TPR is a method developed by Dr. James J.

Asher (1977), a professor of

phychology at San Jose State University of
California. Asher developed TPR
as a result of his experiences observing
young children learning their first
language. He noticed that interactions
between parents and children often
took the form of speech from the parent
followed by a physical response
from the child. Asher made three
hypotheses based on his observations:
first, that language is learned primarily by
listening; second, that language
learning must engage the right
hemisphere of the brain; and third, that
learning language should not involve any
stress A baby spends many
months listening to the people around it
long before it ever says a word.
TPR was developed was to reduce the stress people feel when studying foreign
languages.students to persist in their study beyond a beginn ing level of profi crcnc

One such metho d is Krashen and Terrell's Natural Approach.

Another method that fits within the Comprehension Approach is Winitz and
Reed's self-inst ructiona l prog ram and Winitz' The Learnabies. In th is method, students listen
to tape-recorded words, phrases, and sentences while they look at accompanying pictu res.
A new method, called the Lexical Approach, also fits within the Comprehension
with student Approac h. Developed by Michael Lewis, the Lexical
Approach
is less concerned production and more conce rned that Students
receive abundant comprehensib le input. In particu lar,students arc encou
raged (0 notice multi-word lexical

items such as 'I see what you mean' and 'Take your time. There's no

hurry.' In this way, the phrasal lexicon of students can be developed.

Asher reasoned that the fastest, least stressful way to achieve

understanding of any target language is to follow directions uttered by

the instructo r (witho ut nat ive language tra nslation) You will not speak at first. Rath er, you

will just listen to me and do as I do. Meaning in the target language can

often be conveyed through actions.

Students can learn through observing actions as well as by performing the actions themselves.

After the learner

internalizes an extensivemap of how the target langua ge work s, speaking

will appear sponta neously. Of course, the student's speech will not be perfect,

but gradua lly speech will become more target-like. Notice th at this is

exactly how an infant acquires its native language