Background

The Natural Approach was proposed in 1977 by Tracy Terrell, a teacher of

Spanish at the University of California. Later, Terrel joined force with Stephen

Krashen, an applied linguist at University of Souththen California, Drawing on

Krashen’s influential theory of Second Language Acquisition, they tried to provide

a detailed rhetorical rationale for the natural Approach .In 1983, their joint effort

came out in a book The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom,

which states the principles and practices of the Natural Approach.

The book contains theoretical sections prepared by Krashen and sections

on implementation and classroom procedures prepared mostly by Terrell. The

most striking proposal of the Natural Approach theory is that adults can still

acquire second languages and that the ability to ‘pick up’ languages does not

disappear at puberty. Thus, Krashen's contribution to Chomsky's LAD (Language

Acquisition Device) proposition is that adults follow the same principles of

Universal Grammar. The theory behind the Natural Approach implies that adults

can acquire all but the phonological aspect of any foreign language, by using their

ever-active LAD. What makes adults different from children is their abstract

problem solving skills that make them consciously process the grammar of a

foreign language. Therefore, adults have two paths to follow: Acquisition and

learning. However, children have only one: Acquisition.

In their book, Krashen and Terrell refer to their method of picking up

ability in another language directly without instruction in its grammar as ‘the

traditional approach’. They consider their approach as a traditional one whereas

many methodologists consider Grammar Translation Method as the traditional

method. For Krashen, even Grammar Translation Method is not as old and

traditional as the method of acquiring a language in its natural environment, a

method which has been used for hundreds of thousands of years.

The term ‘natural’ emphasizes that the principles behind the Natural

Approach are believed to conform to the naturalistic principles found in

successful second language acquisition. One may think that the Natural Approach

and the Natural Method are similar. The Natural Method (or the Direct Method)

and the Natural Approach differ in that the former lays more emphasis on teacher

monologues, formal questions and answers, and error correction. Krashen and

Terrell note that “the Natural Approach is in many ways the natural, direct

method ‘rediscovered’ [and] it is similar to other communicative approaches

being developed today”. The Natural Approach, like TPR, is regarded as a

comprehension-based approach because of its emphasis on initial delay (silent

period) in the production of language. What novel is that the Natural Approach

focuses on exposure to input instead of grammar practice, and on emotional

preparedness for acquisition to take place.

Problem Formulation

1. What is the definition of Natural Approach?

2. What is the theoretical basis of Natural Approach?

3. What are the objectives of Natural Approach?

4. What are the basic principles of Natural Approach?

5. What are the characteristics of Natural Approach?

6. How is the design of Natural Approach?

7. How is the teaching procedure of Natural Approach?

8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Natural Approach?

Discussion

I. Definition

Natural Approach is one of the language teaching approaches to develop

learner’s ability in using language as a tool for communication by applying the

principles of natural language acquisition into classroom context. Natural

Approach emphasizes natural communication rather than formal grammar study

and is tolerance of learners’ error. The core of the Natural Approach is language

acquisition, which is considered a subconscious process, dependent on two

factors: the amount of comprehensible input the students obtain; and the

amount of the students “allow in”. The Natural Approach emphasizes the central

comprehension and believes that:

1. Comprehension abilities precede productive skills in learning a language;

2. The teaching of speaking should be delayed until comprehension skills are

established;

3. Skills acquisition through listening transfer to other skills;

4. Teaching should emphasize meaning rather than form;

5. Teaching should minimize learners’ stress.

II. Theoretical Bases

A. Theory of Language

1. Communication as the primary function of language; and emphasis on

meaning.

Krashen and Terrell see communication as the primary function

of language and since their approach focuses on teaching communicative

ability, they identify the Natural Approach with the Communicative

Approach. What Krashen and Terrell emphasize in their approach is the

primacy of meaning.

2. Importance of vocabulary.

Krashen and Terrell stress the importance of vocabulary,

suggesting that a language is essentially its lexicon.

3. Not necessary to analyze grammatical structure; and rules automatically

provided in the input.

Krashen and Terrell hold that grammatical structure does not

require explicit analysis or attention by the teacher, by the learner, or in

language teaching materials. They assume that if we provide input over a

variety of topics while pursuing communication goal, the necessary

grammatical rules are automatically provided in the input.

B. Theory of Learning

The theory as well as the design and procedures in The Natural

Approach are based on Krashen’s language acquisition theory. The basic

principles of Krashen’s theory are outlined in his Monitor Model (1982), a

model of second language acquisition consisting of five hypotheses:

1. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

The Acquisition-Learning distinction is the most fundamental of

all the hypotheses in Krashen’s theory and the most widely known

among linguists and language practitioners. According to Krashen there

are two independent systems of second language performance: ‘the

acquired system’ and ‘the learned system’. The ‘acquired system’ or

‘acquisition’ is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the

process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It

requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural

communication - in which speakers are concentrated not in the form of

their utterances, but in the communicative act.

The ‘learned system’ or ‘learning’ is the product of formal

instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in

conscious knowledge about the language, for example knowledge of

grammar rules. According to Krashen ‘learning’ is less important than

‘acquisition’.

2. The Monitor Hypothesis

The Monitor hypothesis explains the relationship between

acquisition and learning and defines the influence of the latter on the

former. The monitoring function is the practical result of the learned

grammar. According to Krashen, the acquisition system is the utterance

initiator, while the learning system performs the role of the ‘monitor’ or

the ‘editor’. The ‘monitor’ acts in a planning, editing and correcting

function when three specific conditions are met: the second language

learner has sufficient time at his/her disposal, he/she focuses on form or

thinks about correctness, and he/she knows the rule.

It appears that the role of conscious learning is somewhat limited

in second language performance. According to Krashen, the role of the

monitor is - or should be - minor, being used only to correct deviations

from ‘normal’ speech and to give speech a more ‘polished’ appearance.

Krashen also suggests that there is individual variation among

language learners with regard to ‘monitor’ use. He distinguishes those

learners that use the ‘monitor’ all the time (over-users); those learners

who have not learned or who prefer not to use their conscious

knowledge (under-users); and those learners that use the ‘monitor’

appropriately (optimal users). An evaluation of the person’s

psychological profile can help to determine to what group they belong.

Usually extroverts are under-users, while introverts and perfectionists

are over-users. Lack of self-confidence is frequently related to the over-

use of the ‘monitor’.

3. The Natural Order Hypothesis

The Natural Order hypothesis is based on research findings (Dulay

& Burt, 1974; Fathman, 1975; Makino, 1980 cited in Krashen, 1987)

which suggested that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a

‘natural order’ which is predictable. For a given language, some

grammatical structures tend to be acquired early while others late. This

order seemed to be independent of the learners’ age, first language

background, conditions of exposure, and although the agreement

between individual acquirers was not always 100% in the studies, there

were statistically significant similarities that reinforced the existence of a

Natural Order of language acquisition. Krashen, however, points out that

the implication of the natural order hypothesis is not that a language

program syllabus should be based on the order found in the studies. In

fact, he rejects grammatical sequencing when the goal is language

acquisition.

4. The Input Hypothesis

The Input hypothesis is Krashen’s attempt to explain how the

learner acquires a second language. In other words, this hypothesis is

Krashen's explanation of how second language acquisition takes place.

So, the Input hypothesis is only concerned with ‘acquisition’, not

‘learning’. According to this hypothesis, the learner improves and

progresses along the ‘natural order’ when he/she receives second

language ‘input’ that is one step beyond his/her current stage of

linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a stage ‘i’, then

acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to ‘Comprehensible

Input’ that belongs to level ‘i + 1’. Since not all of the learners can be at

the same level of linguistic competence at the same time, Krashen

suggests that natural communicative input is the key to designing a

syllabus, ensuring in this way that each learner will receive some ‘i + 1’

input that is appropriate for his/her current stage of linguistic

competence.

5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis

The Affective Filter Hypothesis embodies Krashen’s view that a

number of ‘affective variables’ play a facilitative, but non-causal, role in

second language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-

confidence and anxiety. Krashen claims that learners with high

motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety

are better equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low

motivation, low self-esteem, and debilitating anxiety can combine to

‘raise’ the affective filter and form a ‘mental block’ that prevents

comprehensible input from being used for acquisition. In other words,

when the filter is ‘up’ it impedes language acquisition. On the other

hand, positive affect is necessary, but not sufficient on its own, for

acquisition to take place.

These five hypotheses have obvious implications for language teaching. In

sum, these are:

1. As much comprehensible input as possible must be presented.

2. Whatever helps comprehension is important. Visual aids are useful, as is

exposure to a wide range of vocabulary rather than study of syntactic

structure.

3. The focus in the classroom should be on listening and reading; speaking

should be allowed to ‘emerge’.

4. In order to lower the affective filter, student work should center on

meaningful communication rather than on form; input should be

interesting and so contribute to a relaxed classroom atmosphere.

C. Application of the Hypotheses

In this part, we will try to sift through the practical value of the

approach for foreign or second language classes by taking its theoretical

bases into consideration.

1. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

The first and the most useful hypothesis, the acquisition-learning

hypothesis tells us that we should balance class time between acquisition

activities and learning exercises. It is important to realize that students or

any human being cannot both learn and acquire at the same time

because one can focus on only one thing at a time, either on form or on

meaning. Therefore, there must be a separation between acquisition and

learning activities in foreign language classes and the relative weight of

acquisition classes should be over that of learning classes.

The Natural Approach instructor does not expect students at the

end of a particular course to have acquired a ‘specific grammar point’.

Instead she/he does expect them to display their comprehension. It is

necessary and inevitable, as has been mentioned earlier, to employ two

separated classes: Input and grammar classes (i.e., acquisition and

learning classes). In input classes, students are given as much

comprehensible input as possible. In grammar classes, however,

grammar rules are presented deductively or inductively depending on

the age of the students (also on whether they are field-independent or

field-dependent). The role of grammar classes is to produce ‘optimal

monitor users’ and to aid comprehension indirectly. Therefore, the core

of the Natural Approach is acquisition activities which have a purpose

other than conscious grammar exercises such as audiolingual drills and

cognitive learning exercises.

2. The Monitor Hypothesis

What is implied by the Monitor Hypothesis for foreign language

classes is, therefore, to achieve optimal monitors. Students may monitor

during written tasks (e.g., homework assignments) and preplanned

speech, or to some extent during speech. Learned knowledge enables

students to read and listen more so they acquire more. Especially in early

stages, grammar instruction speeds up acquisition. This is one of the

reasons why adults are faster than children in terms of the rate of

achievement. However, the Natural Approach teacher wishes his

students to use the monitor where appropriate.

3. The Natural Order Hypothesis 

In the Natural Approach, teacher should be tolerant against

errors. He uses a semantic syllabus for acquisition activities and

grammatical syllabus for grammar lessons (i.e., for learning sessions). As

is known “the grammatical syllabus assumes that we know the correct

natural order of presentation and acquisition, we don’t: what we have is

information about a few structures in a few languages.” (Krashen, 1983:

72). Therefore, the teacher will not organize the acquisition activities of

the class about grammatical syllabi and only ‘meaning’ errors are to be

corrected in a positive manner.

4. The Input Hypothesis

As for the application of the Input Hypothesis, the instructor

should provide input that is roughly-tuned. The teacher should always

send meaningful messages and ‘must’ create opportunities for students

to access i+1 structures to understand and express meaning. For

instance, the teacher can lay more emphasis on listening and reading

comprehension activities. Extensive reading is often preferred because of

ample amount of input provided. Outside reading is also helpful (e.g.,

graded readers, magazines and the like).

5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis

The application of this hypothesis would be that acquisition

should be achieved in a low-anxiety environment. The teacher creates a

comfortable atmosphere in the classroom by lowering the affective filter.

There is no demand for early production speech and no radical concern

for correctness in early stages of acquisition. This, of course, reduces the

anxiety of students considerably. Our pedagogical goal in an foreign

language class should, then, not only include providing comprehensible

input but also creating an atmosphere that fosters a low affective filter.

III. Objectives

The basic objective of Natural Approach is primarily designed to develop

basic communication skills both ‘oral and written’ and is designed to help

beginners become intermediates. The students are expected to be able to

function adequately in the target situation, for example, be able to understand

the speaker of the target language and to convey their requests and ideas.

However, since the Natural Approach is offered as a general set of

principles applicable to a wide variety of situations, as in Communicative

Language Teaching, specific objectives depend upon learner needs and the skill

(reading, writing, listening, or speaking) and level being taught. In general, the

specific objectives of Natural Approach are:

1. The goals of the Natural Approach class are divided according to basic

personal communication skills and academic learning skills, with focus on the

former.

2. The goals of a Natural Approach class are based on an assessment of

students’ needs, the situations in which they will use the target language and

the sorts of topics they will have to communicate information about.

3. Communication goals are specified in terms of situations, functions and

topics.

4. The students should be able to make the meaning clear but not necessarily

be accurate in all details of grammar.

5. The functions are not specified or suggested but are felt to derive naturally

from the topics and situations. There is no specified order of grammar rules.

IV. Basic Principles

1. Language is best taught when it is being used to transmit messages.

The Natural Approach considers input as the most important element

of any language teaching programme. Language is best taught when it is

being used to transmit messages, not when it is explicitly taught for

conscious learning.

2. According to the Natural Approach, speaking is not absolutely essential for

language acquisition.

The input hypothesis claims that the best way to teach speaking is to

focus on listening (and reading) and spoken fluency will emerge on its own.

3. Grammar instruction has a limited role.

Grammar use should be limited to situations where it will not

interfere with communication. The time to use the Monitor is in writing and

in prepared speech.

4. Between the two tools for communication, vocabulary and grammar,

vocabulary is the most essential one.

5. In a Natural Approach classroom, most of the classroom time is spent on

activities which foster acquisition.

6. There is no demand for early speech production in the Natural Approach. The

teacher will not ask the students to speak the target language until they are

ready.

V. Characteristics

The Natural Approach has the following characteristics:

1. Class time is devoted primarily to providing input for acquisition.

2. Natural Approach has several implications for classroom practice, which are:

a. Whatever helps comprehension is important.

b. Vocabulary is important. With more vocabulary there will be more

comprehension and with more comprehension, there will be more

acquisition.

c. Students must understand the message.

d. Classroom may be a very good place for second language acquisition.

e. Effective classroom input must be interesting.

3. The teacher speaks only the target language in the classroom. Students may

use either the first or second language. If they choose to respond in the

second language, their errors are not corrected unless meaning is affected.

4. Homework may include formal grammar work, errors are corrected.

5. Activities may involve the use of a certain structure, but the goals are to

enable students to talk about ideas, perform tasks, and solve problems.

VI. Design

A. The Syllabus

Krashen and Terrell (1983) approach course organization from two points of

view:

1. First, they list some typical goals for language courses and suggest which

of these goals are the ones at which the Natural Approach aims. They list

such goals under four areas:

Basic personal communication skills: oral (e.g. listening to

announcement in public place).

Basic personal communication skills: written (e.g. reading and writing

personal letter).

Academic learning skills: oral (e.g., listening to lecturer).

Academic learning skills: written (e.g., taking notes in class).

2. Second point of view holds that the purpose of a language course will

vary according to the needs of the students and their particular interest.

The syllabus underlying the Natural Approach is topical and

situational. It is a semantic or notional syllabus, simply “a series of topics

that students will find interesting and the teacher can discuss in a

comprehensible way” (Krashen, 1985:55). The focus of each classroom

activity is organized by topic, not grammatical structures. What is more

interesting is that Krashen and Terrell have not specified or suggested

the functions which are believed to derive naturally from the topics and

situations. Therefore, basic communication goals (both written and oral)

are achieved mainly through topics and situations; and each topic and

situation includes various language functions that the students will

acquire.

As discussed earlier, a grammatical syllabus may be used in

learning classes where learners are given conscious knowledge about the

target language. Needless to say, the relative weight of acquisition

activities is to be over that of learning activities. Similarly, practice of

specific grammatical structures is not focused on in the above mentioned

semantic syllabus.

B. Types of Learning and Teaching Activities

Learners remain silent during the first stage. This does not mean they

are inactive. What they do in this stage is to understand the teacher talk that

focuses on objects in the classroom or on the content of pictures. Students

are only expected to respond to teacher commands without having to say

anything. The purpose of the beginning stage is not to make students perfect

but to help them proceed to the next stage.

When students feel ready to produce speech, the teacher asks

questions and elicits one word answers. This is the second stage where the

teacher asks yes/no questions, either- or questions, and wh-questions that

require single word utterances. Students are not expected to use a word

actively until they have heard it many times. Pictures, charts, advertisements

are utilized to proceed to the third stage where acquisition activities are

emphasized (e.g., group work and whole class discussion).

The Natural Approach instructor uses techniques that are borrowed

from other methods and adapted to meet the requirements of the Natural

Approach theory. Among these techniques are TPR activities of Asher, Direct

Method activities in which gesture and context are used to elicit questions

and answers, and group work activities that are often used in Communicative

Language Teaching. But, what makes the Natural Approach different is that

every specific technique has a theoretical rationale. That is, the Natural

Approach theory is so strong that within its framework classroom activities

can be accounted for. This feature of the Natural Approach makes it superior

to other methods like Communicative Language Teaching which lacks a

sound theory of language learning.

C. Leaner Roles

The language acquirer is regarded as a processor of comprehensible

input. They are challenged by input that is a little beyond their present level

of competence. They are expected to be able to assign meaning to this input

through dynamic use of context and extra linguistic information. Acquirers'

roles, in fact, vary according to their stage of linguistic development. Some of

their roles are to make their own decisions on when to speak, what to speak

about, and what linguistic expressions to use while speaking.

The Natural Approach segments the complex process of second

language acquisition into three basic levels or stages, which are:

1. Preproduction

In the preproduction stage students “participate in the language

activity without having to respond in the target language” (Krashen and

Terrell 1983: 76). For example, students can act out physical commands,

identify student colleagues from teacher description, point to pictures,

and so forth.

2. Early Production

In the early production stage, students respond to either-or

questions, use single words and short phrases, fill in charts, and use fixed

conversational patterns (e.g., How are you? What’s your name?).

3. Speech Emergence

In the speech emergence phase, students involve themselves in

role play and games, contribute personal information and opinions, and

participate in group problem solving.

Learners have four kinds of responsibilities in the Natural Approach

classroom:

1. Provide information about their specific goals so that acquisition

activities can focus on the topics and situations most relevant to their

needs.

2. Take an active role in ensuring comprehensible input. They should learn

and use conversational management techniques to regulate input.

3. Decide when to start producing speech and when to upgrade it.

4. Where learning exercises (i.e., grammar study) are to be a part of the

program, decide with the teacher the relative amount of time to be

devoted to them and perhaps even complete and correct them

independently.

Learners are expected to participate in communication activities with

other learners. Although communication activities are seen to provide

naturalistic practice and to create a sense of camaraderie, which lowers the

affective filter, they may fail to provide learners with well-formed and

comprehensible input at the ‘i+1’ level. Krashen and Terrell warn of these

shortcomings but do not suggest means for their amelioration.

D. Teacher Roles

In Natural Approach, we may speak of three crucial roles for the

teacher, which are:

1. The teacher is the primary source of input that is understandable to the

learner. It is the teacher that attempts to maintain a constant flow of

comprehensible input. If she/he maintains students’ attention on key

lexical items or uses context to help them, the students will ‘naturally’ be

successful.

2. The teacher creates a friendly classroom atmosphere where there is a

low affective filter.

3. The teacher chooses the most effective materials and employs a rich mix

of classroom activities.

E. The Role of Instructional Materials

Materials used in a natural approach classroom aim at making

activities and tasks as meaningful as possible, they foster comprehension and

communication. Authentic materials, like brochures or maps, as well as visual

aids and games are used to facilitate acquisition and to promote

comprehension and real communication.

F. The Role of Grammar

For starters, we must realize that learning does not turn into

acquisition. While the idea that we first learn a grammar rule and then use it

so much that it becomes internalized is common and may seem obvious to

many, it is not supported by theory nor by the observation of second

language acquirers, who often correctly use ‘rules’ they have never been

taught and don't even remember accurately the rules they have learned.

However, there is a place for grammar, or the conscious learning of

the rules of a language. Its major role is in the use of the Monitor, which

allows Monitor users to produce more correct output when they are given

the right conditions to actually use their Monitor, as in some planned speech

and writing. However, for correct Monitor use the users must know the rules

they are applying, and these would need to be rules that are easy to

remember and apply a very small subset of all of the grammatical rules of a

language. It is not worthwhile for language acquisition to teach difficult rules

which are hard to learn, harder to remember, and sometimes almost

impossible to correctly apply.

VII. Technique & Teaching Procedure

The Natural Approach is designed to develop basic communication skills.

The development stages of basic communication skills in Natural Approach are

Preproduction, Early Production, and Speech Emergence. The following are

teaching procedures based on those stages.

A. Preproduction

At this stage, the teacher provides comprehensible input, maintains

focus on the message and helps lower affective filters. This pre-production

stage allows the students an opportunity to begin the acquisition process.

Teacher activities in this stage are:

1. Total Physical Response (TPR). The teacher gives commands to which the

students react with their bodies as well as their brains.

2. Supplying meaningful input based on items in the classroom or brought

to class. (Who has the________? Who is wearing a ________?)

3. Supplying meaningful input based on pictures.

Student Responses in this stage are:

1. An action (TPR).

2. The name of a fellow student (from b., c. above).

3. Gestures

4. Students say yes/no in English.

5. Students point to an item or picture.

6. Children do not initially make many attempts to communicate using

words; rather they indicate their comprehension nonverbally.

B. Early Production

In non-threatening environments, students move voluntarily from

preproduction stage into early production stage. The early production or

early speech stage begins when students begin using English words to give:

a. Yes/no answers

b. One-word answers

c. Lists of words

d. Two word strings and short phrases

The following are instructor question techniques to encourage the

transition from preproduction stage to early speech Stage.

a. Yes/no questions (Is Jimmy wearing a sweater today?)

b. Choice questions (Is this a pencil or an eraser?)

c. Questions which can be answered with a single word. (What does the

woman have in her hand? Where? When? Who?)

d. General questions which encourage lists of words. (What do we see on

the table now?)

e. Open sentence with pause for student response. (Mike is wearing a blue

shirt, but Ron is wearing a _____ shirt.)

During the Early Speech Stage, the instructor must give a meaningful

and understandable input which will encourage the transition to speech

emergence stage. Therefore all student responses should be expanded if

possible. Here is a sample exchange between the teacher and the class:

Instructor : What do we see in this picture?

Class : Woman.

Instructor : Yes, there is a woman in this picture. Is there a man?

Class : Yes.

Instructor : Yes, there is. There is a man and a woman. Where is the

man?

Class : Car.

Other sorts of activities which can be used in Early Speech Stage:

a. Open dialogues

b. Guided interviews

c. Open-ended sentences

d. Charts, tables, graphs

e. Newspaper ads

C. Speech Emergence

In the Speech Emergence Stage, speech production will normally

improve in both quantity and quality. The sentences that the students

produce become longer, more complex and they use a wider range of

vocabulary. Finally, the number of errors will slowly decrease.

Students need to be given the opportunity to use oral and written

language whenever possible. When they reach the stage in which speech is

emerging beyond the two-word stage, there are many sorts of activities

which will foster more comprehension and speech. In general, we may

classify language acquisition activities into four types:

1. Affective-humanistic   activities attempt to involve students’ feelings,

opinions, desires, reactions, ideas, and experiences. Open dialogues,

interviews, reference ranking, personal charts, supplying personal

information, description, etc. are often used to involve students in

communicating information about themselves.

2. Problem-solving   activities are those in which the students’ attention is

focused on finding a correct answer to question, a problem or a situation.

3. Games are the third group of activities. The primary focus of any particular

game is on words, discussion, action, contest, problem solving, and guess.

4. Content activities are the ones whose purpose is for the students to learn

something new other than language. They include slide shows, panels,

individual reports and presentations, ‘show and tell’ activities, music, films,

film scripts, TV reports, news broadcasts, guest lectures, native speaker

visitors, reading and discussion about any sort of the target language and

culture.

VIII. Advantages & disadvantages

A. Advantages

1. Teaching materials are designed very well. Students can acquire

language from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, and from

concrete to abstract.

2. The classroom consists of acquisition activities can be an excellent

environment for beginners.

The Natural Approach is an attempt to simulate in the class an

environment that will be similar to the context in which children acquire

their first language, as they creates utterance to express their own

thoughts.

3. Comprehensible and meaningful practice activities are emphasized.

In the Natural Approach, a focus on comprehension and

meaningful communication as well as the provision of right kind of

comprehensible input provide the necessary and sufficient condition for

successful classroom second and foreign acquisition. It emphasizes

comprehensible and meaningful practice activities, rather than

production of grammatically perfect utterance and sentences. Listening

comprehension is also emphasized.

4. The teacher creates speeches which enable students to interact using

the target language.

5. Students are not force to respond in the target language immediately.

6. Students interact in meaningful situation at their own level.

The Natural Approach classroom contains a teacher whose main

purpose is to create a net of speech, which will enable students to

interact using the target language, and to begin the language acquisition

process. The teacher can provide a large amount of language input

without force the students to responds in the target language

immediately .In the classroom, student also has the advantage of being

able to interact in meaningful situations with other students at or their

own level of competence.

7. The teacher knows students’ needs and concentrates on appropriate and

useful areas.

Another important feature of the classroom is that the teacher is

aware of the specific vocabulary need of the students and can

concentrate on appropriate and using domains. Thus the conclusion is

that while the Real world can provide excellent input for intermediate or

advanced acquires, the classroom consisting of acquires actives can be

an excellent for beginners.

B. Disadvantages

1. The Natural Approach ignores many factors essential in second language

course design. Krashen in his early work appeared not just to ignore but

to view as irrelevant many factors that had previously been considered

essential in second language course design.

2. The techniques recommended by Krashen and Terrell are often

borrowed from other methods and adapted to meet the requirements of

the Natural Approach theory.

3. There is nothing novel about its procedures and techniques within the

framework of a method.

4. Students may use the target language fluently, but they cannot use it

accurately.

5. Teachers should collect various teaching aids and use them

appropriately.

6. There are still many problems in the research method.

Conclusion

History

The Natural Approach was proposed in 1977 by Tracy Terrell and Stephen D.

Krashen.

In 1983, their proposal came out in a book The Natural Approach: Language

Acquisition in the Classroom, which states the principles and practice of the

Natural Approach.

Definition

Natural Approach is one of the language teaching approaches to develop

learner’s ability in using language as a tool for communication by applying the

principles of natural language acquisition into classroom context.

Theory of Language

Communication as the primary function of language; and emphasis on

meaning.

Importance of vocabulary.

Not necessary to analyze grammatical structure; and rules automatically

provided in the input.

Theory of Learning

The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

The Monitor Hypothesis

The Natural Order Hypothesis

The Input Hypothesis

The Affective Filter Hypothesis

Objectives

Natural Approach is primarily designed to develop basic communication

skills both ‘oral and written’ and is designed to help beginners become

intermediates.

Basic Principles

Language is best taught when it is being used to transmit messages.

Speaking is not absolutely essential for language acquisition.

The best way to teach speaking is to focus on listening (and reading) and

spoken fluency will emerge on its own.

Grammar instruction has a limited role.

Vocabulary is essential.

Most of the classroom time is spent on activities which foster acquisition.

There is no demand for early speech production.

Characteristics 

Class time is devoted primarily to providing input for acquisition.

Natural Approach has several implications for classroom practice, which are:

Whatever helps comprehension is important.

Vocabulary is important.

Students must understand the message.

Classroom may be a very good place for second language acquisition.

Effective classroom input must be interesting.

The teacher speaks only the target language in the classroom. Students may

use either the first or second language. If they choose to respond in the second

language, their errors are not corrected unless meaning is affected.

Homework may include formal grammar work, errors are corrected.

Activities may involve the use of a certain structure, but the goals are to

enable students to talk about ideas, perform tasks, and solve problems.

Syllabus

The syllabus of the Natural Approach is topical and situational. The

purpose of a language course will vary according to the needs of the students and

their particular interest.

Types of Learning and Teaching Activities

Learners remain silent during the first stage.

When students feel ready to produce speech, the teacher asks questions and

elicits one word answers.

The Natural Approach instructor uses techniques that are borrowed from

other methods and adapted to meet the requirements of the Natural

Approach theory.

Leaner Roles

The language acquirer is regarded as a processor of comprehensible input.

Learners have four kinds of responsibilities in the Natural Approach classroom:

Provide information about their specific goals so that acquisition activities can

focus on the topics and situations most relevant to their needs.

Take an active role in ensuring comprehensible input. They should learn and

use conversational management techniques to regulate input.

Decide when to start producing speech and when to upgrade it.

Where learning exercises (i.e., grammar study) are to be a part of the program,

decide with the teacher the relative amount of time to be devoted to them

and perhaps even complete and correct them independently.

Teacher roles

The teacher is the primary source of input that is understandable to the

learner.

The teacher creates a friendly classroom atmosphere where there is a low

affective filter.

The teacher chooses the most effective materials and employs a rich mix of

classroom activities.

The Role of Instructional Materials

Materials used in a natural approach classroom aim at making activities

and tasks as meaningful as possible, they foster comprehension and

communication.

The role of Grammar

Its major role is in the use of the Monitor, which allows Monitor users to

produce more correct output when they are given the right conditions to actually

use their Monitor, as in some planned speech and writing.

Technique & Teaching Procedure

Preproduction

Total Physical Response (TPR).

Supplying meaningful input based on items in the classroom or brought to

class.

Supplying meaningful input based on pictures.

Early Production

Yes/no questions

Choice questions

Questions which can be answered with a single word.

General questions which encourage lists of words.

Open sentence with pause for student response.

Other sorts of activities which can be used in Early Speech Stage:

Open dialogues

Guided interviews

Open-ended sentences

Charts, tables, graphs

Newspaper ads

Speech Emergence

Affective-humanistic   activities attempt to involve students’ feelings,

opinions, desires, reactions, ideas, and experiences. Open dialogues,

interviews, reference ranking, personal charts, supplying personal

information, description, etc. are often used to involve students in

communicating information about themselves.

Problem-solving   activities are those in which the students’ attention is

focused on finding a correct answer to question, a problem or a situation.

Games are the third group of activities. The primary focus of any particular

game is on words, discussion, action, contest, problem solving, and guess.

Content activities are the ones whose purpose is for the students to learn

something new other than language. They include slide shows, panels,

individual reports and presentations, “show and tell” activities, music, films,

film scripts, TV reports, news broadcasts, guest lectures, native speaker

visitors, reading and discussion about any sort of the target language and

culture.

Advantages & disadvantages

Advantages

Teaching materials are designed very well.

The classroom consists of acquisition activities can be an excellent

environment for beginners.

Comprehensible and meaningful practice activities are emphasized.

The teacher creates speeches which enable students to interact using the

target language.

Students are not force to respond in the target language immediately.

Students interact in meaningful situation at their own level.

The teacher knows students’ needs and concentrates on appropriate and

useful areas.

Disadvantages

The Natural Approach ignores many factors essential in second language

course design.

The techniques recommended by Krashen and Terrell are often borrowed

from other methods and adapted to meet the requirements of the Natural

Approach theory.

There is nothing novel about its procedures and techniques within the

framework of a method.

Students may use the target language fluently, but they cannot use it

accurately.

Teachers should collect various teaching aids and use them appropriately.

There are still many problems in the research method.

References

Krashen, S. and Terrell, T. 1983. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in

the Classroom. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Richards, J. and Rodgers, T. 1986. Approaches and Methods in Language

Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Krashen, S. 1981.Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning.

Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Terrell, T.D. (1977). "A natural approach to the acquisition and learning of a

language". Modern Language Journal, 61. 325-336.

Krashen, S.D. (1981). Bilingual education and second language acquisition theory.

In Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework. (p.51-

79). California State Department of Education.

Krashen, S.D. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. New York,

Longman.

Krashen, S.D. (1991). The input hypothesis: An update. In James E. Alatis

(ed.) Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1991.

Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 409-431.

Krashen, S.D. (1993a). Teaching issues: Formal grammar instruction. Another

educator comments . . . . TESOL Quarterly, 26, No. 2. 409-411

Krashen, S.D. (1993b). The effect of formal grammar teaching: Still

peripheral. TESOL Quarterly, 26, No.3. 722-725.

Krashen, S.D. & Terrell, T.D. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in

the classroom. London: Prentice Hall Europe.

Ellis, R. (1992). Comprehension and the acquisition of grammatical knowledge in a

second language. In Courchãene, R.J. Comprehension-based second language

teaching. Ottawa : University of Ottawa Press.

Larsen-Freeman, D. & M. Long. 1991. An Introduction to Second Language

Acquisition Research. Longman.