The Application of Total Physical Response in Primary School English Class

【Abstract】Recent years， the foreign language teaching especially emphasizes the importance of stimulating students’ learning interest. It puts great emphasis on making the students learn in the relaxed atmosphere， and people pay more and more attention to the English education environment， especially the primary English teaching is getting more and more important. Primary English Teaching Syllabus points out that interest is the key of learning a language and it is an important task to stimulate students’ learning interest in the primary stage. Therefore， English teaching should give up the traditional educational model and explore a set model to suit the pupils’ development which combines children’s psychological with physiological feature.

This thesis aims to illustrate the effect of Total Physical Response teaching approach on primary school students’ interest in English. It explains the theoretical basis of Total Physical Response and analyzes the advantage and function of Total Physical Response in primary English teaching. It also discusses the concrete training in stimulating and improving pupils’ English learning interest with some activities.

【Key words】Total Physical Response； learning interest； primary English teaching； the application

1 Introduction

Even though many different teaching methods have been introduced and tried out， but unsatisfactory， primary English teachers and researchers also keep on looking for a better method for English language teaching in China. As we all know， education in China has been affected by the examination-oriented system for a long time. In traditional passive classes-teacher-centered class， teacher explains language points in detail， while all the students take notes at all times. There is no chance for pupils to act and say， but only memorize. As the time passes， pupils’ learning interest in English is decreasing. Some pupils’ parents or teachers force them to learn English. In order to make their children get good grades， some parents always pay a lot of attention to their children’s education， so children are sent to take some English learning courses during weekends， especially those parents in big cities of China. Pupils would be gradually bored English class， because of the unsuitable choice of teaching methods for some teachers failing to maintain the pupils’ interest. Einstein had said that interest is the best teacher. Teaching and Textbook Writing Syllabuses for Primary School English also points out， “Interest is a good teacher for pupils to learn a foreign language.” If pupils are interested in some things， they will pay their attention and learn well and easily. So it is quite important for teachers to activate pupils’ interest for the present study.

A good method is easy to motivate pupils’ interest in learning. Total Physical Response （TPR）， a new language teaching method， is a very effective way of English teaching. TPR can not only help and encourage learners to sustain their interest and attract their attention， but also help the teachers to create useful and meaningful contexts. Moreover， TPR is an interesting and effective way to develop pupils’listening competence in the beginning stage of learning foreign languages.

2 The Total Physical Response

The method was developed by James Asher， who is a professor of psychology at San Jose State University， California in 1960s. The Total Physical Response （TPR） Method incorporates theories of developmental psychology， humanistic pedagogy， as well the dramatic or theatrical nature of language learning. The main idea behind TPR is based upon the principle of establishing psychomotor associations to facilitate language learning.

3 The application of Total Physical Response in Primary School English Class

3.1 The design of Total Physical Response

To successfully conduct English teaching at elementary schools through TPR， teaching methods and materials which should be considered are very important.

3.1.1 Objectives

The overall general objectives of TPR are to teach oral proficiency at a beginning level. Another sub-goal of the method is to enable students to enjoy their experience when they are learning a foreign language and to reduce the stress which people feel when they are studying foreign languages and therefore to encourage them to persist in their study beyond a beginning level of proficiency.

3.1.2 Roles in the classroom

Learners’ roles： Learners in Total Physical Response have the primary roles of listener and performer. They listen to carefully and respond physically to commands given by the teachers. Learners are required to respond individually and collectively. Since content is determined by the teacher， little effect on learners learning the content， so learners must follow the imperative-based format for lessons. Learners are also expected to understand and respond to new combinations of previously taught projects.

Teachers’ roles：In Total Physical Response， teachers play active and direct roles. “The instructor is a director of a stage play in which the students are the actors”. That is to say that the teachers who decide what to teach， and who model and present the new materials， and who select supporting materials for classroom use. Teachers are 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.

The role of instructional materials：And reality plays an increasing role， however， in later learning stages. For absolute beginners， lessons may not require the use of materials， since teachers’ voice， actions， and gestures may be an enough basis for classroom activities. Later teachers may use common class-room objects， such as books， pens， cups， furniture. As the course develops， teachers will need to make or collect supporting materials to support teaching points. These may include pictures， teaching aids， slides， and word charts. Asher developed TPR student kits， focusing on specific situations， such as home， supermarkets， and the beaches. Students can use the kits to construct scenes （e.g.“Put the stove in the kitchen”）.

3.2 The use of Total Physical Response in English teaching class

Admittedly， TPR is universally acknowledged as an instrumental tool to help beginners acquire a second language， but it is not a panacea. Here are some situations in which TPR works very well.

3.2.1 Presentation activities

Presentation activities play an important role in the success of a lesson. It requires teachers to express language clearly and make the teaching activities flexible. There are several ways which makes the outcome better as follows.

Intuitive presentation：In teaching practice， it’s a good way to use entities and cards to present new words. Then use pictures， slides or some other audio-visual equipment to introduce new language project.

Body language presentation：Applying kinesics language reasonably not only can stimulate students' interest in learning， but also enhance the effect of the language of instruction.

The scenario presentation：All what the teachers need to be to create a viable and appropriate language environment for the students to set themselves in a practical situation where they can make best use of Total Physical Method.

Song presentation：Teachers can apply to the TPR through songs. Associating songs with gestures makes presentation uncomplicated and smooth， so that students learn more flexibly and memorize more profoundly.

3.2.2 Practice activities

Practice activities aim at the training of listening， speaking， reading and writing skills after presenting the new language project. The disparity of practice between Practice activity stage and Presentation stage is that the contents is not a single but the combination of the new language project which integrate into exercises of a discourse level .As for exercises of different levels， teachers should employ different forms of physical activities and step-by-step exercises and continue to repeat and then the students practice with imitating teachers’ language and action.

Controlled practice：Controlled exercise means that what words the students say is totally controlled by the teachers. The typical forms of this practice are imitation， repetition， substitution， simple questions and answers. After presenting a language to students for the first time， especially the new language constructs， this level of practice ought to be followed subsequently.

Semi-controlled practice：The ultimate purpose of the Primary English Teaching is that students can exchange ideas and convey themselves freely. Therefore， to get rid of the mechanical teaching mode， TPR transits “listening” and “speaking”-dominated practice to“understanding” and “meaning”-dominated practice. This kind of practice is called a semi-controlled practice. The representative form of Semi-controlled practice is to change （shorten or extend） the sentence or read essay to do the “ask and answer” exercise or repeat phrases.

3.2.3Applying activities

Whole-body game activities：This activity exposes students to a game-scenario situation. There is a variety of activities of TPR， which allows students to learn and master the language in a relaxed and enjoyable environment through the game. As a result， students can grasp what they are taught easier and better.

Performance of TPR activities：The students express the language information through the use of body language. For instance， when teaching students the words” jump” and ”run”， students can swell into a circle under the leadership of the teachers for a running and jumping. At the same time， students can memorize these words unconsciously.

TPR paintings and pictures show activities：Usually children are more interested in something concrete and intuitive. English teachers should demonstrate the teaching content on the blackboard and then use some vivid， realistic and exaggerated drawings， pictures or objects to replace simple remarks. For example， when teaching the word “flag”， teachers can show the models of each country's flag and let students choose the flag they like and then draw it on the blackboard. Finally， teachers may play each country's national anthem through multimedia so that the students remember them in a better way.

Communicative activities：The most important point for primary school students to learn a language is to learn how to use the language to communicate appropriately， no exception for English teaching. How to cultivate the students' communication is an important issue in the primary school English classroom. Apart from the application mentioned above， TPR can be applied to reading and writing if teachers slightly change the teaching model. For example， teachers can divide the whole class into several groups and demand the students to write a simple story and then act out the story. Thus， to some extent， teachers can improve the students' communicative competence through short dramas or stories.

4 Conclusion

Just like any other main stream teaching approaches， TPR has both its advantages and disadvantages. It emphasizes comprehension and reduces the production pressure on learners， therefore they feel very much at ease in TPR class， and accelerates the cognitive processing in the target language， especially with the learners who have a good command of grammatical rules. Learners from rural areas who previously seldom listen to spoken English improve their listening comprehension ability in English very quickly with TPR activities. Just as what they report that they do not have to translate every word into Chinese to help them understand.

However it is confined to limited genres， which restricts the designing of classroom tasks. The result is learners’ advanced listening skills， such as drawing inferences， cannot be cultivated. All these decide that TPR works with early stages of learning regardless of learners’ ages， and also with advanced learners in listening comprehension when they encounter certain types of texts. For classroom practitioners， TPR presents a useful set of techniques compatible with other approaches to teaching.

Bibliography：

[1]Brown， G. &Yule. Discourse Analysis [M].Cambridge. Uiniv. Press. 1983.

[2]Ellis， Rod. Understanding second Language Acquisition [J]. Oxford： OUP. 1982.

[3]Widdowson， H.G. Teaching Language as communication [M].Shang Hai Foreign Language Press. 1978.

[4]Graddol， D. English next [M]. Plymouth： The English Company （UK）. 1969.

[5]James C&P Garrett. Language Awareness in the Classroom [C]. Longman Group U.K. Limited. 1991.

[6]TPR World http：//