Total Physical Response

Background

Total Physical Response (TPR) is a method developed by james J. Ashers,a professor of

psychology at San Jose State University,California. Dr. Ashers began experimenting with TPR in
the 1960s. The method has been developed from developmental psychology, learning theory and
language learning procedures. He has been invited to present his successful total physical
response approach in the USA and England, and other parts of the world.

TPR is based on the premise that the human brain has a biological progam for acquiring any
language. Based on the developmental psychology, the prpoponents of TPR claim that memory
is increased if it is simulated through association with motor activity and the process of learning
a foreign language is a paraller process to learning the first language. ( Brown,1987; 163)

PRINCIPLES OF TPR

The advocates of TPR believe that language learners should understand the target language
before speaking. Language learners can learn through observing as well as by performing the
actions themselves. (Larsen-Freeman, 1986: 114 and 2000).

The meaning of words can be understood by making associations between the utterances they
hear and actions they are observing. The meanings of words they may guees will be internalized
by performing the actions in accordance with the command.

BASIC ASSUMPTION ABOUT LANGUAGE

Richards and Rodgers (1986: 88 and 2001) states that Ahers does not directly discuss yhe nature
of language and how the language is organized. They conclude that in the TPR method language
is seen as a set of grammartical rules and language consist of language cunk. This implies that
language class can be organized based on the grammar to teach or the vocabulary items.
Grammar is taugh through inductives process.

BASIC ASSUMPTION ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING

Ashers (1988: 3-42) indicates some assumption about langage learning. Learning a language is
similar to learning their first language.

Another assumption about language learning is that strees intervenes between the act of lerning
and what is to be learned; the lower the stress.
PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUE OF TPR

The teacher in TPR should foster an atmosphere of general euphoria. It is important to ease as
much as possible the tension of performing the commands in front if their parts. Collective
participants should be encouraged from the beginning. Also,in keeping with the target language,
a name in the target language is assigned to each student. Each student places a name card on the
desk so it can be read easily even though it is an optional thing to do.

The following introductory techniques of TPR are taken from Garcia (1996):

1. The teachers utters and models the commands for the students. The students perform the
commands by listening to the teacher and by doing what he/she does.
2. The teacher creates situations in which a student has to choose between two items. The
student already knows one item well therefore, by the process of elimination, the other
item is immediately recognized.
3. With the introduction of a new word, the student has to choose from three items of which
only one is known. If the person guess the wrong one, another try is needed. If the guess
is correct, the reward is a word of praise from the teacher.
4. The teacher introduce a new item by making very obvious to the student what to perform,
either through gestures or other additional cues.
5. The teacher introduces new materials by performing the commands on a cassette. The
instructor records his own voce and thenfollows wach as it uttered, but sometimes makes
an incorrect response which is corrected by the voice on tape.

The Introductory technique above can be continued with the following working technique
(Garcia, 1996):

1. Sometimes it takes a great effort for the student to transfer a concept to another situation.
Hence, it is important to present an item in many different situations and to recombine
vocabulary.
2. The teacher should follow as slow pace in introducing material. A barrage of vocabulary
will be conter productive in thr retention of learned items.
3. Beside recombining the vocabulary presented, it is valuable to expand the meaning by
accretion so to speak. This can be accomplished by putting the lexical items in more
complicated performances.
4. As the student increase their comprehensive vocabulary, it is of great value to include
functional words such as of, with, and, etc. That keep the language and smooth and
together.
5. It is very benefical for learner to keep retrieving the original material introduced. These
basic commands learned early in training are the foundation upon which more complex
construction can be anchored.
6. From start, it is useful to introduce equivalents and synonyms. These technique may
sound confusing, but it is not if properly done.
7. As the students learn more individual commands, it is an effective procedure to give
several commands in sequence to be performed in a continuous asction. The teacher
should not get too ambitious in this strategy. When abused, this technique could more
harms than benefits. Also, if over-extended this is more an exercise in memorization than
comperehension.
8. The teacher should be very cautious about the idea of introducing prematurely an
overhelming number of vocabulary items. In the long run this is not desirable because it
tends to create confusion. It is better to introduce a few items a time.