The Natural Approach

APPROACHES AND METHODS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Outlined in 1977 by Tracy Terrell as a ‘new’ philosophy of language teaching

Theoretical rationale elaborated by Stephen Krashen

Appeared in The Natural Approach (1983): • Theoretical sessions by Krashen• Implementation and classroom procedures by Terrell

Related to the Natural/Direct Method (c. 1900):• Both conform to the principles of naturalistic language learning• N./D.M. is more teacher-centered and places more emphasis on practice• N.A. emphasizes exposure and comprehension, pays special attention to emotional

preparedness and is willing to use a wide variety of resources

BACKGROUND

Communication as the primary function of language

Language consists of 1) lexical items, 2) structures and 3) messages

Krashen’s language acquisition theory:•The Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis: acquisition and learning are not the same; learning cannot lead to acquisition•The Monitor Hypothesis: conscious learning must only function as a monitor/editor of output•The Natural Order Hypothesis: the acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order•The Input Hypothesis: “I+1”•The Affective Filter Hypothesis: a learner’s emotional state can pass, impede or block input

Implications for language teaching:•As much comprehensible input as possible must be presented•Whatever helps comprehension is important•Focus should be on receptive skills•A relaxed classroom atmosphere is needed in order to lower the affective filter

THEORY OF LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE

LEARNING

• Function adequately in the target situation

• Understand the speaker of the target language

• Convey requests and ideas

• Make the meaning clear but not necessarily be accurate in all details of grammar

The students

are expected

to:

• Fit the needs and interests of students

• Aim to create a low affective filter by being interesting and fostering a friendly, relaxed atmosphere

• Provide a wide exposure to vocabulary that may be useful to basic personal communication

• Resist any focus on grammatical structures

Content selectio

n should:

OBJECTIVES SYLLABUS

The Natural Approach teacher: • Should be the primary

source of comprehensible input in the target language

• Should create a classroom atmosphere that is interesting, friendly and with a low affective filter for learning

• Should choose a rich mix of classroom activities for a variety of group sizes, content, and contexts

TEACHER’S ROLE

Teaching activities • Teacher talk focuses on

objects in the classroom and on the content of pictures

• The teacher talks slowly and distinctly, asking questions and eliciting one-word answers

• There is a gradual progession from Yes/No questions to questions the students can answer using words they have heard from the teacher

The language acquirer is:

• Seen as a processor of comprehensible input

• Challenged by input that is slightly beyond his current level of competence

• Able to assign meaning to the input through active use of context and extralinguistic information

Learner’s roles according to their stage of linguistic development

Pre-production stage:

Students participate in the language

activity without responding in

the target language

Early-production stage:

Students respond to either-or

questions, use simple words

and short phrases

Speech-emergent

phase:

Students contribute with

personal information

and opinions

LEARNER’S ROLE

Provide information about their specific goals so that the acquisition activities can focus on their needs

Take an active role in ensuring comprehensible input

Learn and use conversational management techniques

Decide when to start producing speech and when to upgrade it

Decide with the teacher the ammount of time to be devoted to each activity

Learner’s responsabilities

• Start with TPR [Total Physical Response] commands• Use TPR to teach names of the body, numbers and sequence• Introduce classroom terms and props into commands• Use names of physical characteristics and clothing to identify

members of the class• Use visuals to introduce new vocabulary.• Combine use of pictures with TPR• Combine observations about the pictures with commands and

conditionals• Using several pictures, ask the students to point to the picture

being described

A typical Natural Approach classroom procedure

PROCEDURE

The Natural Approach:

Rejects the formal organization of

language

Focuses on meaningful

comprehension

Provides a constant flow of

comprehensible input

Adopts techniques and activities from

various method sources

CONCLUSION