The effect of the total physical response method versus the audio-lingual method on the rate of attainment in listening comprehension of Egyptian beginners of English as a Foreign Language

This study had a twofold purpose. The first was to find an effective instructional method (i.e., Total Physical Response) that can be used to improve EFL Egyptian beginners' listening comprehension skill. The second was to explore students' behaviors and receptive strategies in processing listening comprehension materials.;The subjects were one hundred male students enrolled in the first year of the preparatory school. Students were randomly assigned to two treatments, experimental and control.;The study had a design of two phases: experimental and descriptive. To carry out the experimental phase, the pretest-posttest equivalent groups design was adopted. The experimental group was taught EFL using Asher's TPR method, whereas the control group was taught by the AL method. Two listening comprehension tests were administered to all students. In the descriptive phase, ten subjects (successful and unsuccessful listeners) from the experimental group were interviewed.;Collected data were statistically treated with the use of analysis of variance with analysis of covariance to the differences between the subjects' scores (experimental & control groups) before and after the treatment. Subjects' verbal reports were grouped for quantitative and qualitative analyses. The method of protocol analysis was used for analyzing the data. The concurrent think-aloud protocols and the immediate retrospective reports were coded using a coding scheme.;Results of the study revealed that the TPR method was significantly more productive than the AL method in improving students' rate of attainment in listening comprehension. The successful listeners gave a much higher total of protocols than the unsuccessful listeners. With regard to the different behaviors and receptive strategies, it was found that subjects, successful and unsuccessful, used almost all the same behaviors and strategies in performing listening comprehension tasks.;It was concluded that the TPR method was useful as a good start to master the listening skill for EFL beginners. TPR was found feasible and practical in the EFL introductory programs in Egypt. It was also concluded that there was a strong link between rate of attainment in listening comprehension and the behaviors and receptive strategies students employ while they process an aural language input.