TOTAL, PHYSICAL RESPONSE AND AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD

Total Physical Response is a language learning method that makes use of body movements with the acquisition of the new language. The Total Physical Response method mimics how children learn their first language. There is no expectation to produce the language at first; as a result, it takes the pressure off the learner. The focus shifts from producing the language to associating the language with words and actions and cementing the relationship between the two.

A new learner finds it extremely difficult to understand leave alone to respond in a foreign language. This is because the teacher is only speaking in the foreign language that the learner hasn't mastered yet. For a young learner just starting to learn a language, it all seems like gibberish. Hence, Dr. James J. Asher, Ph.D. the creator of the Total Physical Response method suggests that the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for motor skills, imagination, and listening skills, among many others, be engaged before the left hemisphere that is responsible for language learning.

TPR can be applied to any level of proficiency. Be it high or low levels of proficiency, the learners need not feel embarrassed about their levels for not being able to comprehend or respond. If a learner is unable to comprehend on the first attempt, they can watch and imitate their teacher again.

This also puts the focus on listening. The learner has to constantly listen to the teacher who'd be modeling the pronunciation of the words or vocabulary items. This enhances their listening capabilities and there's a surge in these skills over a period of time.

With no focus on speaking and a lot on mimicking what the teacher does and repeating what the teacher speaks, the learner gradually gains confidence in constructing their own language skills. This also makes the process very gratifying, both for the teacher and surely the learner.

Using the Total Physical Response method, the teacher states the word while showing the gesture, using exaggerated facial expressions and movement of the body. They ask the students to repeat the gesture or the action. Now, they ask the students to repeat it again but this time with the pronunciation. Next, the teacher writes the vocabulary term on the board for the students to see. This process is repeated until the learners are able to successfully form connections between the new terms, their pronunciation, and their associated action. Hence, the new vocabulary finds its place in long-term memory. Periodically, the teacher repeats the exercise to check for the retention of these terms.

The audio-lingual method began during World War II as a way to give troops survival communication tools before sending them to the front lines.

But the actual method as we know it today rose from the work of structural linguists like Charles Fries and Robert Lado.

The Audio-Lingual Method, like the Direct Meth od we have just examined, is also an ora l-based approach. However, it is very different in that rather than emphasizing vocabulary acquisition through exposure to its use in situations, the Audio-Lingual Method drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns.

Charles Fries (1945) of the University of Michigan led the way in applying principles from structural linguistics in developing the method. and for this reason, it has sometimes been referred to as the 'Michigan Method.' Later in its development, principles from behavior al psychology (Skinner 1957) were incorporated. It

As we enter the classroom, the first thing we notice is that the students are attentively listening as the teacher is presenting a new dialog, a conversation between two people. The students know they will be expected to eventually memorize the dialog the teacher is introducing. 

All of the teacher's instructions are in English. Sometimes they use actions to convey meaning, but not one word of the students' native language is uttered. After they act out the dialog, they have to say: 'All right, class. I am going to repeat the dialog now. Listen carefully, but no talking please. 

teachers want their students to be able to use the target language communicatively, in order to do this, they believe students need to overlearn the target language, to learn to use it automatically without stopping to think. Their students achieve this by forming new habits in the target language and overcoming the old habits of their native language.

New vocabulary and structural patterns are presented through dialogs. The dialogs are learned through imitation and repetition. Drills (such as repetition, backward build-up. chain, substitution, transformation, and question-and-answer) are conducted based upon the patterns present in the dialog. 

AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD DRAWBACK POPULARITY

When the audio-lingual method was being designed and put to use, linguistics as a science was in its infancy.

Linguists were often at each other’s throats, and differing schools of thought arose. These led to diverse theories about what language is, how it is learned and how it should be taught.

While structural linguists were taking language apart, listing its parts and figuring out how they were joined, other linguists were more interested in the sources of language within psychology, its use and meaning.

Naturally, many linguists tried to apply these theories to language acquisition and teaching.

LINK: Total Physical Response | TPR Definition, Method & Examples - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com