What is TPRS?

Wikipedia says:

"TPR Storytelling (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling or TPRS) is a  method of teaching foreign languages. TPRS lessons use a mixture of reading and storytelling to help students learn a foreign language in a classroom setting. The method works in three steps: in step one the new vocabulary structures to be learned are taught using a combination of translation, gestures, and personalized questions; in step two those structures are used in a spoken class story; and finally, in step three, these same structures are used in a class reading. Throughout these three steps, the teacher will use a number of techniques to help make the target language comprehensible to the students, including careful limiting of vocabulary, constant asking of easy comprehension questions, frequent comprehension checks, and very short grammar explanations known as "pop-up grammar". Many teachers also assign additional reading activities such as free voluntary reading, and there have been several easy novels written by TPRS teachers for this purpose.

TPR Storytelling prioritizes the development of fluency over grammatical accuracy. Proponents of TPR Storytelling, basing their argument on the second language acquisition theories of Stephen Krashen, hold that the best way to help students develop both fluency and accuracy in a language is to expose them to large amounts of comprehensible input.  The different steps and techniques in TPR Storytelling help teachers to provide this input by making the language spoken in class both comprehensible and engaging. In addition, TPR Storytelling uses many concepts from mastery learning. Each lesson is focused on just three vocabulary phrases or fewer, enabling teachers to concentrate on teaching each phrase thoroughly. Teachers also make sure that the students internalize each phrase before moving on to new material, giving additional story lessons with the same vocabulary when necessary.

TPR Storytelling is unusual in that it is a grassroots movement among language teachers. After being developed by Blaine Ray in the 1990s, the method has gained popular appeal with language teachers who claim that they can reach more students and get better results than they could with previous methods.  However, so far it has seen little support from publishers or academic institutions. Teachers have instead published their own materials and teaching manuals, and training in TPR Storytelling is generally offered at workshops by existing TPRS teachers rather than at teacher training college."

^Comments: 

^{The three steps, according to Blaine Ray, are the essence of the method.}  

^{1) Presentation of a limited number of structures, usually one to three, using  images, gestures, TPR or even translation.  The teacher "circles" the structures by asking questions based on her first statement.  If the structure is likes she may say, "Georges likes chocolate.  Does Georges like chocolate or does Marie like chocolate? Does Georges like chocolate or does Georges detest chocolate? Does Georges like chocolate or does Georges like carrots?  Does George like carrots? Who likes chocolate?  What does George like?"  By talking about the students in the classroom, comparing their likes and dislikes, she makes the content real and interesting.  This is called PQA.  Personalized Questions and Answers.}

^{2) With the understanding that imagination and creativity are more compelling than factual truth, the teacher develops a story with the class, asking them to furnish the details.  She has a basic plot in mind.  The hero, usually a student in the class, has a problem.  He tries to solve it and fails.  He goes somewhere else and tries again and fails again.  He goes to a third location and solves the problem.  The repeated attempts allow repetition of the target structures, so that students are hearing them over and over again. The teacher selects suggestions from the student that are BEP ( Bizarre, Exaggerated, and Personalized), which help the students to remember the story.  She then asks the students to retell their story.}

^{3) The students read either their story or a different version using the same structures.  In reading, the students translate the text with help from the teacher, who will ask questions in the target language about each paragraph, checking for comprehension and sometimes developing a parallel story by comparing a student with the hero of the story.}

 ^"TPR Storytelling prioritizes the development of fluency over grammatical accuracy."

This statement is used by those who reject TPRS to claim that TPRS students don't know grammar or are very inaccurate in their use.  Actually, most TPRS students are quite accurate in their use of the structures they have been taught. Grammar is taught in what I call "homeopathic doses", or pop-ups.  In the example given above, after the students have been hearing "He likes... and "They like ..." the teacher may ask the student when they hear the final s and when it is missing. The reflection should not last more than a few seconds.  What is often not taken into account by those who prone giving more time to grammar instruction is the difference between learning and acquiring. Learning is done with our conscious, rational, analytical mind and goes into our short term memory.  Acquiring is unconscious, spontaneous and goes into our long term memory.  TPRS teachers are not interested in preparing students to do exercises on a worksheet.  They want their students to spontaneously produce correct language without thinking about it.

^"TPR Storytelling is unusual in that it is a grassroots movement among language teachers."

TPRS evolved and is still evolving through the interaction of language teachers on the internet, notably on the moretprs forum.  It has been tried and tested by each new user, and through their comments and experiences the method has improved.  Although Blaine Ray was a very dynamic teacher whose students found his stories about blue chimpanzees hilarious, teachers with different personalities are able to adapt the method to their style of teaching.  Personally, I am struck by the number of language teachers who have switched to this method after many years of apparent success with other techniques.  When I started trying to use the method, I saw my students retain what I was teaching, whereas before I had the impression that even good students erased everything we had studied once they had taken the test.  It is not easy to adapt and change decades of work habits, but it is often said that "Bad TPRS is better than no TPRS."  Krashen explains that as long as the students are getting comprehensible input they will acquire the language.  Although in the early years TPRS teachers were often isolated and confronted the hostility of more traditional teachers, today entire language departments have switched.  In general, enrollment figures go up when teachers begin using TPRS and many minor language programs have been saved because the teacher discovered TPRS and was able to attract more students to her courses.  Administrations who have recognized the positive effects of TPRS now tend to recruit teachers who use the method.

"So far it has seen little support from publishers or academic institutions."

A TPRS teacher does not need a textbook.  Her students don't do grammar exercises or worksheets and the comprehension questions are asked orally.  Every class develops its own, personalized story, so there is no need for a one-size fits all textbook story, which most students find boring.  Thus TPRS is not popular with publishers, although some have tried to adapt their material to the method.  Academic institutions  traditionally look down on grassroots movements and few of them have taken an unbiased look at the claims made by TPRS teachers.  The exception is Stephen Krashen who at first limited his support to saying that TPRS produced Comprehensible Input, and is now an active participant on the moretprs forum.