VIETTESOL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION 2025

TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) is a language teaching method based on storytelling and reading comprehension to develop the ability to use language naturally and fluently. This method was developed by Blaine Ray in the 1990s. Learn a foreign language the method Works in three steps. In step one, the teacher teaches the new vocabulary to the students how by using translation, gestures and personalized questions also known as PQA. During PQA, a teacher finds out interesting facts about the students and then use them to create a story which leads to step 2. In step 2, those structures and facts are used in a spoken class story, and the teacher asks lots of questions while creating a story with the class and this questioning method is called circling. The teacher uses three locations to repeat the target phrases 50 to 100 times. The teacher also uses student actors to make the class more interesting and memorable. Finally, in step 3, these same structures are used in a class reading the whole class translates the text together and while translating the teacher explains grammar in 5 seconds, which is pop-up grammar. Then, they have a discussion about the reading. The teacher may use PQA to learn about the students more and to use the target phrases.
• Ray, B., & Seely, C. (2016). Fluency through TPR Storytelling: Achieving Real Language Acquisition in School (7th ed.). Command Performance Language Institute.
• Patrick, R. (2019). "TPRS and Comprehensible Input: A Meta-Analysis." International Journal of Language Teaching and Research.
• Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon Press.