MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ----- ----- PHAM THI XUAN DUYEN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF THE TPR (TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE) METHOD IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN HUE CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ----- ----- PHAM THI XUAN DUYEN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF THE TPR (TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE) METHOD IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN HUE CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Assoc. LE PHAM HOAI HUONG HUE, 2013 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ----- ----- PHẠM THỊ XUÂN DUYÊN NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC ỨNG DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP TƯƠNG TÁC HÌNH THỂ (THE TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE METHOD) TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC Ở THÀNH PHỐ HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. LÊ PHẠM HOÀI HƯƠNG HUẾ, 2013 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere.
Author Pham Thi Xuan Duyen i ABSTRACT The current study investigates into the use of the TPR (Total Physical Response) method in teaching and learning English at some primary schools in Hue city. The first aim of this study is to investigate primary teachers‟ perceptions of using the TPR method in teaching English to children. The second aim is to find out whether and how the TPR method has been used in English teaching for Vietnamese children at some primary schools and finally is to explore some obstacles that teachers face when using the TPR method in their classroom and suggest solutions to them. The sample of the study consists of 50 students and 30 teachers from ten primary schools in Hue city.
The data were collected by means of questionnaires and interviews. There are two sets of questionnaires; one for teachers and the other for students. In addition, interviews were conducted with two groups: one group with 10 teachers and the other group with 20 students of grade 5. The findings revealed that both teachers and students had relatively positive perceptions of using the TPR in teaching and learning English.
For teachers, the TPR method played an important role in helping them to transfer the lesson to their young students easily and effectively. For students, the TPR method helped them to achieve the lesson quickly and have a long retention about the knowledge of the lesson under happy mood. However, in spite of their strong perceptions of the importance and the benefits of teaching and learning English with the TPR method, both teachers and students still showed some shortages of the TPR method. Therefore, the TPR method is successful when used as the core strategy of a course or as a strong supplement.
On the basis of the findings, some suggestions were made for teachers, students and policy makers. ii I am fully aware of that my thesis can never finished without the help of others during the process of writing. Therefore, on this occasion, I would like to express my greatest appreciation to all those who gave me the possibility for the fulfillment of this thesis paper. First and foremost, I would like to express my most heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.
Le Pham Hoai Huong, Ph., who helped me with all the means at hand to go ahead with motivation and interest along this work of research. Without her guidance and persistent help, this thesis would not have materialized. One simply could not wish for a better or friendlier supervisor. Second, I am deeply indebted to teachers and students from Hue Star primary school, Tran Quoc Toan primary school, Phu Cat primary school, Thuan Thanh primary school, Tay Loc primary school, Le Loi primary school, Nguyen Trai Primary school, Ly Thuong Kiet Prinmary school and Phu My Primary school for providing me the most favorable conditions to collect the needed information.
Third, my sincere thanks go to all the lecturers of the post- graduate courses at Hue College of Foreign Languages for imparting their knowledge and enthisiasm of their respective areas of specification. Besides, my special thank is also extended to Assoc. Truong Vien for helpful guidance in dealing with the SPSS sofware. Last but not the least, I am deeply grateful, as always, to my beloved parents, my sisters, my brothers and my close friends who constantly stand beside me, give me emotional support and encouragement throughout my ups and downs.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES .vii LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS. ix LIST OF ABREVIATIONS.
Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Structure of the study.
5 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW. The history of the TPR method. Definition of the TPR method. The origin of the TPR method.
The goals of the TPR method. The principles of the TPR method. The roles of teachers and learners in the TPR method. Characteristics of young learners.
Benefits of the TPR. Drawbacks of the TPR method. The use of the TPR in classroom. What to be taught with the TPR method.
Types of TPR activities:. Previous studies in other countries. Previous studies in Vietnam. Gaps in the literature.
Data collecting instruments. 31 CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The reliability statistics of data collected from questionnaires. Results of teachers.
The perceptions of the teachers of teaching English in using the TPR method (Cluster 1). The use of the TPR method in teaching English to primary students (Cluster 2). The obstacles and difficulties in using the TPR method that teachers usually face (cluster 3). Results of students.
The perceptions of the students of teaching English by using the TPR method (Cluster 1). Students‟ views to the use ofvthe TPR method in teaching English (Cluster 2). Students‟ perceptions of the shortcomings of the TPR method (Cluster 3)68 4. 69 CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY.
Summary of the key findings. Teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions of teaching and learning with the TPR method in Hue City. Teachers‟ appliance of the TPR method in teaching and learning English. Difficulties of the TPR method in teaching and learning English.
For policy makers. Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further study. 80 APPENDICES vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.
The reliability of the two sets of piloted questionnaires. The reliability of the two sets of the questionnaires. Whole mean score of teachers‟ perceptions of using the TPR. The mean score of teachers‟ perceptions of using the TPR.
Whole mean score of teachers‟ use of using the TPR method. Mean score of the techniques used with the TPR method. Mean score of language areas/ skills used to teach with the TPR method. Mean score of the suitable stages of a lesson taught with the TPR.
Mean score of purposes of using the TPR method. Mean score of using the TPR method in combination with others. Whole mean score of teachers‟ difficulties in teaching the TPR method. Frequency of item 7: I find it difficult to control the class when using this method because students are noisy and mischievous in freedom.
Frequency of item 17: I must spend much time preparing materials as well as ideas for the activity using the TPR method. The mean score of difficulty of promoting students‟ creativity. The mean scores of difficulties about instructions of the TPR. The mean score of difficulties about the level and class size.
Whole mean score of students‟ perceptions of learning with the TPR. Students‟ perceptions of the appropriateness of using the TPR. The mean scores of benefits of using the TPR method. Whole mean score of students‟ views to the use of the TPR method.
The mean score of techniques of the TPR method preferred by students. The frequency of the stages students like to learn with the TPR method. The mean scores of students‟ preference of the TPR method. The mean scores of the students‟ perceptions of the shortcomings.
68 of the TPR method. 68 viii viii LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS Figure 2. The percentage of teachers‟ perceptions of the importance of the TPR method. Teachers‟ perceptions of effectiveness of using the TPR method.
The appropriateness of the TPR method to primary students. Developing listening skill. Using the TPR to teach vocabulary. Warm-up is the most suitable Chart 4.
Applying the TPR method at Stage to use the TPR method the Post-stage. Using the TPR method for revising lessons or checking the memory. The TPR method should be used in combination with others. Percentage of the limit of students‟ creative thoughts.
Students‟ feeling when learning English with the TPR method. The percentage of understanding the meaning easily. The percentage of remembering the lesson effectively. 63 ix ix LIST OF ABRREVIATIONS - EFL : ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE - ESL : ENGLISH AS A SECOND LAGUAGE - TEYL : TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS - TPR : TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE - TPR-B : TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE - BODY - TPR-O : TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE - OBJECTS - TPR-P : TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE - PICTURES - TPR-S : TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSSE - STORY TELLING - SPSS : STATISTICAL PACKAGE FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES x CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale English plays an incredible role in language society and is a tool of communication which can help people in the world to interact, converse, and share with other people. 5) states, “English may become one tool that opens windows to the world, unlocks doors to opportunities, and expands our minds to new ideas.” On commenting on the phenomenon of linguistic imperialism in the former colonies of Britain, Phillipson (1992, p. 30) concludes, “English [in these countries] has a dominant role internally, occupying space that other languages could not possibility fill. English is also the key external link, in politics, commerce, science, technology, military alliances, entertainment and tourism.” Similar to Phillipson, Pennycook (1994) believes that English is a language of imperialism and he also expresses deep concerns about the role English plays as a gatekeeper to better jobs and position in many societies.
Therefore, the acquisition of English is really crucial to interact with the other civilizations. At present, Vietnam is the official 150th member of World Trade Organization. Therefore, English becomes a communicative language with many countries. This is the reason why it is extremely important for Vietnamese to have English ability, so learning English becomes more and more essential.
Because of the importance of English, it has been brought into the Vietnam school as a compulsory subject and taught for students since the early age because mastering English will be better if it starts as early as possible. Ha Van Sinh (2006, p. 111) states, “The economic and political changes over the past decade have brought about a more significant role for EFL in all spheres of life. English has become an effective means of attaining well-paid jobs and promotions and accessing higher education”.
According to Decision No.