Applying total physical response (TPR) in teaching english vocabulary to grade 5 students at tran quoc toan primary school, bac ninh province

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI HUYEN APPLYING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE TPR IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 5 STUDENTS AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY S

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN THI HUYEN

APPLYING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)

IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 5 STUDENTS

AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY SCHOOL, BAC NINH PROVINCE

M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2020

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN THI HUYEN

APPLYING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)

IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 5 STUDENTS

AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY SCHOOL, BAC NINH PROVINCE

M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2020

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ

NGUYỄN THỊ HUYỀN

ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP PHẢN XẠ TOÀN THÂN TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 5 TẠI TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC TRẦN QUỐC TOẢN, TỈNH BẮC NINH

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2020

DECLARATION

I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Applying Total Physical Response (TPR) in teaching English vocabulary to grade 5 students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, Bac Ninh province” is my own study in the fulfillment of the

requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Foreign Language Faculty, Thai Nguyen University

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the support of many people, this research has been completed I would like to start by expressing my great gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Dang Thi Thu Huong for her valuable comments, constant support and encouragement

I also want to give my special thanks to teachers and grade 5 students of Tran Quoc Toan Primary School for their supports in my experiment and response to my survey questionnaires

Finally, I am truly grateful to my family for their wholehearted care and supporting me during the time I conducted the research and encouraging me all the time when I encountered difficulties in completing the thesis

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to explore the application of Total Physical Response (TPR) method in teaching English vocabulary for grade 5 students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, Bac Ninh province The thesis began with literature review on vocabulary teaching and TRP approach Then quasi-experimental design was applied to find out the improvement of students in retaining vocabulary by using TPR method A questionnaire was employed to 50 grade 5 students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School after tests and lessons with and without applying TPR method to explore the benefits and difficulties of students in learning vocabulary with TPR The findings of the research show that TPR method has been used in many subjects, and it is also applicable and effective to teach English vocabulary Therefore, the method was suggested to be exploited more in the context of teaching vocabulary for grade 5 students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, Bac Ninh province

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

LISTS OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Significance of the study 3

1.5 Structure of the study 4

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Vocabulary and vocabulary learning and teaching 5

2.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary 5

2.1.2 Learning vocabulary 8

2.1.3 Teaching vocabulary 9

2.1.4 Difficulty of teaching and learning vocabulary 10

2.1.5 Vocabulary retention 11

2.2 Total Physical Response (TPR) 12

2.2.1 Definitions of TPR 12

2.2.2 The characteristics of TPR 14

2.2.3 The procedure of vocabulary teaching using TPR 15

2.2.4 The Design of TPR 17

2.2.5 Techniques of TPR 19

2.2.6 Variations of TPR 21

2 2.7 The Advantages of TPR 23

2.2.8 The Disadvantages of TPR 23

2.3 Overview of previous studies 24

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 25

3.1 Research questions 25

3.2 Research Methods 25

3.3 Participants 26

3.4 Data collection 27

3.4.1 Data collection instruments 27

3.4.2 Data collection procedure 31

3.5 Data analysis 34

3.5.1 Test result analysis 34

3.5.2 Questionnaire analysis 35

CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION 36

4.1 Test analysis 36

4.1.1 The students’ pre-test scores of the experimental and control group 36

4.1.2 The students’ scores in post – test 1 38

4.1.3 The students’ scores in post – test 2 40

4.2 Questionnaire result analysis 43

4.3 Discussion 45

CHAPTER V: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 47

5.1 Conclusion 48

5.2 Implications 49

5.3 Limitations of the study 49

REFERENCES 50 APPENDIXES II APPENDIX B: VOCABULARY TEST 2 (POSTTEST 1) IV APPENDIX C: VOCABULARY TEST 3 (POSTTEST 2) V APPENDIX D VII

APPENDIX E IX LESSON PLAN FOR THEME 2: XI LESSON PLAN FOR THEME 3: XIII APPENDIX F XV APPENDIX G XVIII APPENDIX H XXI

LISTS OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Test description 28

Table 3.2: Questionnaire description 30

Table 3.3: Procedure of training 33

Table 3.4: Conversion of percentage range 35

Table 4.1: Students’ scores of control group in pre-test 36

Table 4.2: Students’ scores of experimental group in pre-test 37

Table 4.3: Students’ scores of experimental group in post-test 1 39

Table 4.4: Students’ scores of control group in post-test 1 40

Table 4.5: Students’ scores of experimental group in post-test 2 42

Table 4.6: Students’ scores of control group in post-test 2 43

Table 4.7: Mean scores of two groups in vocabulary tests 43

Table 4.8: Question 1 – Students’ opinions about TPR English lessons 45

Table 4.9: Question 2 – Students’ opinions about TPR activities 46

Table 4.10: Question 3 – Interest in learning English vocabulary through TPR activities 47

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: TPR example 1 13

Figure 2.2: TPR example 2 14

Figure 2.3: Procedure for TPR 17

Figure 2.4: Variations of TPR 22

Figure 3.1: Illustration of Pretest – Posttest designs 26

Figure 3.2: Data collection procedure 31

Figure 4.1: The comparison between scores in post-test 1 of control and experimental group 41

Figure 4.2: Comparison between pre-test score and post-test 2 score of experimental group 44

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

%: Percent

TPR: Total Physical Response

CG: Control Group

EG: Experimental Group

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the writer presents the rationale, objectives, scopes and the structure of this study

1.1 Rationale of the study

Currently, English has been widely used in Vietnam This is a compulsory subject in almost all school levels Teaching English at primary schools is one of the important goals concerned by the Government In the article “The best age for kids to learn a second language”, Laura Clark said that children aged from 6 to 13 is the right time to learn another language along with their mother tongue because children have a good memory to achieve new things during that period In particular, the 5th grade is the last class of primary education where students are taught more vocabulary to improve communication In addition, there is no language without vocabulary and English is not an exception That is the reason why vocabulary is becoming one of the most important elements of language Vocabulary plays an important role in the process of learning English Students normally have difficulties in memorizing and mastering English vocabulary, so it is difficult for them to comprehend both in spoken and written forms In the Depth of Processing Hypothesis, Craik and Tulving (1975) showed that “the more cognitive energy a person exerts when manipulating and thinking about a word, the more likely it is that they will be able to recall and use it later” In other hand, Saleh (1997:12) believed that, “[…] the success in mastering a language is determined by the size of the vocabulary one has learned” Learning new words relates to how we understand them and how long we remember them There were many factors affecting word retention, for example, how diversification and frequently words were used According to Thornburg (2002: 23), “the learner needs not only to learn

a lot of words, but also to remember them” Therefore, sensory memory has

important values in learning vocabulary

In the past, teachers often used traditional methods to teach vocabulary such

as providing word explanations and requiring practices, however, that was not a really effective method According to Singer, A.J (2003:39), “teaching is helping

learners to acquire new knowledge or skills Teaching consisted, mainly, of telling, showing, guiding the learner in performance tasks and then measuring the results”.

In some cases, some teachers do not have suitable methods to inspire their students for learning English effectively, which makes students not excited to learn vocabulary It is easy to show that it is hard and challenging, and time-consuming Apart from grammar, vocabulary plays an essential role in learning languages, English particularly The close relationship between vocabulary and understandability must be expressed in the form of words Finite vocabulary will make learners find hard in communication, which loses their confidence and gradually interests in studying English Some reasons for those limitations may be affected by teaching method, learning environment and motivation Within the scope of this study, teaching method will be focused on

In primary education, vocabulary is considered one of the foundational concerns in English teaching and learning Thus, teachers should find effective teaching methods to enhance students’ vocabulary so as to raise their interests and language competency in learning English So far, many researchers have provided various methods to help students to easily study and memorize vocabulary Of them, TPR is regarded one of the most useful methods in teaching and learning vocabulary

In Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, English is a major subject In teaching vocabulary, the traditional technique – English-Vietnamese translation is mainly used The teachers also apply the Power Point Presentation with pictures in teaching vocabulary, so the students only got passive from the teachers They do not have opportunities to practice vocabulary, therefore, their vocabulary memory is poor and short-termed So, it is necessary to apply an effective technique to improve students’ vocabulary memory

All the above-mentioned reason paved the way for the researcher to conduct

a study on using TPR approach to improve students’ vocabulary memory with an expectation that will contribute to teaching and learning vocabulary for the teachers

at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School The research aims to explore the influence and

effectiveness of applying TPR approach in teaching and learning vocabulary in order to improve students’ retention of English vocabulary Then, this research targeted at introducing TPR as a technique to teach and learn vocabulary for grade 5 students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School The researcher also hopes that this study would make a contribution to the development of language teaching and learning vocabulary via TPR

1.2 Aims of the study

The study aims at finding the effectiveness of using TPR method in enhancing students’ English vocabulary at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, Bac Ninh province Accordingly, the study found answers to the question:

- What is effectiveness of TPR method in enhancing grade 5 students’ English vocabulary?

1.3 Scope of the study

The study focuses on applying TPR in teaching English vocabulary for 50 students at grade 5, Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, Bac Ninh province Due to the fixed curriculum and limited time, the study will be carried out in the second semester of school year 2019-2020

1.4 Significance of the study

Essentially, the practical consideration of the research is the significance of the expected research Hence, the result of this study is expected to be useful to the teachers, the students and the researcher in using TPR in teaching and learning vocabulary

The research is expected to explore and prove the effectiveness of applying TPR method in teaching and learning English vocabulary Therefore, teachers and students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School would conduct the teaching and learning activities more effectively

The researcher aspired that this study would give a contribution to the development of language teaching and learning by applying TPR method for English teachers at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School

This research was expected to eliminate the difficulties of students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School in retaining their vocabulary and it could help them to improve their long-term memory and more interested in learning English, specifically vocabulary

For researchers, it is anticipated that this study would be one of the references for other researchers to get information about teaching through TPR method

1.5 Structure of the study

This study is divided into five chapters They are:

Chapter I: “Introduction” – covers academic works required for research

paper, consists of rationale for the study, aims of the study, research questions, scope of the study and organization of the study

Chapter II: “Literature review” – provides the theoretical background of the

study, namely basic knowledge about English vocabulary and vocabulary teaching; TPR in generally and in teaching and learning vocabulary

Chapter III: “Methodology” – describes the methods used for this study,

data collection instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis procedure

Chapter IV: “Finding and discussion” – presents, analyzes and discusses the

results collected In this chapter, the answers for two research questions are found

Chapter V: “Conclusion” – summarizes the main issues of this paper,

giving the limitations, pedagogical implications of the study and suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter gives an overview of vocabulary, vocabulary teaching and learning, TPR method and using TPR in English teaching and learning

Nowadays, there are many kinds of methods that can be used in teaching English The applied method needs not only to be interesting but also effective in teaching languages According to Harmer (2007), some students easily forget the material because they are not active in learning process or deeply taking part in learning process; if students and teacher don’t interact or response to each other, learning in the class will be boring, no good atmosphere and environment to learn During the studying process, if the leaner only sit and listen to the teacher’s explanation without involving their self or without any opportunities to take part in learning process, it will make the students easily get bored

After finding out the problems to be discussed, the researcher gives the

literature review of vocabulary, vocabulary learning and teaching, and Total

Physical Response method

2.1 Vocabulary and vocabulary learning and teaching

Vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person’s language It usually developed with age and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge

Vocabulary is one of the most important elements, which supports for developing four-language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

“Vocabulary is the basic for the development of language”, As Hirai (2010: 50)

Furthermore, according to Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary Online, vocabulary is defined as

a) all the new words that a person knows or uses,

b) all the words that in a particular language,

c) the words that people use when they are talking about a particular subject d) a lists of words with their meanings, especially in a book for learning a foreign language

The other definition of vocabulary states from Hatch and Brown (1995: 1), they stated that vocabulary refers to a list or set of words for a particular language

or a list or set of words that individual speakers of language might use Hatch and Brown (1995:1) also state that vocabulary is the only system involved of alphabetical order

According to Kim and Kim (2012: 4), “vocabulary is the base of communication in that language Therefore, it is critical to try out various and different teaching style that cheers students to acquire vocabulary easily without negative emotion about it” It is a element in forming sentences in order that interactions among others can be happen fluently and the communication can easily

to understand It is hard to communication without vocabulary, because the words are used to express ideas, emotions and desires to each other Shortly, vocabulary is

a tool for effective communication

Based on those above statements, there are many definitions of vocabulary

It can be assumed that vocabulary is a list of words as a basic component of language proficiency which has own form or expression and consists of aspects, they are meaning, use of word, form (pronunciation and spelling)

Hiebert and Kamil (2005: 3) divided word into two forms, the first is oral vocabulary, which is the set of words for that the learners know the meanings when they speak or read orally The second is print vocabulary, which consists of those words for which the meaning is known when learners write or read silently They also define knowledge of words also comes in at least two forms as follows:

a Productive vocabulary: Productive vocabulary is the set of words that an individual can use when writing or speaking They are words that are renowned, familiar, and used habitually

b Receptive or recognition vocabulary: Receptive or recognition vocabulary is that set of words for which an individual can use for listening or reading These are words that are not as famous to students and routine in use as productive vocabulary Individuals may be able allocate some sort of meaning to them, even though they may not know the full subtleties of the distinction Typically, these are also words that individuals do not use impromptu However, when individuals experience these words, they recognize them, even if imperfectly,

Besides, Thornbury (2002: 3-10) said that there are six kinds of vocabulary, they are:

1) Word classes: Word classes or parts of speech They are divided into eight classes, such as: noun, pronouns, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition and determiner

2) Word families: It discusses about affixation of a word, such as: prefixes (in-, de-) and suffixes (-tion, -ness)

3) Word formation: such as compounding, clipping, blending and so on Affixation is also a kind of word formation

4) Multi-word units: about phrasal verbs and idioms

5) Collocations: Collocation is word partners The typical collocation of specific items is another factor that makes a particular mixture Example: this week, once more, once again, as well

6) Homonyms: Kinds of vocabulary will be useful for students and teachers

in different situations in learning and teaching a language

Furthermore, according to Richards (1976 cited in Ghazal, 2007) a word requires knowing:

1) a great deal about its general frequency of use, syntactic and situation limitation on its use

2) its underlying form and forms that can be derived from it

3) the network of its semantic features

4) the various meanings associated with the item

Following Ur (1996) adapted in ELT Methodology II Course Book and Recommended Readings (p.81-87), the main aspects of vocabulary are divided into:

Vocabulary becomes a major problem in learning English especially to the first-year students, when they have good ability in mastering vocabulary, they will

be easier in memorize

2.1.2 Learning vocabulary

Vocabulary learning plays an important part for people who learn English both as foreign language and as second language Ur (1994: 60) pointed out vocabulary as the words we teach in the foreign language In addition, Brown (2001: 377) stated vocabulary items as a boring list of words that must be defined and memorized by the students, lexical forms are seen in their central role in contextualized, meaningful language Richard in Schmitt (1997: 241) also stated that knowing a word meaning knowing how often it occurs, the company it keeps, its appropriateness in different situations, its syntactic behavior, its underlying form and derivations, its word associations, and its semantic features Tozcu and Coady (2004: 473) viewed learning vocabulary is an important aspect of language two and foreign language acquisition and academic achievement and is vital to reading comprehension and proficiency, to which it is closely linked Moreover, it is asserted that vocabulary learning is based on the establishment of specific habits Since this involves the association of symbols and their meaning, it is clear that an enrichment of the meaning of the word is as important as its frequent repetition

Dunlap and Weisman (2007: 150) asserted, “vocabulary development is essential for English learners’ academic success There is a strong relationship between

vocabulary knowledge and academic achievement” That is the reason why vocabulary plays the main key in developing four language skills, it is very important in teaching and learning language

2.1.3 Teaching vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary is an important aspect of learning a language because languages are based on words (Alqahtani, 2015) It is impossible to learn a language without words; even communication between human beings is based on words Recent research indicates that teaching vocabulary may be problematic because many teachers lack confident about the best practice in vocabulary teaching and sometimes do not know where to start to focus on word learning (Berne & Blachowicz, 2008) Either teachers or students agree that acquisition of the vocabulary is a central factor in teaching a language (Walters, 2004) Teaching vocabulary is considered as one of the most discussed parts of teaching English as a foreign language When the teaching and learning process takes place, problems would appear to the teachers They have problems of how to teach students in order

to obtain satisfying results The teachers should be concerned that teaching vocabulary is something new and different from student’s native language They also have to take into account that teaching English for young learners is different from adults The teacher should prepare and find out the appropriate techniques, which will be implemented to the students

According to McKeown and Beck (1988), direct vocabulary teaching is far more effective than indirect ones Mazano (2003) shows that the three most important elements in a successful vocabulary teaching: motivating students to read extensively the texts of the study field or other text of their choice Direct teaching

of words or phrases related to student’s subjects; providing access for students to get to know new words; and motivate students to more understand of the new words

by using real images, symbols, etc

2.1.4 Difficulty of teaching and learning vocabulary

Teaching and learning vocabulary plays an important role in learning a language The more words learners know, the more proficient learners will be able

to be in listening, speaking, reading and writing a language

It is obvious that vocabulary can be divided into two groups: passive and active vocabulary Passive vocabulary consists of all the words which you know when you read or listen As Hiebert and Kamil (2005:3) divided words into two forms, the first is oral vocabulary, which is the set of words for what learners know the meanings when they speak or read orally Therefore, learners can know that active vocabulary is all the words they understand or words which are familiar and used frequently in writing and speaking

There are many problems in learning vocabulary such as polysemy of the word, the word’s idiomatic usage, cognates and so on, however, they can be solved

by using a dictionary Special problem which the learners face when studying a language is remembering vocabulary It’s one of the biggest of learners when learning a language, because tomorrow they tend to forget what they learned yesterday The rate of forgetting stays surprisingly steady if the information the learners learned is not repeated regularly and it do not make me anything impression about it

Vocabulary learning has become one of the biggest challenges that foreign language learners have to deal with when learning a new language It has been suggested that vocabulary learning should not consist only of teaching isolated words, but also to provide learners the necessary strategies to increase their vocabulary list and the appropriate input Although, learners may be able to use more than one strategy, from which they are able to select the one they feel more comfortable with A list of vocabulary learning strategies is proposed, in which it is mentioned memory strategies that requires repetition and mechanical means in order to store and retrieve aspects of the target language

Ghazal (2007) said that the process of learning a new language involves learning language strategies in order to facilitate the comprehension, storage, and

retention of the new language According to Sanaoui (1995), consolidation strategies, conversely, include memory strategies such as repetition of words through writing and speaking, using lists and also cards, and any other action learners use in order to facilitate retention of new words

Given that the process of acquiring a wide vocabulary in the classroom is highly challenging, researchers have been looking for successful techniques in order

to achieve that goal With the traditional techniques of teaching vocabulary, learners are difficult to retain vocabulary if they are just given a list of vocabulary and never using them

2.1.5 Vocabulary retention

Baddeley (1999) argued that the role of memory in the process of learning a language, either first or second language, has caught the attention of many researchers as the years pass New words are learned in many different ways and memory capacity plays an important role in this process However, there are also external factors that can determine the right acquisition of information Apart from the general context, it has been found that elements such as the learner’s level of proficiency, the text, previous knowledge, the learning context, the L2, and the learner’s features are significant factors to have in mind when learning a second language (Chamot & Rubin, 1994)

If, as suggested, working memory is a temporary storage system that underpins our capacity for thinking, it is clearly the case that it should have implications for language processing, and that disorders in working memory may impact on language processes (Baddeley, 2003) It can be said that success when learning a second language is strongly attributed to differences in memory capacity because people in general have different ways and strategies to acquire new information and different ways of using memory

In process of learning vocabulary, memory plays an important role because according to Richards & Schmidt (2002) vocabulary memory was defined as “the ability to recall and remember things after an interval of time” In language learning, especially vocabulary learning, retention of what has been taught may

depend on the quality of teaching, the interest of learner or the effectiveness of teaching techniques

Vocabulary retention can be understood that as well as the learned vocabulary knowledge is retaining it in the memory Vocabulary memory is an essential factor affecting the success of vocabulary acquisition

2.2 Total Physical Response (TPR)

2.2.1 Definitions of TPR

TPR is defined as “a language teaching method built around the coordination

of speech and action: it attempts to teach language through physical (motor) activity” (Richards and Rogers,1996:87)

According to Larsen and Diane in Technique and Principle in Language Teaching, TPR is called “the compression approach” or approach to understanding

is a method of approaching foreign languages with instructions or commands

TPR is a language teaching method designed to enable students to get new expressions through the activities of hearing and acting out these words, students don’t need to speak Their main task is to perform the commands spoken by the teacher (acting as parents) repeatedly unit smoothly Giving orders, models, supports and a continuous, close relationship from the teacher psychologically will make students learn without pressure

According to James Asher in 1965, TPR is a language teaching method built around the combine between speech and actions which tries to teach language through physical activity Richard and Rodgers claimed that TPR method is a method of language teaching that involves the association of speech and action Teachers offers a set of instructions to students in a target language to ask them to preform some tasks to activate their kinesthetic sensory system In addition, TPR method is considered as a simple teaching method that can be applied in teaching language, students do not need to give verbal response, but they can use their physical action to answer the teachers’ commands The TPR method involves two different roles between teacher and students; the teacher plays an active role as director of a play and instructs the students to do what the teacher wants In

contrast, students play actively as the actors, do actively what the teacher’s requirement TPR method focuses on the innovation, which is perfectly suitable for English beginners in primary schools Teachers should coordinate body movement with English learning in vivid teaching situations and teach English through body movement While students listen to the teacher, they improve the ability of listening, speaking, reading, and writing by corresponding imitations, which can enhance students’ ability of thinking and enhance their learning efficiency The aim

of TPR method allow students to learn both vocabulary and grammatical structure,

in other words, grammatical structure and vocabulary can be exposed by using this method It is regarded as useful method in introducing new language, since it helps students to learn a target language in the same way they learn their native language The use of TPR in the language classroom has different dimensions, and it can be used for different purposes This is a very useful method for teachers who believe that students’ interest during the lesson is very important and who also believe that students need the use of TPR to be taught in different ways to meet the differences targets (Fayeqa, 2004:29) Therefore, TPR is successful when used as the core strategy of a course or as a strong supplement Students are highly motivated by TPR because of the continual and fast-moving action, the high rate of success, and the low level of stress involved

Figure 2.1: Example 1 of TPR

Figure 2.2: Example 2 of TPR 2.2.2 The characteristics of TPR

The first stage of a lesson is modeling The teacher gives commands to a few students, then carry the actions with them In the second stage, these same students perform that they can understand the commands by performing them alone Other students also have an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding The teacher next recombines elements of the commands to have students develop flexibility in understanding strange speech These commands, which students perform, are often humorous After learning to respond to some oral commands The students learn to read and write them When students are ready to speak, they become commanders After students begin speaking, activities expand to include skits and games Characteristics of TPR are revealed in:

a) Coordination of speech and action

b) Learners’ roles of listener and performer

c) Learners’ monitoring and evaluating their own progress

d) English skills taught after vocabulary

e) Grammar taught inductively

f) Grammar and vocabulary selected according to the situation

g) Learning language by gesture (body movements)

h) Teacher and students being as actors

i) Students being more active and talkable

j) Motorist students

It can be concluded that in TPR, teachers are responsible for giving commands and monitoring actions taken by learners On the contrary, learners are imitators of teacher’s verbal and non-verbal models In teaching-learning process, the first phase is modeling In this case, a teacher gives commands to learners, and performs the actions with them In the second phase, learners demonstrate that they understand the commands by performing them alone Above all, the interaction between a teacher and learners is signified by the teacher’s commands and the learners’ nonverbal responses Later on, the learners become more verbal and the teacher responds nonverbally

2.2.3 The procedure of vocabulary teaching using TPR

A teacher needs to know the steps to use TPR before using the method in his/her classroom According to Larsen and Freeman (1986:119) the steps are:

2.2.3.1 Preparation

The teacher selects critical vocabulary for his/her unit of study based on the following criterion:

• Don't select too many words

• Remember critical means vital

• Which words are necessary for comprehension

Then, the teacher gathers any equipment, props

or pictures he/she will need to illustrate the meaning of the words

2.2.3.2 Teaching and Learning

In this stage, teacher is required to provide a four-step model that assures three vital features: 1) grasping the spoken language must come prior to speaking, 2) comprehension is developed through body movement, and 3) the period of listening period helps a learner to be ready to speak

2.3 Role reversal

Students readily volunteered to command the teacher and other students The activities can be integrated to improve the other language skills The instructor makes sure that the students are ready to utter commands by giving their physical responses without any hints from the teacher

2.4 Reading and writing

To improve reading and writing skills, the teacher writes new vocabulary item and sentence on the blackboard The students may listen as the teacher reads the material and copy them in their notebooks

However, depending on the different classroom conditions, there will be different steps and it is not necessarily follow exactly the steps mentioned above Asher (1982) in Jeanette Gordon (2011) also proposes a summary of conducting TPR in classroom as the following

1 Students listen again and watch as the teacher performs the action

2 The teacher gives the command and models the action again, this time having students perform the actions simultaneously

3 The teacher gives the command to the group without modelling the action

4 The teacher gives the command to an individual without modelling the action

5 The teacher models variations & combinations for the groups

6 Students perform variations & combinations

7 If some students are ready, they give commands to classmates

In short, it can be concluded that any classroom with TPR as the basis provides listening input a lot at first Students are provided some utterances in the form of commands accompanied by physical movement They overcome the fear of listening and speaking by joining various TPR activities to achieve the ultimate goal

of acquiring vocabulary through the ability to read, write and memorize them

Figure 2.3 Procedure for TPR 2.2.4 The Design of TPR

Making a good leaning plan is needed, so that learning aims can be obtained as expected It is designed in learning using the TPR method as follow

Specific teaching objectives are not set up for these will depend on the particular needs of the learners Whatever goals are set, however, they must be achieved through the use of action in the imperative form

b) The syllabus

According to Asher, syllabus can be interfered from an analysis of the exercise types employed in TPR classes This analysis shows the use of sentence based syllabus, with grammatical and lexical criteria being primary in selecting teaching items Unlike methods that operate from a grammar-based or structural view of the core elements of language, TPR requires initial attention to meaning rather than to the form of items Grammar is thus taught inductively Grammatical features and vocabulary items are selected not based on their frequency of need or use in target language situations, but the situations in which they can be used in the classroom and the ease with which they can be learned

c) Types of learning and teaching activities

They are typically used to elicit physical actions and activities on the part of the learners Aser’s rationale for this is that “everyday conversations are highly abstract and disconnected; therefore, to understand them requires a rather advanced internalization of the target language’ Other class activities include role plays and slide presentations Role plays center on everyday situations, such as at a restaurant, supermarket, or gas station Slide presentations are used to provide a visual aid for teacher lesson delivery, which is followed by commands, and for questions to students, such as “which person in the picture is the buyer?” Reading and writing activities can also be used to reinforce structures and vocabulary, and as part of the oral compulsory exercises

d) Learners’ roles

The role of learners is listeners and performers They listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the teacher Students are asked to respond both individually and collectively Students have little influence over the content of learning, since content is determined by the teacher, who must follow the imperative-based format for lessons Learners monitor and evaluate their own

progress They are encouraged to speak when they feel ready to speak- that is, when

a sufficient basis in the language has been acquired

e) Teacher’s roles

Teacher plays an active and direct role in TPR: “The teacher is the director

of a phase play where the students are the actors” The teacher decides what to teach, who models and perform the new materials, and who selects supporting materials from classroom use The teacher should be well prepared and well organized so that the lesson flows smoothly and predictably Classroom interaction and turn taking is teacher-directed rather than learner-directed Even when learners interact with other learners, it is usually the teacher who imitates the interaction.The responsibility of teacher is providing the best kid of exposure to language so that the learner can internalize the basic rules of the target language, the teacher controls the language input the learners receive, giving the raw material for the

“cognitive map” that the learners will construct in their own minds The teacher should also allow speaking abilities to develop in learners at the learners’ own natural pace

f) The role of instructional materials

There is generally no basic text in a TPR course Materials and reality play

an increasing role, however in later learning phase and a number of published resources are now available to support TPR-based teaching For learning beginners, lessons may not require the use of materials, since the teacher voice, action and gestures may be a sufficient basis for classroom activities Later the teacher may use common classroom objects, such as books, pens, cup, furniture As the course develops the teacher will need to make or collect supporting materials to support teaching points These many include pictures, realia, sliders, and word charts

2.2.5 Techniques of TPR

In book Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching of

Larsen-Freeman, the researcher gives extensive descriptions of some common or typical techniques closely related to TPR Those are:

a Using Commands to Direct Behavior

The use of commands is TPR's main teaching technique The commands are issued to ask students to perform an action; the meaning of the command is more clearly through the action

Imperative is the simple form of requirement The imperative may be in the form of simple guide It uses verbs to form commands such as “open the door!”,

“close your book” An emphatic form of imperative may be used to express annoyance or frustration such as “Do keep silent now” and “Do try to quickly”, etc

All grammar features can be communicated through imperatives To give

an example of a more advanced lesson, one might introduce the form of the past tense as follows:

TEACHER Lan, walk to the blackboard

(Lan gets up and walks to the blackboard.) TEACHER Class, if Lan walked to the blackboard, stand up

(The students stand up.) TEACHER Lan, write your name in the blackboard

(Ingrid writes her name on the blackboard.) TEACHER Class, if Lan wrote her name on the blackboard, sit down

(The students sit down.)

a Role Reversal

Students readily volunteered to command the teacher and other students The activities can be integrated to improve the other language skills The instructor makes sure that the students are ready to utter commands by giving their physical responses without any hints from the teacher

a long action sequence in this first class, a little later on students may get the instruction as follow:

 Take out a pen

 Take out a piece of paper

 Write a letter (Imaginary)

 Fold the letter

 Put it in envelope

 Seal the envelope

 Write the address on the envelope

 Put a stamp on the envelope

 Mail the letter

This series of commands is called an action sequence, or an operation Many everyday activities, like writing a letter, can be broken down into an action sequence that students can be asked to perform

to move around

b TPR-O "TPR with objects" This is best done sitting a table that has some objects on it For example, one day you could raid the produce stand and then sit down with your Turkish friend to a table of fruit That day you could not only learn the words for "apple", "banana", "orange", and so on, but also, "give me",

"take", "put", "smell", "bite", "roll", "peel", and "show me" For this activity, your friend could start off with: "This is an apple This is an orange This is an apple This is an orange Where is the apple? (You would point) Where is the orange?" Once again new words can be fairly quickly built up one at a time

c TPR-P "TPR with pictures" Pictures are extremely effective language learning tools Let's say that you're actually living in England and have gone around and taken 150 or so pictures of people doing different things and then arranged these pictures in an album Your English friend could go through and say "This is a man This is a boy This is a man This is a boy Where is the man? Where is the boy?" Gradually both background and foreground objects in the pictures could be learned, as well as verbs: "The carpenter is hitting the nail with a hammer," leading

to requests such as "show me the man who is hitting something" Even verb tenses can be incorporated by asking your friend (or tutor or teacher) to talk about all of the pictures as if they happened last week, or now, or next week The actual physical response with pictures is fairly basic-pointing at something-but the opportunity for vocabulary acquisition is a broad as the types of pictures you can use In addition to taking your own pictures, you can probably find some children's picture or story books that are also useful for this kind of learning Newspaper and magazine pictures work well too

d TPR-S "TPR with Storytelling” It involves the teacher (and eventually the students) acting out simple stories while speaking English as a means of understanding the story, to train English speaking, and internalizing vocabulary

Figure 2.4 Variations of TPR

b) TPR helps students to recognize phrases or words easily

c) TPR is good for kinesthetic learners who are required to be active in class d) TPR can be used both in a large class or in a small class because as long

as the teacher takes the guide, the learners will follow

e) TPR works well with mixed-ability classes because the physical actions are able to help learners understand and apply the target language

f) There is no requirement of preparing a lot of materials The important part is what you want to practice

g) TPR is very effective with teenagers and young learners

h) TPR involves both left and right-brained learning

It can be concluded that the TPR method is very easy in teaching language,

so it contains elements of game movement, what can reduce stress, create a positive mood for students and increase student motivation and achievement in the lesson because of the problems encountered in the lesson, especially when learning a foreign language

2.2.8 The disadvantages of TPR

TPR has disadvantages Among them are as follow:

a) TPR is only useful for very beginners

b) Students do not have opportunity to perform their own thoughts in a creative way TPR is not a very creative method Students are not given the opportunity to express their own views and thoughts in a creative way

c) It is easy to abuse TPR “Any novelty, if carried on too long, will trigger adaptation” Asher writes, “no matter how exciting and productive the innovation, people will tire of it”

d) Teachers may find that it is limited in language scope Certain target languages may not be suited to this method

e) TPR can be challenging for shy students

2.3 Overview of previous studies

In recent years, there have been also many papers on applying TPR in teaching English vocabulary for students at primary school

In The use of Total Physical Response for teaching English Vocabulary at class VII G of SMP Negaeri 1 Purwanegara, Sri Murtiastuti showed the report

of the result on the use of TPR method in helping students to improve their vocabulary mastery and also motivate them in learning English Further more, the purpose of his study is to discover whether or not there is a significant contribution of TPR method

The next research was conducted by Ice Sariyati (2013) from Indonesia Education University, whose research showed the investigation into the effectiveness of TPR method in English vocabulary mastery of primary school children, especially for the first grade

The research of Yadav (2010) pointed out that TPR is effective in teaching vocabulary He compared it with the traditional teaching method in which the students claimed that they were unconscious repeating the vocabulary in different patterns

Base on the researches mentioned above, there is no research focusing on the participants of the 5th grade primary school students Hence, the researcher wanted to conduct the similar research involving the participation of the 5th class students in Tran Quoc Toan Primary School in Bac Ninh province

In summary, this chapter has dealt with the theoretical background for the whole study with very basic knowledge of English vocabulary, and TPR in teaching vocabulary as in relation with some previous researches on this topic

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes data collection instruments and the process of collecting data and analyzing data

3.1 Research questions

The study aims at finding the effectiveness of using Total Physical Response method in enhancing students’ English vocabulary at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, Bac Ninh province Accordingly, the study will find answer to the question:

- What is effectiveness of Total Physical Response method in enhancing grade

5 students’ English vocabulary?

3.2 Research Methods

As the purpose of this study was to explore the influence of TPR approach

on improvement of English vocabulary memory for grade 5 students, a experimental design was adopted

quasi-According to Cook & Campbell (1979), the prefix quasi meant

“resembling.” Thus, quasi-experimental research was a research that resembles experimental research but was not true experimental research Although the independent variable was manipulated, participants were not randomly assigned to conditions or orders of conditions

Quasi-experimental design was used in human growth and development research whenever they are feasible This was because they are the only way to prove the existence of a cause and effect relationship between two variables Quasi-experimental research designs both attempted to determine causal relationships by applying a treatment or condition to one group and compared the outcome with a control group

Quasi-experimental design was more frequently used because it was more practical and feasible to conduct research Quasi-experimental design was more suitable for real natural world setting than true-experimental design This design allowed the researchers to evaluate the impact of quasi independent variables under naturally occurring conditions

A quasi-experimental design fitted the purpose of this study Therefore, this was adopted

Randomized groups Pre-test Treatment Post-test

In this research, there were two kinds of elements, independent element and dependent element Independent element was TPR method that was provided to the students, and dependent element was the students’ scores in the vocabulary tests

3.3 Participants

The participant of this study was the 50 grade 5 students from Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, and the study would be conducted in the second semester in the academic year 2019-2020 They were from 2 classes 5A and 5B Class 5A with 25 students was experimental group and class 5B with 25 students was control group

We all know that English is a compulsory subject for the grade 5 students, it

is an important foundation to equip basic vocabulary as well as to create the passion for English learning for the next school years

In Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, traditional method of Vietnamese translation is a major method used in vocabulary lessons They also applied power point presentation with pictures in teaching vocabulary, so students only got passive from the teachers They do not have chance to practice with those words so that they cannot bear in mind the words they have learnt, therefore, their vocabulary memory ability is not developed If learners have limited vocabulary, they will face many difficulties in learning a foreign language So, it is necessary to apply a new and effective technique to improve students’ vocabulary memory

There would be 50 students joining the lessons and tests; then 50 grade 5 students participate in the survey questionnaires and took part in a pre-test After that, the teacher divided students randomly into two groups: an experimental group and a control group Then, the students of the two groups would be taught vocabulary lesson (following curriculum, lesson plan and textbook) with different methods Experimental groups would be taught by applying TPR method, otherwise, control group would be taught without TPR method Next, both groups would be given the posttests after the lesson

3.4 Data collection

3.4.1 Data collection instruments

3.4.1.1 Vocabulary test

Test is a number measuring a person ability, knowledge, or performance in

a given domain (Brown, 2004: 3) The writer used a pre-test and two post-tests The pre-test was given to students before the teacher used her method in teaching and learning process, and post-test was given after students receiving the method from teacher Pre and post-test were to know the differences of the students’ ability before and after applying the method

The research tool consists of pre-test and post-test:

- Pre-test would be given to the students to check their ability in English vocabulary before applying TPR method (See appendix A)

- Two post-test would be given to the students to know their English vocabulary ability after applying TPR method (See appendix B, C)

The tests were in the forms of multiple choice questions, matching and gap filling with 20 test items and the time allowance was 15 minutes for each test The three tests were in the same level and the same for the two groups

TEST DESCRIPTION

Objectives The students are able to use the words in the themes: What’s the

matter with you? What do you do in your free time? What would you like to be the future?

Materials The words and phrases that involved in themes: What’s the matter

with you? What do you do in your free time? What would you like to

Table 3.1: Test description

To evaluate how well the tests to measure students' vocabulary, the researcher was interested in two concepts: reliability and validity Reliability represents the consistency of the test Validity assesses the quality of the test In this research, the validity and reliability of the tests were measured to give the accurate result

Before giving the tests to students, the test materials were designed in terms

of the validity in testing the vocabulary knowledge of the students The tests were valid as the content can measure the students’ ability and knowledge in vocabulary

The reliability of the vocabulary tests was measured by using Richardson 21 This value was calculated using the following formula:

K

In which:

KR-21 : Kuder-Richardson Reliability Coefficient

K : Number of Items in the Test

M : Mean of the Set of the Test Scores

SD : Standard Deviation of the Set of the Test scores

The formula of Standard Deviation is calculated as follow:

X : The Students’ Total Score

N : The Number of Students

In the table of Students’ scores and the reliability factor of the test items in the Pretest and two the Posttests, the researcher coded name of students as C + number and E + number, while C stands for control (it means that C + number is the name of student in control group) and E stands for experimental (it means that E + number is the name of students in experimental group)

As Fraenkel and Wallen (1990:136) stated that a useful rule is that reliability should be at least 0.70 and preferably higher From the calculation in

the table above, KR – 21 (pretest) = 0,715 and KR – 21 (posttest 2) = 0,758, both were higher than 0,7; therefore, the test materials were valid and reliable (See

appendix G & I)

3 4.1.2 Questionnaire

According to Salkind (2003), “individuals can complete them without any direct assistance or intervention from the researchers”, so questionnaire is a useful tool for data collection which saves time and effort for both the researcher and participants (See appendix D)

To focus on answering the first question: What are the limitations of TPR in vocabulary teaching? questionnaire would be given to 50 students of grade 5 of

Tran Quoc Toan Primary School