Studies on Teaching Methods of ABC of English BeginnersBased on TPR Approach英语专业毕业论文

1、 本科生毕业设计（论文）（2013届）设计（论文）题目 studies on teaching methods of abc of english beginners-based on tpr approach作 者 分 院 外国语言文化分院 专 业 班 级 英语094班 指导教师（职称） 论 文 字 数 4177 论文完成时间 （2013年 04月 14日） 杭州师范大学钱江学院教学部制studies on teaching methods of abc of english beginners-based on tpr approachby a thesis submitted tosch

2、ool of foreign languages and culturesqianjiang collegehangzhou normal universityin partial fulfillment of the requirementfor the degree of bachelor of artsunder the supervision ofan chengschool of foreign languages and culturesqianjiang collegehangzhou normal universityapril 14, 2013abstractthe pape

3、r mainly focuses on how to use total physical response approach to teach kindergarten beginners of english letters abc. it aims to solve the current problems in teaching abc of english beginners, subsequently puts forward some corresponding suggestions for kindergarten teachers. in order to promote

4、tpr approach in appropriate way, teachers should apply with various methods in teaching abc, such as performance, drawing, gaming, singing, and competition. besides, the paper is built up with a case study for children and english teachers. from the above methods mentioned, children will have strong

5、 interests to learn abc letters well, which will also increase teachers creation and imagination. key words: teaching abc; tpr approach; english beginners摘要本文着重研究了如何使用全身反应法来教幼儿园里的英语初学者英语字母abc。为了解决英语字母教学中的现状及问题，本文将为儿童英语教师提出一系列的建议。同时，为了把全身反应法使用得当，教师应使用不同的方式教学，例如表演，画画，游戏，唱歌和竞争。另外，论文基于对幼儿英语字母教学的实验，来证明使用

6、全身反应法能够使孩子对英语产生兴趣并乐意学，以及促使儿童英语教师更富有创造力和想象力。关键词：英语字母教学；全身反应法；英语初学者contents1. introduction12. literature review12.1 tpr approach22.1.1 the definition of tpr approach22.1.2 teaching principals of tpr approach22.1.3 features of tpr approach32.2 researches on teaching abc with tpr approach at aboard and

7、home42.3 problems of the implementation of tpr approach for teaching abc in china42.3.1 the inadequacy of professional pre-school english teachers42.3.2 lack of materials for pre-school english teachers in teaching abc53. practice of tpr approach in abc teaching53.1 the method of performance53.2 the

8、 method of drawing63.3 the method of competition63.4 the method of singing63.5 the method of game74. a case study74.1 objectives74.2 subjects84.3 procedures84.4 result94.5 data analysis105. conclusion115.1 the advantages and disadvantages of teaching abc with tpr methods115.2 suggestion for further

9、research in teaching abc12references12acknowledgments131. introductionwith the dramatically rapid development of economy and science, the wind of learning english has swept the whole kindergartens in china. and recent years have witnessed plenty of english classes opened, some becoming successful, w

10、hile most of english classes ending in failure. and as the first step of learning english for kindergarten children, abc plays a significant role in making children adapt to their second language. “abc letters have irreplaceable value in daily life” (zheng, 1979), while it is difficult to find the m

11、ost suitable method for teachers and english beginners. and it arouses public concern which people need to pay more attention to chinas bilingual education.in the past decades, continuous methods and approaches have been carried out by experts, which have great influence on teaching children abc, fo

12、r instance, traditional methods of repeating abc, and audio-visual methods, while most of them fail to hold water. taking the method of repeating as an illustration, most of teachers tend to use this method in teaching abc. from their perspective, abc is quiet simple to remember by repeating in a co

13、rrect way. otherwise, childrens thinking is always directed when remembering some familiar letters, so the most effective way is to repeat it and practice it more. and, as feedback of this method, a growing number of citizens pay no heed and even reject it. referring to the audio-visual method, ther

14、e is no denying fact that this method priors to many approaches which have few advantages in teaching abc. and it shows colorful picture attached to video, which can attract childrens attention. however, audio-visual method makes too much emphasis on showing colorful picture to children and lacks of

15、 gaming time, which does not take childrens feeling into consideration. these two methods may be the tip of iceberg among all unsuitable methods; thus, putting forward an effective approach can satisfy childrens needs, which becomes a hot issue in teaching abc. the best method that the author prefer

16、s to is tpr approach, and it will be carried out in the following chapter.2. literature review in the last century, the group of seeking for better methods to teach children abc became larger and larger. among them, one of the most influential methodologies was introduced into language teaching, who

17、se name is tpr approach. and tpr approach was first promoted by dr. james j. asher in the late 1960s.2.1 tpr approachin order to have a better understanding of tpr approach in teaching abc, this part is divided into three parts: the definition of tpr; teaching principals of tpr, and the features of

18、tpr. 2.1.1 the definition of tpr approachtrace back to 1960s, dr. james j. asher pointed out the rules that learners would respond by a series of body language according to teaching instruction. total physical response approach makes full use of childrens right brain to attract their attentions and

19、reduce their anxiety and stress in learning the second language. “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”(j. asher, 1969). and it really conforms to some famous theories except the

20、theory of right brain and left brain divide; for instance, childhood language acquisition theories demonstrates that golden period for children learning language is 2-10 years old, in which period the will of learning new knowledge is so strong that children can absorb new knowledge in the interacti

21、ve mode.2.1.2 teaching principals of tpr approachfirst of all, it is said that students comprehensive ability should be developed before they open their mouth (wang, 2005). on no account should students be given extra pressure if they have less preparation to speak, children would be nervous. beside

22、s, according to research, “total physical response advocates that the language and behavior should be linked up and the teaching of english could be through body movements” (du, 2010). lastly, children are exposed to huge amounts of language input before speaking; thus, it is a wrong way to force ch

23、ildren to speak out before they can understand requirements in the process of teaching abc. however, if children are pushed to follow teachers step and speak out, their brains will reject this instruction which will make fault to express the clear meaning. in the real situation of teaching abc, teac

24、hers should create different forms of teaching instruction, in accordance with distinct traits, such as class, childrens age, the degree of english level and detailed materials. when referred to the fundamental steps of teaching abc with tpr approach, firstly, training students listening comprehensi

25、on, then demanding children to express their own idea by spoken. thus, teachers should introduce new alphabet letters according to the students reaction. actually, kindergarten english teachers should not instill language knowledge rigidly, but to stimulate students interests through listening, spea

26、king, gaming, singing and performing (cameron, 2001). in this way, it can assist children in obtaining some new acquisition of english and getting into good habits in learning, even laying massy roots for further study.2.1.3 features of tpr approachwhen it comes to features of tpr approach, just as

27、the old saying goes, “every coin has two sides”, so does tpr approach make its distinct traits to us. but on the whole, its merits outweigh than its demerits.from the angle of its merits, it can be concluded from four characteristics. firstly, it can catch childrens mind to join in activity. secondl

28、y, tpr approach can provide an easy surrounding which is linked to real life. in this way, the class atmosphere will make children interact positively with teachers and students as well as keep their attentions long. thirdly, it can cohere with the development of brain on the left or on the right. “

29、not only can it contribute to the enhancement of learning linguistics from the left one, but also cultivate childrens creation and imagination from the right one” (gong, 2011). fourthly, tpr approach advocates to learn new language with sentences, for example, aaa, im an apple. like this, children w

30、ill pay more attention to the meaning and content of language. the pattern of learning with sentence and using with sentence can cope with many problems in teaching abc.as is known to all, every bean has its black. that is to say, tpr approach also has some major defects in teaching new language. fi

31、rst and foremost, it is hard to explain some abstract words and sentences just through tpr approach; in other words, it may be not suitable for intermediate and advanced english teaching (xie, 2004). then, what we should keep in mind is that the content of teaching english beginners must be simple a

32、nd easily understood. if we tend to teach something in depth, the necessity to do is that combines tpr approach with other methods, such as traditional teaching approach or else. and finally, tpr approach should include a great number of games, role play and group competition, when students enthusia

33、sm is lighted, they will jump with glee. the result would get bad if not guaranteed by good teaching management models. so the better the method is, the better the sound effects are.2.2 researches on teaching abc with tpr approach at aboard and homethere are a great amount of overseas and domestic e

34、ducators being conscious of the significance of teaching abc for english beginners. according to shidler, l and harrigan, t (2010), they advocated that creating harmonious environment for children is the key, and then make place for children to investigate and interact independently. that is to say,

35、 it is necessary to change the teaching surrounding of teaching abc letters, for example, putting many colorful alphabet letters up, making some beautiful flowers with abc, and drawing peculiar letters on board. otherwise, “read-aloud event”, carried out by bradley, b.a. & jones, j (2007), shows tha

36、t features of texts and teachers instructional styles can play an important role in young childrens learning with alphabet books. thus, children would be acquainted with letter shapes and letter sounds only if all of letters are read correctly. it is doubtless that there exists many a talented educa

37、tor in teaching abc in china. as an illustration, peng (2009) shared his teaching experience of finding the alphabet letters in life; moreover, wang and hu in 2006 launched a set of alphabet finger exercise in the endeavor of two years. they fellow the principal that interest originates from activit

38、y; then a set of complete alphabet finger exercise and catchy speech were composed to the public.2.3 problems of the implementation of tpr approach for teaching abc in china as the kindergarten english education is immature at present, some problems will probably turn up when putting tpr in teaching

39、 abc. for instance, professional kindergarten english teachers, who can teach abc from learners perspective, are really inadequate; teaching materials used to teach children abc are of shortage.2.3.1 the inadequacy of professional pre-school english teachers according to a recent research, a great n

40、umber of kindergartens do not employ professional kindergarten english teachers. it is said that over 60% teachers in kindergarten have never been trained as english majors who should have known more knowledge of english. and when it comes to a question how to arouse children interest in learning ab

41、c, these english teachers seldom answer it without flying color. it is not because they have no abundant experience in teaching children, not because they have no interest in this great career, but because a great number of children teachers graduate from normal university in pre-school majors rathe

42、r than in english majors; however, to the teachers who graduate in profession, they cannot reach the level as pre-school teachers. thus, it should set up a unity to train professional english teachers in kindergarten. in this way, the shortage of professional pre-school english teachers will be made

43、 up. 2.3.2 lack of materials for pre-school english teachers in teaching abc recent years have witnessed the emergence of many english materials for teaching abc, but it can be said that few of materials can suit for pre-school class (li, 2007). some of them are published related to the stage of pup

44、ils, and some are unsuitable to the compilation practice from children-center perspective. thus, taking english beginners into consideration, it is of great importance to design distinguished teaching materials which can render children fall in love with english. it is said that teaching materials a

45、s one of software factors, makes an important key in teaching new language, so it is necessary for educators to find a suitable way to improve the quality of materials.3. practice of tpr approach in abc teachingto put tpr approach into real situation of abc teaching, it can be practiced from five pa

46、rts, the method of performance, drawing, competition, singing, and game.3.1 the method of performance as is known to all, restlessness is childrens nature, so that teachers can illuminate all of letters repeated by lively performance. and the method of performance means that teachers utilize posture

47、 or gesture to explain the language information. it contributes to stimulate childrens spirit to join in the activity. as every letter has its distinguished characters, the author introduces the finger exercise invented by wang and hu (2006) in this paper. for example, when the english teacher teach

48、es “a” to children with lively performance, children can read this letter, in the meantime; perform the word “a” by their fingers. through this way, children would be willing to use their little brain when learning abc. 3.2 the method of drawingtpr is a multi-sensory teaching approach that puts the

49、emphasis on visual. children will be glad to appreciate visual pictures rather than speaking all the time or writing regular words on the blackboard. so teachers can draw some images for letters in the process of teaching.in the practice of teaching abc with drawing, it is helpful to show some inter

50、esting pictures about abc as the background of ppt. at the last part of teaching abc, it will be designed that children draw their favorite letters by imagination in the alphabet.3.3 the method of competitionchildren tend to gain affirmation and appreciation by fairly competition. due to the strong

51、sense of curiousness and competitiveness, children look forward to excelling others. to some great extent, competition with company can stimulate their spirit and their enthusiasm in learning abc (zou, 2010). and the efficiency of working and study will generally improve depending on the competition

52、. in the process of competing with others, the stronger motivation of children has, the more opportunity for students to overcome difficulties will have (shi, 2006). thus, in the practice with competition, teachers can divide students into two or more groups, and each group has its own name. teacher

53、s can conduct the competition between boys and girls, and let them compete with each other. in such pattern, children can learn english in high mood with related-to-abc games.3.4 the method of singingsinging is looked as an effective way to have fun, which is also promoted by tpr approach. children

54、like singing to show their emotion, if we can teach children a beautiful song about abc, the effect of teaching abc will be wonderful.so when teaching abc in class, the author will teach children with abc song and render them remember abc from beautiful song. 3.5 the method of gamethere is no denyin

55、g fact that games can help and encourage many an english beginner to learn english for fun, even reach the realm that learn knowledge from playing games. thus, game teaching not only becomes the significant activity of childrens english teaching, but also forms effective pattern to enhance childrens

56、 imagination. however, teachers will fail to maintain the discipline if childrens emotion is excited all the time. so, in the practice of teaching with games, teachers should have a good plan in every procedure and make a perfect and clear presentation for children which can illustrate the detailed

57、action. besides, for the content of games, choose some easy-to-follow games for children can heighten an effect in teaching abc. so the author will put three games into teaching abc, which can contribute to arouse childrens interests for listening and speaking abc letters.4. a case study as it is di

58、scussed above, tpr approach has advantages in teaching abc for english beginners, who are full of imagination and curiousness. in order to improve teachers teaching ability and childrens learning capacity from many methods of tpr approach, the author makes a clear explanation on how to use tpr in teaching abc. otherwise, according to worden & boettcher (1990), “the children p