Total Physical Response to Teach Vocabulary Research (Research Paper Sample)

Total physical response to teach vocabulary
A proposal by:
Student name
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Supervised by: Dr. fffff fffff
Department of Applied Linguistics213931574104500
YANBU UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, YANBU AL SINAIYAH
October, 2015.
Abstract
This research is based on the strategic Total Physical Response (TRP) in learning vocabulary. The results seek to show he effectiveness of using TRP methods as compared to the normal methods, i.e. Audio-language methods. Six middle school girls are used for the administration of the pre-tests and post-tests. One questionnaire is also issued to the students’ English instructor. However, more emphasis should be laid on the TRP method with regard to foreign language programs.
Introduction
Retention rates as concerns various activities vary as far as age or the particular activity are concerned. For instance, adult and children understanding could be the difference in retention rates. However, practice matters in an explicable way. By practice, physical activity and response during the vocabulary learning is implied in determining the retention rates.
Physical activity is made about playing and outside interactions. Similarly, training that is referred to as acting-out in learning languages is referred to as a physical response. The physical response sustains a learner’s effort and interest hence have a motivational power. On average, the normal adult learner allocates a limited amount of time, say two hours, to language learning programs. The lack of generosity in time allocation is unrealistic for the expectation of fluency in reading, writing, listening and speaking (Khyrat, 1990).
Total physical response in learning vocabulary takes a strategy where learners or applicants listen to a given command in a foreign language and follow the instruction with a physical response. For instance, a Japanese language instructor will say tate and the student will obey by standing up. The Japanese language learner will walk forward when he or she is told aruke by the instructor (Lawson & Hogben, 1996). These are beginner one-word utterances that assist in the reduction of syntactical complexity of the foreign language. Various studies have supported the incorporation of the Defense Language Institute or the Berlitz school for second language learning curriculums Honorat, 2003).
Statement of the Problem
Minimal effectiveness is experienced in foreign language programs. In fact, the over-ambitious nature of our expectation is exceeded. There is the lack of high positive transfer in communication while speaking a new language. The result is minimal skills in the listening and speaking comprehensions. There are inadequate or non-existent approaches to the learning strategies of the total physical response. The morphological complexity of a foreign language is inbuilt, or attitude based should there be the absence of total physical responses. Retention rates are lower in adults as compared to children (Honorat, 2003). This could be explained by the lack of total physical response approaches.
Fluency in a foreign language completely differs in children and adults. Whereas adults have the ability to grasp and understand the language due to their maturity levels, children tend to achieve fluency easily. Further, children get along in learning the foreign language in less time in comparison to their adult counterparts. The retention rates are explained in the concurrent responses that children make that result in better retention scores.
Purpose of the Study
The effectiveness of the total physical response in teaching vocabulary is the main focus of this study. Foreign language instructors have different techniques in helping their learners retain the language vocabularies. For instance, recitation of songs, words, reading excerpts, and writing short and long passages go a long way in helping learners learn a new language. However, this study aims at questioning their effectiveness in comparison to simple one and multiple-word utterances that are followed by physical actions.
Additionally, this study seeks to question whether attitude change as refers to language complexity can be improved via fun activities. For instance, does the instructor give the students a chance of learning the language in class in practical other than the usual theoretical ways.
Research Questions.
* What is the effect of Strategic Total Physical Response on teaching vocabulary?
* What explanation is there in explaining this technique’s effectiveness?
* What are the advantages of using the Total Physical Response method in the teaching of English vocabulary to a student?
Literature Review
Definition of key concepts
The Total Physical Response (TPR) refers to a language teaching technique. There is physical action in one-word utterances or acting out during retention tests. Students are expected to coordinate the new language they are learning to physical movement under the supervision of language instructors. This technique was invented by James Asher of San José State University in the 1960s. He was a professor emeritus of psychology. Foreign language fluency is enhanced through memory coordination with physical activity.
Vocabulary refers to the stock of words in use in a particular language. It consists of a collection of phrases and words of a technical field or language. They are defined and arranged in disciplines and are the fundamental tools for knowledge acquisition and communication. . Vocabulary arrangement can also be alphabetically (Khyrat, 1990). Each vocabulary has a meaning, an affix, and a root. Close analysis and understanding of vocabulary results in the entire learning and retention of a language. Language instructors employ the use of dictionaries, written texts, and word cards in teaching vocabulary.
Previous Studies in the Literature
Previous research about TPR has helped shed light on its operation. The importance, procedures, and setting of this technique are also widely highlighted. The rationale for the current study has a relation to the mentioned previous studies.
Honorat (2003) takes a practical and theoretical evaluation and overview of TPR. His main focus is on Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS). Students attempt to give a brief shallow or detailed story. Honorat (2003) cites little research on TPRS legitimacy but wide application in schools and universities in the USA. He examines the theoretical underpinnings of the strategy and discusses better retention rates as a potential benefit. He suggests an academic approach to the TPRS examination including its practical descriptions. Its drawbacks including the challenge it presents to some students are discussed in detail. All in all, Honorat acknowledges its use and effectiveness (Honorat, 2003).
Wong (1983) experiments English teaching as a second language to third-grade Chinese students. She compares the effectiveness of the TPR approach to the Audio-Lingual approach. She uses pretests and posttests in determining oral language achievement in a quantifiable measure. She seeks to determine whether there is a difference between third-grade Chinese students learning English in the audio-lingual approach and those instructed using the TPR approach. She concludes that students taught using the latter approach gained more. Therefore, TPR was more effective for third-grade Chinese students than the audio-lingual technique (Wong, 1983).
Gustafson (1989) in his research titled, ‘The Total Physical Response (TPR) as a logical method of foreign language instruction based on patterns of first language acquisition’ explores the use of recent foreign language instruction techniques. He determines their disadvantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages of the TPR method is the better retention rates and increased fluency levels. Further, the research explored the application of the method in the instruction of German 101 and German 102 by the use of a required textbook. Model lessons plans that were based on Deutsche Sprache und Landeskunde were presented. These model plans applied the TPR approach when specific textbooks were in use (Gustafson, 1989).
An alternative method for Egyptian beginners learning English as a Foreign Language was sought in a research by Mohamed Khyrat Mahmoud (Khyrat, 1990). The research also aimed at exploring students’ receptive strategies and behaviors to the various listening comprehension materials. Experimental and descriptive studies were conducted on a hundred male students. The experimental focus group was taught using the Asher’s TPR method while the control group was instructed using the audio-lingual (AL) method. Pretests and posttests were adopted an administered for the equivalent groups. Listening comprehension tests were also administered to both groups. The verbal results were determined with their corresponding reports being developed (Khyrat, 1990).
The protocol analysis method for data analysis for the quantitative and qualitative subjects’ reports analyses was used. A coding scheme for the ultimate retrospective reports and the concurrent think-aloud protocols was coded (Khyrat, 1990). Successful and unsuccessful listeners with regards to the listening comprehension tests had common strategies and behaviors in performance. However, successful subjects gave higher protocols than their unsuccessful counterparts. The result concluded that the TPR instruction method was significantly productive than the AL method. The result was regarding the listening comprehension rate of attainment. TPR proved more practical and feasible in the English Foreign Language (EFL) program in Egypt (Khyrat, 1990). It was recommended as a good strategy to mastering the listening skill for EFL students.
In concluding the literatu...