TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE: A TEACHING METHOD
THAT REQUIRES TEACHER’S TOTALITY
Retno Damayanti Kusumaningrum
Introduction
There are many teaching methods that can be used by teachers in order to make the students understanding the materials easily and also create the class to be enjoyable. Total Physical Response (TPR) is one of the English teaching approaches and methods developed by Dr. James J Asher. (Widodo, 2005). It is a language teaching method built around the coordination of speech and action. This method encourages students to pay attention to the teacher since the students need to listen carefully to understand the teacher’s command. Students will respond the teacher with their action and body movement. For instance, when the teacher says “put your hands up!”. Then, the students will put their hands up. As stated by Asher (2007), learners are not expected to speak while performing actions, which makes TPR stress-free and suitable for teaching beginners, either young learners, teenagers or adults.
According to Richards and Rodgers, 2006 (as cited in Savić, 2014), the basic principles guiding TPR method are drawn from developmental psychology, the theory of learning, brain research, and humanistic pedagogy. Larsen-Freeman (2000) stated in TPR method, the students’ understanding of the target language should be developed before speaking and spoken language should be emphasized over written language. It is in line with Asher that learning a target language should be similar to native language acquisition: in learning a native language, comprehension comes before speaking and a child first responds to commands physically, and only later verbally (Savić, 2014).
Students can learn through observing actions. In this case, imperative is a powerful linguistic device which teacher can direct students behaviour. Teacher has a role as the director of students behaviour whereas the students act as the imitators. The students will begin to speak when they are ready. It doesn’t matter if students make some errors, teacher should torelate them. This method applies the theory of learning by doing. Students should not be made to memorize, because language learning is more effective when it is fun. Therefore, the aim of this method is to make a comfortable learning atmosphere which students enjoy their experience in learning to communicate in a foreign language. (Larsen-Freeman 2000)
Reflection
In the last peer teaching practice, I implemented total physical response as my teaching method. I taught “parts of body and their verbs” for the 7th grade of junior high school students. It focused on the skill of listening and speaking. The objectives of the lesson are students should be able to identify the parts of human body and the verbs that are related with the parts of human body, pronounce the new terms related to the parts of human body correctly and arrange the sentences that is related with the parts of human body.
I introduced to my students about the parts of body, such as head, arms, fingers, etc. I pointed the particular parts and the students followed my commands. After that, my students repeat after me. Then, I asked my students to play a game. This game required students’ concentration. The students who didn’t concentrate well will fail in this game and got punished. At the end of the lesson, we sang a song entitled “where is thumbkin” which can be used to learn about parts of body, especially the name of fingers.
The duration of the teaching practice was not too long. It was exactly 7 minutes. In my opinion, 7 minutes were short enough because in teaching using TPR, teacher and students were doing activities together. It was fun and enjoyable, so we didn’t realize when the time was over.
From my last performance, I found that there were some strengths and weaknesses. The first strengths were about voice, eye contact, and gesture. I used a gesture and made an eye contact with the students when I demonstrate the examples. My voice was loud enough to be heard by the whole class. My friends also said that I was cheerful enough even in my daily life I was not as cheerful as when I did the teaching practice. It was good because in teaching young learners, the teacher should be friendly and cheerful in order to encourage the students and make them comfortable to learn. The second is that about the activities during my lessons. I tried to make a fun learning by playing concentration games. I gave a punishment for the students who failed. The students who failed should come forward and practice the total physical response by following my commands. At the end of the lesson, I asked them to sing a song together. Third, in this performance, I was not as nervous as I did my first peer teaching practice in the previous semester. Probably, it happened because I have done some teaching practices in this semester. It is true that practice makes perfect.
Besides of the strengths, there were also some weaknesses in my performance. The first thing that I most remember was about time management. I failed to manage the time appropriately. I thought I need two more minutes in my teaching practice because when the time was running short, my students and I were practicing to sing together which belonged to the last activity in my lesson plan. Second, I didn’t bring any visual aids, but there is a reason for it. It was because my lesson was about human body. I bring my body wherever I am and so do the students. So, at that time I think that doing some activities (i.e wave the hands, stomp the foot) and pointing my own body, such as head, arms, hands, fingers, etc were enough to show the realia. However, I am still thinking about it. I changed my mind. Now, I think that it was not interesting enough. It would have been better if I brought some pictures and show them to my students or using powerpoint slides as the media. Third, I forgot about one of the principles in this method. The founder of this method, Dr. Asher in his interview (2007) said that it doesn't need to encourage students to ask for repetition or ask about meaning during TPR exercise, because that results in "brain overload." Students are encouraged to relax, listen to the instructor and do what the instructor does. However, in my teaching performance, I asked my students to repeat my statements.
Conclusion
Total physical response can make the class to be more active and enjoyable. It is very appropriate to be implemented in teaching young learners. It is one of teaching method that needs teacher’s totality. Teachers will use a lot of energy when they are teaching using this method. Furthermore, there are some considerations when the teacher decided to use this method. First thing first is about preparation. This method required the teacher to prepare the materials before the lesson. It also better for the teacher to bring the visual aids to make the students more interesting. The second is about the level of the students that will be taught and also the objectives of the lesson. The level of the students will determine the appropriate materials that the teacher prepare. The way of teacher teaches the adult learner sometimes different with the young learner. The objectives of the lesson will guide the teacher in teaching and learning process.
Finally, I can conclude that I still have many weaknesses in my teaching performance. To improve my teaching skills, I should do many things. I should prepare my lesson plan carefully, including the visual aids. I also need to read more about teaching literacy and find more references when I am going to teach. To be able to manage the time in my teaching class, I have to do trial-teaching-practice and using a stopwatch to manage the time. The important thing is that I should practice more and more.
REFERENCES
Asher, J. J. (2007). After forty years, still a very good idea. Retrieved on June, 28,2018 from http://tpr-world. com/japan-article. html
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford University.
Savić, V. M. (2014). Total Physical Response (TPR) Activities in Teaching English to Young Learners. U: A. Ignjatović & Ž. Marković (ur.), Fizička kultura i moderno društvo, str, 447-454.
Widodo, H. P. (2005). Teaching Children Using a Total Physical Response (TPR) Method: Rethinking. Bahasa dan seni, 33(2), 235-238.