Applying Total Physical Response to Improving Primary School Pupils’ Interest in English Lear.doc

毕业论文(设计)AcknowledgementsI would like to thank all those who have helped me to complete this thesis. First of all, I owe a great thanks and appreciation to my advisor, Mr. Luo Chengyu, without whose useful and valuable suggestions the writing of this thesis would have been a very tedious task. My thanks should also be given to all the teachers who have taught me my BA courses. Without their enthusiasm and support, I wont have the competence to complete this thesis.Finally, I am also grateful to some of my classmates and roommates who offered me encouragement and advice in this thesis.Abstract Recent years, the foreign language teaching specially emphasizes the importance of stimulating students learning interest. It put great emphasis on making the students learn in the relaxed atmosphere, and people pay more and more attention to the English education environment, especially the primary English teaching is getting more and more important with the increasing attention of society. Primary English Teaching Syllabus points out that interest is the key of learning a language well and it is an important task to stimulate students learning interest in the primary stage. Therefore, English teaching should give up the traditional educational model, and explore a set model to suit the pupils development that combines childrens psychological and physiological feature.This thesis aims to illustrate the effect of Total Physical Response teaching approach on primary school students interest in English. It explains the theoretical basis of TPR and analyzes the advantage and function of TPR in primary English teaching. It also discusses the concrete training in stimulating and improving pupils English learning interest combining with some activities.Key words: Total Physical Response learning interest primary English teaching 摘 要 近些年，外语教学理论界特别强调把激发学生的学习兴趣放在重要位置，强调要让学生在轻松愉快的气氛中学习外语，英语教育环境越来越受到人们的关注，特别是小学英语教学受到社会越来越多的关注并变得日益重要。小学英语课程标准指出，兴趣是学好语言的关键，激发学生学习英语的兴趣是小学阶段英语教学的一项重要任务。因此英语教学要注意结合儿童的心理和生理特点，小学英语教学应摒弃传统教学模式，要以激发学生学习兴趣为出发点，探索一套适合小学生生理，心理特点及认知发展水平的模式。本文旨在通过对全身反应法使小学生英语学习兴趣提升的研究，阐述了全身反应法的理论基础，分析了全身反应法在小学英语课堂教学中的优势和作用，并且结合一些活动探讨了关于激发及提高小学生英语学习兴趣方面的具体操练。关键词：全身反应法学习兴趣小学英语教学Contents Acknowledgements.iAbstract(English).iiAbstract(Chinese).iiiContents.iv1 Introduction.12 Theoretical background.3 2.1 Studies of interest in foreign language learning.3 2.1.1 Interest and learning.3 2.1.2 Motivation and learning.42.2 The psychological features of primary school pupils .5 2.2.1 The characteristics of children.5 2.2.2 Features of childrens attention.6 3 English teaching through Total Physical Response.7 3.1 The definition of TPR.83.2 Advantage of using TPR .83.3 The design of TPR.12 3.3.1 Objective.12 3.3.2 Types of learning and teaching activities.12 3.3.3 Learner roles13 3.3.4 Teacher roles14 3.3.5 The roles of instructional material.153.4 The process of designing the teaching approach of TPR.163.5 When to use TPR.184 Practical applications.204.1 Teaching target.204.2 The main teaching activities and design.215 Conclusion.26References.28v 嘉应学院毕业论文(设计)Applying Total Physical Response to Improving Primary School Pupils Interest in English Learning1. Introduction Even though many different methods has been introduced and tried out, but found unsatisfactory, primary English teachers and researchers also keep on looking for the best method for English language teaching in China. It is well known that education in China has been influenced by the examination-oriented system for a long time. In a traditional passive class- teacher-centered class, the teachers explain every language point in detail, while students take notes all the time. There is no opportunity for pupils to say and act, but only memorize. As the time pass, pupils learning interest in English is decreasing. As I know, some pupils are forced into learning English by their parents or teachers. In order to make their children get good mark, parents pay a lot of attention to their childrens education and send them to take some English learning courses during weekends, especially those parents in the big cities of China. The pupils would be gradually bored by the inappropriate choice of teaching methods for some teachers fail to maintain the pupils interest. Einstein had said that interest is the best teacher. Teaching and Textbook Writing Syllabuses for Primary School English also points out, “Interest is a good teacher for pupils to learn a foreign language.” If pupils are interested in something, they will pay their attention and learn well and easily. So the activation of pupils interest is quite important for the present study.A good method is easy to motivate the pupils interest in learning. Through some applying of English teaching in my practice teaching at a primary school, I have gotten some knowledge and understanding to English teaching. From my view point, Total Physical Response (TPR) as a new language teaching method is an effective way of English teaching. TPR can help and encourage learners to sustain their interest and attract their attention. TPR also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. Moreover, TPR is an interesting and effective way to develop pupils listening competence, especially in the beginning stage of learning a foreign language.There are five chapters in this thesis:The first chapter is introduction. It mainly talks about the present situation of primary school English teaching in China and the existing problems. According to the problems, Total Physical Response is introduced in order to improve primary school students interest in English.The second chapter is theoretical background, which tells studies of interest in foreign language and the psychological features of primary school students.The third chapter talks about English teaching through Total Physical Response. It begins with the definition of TPR, the advantages of using TPR. And then it talks about the design and the process of TPR along with when to use the TPR.The fourth chapter is the practical application which includes the teaching targets and the main teaching activities and design.The fifth chapter is conclusion. It emphasizes the importance of TPR in primary English teaching and talks about the limitation of using TPR.2. Theoretical backgroundThis chapter will present the theoretical basis of applying Total Physical Response teaching approach in the primary English classroom: interest and learning, motivation and learning, psychological features of primary school students.2.1 Studies of interest in foreign language learningInterest is being recognized as an effective motivation for language learning increasingly. Primary English teaching syllabus points out: “Interest is a good teacher for pupils to learn a foreign language.”(See 小学英语教学大纲) What motivates them is exactly what interests them most. Most successful language teachers are those who can motivate students successfully and effectively. Appropriate teaching methods play an important role to stimulate and motivate the pupils learning interest. Therefore, primary school English teaching should choose the appropriate teaching methods, materials, objectives and activities according to students interest. Interest is the best teacher.2.1.1 Interest and learningEinstein had said: interest is the best teacher. And as is commonly accepted, interest is the key to success. Everyone should first pay attention to things which he/she is interested in and explores actively. For example, if a person is interested in dancing, he would seek opportunities to participate in dance actively and feel happy, relaxed and fun, show positively and voluntarily when he is doing that. Interest not only concerns the surface of things, it also contact with emotion and awareness of people. When you have no cognition of one thing, you will not have feelings, and therefore, will not be interested in it. In contrast, if you understand one thing more profound, you will get more feeling and will be more interested in it. The interest for a persons individual development has the huge function to a persons life and the activity. It may make the human to concentrate the energy to obtain the knowledge, and complete the current activity creatively, develop the intellect, enrich the knowledge, and enlarge the view.2.1.2 Motivation and learningMotivation, as one of students own individual characteristics, is very important in language learning success. Nevertheless students will find it difficult to learn a second language in the classroom if they have no motivation, as is probably often the case in school language teaching. High motivation might spur learners learning interest. Motivation often leads learners to use a variety of learning strategies that can facilitate greater skill in language learning.The motivation for learning a foreign language for primary school students is quite different from that of older learners, because the pupils neednt face the pressure of life and work just like the older learners do. Where does their motivation come from? It is well known that most children like the teacher to notice them and appreciate what they are doing. They always care much about their teachers evaluation, especially the praise. The teacher can motivate the pupils by giving them encouragement and praise and plays an important role to affect the pupils motivation. If a pupil likes his teacher, he will study well, if not, he wont. So a teachers positive attitude and behavior can motivate pupils interest in learning English.Besides, childrens motivation comes from the enjoyment and pleasure in the learning situations. As Lee, William R points out if the teaching is appropriate, children will discover that learning another language is within their capacity and this knowledge will strengthen their motivation.(1988:26). If the class is interesting and active, the pupils will become highly motivated which is beneficial for learning. On the contrary, if the class is boring, the pupils will become unmotivated. What is more, classroom atmosphere, teaching methodology, teaching content, teaching aids and teaching materials can also influence childrens motivation in learning English. 2.2 The psychological features of primary school pupils The psychological characteristic of the children is full of curiosity about the world in their mind. All of them like activities, games, challenge and enjoy participating in actions. This chapter mainly talks about the characteristics of children and features of childrens attention.2.2.1 The characteristics of childrenGenerally speaking, primary school children have three main characteristics of psychology. They are as the followings: 1. They are eager to participate in social activity, they are eager to communicate with others. All of them are full of curiousness about the world in their mind and they are full of energy. To some extent, they are imitators and their intending to know everything around make them become the best language learner. However, their experience and ability are quite limited and deficient, therefore, the two conflicts seriously, which also forms the principle contradiction. 2. Children mainly depend on direct manifestation to know the external world due to the deficiency of experience and language, just as the first point mentioned. For example, flowers are to be appreciated, fruits can be eaten, chairs can be sitting on, etc. Meanwhile, their mental process are great unstable. They cannot consciously control and adjust their behaviors. And to a great extent, they behave pretty randomly. In a word, they can be easily influenced by the external things.3. From this period, children start to form their initial personality tendency. Influenced by education, young childrens cerebral cortex constraints is growing rapidly so does their language system. At the same time, with their conscious behavior gradually develops, they can make their behavior to submit a much further goal, which supplies the fundamental condition for the initial personality tendency. Moreover, the trace of this tendency will be kept in ones whole lifetime, so it really plays a big role in a persons psychology development. Its important that parents and educators value this highly so to cultivate children in a proper way. In addition, another point should be pointed out that there is individual difference among children. Children of this period are mostly active. There are, however, some children who are shy and are not easy to deal with. For children of this kind, educator need more patience and should adopt more strategies.2.2.2 Features of childrens attentionWe usually say that young children have short attention spans. Short attention span which is the representative problem of students in classroom may inhibit the development of new skills, learning new strategies and teaching new information. A teacher must make the teaching methods interesting and make the students attention span longer. Cohen (1977:89) argues that if we put children in front of a TV with a favorite cartoon, they will sit riveted for a long period of time. This means if the lesson is interesting, the children may maintain their concentration and focus for the whole lesson. If the English teacher can make the lesson interesting, lively and fun, the children may love the English lesson. What can English teachers do to help children love their lessons? English teachers should conduct lesson full of variety and changes of activity. Scott, Ytreberg (1993:10) suggest some varieties in the classroom: variety of activity, variety of pace, variety of organization, variety of voice. When children have lost their interest in an activity, they will also lose their concentration, and then little or no learning takes place. Therefore, it is better to change an activity before children lose interest and get bored. How often should an activity be changed? Many psychologists thought that the English teachers should change their activities every 5 minutes. If the same activity lasts 10 or 15 minutes, young children will lose their concentration. Teachers of young learners should change activities often to make the classroom atmosphere more fun.3. English teaching through Total Physical ResponseTPR refers to the action for language approach, and it can attract many students emotionally, the classroom atmosphere is such active that it can help students to try their creative skills. In the initial teaching period, TPR focuses on listening so that students can learn a new language without anxiety. It can verify their understanding of the new language through performing.3.1 The definition of TPRTPR is a language teaching method built around the coordination of speech and action; it attempts to teach foreign language through physical activity. TPR stands for Total Physical Response which is created by Dr. James J Asher, a professor of psychology. TPR is based on the premise that the human brain has a biological program for acquiring any natural language on earth - including the sign language of the deaf. The process is visible when we observe how infants internalize their first language. From the title- Total Physical Response, we can assume that it is a language teaching method which attempts to teach language through physical activities. TPR allows students to learn a second language in the same manner as they learned their first language through the senses and through comprehension sensory input. Asher used commands as the basis for TPR since commands can be made comprehensible to students with very limited language.3.2 Advantage of using TPRThere are many advantage of using Total Physical Response in the classroom, they are as follows:1. TPR helps to stimulate the children sense and encourage them to participate by using the real objects. The TPR teaching method emphasizes learning through playing and is able to arouse sense of hearing, sense of sight and sense of acting at the same time which cause the students to be willing to study and maintain their learning interest. For instance, when teachers teach the new words about the parts of the body, the pupils listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the teacher. They are required to respond both individually and collectively. 2. TPR helps the students to understand the classroom terminology, and is able to attract students attention and contribute to their comprehension.If the teacher uses the TPR teaching method to coordinate the understanding, it would not only reach the goal of using English to organize classroom teaching, but also would relieve the barrier of students understanding. Moreover, it would attract pupils attention. For example, when the teacher teaches listen to me carefully, he or she can put one hand behind one ear and the other hand point to himself while teacher is saying; when teache