with full body movements. In this method the learner responds
to simple commands such as, “Sit down”, “Stand up”, “Head Down” etc. The method
stresses the importance over hearing comprehension. It is very much useful in
infants learning. Infants have not started to speak their mother tongue from
birth. They first observe their surroundings, the way people used to
communicate; they saw various movements from people. There is only hearing,
watching and learning process. They speak with their caretakers silently with
hand movements, various gestures, even their facial expressions shows various
emotions.
There is
total physical action in infant during learning new surroundings (Sperling) . Like, smile for
grandmother, pick up your toy and out it on your bed. These all can be taken as language body
conversation.
Students
come to life
By Language
body conversation, students come to life. It is not only about children, but
adults, old aged everyone come to life. They get excited because they
understanding everything. What the instructor is saying, everything, every
command got clear in mind through physical movements. There is one sentence
that:-
“If you
can’t convince students in five minutes that they can learn any language, you
will not convince them even if they stay in your class for a year”
That is very
significant in context of language learning through Total Physical response
method. Therefore it is most powerful tool in linguistic tool box.
Stress
Free Tool
An important
condition for successful language learning is the absence of stress. First
language acquisition takes place in stress free environment. Total Physical
Response prepared students for a successful transition to speaking, reading and
writing. This is a stress free tool in which there is no need to remember any
phrase or text. It known in worldwide as TPR and has stood over the time in
thousands of language with success. The key to stress-free learning is to tap
into the natural bio-program for language development and thus to recapture the
relaxed and pleasurable experiences that accompany first language learning. By
focusing on meaning interpreted through movement, rather than on language
forms, the learner is said to be liberated from self-conscious and stressful
situations and is able to devote full energy to learning.
Role
of learner and Teacher
Learners
have primary roles of listening and performing. 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.
Teacher
plays an active and direct role in Total Physical Response. He is the director
of the stage and learners are the actor. Teacher decides
What to
teach, who models and presents the new material for classroom use.
Internalizing
Language
With total
physical response students can internalize any language as easy, fast as they
can. With this method students can get great success in short span of time
without getting bore.
Comprehension
Approach
This method
is an example of the comprehension approach to language teaching. There are two
purposes of listening and responding:-
i)
Quickly
recognizing meaning in the language.
ii)
Means
of passively learning the structure of the language itself.
Vocabulary
Total
Physical response method helps a lot in learning vocabulary especially
idiomatic terms (wikipedia contributors) . Asher saw the
conversation between parents and children; he has noticed that form of speech
delivered by parents followed by a physical response from the child.
Three
Hypotheses based on this observation:-
i)
Language
is learned primarily by listening
ii)
Language
learning must engage the right hemisphere of the brain
iii)
Learning
language should not involve any stress
Total
Physical response is most popular among the beginners who have just begins to
learn new language. It was not restricted to any specific group or age.
 |
| James Asher |
Asher
hypothesizes that speech develops naturally and spontaneously after learners
internalize the target language through input. And that it should not be
forced.
“A
reasonable hypothesis is that the brain and the nervous system are biologically
programmed to acquire language, either the first or the second in a particular
sequence and in a particular mode. The sequence is listening before speaking
and the mode is to synchronize language with the individual’s body”.
- -Asher
No
force
In total
physical response students are not forced to speak as it do not requires spoken
output. Teacher will wait until the students will acquired enough language. The
ultimate goal of this method is to develop oral fluency. It is the most
efficient way of developing spoken language skills.
Primary
focus on meaning
This very
method differentiates with Grammar translation by putting its main aim to
meaning rather than grammar, verb. In this method Grammar is not explicitly
taught, but is learned by induction.
Codebreaking
Students in
this method are subconsciously acquire the grammatical structure of the
language through exposure to spoken language input, in addition to decoding the
messages in input to find their meaning. Therefore this approach to listening
is called “codebreaking”.
Philosophy
of language teaching
It is a
teaching technique in which teachers do not have to limit themselves because
the students are only expected to listen and not to speak. Teacher can decide
that what inputs a student can hear.
Asher
suggests that students can learn between 12-36 words for every hour of
instruction, depending on their language level and class size.
Trace
theory
Total Physical Response linked to “Trace
theory” of memory in psychology. It holds the more often or the more intensively
a memory connection, the stronger the memory association will be and the more
likely it will be recalled.
Skillful
use of the imperative
Asher does
not directly discuss the nature of language. However, the labeling and ordering
of Total physical Response classroom drills seem to be built on assumption that
owe much to structuralist or grammar-based views of language. Asher claims 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” (vobs contributors) .
Right
Brain Learning
Asher sees
Total Physical Response as directed to right-brain learning, whereas most
second language teaching methods are directed to left-brain learning. Asher
refers to neurological studies of the brains of cats and studies of an
epileptic boy whose corpus callosum was surgically divided. Asher interprets
these as demonstrating that the brain is divided into hemispheres according to
function, with language activities centralized in the right hemisphere.
Advantages
and Disadvantages of Total Physical Response
Advantages
i) Mind
refreshing activity
ii) Learning
with fun
iii) Can
be used in both large and small classes
iv) No
need of lots of preparation
v) Assist
students to recognize phrases or words
Disadvantages
i) Some
students might find it embarrassing who are not used to it.
ii) Only
suitable for beginner levels.
iii) Not
flexibly used to teach everything
iv) It
needs much energy so that learners not feel tired
v) It
can be effective if a teacher used it for long period of time (Widodo)
Conclusion
Therefore in total physical method, teachers are responsible
for giving commands and monitoring actions taken by the learners. On the
contrary, the learners are imitators of teacher’s verbal and non-verbal models.
The interaction between a teacher and learners is signified by the teacher
speaking and the learner responding nonverbally. Later on, the learners become
more verbal and the teacher responds nonverbally.
Works Cited
Dong-ling, CHEN Jing and ZHANG. "An analysis of
language teaching approaches and methods-effectiveness and weakness."
january 2007. files.eic,ed,gov/fulltext.
<https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED497389.pdf>.
Sperling, Dr. John. The
Total Physical Response by Dr.James J. Asher. Cambridge university,
England, 1973.
vobs contributors. Total
physical response.
<http://www2.vobs.at/ludescher/total_physical_response.htm>.
Widodo, Handoyo Puji.
"Teaching children using a total physical response method." 2 august
2005. <https://www.slideshare.net/asmarany3/total-response>.
wikipedia
contributors. Total physical response. 12 august 2018. 3 november 2018
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Total_physical_response&oldid=854632893>.
