Many teachers are being told to use more cooperative activities in their classrooms, but does this approach actually improve student acquisition? Below are some common ideas about cooperative learning in the foreign language classroom, and a Comprehensible Input-based response to each. Idea: The more time spent in pair and group work, the better. Time spent in pair and […]
Posts Tagged ‘TPRS’
Cooperative Learning: A Comprehensible-Input Perspective
Posted by Terry Waltz on November 26th, 2014
Posted in General, Methods 
Tags: Cooperative Learning, Criticisms of TPRS, Project-Based, Task-Based, TPRS 
Comments Off on Cooperative Learning: A Comprehensible-Input PerspectiveTPRS and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge
Posted by Terry Waltz on November 23rd, 2014
Okay — first of all, depth of knowledge has to do with knowledge, not acquisition…but assuming that many teachers do need to provide this sort of administrivia, let’s see how beautifully TPRS and common TPRS-related activities fit! Incorporating some of the action words into the descriptions of tasks, and breaking down each individual action or […]
Posted in General, Outside Forces Tags: Criticisms of TPRS, Evaluations, TPRS Comments Off on TPRS and Webb’s Depth of KnowledgeMethod? Strategy? Philosophy?
Posted by Terry Waltz on November 22nd, 2014
On a language teachers’ list, the comment recently appeared: Maybe we need to distinguish between input-based strategies and TPRS techniques, as well as “approaches” vs. “methodologies.” This is something I’ve been trying to do on some of the “other lists” when engaging non-CI-based folks in dialogue about what we do. This is how I cut […]
Posted in Methods Tags: Acquisition vs Learning, Legacy Methods, Philosophy, TPRS Comments Off on Method? Strategy? Philosophy?“Your class has a reputation for being ‘easy’…”
Posted by Terry Waltz on November 22nd, 2014
(You say that like it’s a bad thing…) More people (including other language teachers!) trying to stuff the acquisition of new languages into the same mold that fits fact-based disciplines, like — well, like everything else. I can understand clueless monolingual administrators who hated their own hours in high school Spanish doing that. Their experience […]
Posted in General, Methods Tags: Acquisition, Comprehensible Input, Theory, TPRS Comments Off on “Your class has a reputation for being ‘easy’…”I+1 or I+100?
Posted by Terry Waltz on July 22nd, 2012
TPRS is based on comprehensible input, and believes that students learn by input. Other major approaches to date have been based on output, and believe that student learn by outputting language. So, the two are not really compatible. They are based on completely opposite things. It’s true that many factors come together to support acquisition, […]
Tips for Tones
Posted by Terry Waltz on June 14th, 2012
On a language teachers’ mailing list, someone asked for hints on how to teach Chinese tones. Here’s how I do it. Some tools for getting students to acquire tones in Mandarin: –Directional gestures (gestures specifically for each new word that incorporate both a meaning component and place the tones into a tonal space that is […]
Posted in Chinese-specific, Speaking/Listening Tags: Directional Gestures, Mandarin, Pinyin, Tonal Spelling, Tones, TOP, TPRS Comments Off on Tips for TonesCI in Short
Posted by Terry Waltz on May 13th, 2012
After a reader had slogged through a 28-page forum discussion on Comprehensible Input-based language teaching, the question came out: Could someone post a very brief, 3- or 4- point summary of the basics? This is my take on that. Comprehensible Input: the brain acquires language by hearing language it can understand. It takes many repetitions […]
Comprehensible Input goes traveling
Posted by Terry Waltz on May 5th, 2012
The newest buzz in the communicative language teaching community is — guess what — “Comprehensible Input”. Unfortunately, there seems to be some confusion about what “comprehensible” means. Sitting in workshops given by respected presenters in the communicative teaching world, one hears repeated references to “Comprehensible Input”, but what is really being said is usually one […]
Posted in General, Methods Tags: ACTFL, Comprehensible Input, Legacy Methods, Standards, TPRS Comments Off on Comprehensible Input goes travelingComprehensible input and acquired output
Posted by Terry Waltz on March 21st, 2012
A TPRS teacher recently wrote: I know we’re not about writing because it’s output but not input, but maybe this kind of thing would help the kids see the value in paying attention to those stories in class, and give them a chance to see that there are thousands of kids who are being taught […]
Posted in General, Methods, Outside Forces Tags: Acquired Output, Output, TPRS Comments Off on Comprehensible input and acquired output“Oh, I do TPRS®, I just add some extra words.”
Posted by Terry Waltz on September 30th, 2011
Lots of people out there these days saying they “do” TPRS®. What has to be happening to make a statement like that true? Teachers who teach using TPRS® are using Comprehensible Input. There are other ways to teach using Comprehensible Input. TPRS® is just one of them. The main hallmark of TPRS® is the insistence […]
Posted in Methods Tags: New Teachers, Theory, TPRS, Vocabulary Comments Off on “Oh, I do TPRS®, I just add some extra words.”