Teaching English as a Second Language in Nigeria: The Total Physical Response Option for Beginners

This paper examines learning English in an adverse situation especially in Nigeria where a second language is used as the language of instruction. It focuses on Total Physical Response (T.P.R) as one of the teaching strategies that can enhance the learning of English as a second language in Nigeria. The concept, the historical background of TPR and its efficacy in promoting effective acquisition and learning of English language in comparison with other traditional methods was unveiled. This technique of language teaching tends to teach vocabularies and develop listening comprehension through some simple commands by the instructor (teacher) and responses by the learners which served as a replica to the mother tongue or first language acquisition process. The paper discusses the relationship between Total Physical Response and the learning of English language most especially as it relates to beginners in the language. The stages involved in the strategy to make meaningful impact were as well explained. The paper also examines the benefit of TPR in a typical English as a second language class and the basic steps to follow for its effective utilization dwelling on its psychological perspective in which language acquisition is viewed to initially start with psychomotor activities before the language is used in a spoken situation. It is the position of the paper that an effective English language teacher must take into cognizance some salient issues to effectively utilize the strategy optimally. This is in tandem with the principle of using psychomotor activities in a four walled classroom with a single teacher and a large number of learners as is the case in the Nigerian situation. Thus, precaution must be taken to guard against turning the class into a rowdy and disorganized one in order to tap the benefit of the strategy to lay a sound foundation in the target language.