SILENT WAY AND TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONS
ARTICLE
TEACHING ENGLISH FOREIGN LANGUAGE
By
: Group 3
Belia Dara Ariani
Belia Dara Ariani
Pepy
Nurdayati
Lecturer :
Rodi Hartono S.Pd M.Pd
STATE ISLAMIC COLLAGE OF KERINCI
2013
SILENT WAY
A.
Background
The Silent
Way is a language-teaching method created by Caleb Gattegno that makes
extensive use of silence as a teaching technique. It is not usually considered
a mainstream method in language education. It was first introduced in Gattegno's
book Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way in 1963.
Gattegno was skeptical of the mainstream language education of the time,
and conceived of the method as a special case of his general theories of
education.
The silent
way represent Gattegno’s venture into the field of foreign language teaching.
It use color charts and colored cuisenaire rods which were developed first by
George Cuisenaire.
B.
Hypotheses
The learning
hypothesis underlying Gattegno’s work are:
1. Learning is
facilitated if the learners discover or create
2. Learning is
facilitated by accompanying physical object
3. Learning is
facilitated by problem solving
There are
two traditiions of teaching
1. Expository
mode.
In
expository modee, the teacher is an expositor and the learner are listeners.
2. Hypothetical
mode.
In this
mode, the teacher and the students are in a more cooperative position.
Silent way
belongs to the hypotetical mode which views learning as a problem-solving,
creative, discovering activity.
There are
four benefits of discovery learning:
a. The increase
in intellectual potency
b. The shift
from extrinsic to intrinsic reward
c. The learning
of heuristic by discovering
d. The aid to
discovering memory
The rods and the colors charts of
pronounciation provide physical foci for student learning and create memorable
image to fasilitate his/her recall. Silent way is also related to a set of
premises called “ problem solving approaches to learning”. It is expected to
become independent, autonomous and responsible. In other words, a good problem
solver in the language.
C.
Principles
1. The first
language acquistion is different from the second language acquistion
2. The childs
mind equips it self more and more edequately.by its own working, trial and
error and deliberate experimentation by suspending judgement and revising
conclusions.
3. The students
must be given the opportunity to listen to the target language melody.
4. Language
acquisition must bedone by the student himself
5. The teacher
sould be silent more, except when he exposits the new materials.
6. Methods used
is artificial and highly controlled.
7. Materials are presented with verbal media, but
intruction and correction are not done orally.
8. Vocabulary
items are limited
9. The teacher
correct the student mistakes if the other student cannot correct them.
The media
used are rods, afield chart and a wall chart. Each of them ha several
advantages.
The benefits
of rods are:
a. The L1 use
can be avoided
b. The simple
linguistic form can be created
c. The students
intellectual potency can be increased
d. The teachers
pay much attention to the students utterance
The fiddle
charts consist of vowels and consonants and the wallchart consist of functional
words.
D.
Appoach
1. Theory of
language
Silent way
takes a structural approach to the organization of laqnguage to be taught.
Language is seen as groups of sounds arbitraty associated with specific
meanings and organized into sentence or strings meaningful units by grammar
rules. Vocabulary as a central dimension of language learning has several
classes.
a. Semi luxury
vocabulary consist of common expression in daily life
b. Luxury
vocabulary communicates more specialized ideas
c. Functional
vocabulary provides a key to comprehending the “spirit” of the language.
2. Theory of
learning
Succesful
learning involves commitments of the self to language acquistion through the
use of silent awareness and actives trials. Gattegno’s emphasis on the primacy
of over teaching places on the self of the learner, on the learners priorities
and commitments. The self consist of two system.
a. The learning
system which is actived by way of intelligent awareness.
b. The
retaining system which allows the students to remember and recall the
linguistics elements and their organizing principles hwich makes the
linguistics communication possible
Silence is a
key to triggering awareness and the preferred path to retention.
Silent way
learners acquire “inner criteria” which play a central role in one's education.
These inner criteria allow learners nto
monitor and selfcorrect their own production. Silent way learning claims to
concolidate the human dimensions of being and to include variety and
individuality as essential factors for an acceptance of others as contributors
to one’s own life.
E.
Usual
Calssroom Technique
On the first
day the teacher takes a box of colored rods to the class. He picks a red rod
which is short while saying “rod”. Then
he picks a longer blue rod and says “rod”. After being silent for a
moment the students understand that “rod” is a piece of wood.
After some examples, the teacher
signs the students to immitate, then the students are asked to say the word
individually. “adjective” can also be taught in the some way. During the first
lesson, there are only three words taught : take , give, and put.
F.
Designs
1. Objective
The general
objective of silent way is gto give begnnimg levelstudents oral and aural
facilities in the basic elements of the target language. The general goal is
near-native fluency in the target language.
Correct
pronounciatian and mastery of prosodic elements of the target language are
emphasized. An intermediate objectie isto provide learners with a basic
knowledge of grammar rules.
2. Syllabus
Silent way
adopts a bassically structural syllabus with lesson planned around
grammatical items and related
vocabularies . there is no general Silent Way syllabus , but language items are
introduced according to their grammatical complexity. Vocabulary is selected according
to the degree to which it can be manipulated within a given structure and its
productivity.
3. Types of
Learning and Teachinf Activities
Learning
tasks activities has the function of encouraging the students and shaping their
oral responses without a direct oral intruction from the teacher. The teacher
models a word, phrase , or sentence and then elicits the learners responses.
Then the learners create their own utterance. The teachers modelling is minimal
and much activity may be teacher directed.
4. Learner Role
Learner are
expected to develop independence, autonomy and responsibilty. Independentb
learners are those who are aware that they must depends on their own resource
and realize that they can use the knowledge of their own language to open up
something in a new language. The autonomous learners chooses proper
expressions in a given set of
circumstances. Responsible learners know that they have free will to choose
among any sets of linguistics choices,. It is said to be the evidence of responsibility.
Learners have to play various roles. At times one as an in dependent individual,
at other times a group member. Also,a learner must be a teacher, a student, a
part of a support system, a problem solver and a self-evaluator.
5. Teacher
Roles
The silent
way teacher tasks are:
a. To teach.
Teaching
means the presentation of typically using nonverbal clues to get across the
meaning.
b. To test.
Testing
means the elicitation and shaping of the students production silently.
c. To get out
of the way.
The teacher
silently monitor learners interaction with each other and may leave the room
while learners struggle with their new linguistics tools.
The teacher are responsible for
designing teaching squences, creating
individual lessons and lessons elements, and creating an environment that
encourages the student risk-taking and that facilitates learning.
6. Roles of
instructional Materials
The
materials consist mainly of a set ofg colored rods., color coded pronounciation
and vocabulary charts designed for manipulation in promoting the language learning
by direct association.
G.
Result
Gattegno
claimed that in a year the students could master the language which was able to
be taught four years by using o0ther methods.
TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE
A.
Back ground
Total Physical Response (TPR) is a
language teaching method built around the coordiation of speech and action. It
was develoved by James Asher, a professor of psychology at San Jose State
University, California, USA. The reference used to know this method is Asher’s
book, Learning Another Language Through Action : the Complete Teachers
Guide, which was printed in 1982.
Asher shares a concern for the role
of affective factors in language learning with the humanistic psychology
school. His emphasis on developing comprehension skills before speaking links
him with comprehension approach.
B.
Principles
1.
Assimilation and skill can be increased significantly
2.
Vocabulary retention can be increased through physical activities
3.
Comprehension abilities precede productive skills in learning a language
4.
The teaching of speaking should be delayed until comprhension skilla are
estabilished
5.
Skills acquaired through listening transfer to other skills
6.
Teaching should emphasize meaning than form
7.
Teaching should minimize learner stress
C.
Approach
1.
Theory of language
Asher
(1982) states that most of the
grammatical structures of the target language and vocabulary items can be
learned from the use of imperative.
Learners
can acquaire adetailed cognitive map as well as the grammatical structure of a language without recourse to
abstractive.
2.
Theory of learnig
Asher’s
language learning theories are reminiscent of the views of other behavioral
psychologists, such as, Arthur Jensen.
Asher
has elaborated an account of what he
feels, fasilitates or inhibits foreign language learning. For this
dimension of his learning theory, he
draws three learning hypotheses:
a) The
Bio-program
TPR is a natural method which sees first and second language learning as
a parallel process. Asher sees three central processes:
(1) Children
is develop listening competence before developing speaking ability
(2) Children’s
ability in listenig comprehension is acquaired because children are requaired
to responsd physically.
(3) Once
a foundation on listening comprehension has been estabilished, speech evolves
naturally and effortlessly out of it.
b) Brain
Lateralization
Asher
sees TPR as directed to right-brain learning. He interprets that the brain is
divided into hemisphere through motor movement. The left hemisphere is
triggered to produce language when a sufficients amount of right hemisphere
learning has taken place.
c) Reduction
of Stress
The
important condition for succesful language learning is the absence of stress.
The key to be free from stress in learning is to tap into natural bio-program
for language development and thus to recapture the relaxed and pleasurable
experiences.
D.
Usual Classroom Techniques
1. This method needs a quiet large
class. The number of students is 20 to 25 without limitation of age.
2. Units of lesson are not based on
grading of grammar lesson.
3. Almost all materials are presented in
commands.
4. There is no need to translate the
material except in abstract words.
5. No homework is given to students.
6. Correction is given only at
appropriate time.
7. The learning is begun from short-simple sentences which
can be visualized in class.
8. At the begining of each meeting,
there is a summary of the previous lesson.
Asher
(1982) provides a lesson-by-lesson account of a course taught according to TPR
principles, which serves as a source of imformation on the procedures used in
the TPR classroom. The class in the course proceeds in the following way:
1. Review
The
teacher does a fast-moving warm-up using commands.
2. Commands
using new verbs and new nouns. The teacher asks simple qoestions which the
students could answer with a gesture or other physical responses.
3. Role
Reversal
The
students readily volunteer to utter commands that manipulate the behaviour of
the instructor.
4. Reading
and Writing
The
instructor writes on the chalkboard each new vocabulary item and a sentence to
illustrate the item. Then, she speaks each item and acts out the sentence. The
students listen and copy the imformation.
E.
Conclusions
TPR is in a
sense a revival and extension of palmer and palmer’s English Through Actions.
It emphasize the role of comprehension in second language acquisition, Krashen
(1983, 1989) regards provision of comprehensible input and reduction of stress
as keys to succesful language acquisition, and he sees performing physical
actions in the target language as a means of making input comprehensible and
minimizing stress.
F.
Results
1.
Asher and Langen found in 1972 that five children age 11 who were taugh
German during 320 minutes could acquire the same result as that of 240 hours in
language school for US Army.
2. Adults who learned for 32 hours could
reach the same result as that of 75-150 hours using conventional method.
3. The result of one semester by using
TPR is the same as that of two semesters by using ALM.