TEACHING ENGLISH IN PRIMARY SCHOOL USING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE BASED ON COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Abstract

Total Physical Response (TPR) is a useful technique in teaching English in Primary School (SD) as it stimulates children to give response with speaking or expression and it stresses to a free activity for children in SD. By analyzing the teaching activities by using TPR, the strengths and the weaknesses of this technique can be drawn. Thus the theoretical framework provided in this paper can be employed to analyze the application of TPR in the English Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. This technique can be supported by Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). The reason is that CLT is a broad approach to teaching that resulted from a focus on communication as the organizing principle for teaching rather than a focus on mastery of grammatical system of the language. It contains the principles about the goals of language teaching, how learners learn a language, the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom. The goal of the language teaching and learning is communicative competence. Both the technique and the approach can be implemented in teaching English, especially in the primary school.