James Asher originated the TPR approach.
We used a TPR approach in the podcast lesson today. This instruction method has been around for, I guess, 40 years now. The idea is to present learners with a series of instructions and have them do the actions as they hear the words: “Please stand up“, “Put the pen on the table“, and so on.
I can tell you from experience that it works, especially for kids, and for certain types of vocab/lexis/function. I see it as a good additional way for ChinesePod devotees to learn Chinese.
First of all, it can be used cognitively: in the classroom you learn the phrases, not through teacher explanations, but through inference and seeing others act out the words. Depending on the level, learners are expected only to listen and respond, but at slightly more advanced levels, learners can repeat/verbalize the words or instruct others to do them. In this sense, it is a natural-world approach to comprehension and early production. I think this doing, this experiential element, can also aid retention.
The TPR proponents also claim, plausibly, that it is a low-stress method, even when the teacher is repeating the key phrases over and over. This is always a good thing.
I’d like to try more TPR in the coming weeks and introduce it at different levels. In the meantime, feedback is very welcome.
Ken Carroll
Have you thought about licensing a 3rd-person-shooter engine? You could achieve the highest possible degree of physical interaction possible with a PC (”你是张亮. 找到红钥匙,继续开门,杀怪兽,终于亲吻丽丽”). Sounds TPR to me…
But also continue with conservative podcasts (of course with sound effects and background stories). They have proven to be quite effective for me.
Greetings from a classic Sunday afternoon coffee buzz.
That sounds like a really good idea. I had never thought about it in exactly these terms, but I like it.
From my experience, the Chinese I’ve picked up through observation and context have been the things that stuck with me the most. Rather than having just the English definition for recall, there’s a memory of an experience associated with it, and those tend to be stronger for me.
I think integration of any degree would be awesome.
Ken,
I really liked this first stab at TPR. I think it shows the creativity of you guys and the how you excel at grouping things together to make study easy (I’m talking about the three “door” words all using the first tone).
I was reminded also of the early days of radio when sound effects were added to make situations more realistic for the listener. Yeah!
On the other hand, I am of the belief that you are still a bit off the mark in terms of what TPR is about. I’ll be interested in hearing further efforts.
Michael,
I’m no expert in PR, but I’ve used it enough to experiment with some variations that might suit our needs here. For me, TPR is one addition to an eclectic list of instructional activities that I built up over the years. There are many ways to use it. In this sense I’m not sure how it could be off the mark. If you have more in -depth knowledge of it or some suggestions/improvements on how to use it, then, by all means let’s hear from you!
Ken Carroll
I am terrible at is describing sights, smells and tastes. With TPR, I think Chinesepod can use videos to teach description of sceneries. Let’s say Aric goes to another scenic spot in China, he can capture the sights in videos and Chinesepod can produce several lessons on how to describe beautiful (or ugly) sceneries.
I think this approach has definite use and potential to be expanded upon. In fact I would like to see more “action” related lessons. Recently I played a game for the Nintendo DS which included several “mini-games” with a Chinese friend and I found my ability to explain how to play each game was very limited. So more lessons related to telling people how to do things, play games, etc. would be useful.
Ken,
Hmmm, my understanding of TPR goes something like this.
1. STEP ONE: Student(s) are told to do something.
(Interesting side point- TPR instructions come in the form of commands because they are the cleanest form of English “available”. There are no tenses or 3rd person forms to worry about. Is such the case with Mandarin and all the “ba” constructions?)
2. STEP TWO: I watch you do it. I give feedback if I choose to. In watching you, I can tell if you got it right and if you need any mid-course corrections.
(Interesting side point- Could someone who is blind teach TPR? If so, then perhaps you should examine this as your model as you are generally blind to what happens on the other side of the screen)
3. STEP THREE: The student is told to perform the next action.
(Interesting side point- Generally actions after the first are dependent upon something happening before it. Thus pulling the key out of the lock depends on the key having first gone into the lock).
In the classroom the actions are sequential, interdependent, and feedback can be given at any number of stages. The feedback is based on direct observation. If this series of actions is interpreted as a task then the final action should create a situation that is definable in specific terms. For example, “after the final action the pencil will be on top of the red book.”
Obviously this is a listening based activity and understanding the meaning of what is being said is key to completing the exercise.
Now, I should make clear that my understanding of TPR comes from using it in the classroom with beginners. I believe that TPR has a great place in teaching English to beginners but I haven’t seen it used much outside a classroom setting and I’ve never seen or heard of it being used to teach Chinese (my ignorance is showing). I don’t know if this helps. Love your blog!
It’s “virtual” TPR
If it were a video it would be third person, and far from TPR.
Audio-only throws the action into the first person, especially if you’re listening with eyes closed, so it is more like TPR, or at least experiential. From the teacher’s perspective, either way can be very close to TPR.
But is it really TPR, from the learner’s perspective, if the teacher (or a fellow student) doesn’t actually see the learner move and could respond to that movement? Does the action have to function as a gesture that’s part of a two way communication, in order to be TPR?
The hottest technique in language teaching these days is TPRS. Originally based on TPR and called TPR Storytelling, it has evolved to become Teaching Proficiency
Through Reading and Storytelling. It was developed primarily by Blaine Ray, but has had the benefit of being tweaked by several master teachers. It works especially well with English cognate and alphabetic languages, but I have been experimenting with it in my classes using pinyin. It will really jumpstart a student’s language as it taps into the proper part of the brain, something left-brain textbooks and grammar instruction obstruct.