Traditional Methods Versus TPRS: Effects on Introductory French Students at a Medium-Sized Public University in the Midwestern United States

Author

Rishani Samari Merinnage De Costa, Minnesota State University - Mankato

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure the effectiveness of introducing a Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) approach in a French immersion classroom in comparison with a method which does not incorporate a story context within the lesson. This research was conducted in an introductory college level classroom setting. It is hypothesized that the language skills of the students in the experimental group using the TPRS method would show greater improvements on measures of listening, vocabulary, culture, grammar and writing abilities than those taught using methods which do not incorporate the story context. The research utilized a quasi-experimental pre- and post-test design to measure French language listening, vocabulary, culture, grammar and writing improvements resulting from lessons taught using both methods. In order to analyze the data collected from the listening, vocabulary, culture, grammar and writing measures, 2-Tailed t-Tests were conducted. The results shown by the t-Tests indicate that traditional approaches for listening, grammar, and writing measures significantly increase for the control group (traditional approaches).

Advisor

Evan Bibbee

Committee Member

Gregory Taylor

Committee Member

Adriana Gordillo

Date of Degree

2015

Language

english

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

College

Arts and Humanities

Recommended Citation

Merinnage De Costa, R. S. (2015). Traditional Methods Versus TPRS: Effects on Introductory French Students at a Medium-Sized Public University in the Midwestern United States [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/513/

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License