A Study On Practical Strategies Of Total Physical Response In Primary English Teaching

With the advance of new curriculum standards, primary English education pays more attention to the comprehensive development of students. In order to arouse the enthusiasm of students, teachers carry out a series of activities in their teaching process. Total Physical Response, known as TPR and put forward by James Asher, enjoys high reputation in the world since the 1960 s. Though there are many research about TPR teaching method by all scholars of the world from theory to practice, most of the discussions focused on the validity of this method. However, what difficulties and problems will be met in the implementation of TPR teaching method? What specific measures should be taken so that it will play the role? Thus, it is fundamentally necessary to conduct a research on the status quo of the TPR application in primary school.This study systematically analyzes the definition, theoretical foundations, characteristics and principles of TPR by way of literature aiming to figure out the application of TPR in the primary school education. Then the author summarizes some issues of TPR teaching method in primary English teaching by the use of 48 lessons of classroom observation and interviews to teachers, including whether teachers have used TPR teaching method and which part is mainly used to teach, the advantages of this method and the difficulties that arouse when it was used, etc. The dimensions of classroom observation are instructional design of teachers, language usage of teachers and the way of class interact between students and teachers. Then some problems are found: The obsolete concept of teachers and instructional design are unreasonable; method of teaching is unitary; Teaching effect is poor, etc. To better solve these issues, the author analyzes the reasons in various aspects in order to maximize the value of TPR teaching method. Finally, the author comes up with the following targeted improving strategies and methods:(1)involving teachers in learning and training(2)reforming personnel system and increasing education funding(3)strengthening construction of teachers and relieving pressure of large class size(4)renewing teachers’ education concept and teaching habits(5)improving teachers’ professional education theory. It is hoped that teachers can benefit from this dissertation.