Total Physical Response (TPR)

Total physical response (TPR) is a method of teaching language originated and developed by Dr. James J. Asher who is a professor emeritus of psychology at San José State University. As the name suggests, physical movement is a key aspect of TPR. The method relies on the assumption that people learn better when they are involved physically coupled with mentally. In TPR, students respond to commands that require physical movement. In this respect, as the teacher gives an order and the students respond physically or nonverbally, the teacher ascertains the students ' comprehension of the command. First of all, TPR instruction requires no translation or L1 support. Instead, students and teachers make the transition to an English language setting

Thirdly, you will invariably find that TPR requires an instant reaction since there is no time to think during TPR practice, students can break the bad habit of over-analyzing language and feel more comfortable with going with the flow or guessing from context. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that TPR does not need a spoken response from students. To put it another way, TPR is an excellent method to recognize a “silent period” during which the learners are absorbing the new language and cannot yet produce new words with confidence. Thus, these students begin to feel a sense of belonging and success as they take part in the lesson. At the simplest level, the students profit from the involvement in the class. As a result, the teachers determine whether or not the students are improving listening comprehension. Additionally, as long as implemented properly, students always appreciate what is happening throughout TPR practice, resulting in increased confidence as opposed to decreased the affective filter. Another fundamental point to remember is that TPR leads to long-term retention of language

Before being able to speak, a baby reacts physically to language and then moves to verbal expression. During the pre-speech period, the baby internalizes the language. The use of TPR in the classroom in many ways takes advantage of this ready-made learning capacity that everyone has. In a way, the teacher plays the role of the parent by giving prompts, setting patterns, playing games, and the student then tries to respond physically to the prompt. Afterwards, the teacher gives the correct response in a positive way like of which a parent would. From that point on, this practice reinforces the learning and paves the way for further steps. A particular advantage of TPR is that TPR embraces numerous learning styles, notably the kinesthetic learners who learn best through physically doing something or connecting to memory through actions. On the one hand, visual learners take visual cues from seeing the actions associated with the instructions given, but on the other, auditory learners especially benefit from TPR chants and songs in which the words and rhythms associated with the movement are memorable to them. Moreover, TPR is mostly oral, rather than text dependent which means that children of any level of reading ability can react to it — creating the perfect type of activity for mixed ability