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Is TPRS effective for mid-novice adult refugee and immigrant students from oral cultures?

Evidence-based answer · Last updated · How it’s made

The short answer

Direct evidence on TPRS with adult refugee/immigrant learners is thin, but the one pilot study that tested it with adult ESL learners with limited literacy found TPRS produced solid vocabulary gains (45% improvement) — though slightly less than a Grammar-Translation comparison group (49%). Broader research on adults from oral, low-literacy cultures suggests TPRS's heavy reliance on oral storytelling and repetition fits well with these learners' existing strengths, but no study has tested TPRS specifically with mid-novice adult refugees from oral cultures, so the answer is a cautiously positive "likely helpful, not proven superior.

Asked as someone learning English. Findings drawn from English-specific research are framed for English learners and may not hold for other languages; where the evidence is general second-language research, the report says so.

TPRS worked but did not beat Grammar-Translation for adult ESL learners

In a pilot study of 25 adult Hispanic ESL learners with limited literacy, both TPRS (Total Physical Response Storytelling, a technique that teaches vocabulary through gestures and told stories) and a traditional Grammar-Translation approach improved vocabulary retention, with Grammar-Translation showing a slightly larger gain (49% vs 45%).1,2

In plain terms

TPRS stands for Total Physical Response Storytelling — a teaching method where the instructor uses simple stories, repetition, and physical gestures/questions to build vocabulary without relying on translation or explicit grammar rules. Grammar-Translation is the more traditional method that teaches vocabulary and rules through direct translation and written exercises.

No dedicated research on TPRS with refugee learners from oral cultures

None of the sources report a study that directly tests TPRS with adult refugee or immigrant learners who come from oral (non-literate or low-literacy) cultures — the one adult TPRS study used literate-in-Spanish Hispanic learners, and studies of oral-culture refugee learners (such as Sudanese or Afghan groups) do not test TPRS as a method.1,2,5,8

Oral-culture learners bring strong oral memory skills

Adults from highly oral cultures (such as southern Sudanese refugees who speak unwritten languages like Dinka or Nuer) often have well-developed strategies for retaining and transferring information orally, even though they may have no experience with written language.5

Literacy level changes how learners process spoken language

Research on low-literate adolescent and adult second-language learners shows that the ability to read an alphabet actually changes how a person processes spoken language — literate learners are better at noticing and repeating small spoken corrections to their grammar, while learners with no alphabetic literacy can still pick up new vocabulary well through conversation but struggle more to notice subtle grammar corrections.3,9

In plain terms

This matters for TPRS because TPRS relies on spoken storytelling and corrective questioning rather than written drills, so its grammar-correction components may land differently depending on a learner's literacy background.

Example

In one documented exchange, a non-literate Somali learner easily picked up the new word 'jar' from context during conversation, but never adopted the correct word order for questions despite being corrected many times.

Refugee learners face barriers beyond method choice

Adult refugee learners often deal with interrupted schooling, trauma, PTSD-related concentration and memory difficulties, and the daily stresses of resettlement, all of which can affect learning regardless of which teaching method is used.4,5,10

Emerging literacy learners benefit from building on oral skills

Guidance for teaching adult English learners with little or no first-language literacy recommends explicitly building literacy instruction on top of learners' existing oral language skills, since their spoken English often outpaces their reading and writing ability.9

TPRS shows short-term vocabulary gains in other populations

A separate study of TPRS with very young language learners found clear short-term and some longer-term gains in vocabulary recognition after TPRS lessons, though productive use (actually producing the words) lagged behind recognition.6,7

What to do with this

  • Because there is no study that tests TPRS specifically on mid-novice adult refugees from oral, low-literacy cultures, treat it as a promising but unproven option rather than a guaranteed fix.
  • The one relevant pilot study suggests TPRS can produce meaningful vocabulary gains for adult ESL learners with limited literacy, roughly on par with (if slightly behind) traditional grammar-translation teaching — so it's a reasonable technique to try, especially since its oral, story-based, repetition-heavy format plays to the strengths oral-culture learners often already have (strong oral memory and information-transfer skills).
  • However, teachers should pair TPRS-style storytelling and listening/speaking practice with deliberate, separate attention to literacy and grammar accuracy, since evidence suggests low-literacy learners can pick up vocabulary easily through conversation but may need more explicit help noticing and correcting grammar structures.
  • Given the added challenges refugee learners often bring (trauma, interrupted schooling, resettlement stress), any method — TPRS included — is likely to work best combined with patient pacing, culturally aware classroom management, and flexibility rather than being treated as a stand-alone solution.

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Worth knowing

  • The strongest direct evidence on TPRS with adults comes from a single small pilot study (25 participants) of literate Hispanic ESL learners, not refugees from oral cultures specifically, and it found TPRS slightly underperformed Grammar-Translation on this particular vocabulary measure.
  • No source combines TPRS with the exact population in the question (mid-novice adult refugees/immigrants from oral, low-literacy cultures), so conclusions here connect two separate bodies of evidence — TPRS effectiveness research and oral-culture/refugee-literacy research — rather than reporting on a single well-matched study.
  • The findings on literacy and oral processing come mostly from adolescent Somali learners, not exactly "mid-novice adult" refugees, so some generalization is required.

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  1. [1]R. Viero de Castro. A Pilot Study Comparing Total Physical Response Storytelling� With the Grammar-Translation Teaching Strategy to Determine Their Effectiveness in Vocabulary Acquisition Among English as a Second Language Adult Learners. 2010. doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2010.edu.08
  2. [2]Castro, Ruben. A Pilot Study Comparing Total Physical Response Storytelling[TM] with the Grammar-Translation Teaching Strategy to Determine Their Effectiveness in Vocabulary Acquisition among English as a Second Language Adult Learners. Online Submission 2010. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED509467
  3. [3]Tarone, Elaine. Second Language Acquisition by Low-Literate Learners: An Understudied Population. Language Teaching 2010. doi.org/10.1017/s0261444809005734
  4. [4]Khatri, Raj. Supporting Adult Learners with Refugee Experiences through English Language Instruction. BC TEAL Journal 2016. https://ojs-o.library.ubc.ca/index.php/BCTJ/article/view/240/264
  5. [5]Burgoyne, Ursula, Hull, Oksana. Classroom Management Strategies to Address the Needs of Sudanese Refugee Learners. An Adult Literacy National Project Report. National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) 2007. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED499673
  6. [6]Ketevan Kara, Evrim Eveyik-Aydın. Effects of TPRS on Very Young Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition. Advances in Language and Literary Studies 2019. doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.10n.1p.135
  7. [7]Kara, Ketevan, Eveyik-Aydin, Evrim. Effects of TPRS on Very Young Learners' Vocabulary Acquisition. Advances in Language and Literary Studies 2019. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1217000
  8. [8]Megumi Hamada, Elizabeth M. Riddle. Afghan Refugee Women's Agency in Learning to Read in English. Adult Learning 2026. doi.org/10.1177/10451595241309400
  9. [9]Vinogradov, Patsy, Bigelow, Martha. Using Oral Language Skills to Build on the Emerging Literacy of Adult English Learners. CAELA Network Brief. Center for Adult English Language Acquisition 2010. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED540592
  10. [10]Mingkwan, Brigitte, And Others. California Refugee English Language Training Task Force Final Evaluation Report, July 1995. Presented to the State Department of Social Services, Refugee Programs Bureau.. 1995. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED394362