Methodology 14

COMPREHENSION APPROACH
(Total Physical Response)
1. Meaning in the target language can often be conveyed through actions.
2. Retention is enhanced when learners respond physically.
3. Feelings of success and low anxiety facilitate learning.
4. Listening comprehension comes first. Students will speak when they are ready.
Learners’ feelings are also given importance in the next method we will see demonstrated. Psychologist
James Asher’s method, Total Physical Response, is being offered as an example of a general approach called
the Comprehension Approach. The Comprehension Approach, as the name suggests, places value on students’
understanding the target language, and thus emphasizes the listening skill. Other examples of this
approach are Krashen and Terrell’s the Natural Approach, and Winitz’ materials “The Learnables.”
Asher bases his method on the observation that a baby spends many months listening to the people around
it long before it ever says a word. The child has the time to try to make sense out of the sounds it hears. No
one tells the baby that it must speak. The child chooses to speak when it is ready. Moreover, according to
Asher, much of the linguistic input directed to the child contains commands. Look for how Asher’s observations
about child language acquisition have influenced his approach to second language learning. My colleague,
Kathleen Graves, will present Total Physical Response