Total Physical Response

TPR method which developed by Prof. Dr. James J. Asher,a professor of psychology at San Jose University California has been succeeded in learning of foreign language for children. He used the commands from the teacher to students or a student to another student. Students try to answer or response the commands through the movements of the body or action. Total Physical Response is one of the learning processes which involves the students actively in the classroom activities. It can be affective in delivering explicit instruction in learning. The effectiveness of the Total Physical Response has been shown by the experts in some countries and has given significant improvement of students’ achievement in learning English especially vocabulary in language target. As children are physically active by nature, Total Physical Response will make language learning especially vocabulary more effective because children feel fun during the learning. This methods of instruction injects the lesson with both physical activity and fun as the students playact their roles and respond to both simple yes/no questions and more complex questions about who, where, when, etc. By having a good skills in presenting the lessons in any kinds of models teacher is encouraged to develop knowledge and stimulate children’s to learn. The knowledge and experience are influences in developing of children’s vocabulary, that’s why teacher should be able to manage and select the material which can be absorbed by children. Besides that comprehension of the vocabulary should be more emphasized and developed in the learning process in order to get the aim of learning vocabulary.
The successful of learning process can’t be separated from the advantages of TPR method itself. The advantages of using Total Physical Response Method in teaching English are wide.