Alas, our discussion of comprehensible input has led us to the principles and practices of total physical response (TPR). TPR essentially aims to provide learners with large amounts of vocabulary through repetitive activities which require the students move (not speak) to express their understanding of the target language (TL). This method was modeled in class with Peter as a Spanish teacher and eleven TESOL colleagues, myself included, as students of Spanish.
Eleven learners (SS) sat around the teacher (T) in a semicircle. The T, standing, gave verbal cues such as tóquense las rodillas (“touch your knees”) or dense dos veultas (“turn twice”), which the SS responded to accordingly, touching their knees and spinning in circles. After instructing several body part terms in this manner, the T cued a video which showed young children dancing to a song with lyrics similar to the T’s cues (i.e. tóquense las rodillas, etc.), called Juanito baila con el dedito. The SS were able to apply their knowledge of the terms by dancing along with the video.
Then the T moved to a table which had four blocks, one red, one yellow, one blue, and one green. The T presented the colors of the blocks very deliberately, “una tabla verde, verde (holding up the green block), una tabla azul, azul (holding up the blue block),” etc. The T then produced four plastic cups numbered one, two, three, and four. The blocks were placed under the cups, and the teacher asked “dónde está la tabla roja?” This interrogative was written on the board (“dónde está la tabla roja/amarilla/azul/verde?”). Students could reply to the question in the TL by saying the number that corresponded with the cup containing the red block, “uno,” por ejemplo. This game was repeated many times with varied degrees of challenge.
The T then changed the interrogative written on the board into a command, Pon la tabla roja/azul/verde/amarilla encima de la tabla roja/azul/verde/amarilla. The T demonstrated, again with great deliberation, the meaning of the prepositional phrase encima de. A volunteer was called to the front of the class. The T made verbal commands by pointing to words on the board which the volunteer student was expected to follow. The volunteer student was then put into the role of teacher, and another volunteer student came to the front to follow the first student’s command. This activity was rehearsed many times.
This TPR lesson continued with more activities which extended the color-related theme to shapes, and there was an additional activity which introduced verbs. This model lesson demonstrated the massive amount of vocabulary typical of TPR instruction, amongst other characteristic practices. My conversation partner and I both agreed that the amount of vocabulary taught was impressive, but the content was too loosely related. Transitioning from body parts, to colors, to shapes, to seemingly random verbs was not very cohesive.
I was one of the volunteer students, and my partner mentioned that I looked very comfortable in my student role, which he attributed to my familiarity with Spanish. I commented on the fact that my proficiency encouraged me to take on a leadership role in following the T’s cues for physical response. The caveat to being proficient in Spanish was that I felt under-stimulated during the activity, a feeling which was not assuaged by the slow delivery of information and the repetition of each activity characteristic of TPT.
Interestingly, I did not feel under-stimulated during the body part instruction and dance. When asked to stand up, sit down, spin around, and baila como Juanito, I felt more involved in the lesson. This engagement could be explained by my preference for kinesthetic learning activities, a preference which the perceptual learning style questionnaire helped me to become aware of.
My experience as a student in the TPR demonstration taught me that more proficient learners can be engaged through leadership roles, but this engagement is not guaranteed to last. The leadership role stimulated my interest and involvement with the lesson, but this interest and involvement waned once the activities were limited to questions and short answers. The saving grace was the inclusion of an activity which catered to my perceptual learning style. I see this as an argument for the inclusion of activities which give students the opportunities to use many senses (viz. visual, auditory, mechanical [oral, digital], kinesthetic) to internalize and practice new language.
I do see certain content lending itself well to TPR instruction (e.g. body parts, prepositions, adverbs related direction, etc.), but the fact that this method discourages students from speaking is one reason why I would only reserve TPR-like tasks for occasional (if not “rare”) introductions to vocabulary. Coursework highly focused on communicative principles could benefit from TPR-like tasks, as a kind of break from speaking which some students will likely appreciate.
-by Dylan
