More handpicked essays just for you.
Major theories of 1st and second language acquisition
Theories of second language acquisition summary
Importance of the study of second language acquisition
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Total Physical Response Method and Spanish Teaching strategies of a foreign language class have evolved from a long history of useless methods that do not fulfill the goal of language acquisition. The main goal of a foreign language class in terms of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards is that the students be able to communicate using the foreign language. Communication refers to the student’s ability to converse with a native speaker of the language that has been studied. In the past, it was assumed that students must first learn the rules of grammar and then use those rules to construct sentences and communicate, but there have been several linguistic theories that have refuted this methodology. Researchers such as Chomsky and Krashen have presented theories that explain that as adults we learn language the same way a child does when they are first born, through input from another person that speaks the language (i.e. our parents). We do not learn grammar rules when we begin to talk, nonetheless we still learn the language; therefore it is the same when we are adults learning a second language. In applying this to a language classroom; an important duty of the teacher then, is to provide instruction in the target language (Spanish in my case). This input only turns into acquisition when it is comprehensible, interesting, a little beyond their current competence level, and not grammatically sequenced, but understandable through their background knowledge, their use of context, and other extra linguistic cues such as gestures according to Krashen’s input hypothesis (Gilsan and Shrum 3). Once students acquire the language, they are then able to communicate with the language according to Krashen’s acquisition-le... ... middle of paper ... ...rner’s perspective. When used correctly, TPR will be an enjoyable learning experience for the student and for the teacher, making the lesson effective. Works Cited Asher, James J., Ph.D. “Organizing Your Classroom for Successful Second Language Acquisition” 2/12/05 http://www.tpr-world.com/organizing.html Asher,James J. Ph.D “The Total Physical Response, known world-wide as TPR” 2/12/05 http://www.tprsource.com/asher.htm Krashen, Stephen. “TPR: Still a Very Good Idea.“ 2/12/05 http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/other/krashentpr.htm Gilsan, Eileen W. & Shrum, Judith. Teacher’s Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction. 2nd ed. Thomson Learning, Inc. Boston, MA. 2000 Wilson, Reid. “Maximize Your Language Learning through TPR” 2/12/05 http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/rw/tprmax.htm