Proposal SL Research TPRS Presentation

Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling

Rationale of the Study

Research Questions

• Experienced foreign language educators (traditional methods) and Novice educators (Innovating methods). Both practitioners, under the same impression that TPRS is changing the way learners acquired a second language

This method reports significant gains in language proficiency in their students as well as renewed enthusiasm on their part for teaching. (Alley & Overfield, 2008)

• What are the students’ perspectives and attitudes on TPRS teaching methodologies in the Spanish classroom?

• I have experienced teachers’ curiosity and enthusiasm, as well as my own, for this method and to bring the techniques of TPRS into the foreign language classrooms. However, I often wonder, what about the learners? For educators like us is crucial to learn from the students' feedback in order to adapt our curricula to their needs as well

Designing instruction according to the needs of the learner rather than according to the tenets of a particular methodology. (Alley & Overfield, 2008)

• How students perceive TPRS teaching approach versus traditional teaching approach?

• In the TPRS Spanish classroom, in general, learners seem very participative, energetic, motivated and engaged. But, what do we know about the learners’ perceptions and needs? What happens with those learners that feel anxious about participating in a kinesthetic classroom? What about the perceptions of those learners with special needs?

It would be useful to investigate further what motivates students' preferences for certain activities...although students preferred the more traditional activities, they overwhelmingly responded positively to TPR and TPR Storytelling. (Braunstein, 2006)

¿YO QUIERO TPRS™?

TEACHING PROFICIENCY THROUGH READING AND STORYTELLING:

YOUNG ADULT LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS

ON TPRS WITHIN THE SPANISH CLASSROOM

By Melissa McClure

melissamcclure@nyu.edu

References

Methods

Conclusion

Participants

Data Collection & Analysis

• Using quantitative analysis, data will be collected in different forms

Ray use the kinesthetic approach TRP but found that his students were loosing interest and expanded the method by adding comprehensible input used in Krashen's NA. At first he called his method Total Physical Response and Storytelling to later change it into Teaching Proficiency through Raeding and Storytelling, since he added different elements and the most relevant Storytelling.

TPRS

Vocabulary and phrases in Context taught through gestures

Circling Questions

Storytelling

Story gets dramatized by the students.

• Student will be provided with a survey to find out the participants demographic information such as name, age, native country, other languages spoken, numbers of years studying Spanish, and types of activities they like while learning Spanish.
• Students will fill out questionnaires, these will be provided in English to facilitate comprehension
• Questionnaire #1 learning preferences and classroom expectations
• Questionnaire #2 Affective reaction towards TPRS and Traditional methods
• Questionnaire #3 Likert scale students attitudes towards the methods. (4 possible answers: I completely agree, I agree, I disagree, I completely disagree)

In our growing and global society we must address the needs of our students. TPRS promotes creativity and engagement of both teacher and student making learning and second language acquisition entertaining and meaningful in the classroom, although not necessarily addressing current students' needs.

Foreign language teachers should not stick to one methodology, rather they should consider that not only one practice or stand-alone method is ideal to teach in the SL classroom. Teacher should also consider that modifying methodology, like Ray did for TPRS, is a normal approach in our growing and changing society to address individual situations that may lead to better results.

Taking into consideration that this study reveals student positive affective reactions, enjoyment and learning through TPRS, its contribution to the field is the expansion of this method in the foreign language classrooms for beginning stages in combination with current considerations such as culture, comparison, connections and communities.

• Learning Preference Questionnaire
• Affective Reaction Questionnaire
• Likert-scale Students Attitudes

Circling not only does it embellish the structures via lively personal interaction with the students in the target language, it forms a bridge to the stories. Slavic (2008)

103 middle school low-intermediate Spanish learners at Salk School of Science in Manhattan, New York. These students received 2 hours of Spanish instruction a week. The ages of the students ranges from 13-14 years old and one year of traditional Spanish instruction and one year of TRPS instruction.

• Data will be counted and recorded in a frequency table for objective evaluation.
• Data must inform having an impact on students learning perspectives and preferences.

TPRS is a modifying methodology developed by Blaine Ray

Theoretical Underpinnings

Total Physical Response (TPR) was introduced by James Asher due to dissatisfaction of grammar-drilled methods (traditional methods).

TPR is an input approach based on action techniques performed by the teacher and followed by the students. Involves physical actions as the students interact with the target language.

Natural Approach (NA) to SLA explains how a learner acquired a second language through input that is comprehensive and just above the learners’ current linguistic knowledge. Learning could only be successful if it was delivered in a stress and anxiety free setting created by the instructor.

In order to acquire language that is effective, as children learn their L1 from their parents or guardians, adult students could also learn by combining physical responses with verbal commands model by their teacher or instructor. (Asher, 2009)

Input Processing (IP) Lee & VanPatten (2003), advocates of TPR, “TPR qualifies as meaning bearing and comprehensible meaning bearing because the input contains a message and comprehensible because the instructor demonstrates the actions” (p.42). They believed that TPR has some traits of simplified input and it idyllic to introduce vocabulary in novice learners.

Researches found that factors that contribute to a low affective filter include positive orientation to speakers of the language, acquiring in a low anxiety situation, and at least some degree of acquire self-confidence” Krashen & Terrell (1983)