Total Physical Response
Total Physical Response (TPR) is a method of teaching language using physical movement to react to verbal input in order to reduce the learner’s inhibitions and lower their affective filter. TPR was researched by Dr. James Asher and is a method that allows the learner to react to language without thinking too much and it facilitates long term retention and reduces anxiety and stress in the learner. It is based on the natural way that children acquire language through listening and responding physically to requests, invitations, and commands from family members. Asher’s method is based on the premises that understanding the spoken language should be developed far in advance of speaking, that comprehension can be learned through physical movement, that speech will emerge naturally, and that students should not be rushed into reading and writing before they have had ample listening and speaking experience. Learning an additional language using the TPR approach begins by listening to commands, watching the teacher role-play, and by internalizing and responding to the vocabulary.
The Total Physical Response approach to teaching additional languages has been very popular with Indigenous language teachers, as it allows students to be active learners, produces quick results, and does not involve the use of textbooks or writing. TPR strategies utilize vocabulary first taught using TPR by incorporating it into narratives that students hear, watch, act, retell, revise, read, write, and rewrite. TPR represented a revolutionary departure from the audio- lingual practice of having students repeat the teacher’s utterances from the very beginning of their first lesson and whenever new material was introduced later on.
The ultimate goal is to have students develop original narratives and share them with others. A whole range of activities may be included, such as videotaping, drama, creating books for children in lower grades, designing bulletin boards, etc. TPR has much in common with other effective approaches to learning an additional language.
Some learners may understand the nēhiyaw language because they hear it spoken in many different settings. These learners can be very useful during TPR lessons, acting as assistants, demonstrators, and group leaders. It is essential that students learn to use the nēhiyaw language instead of just understanding it. nēhiyaw language teachers who expect their students to master their languages at a level of correctness that will satisfy the most exacting local standards will provide them appropriate guidance, not just input. There is a crucial difference between comprehension and production. The meaning that a learner constructs from input is drawn from semantic clues and is not stored in memory in its full syntactic complexity. It is possible to comprehend and remember input with little attention to syntax by relying on pre-existing knowledge, context, and vocabulary (Manitoba Education, 2007).
Teachers need to know and be able to demonstrate a broad range of strategies from which students are then able to choose in order to communicate effectively. Strategies of all kinds are best taught in the context of learning activities where students can apply them immediately and then reflect on their use.