 Natural Approach is a language teaching method which is based on the assumption that learning a foreign language must follow the same patterns as the learning process of the native language. The Natural Approach was developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen in 1977. It had a big impact on the language teaching process in the US and around the world. The Natural Approach method is close to the Total Physical Response, for both methods of teaching language emphasize the necessity of exposing the learner to hearing and understanding the language before requiring the learner to speak. The skills are taught in the natural order of acquisition: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Theoretical foundations of the Natural Approach are based on the following hypotheses:
• The acquisition/learning hypothesis according to which language acquisition is opposed to the language learning, the former being the unconscious process, which occurs when we use the language meaningfully, and the latter representing itself through conscious learning the language or the rules about the language. According to this hypothesis, a second language competence develops only through language acquisition.
• The monitor hypothesis which states that conscious learning performs only the functions of a monitor or editor that check for the mistakes of the information already acquired.
• The natural order hypothesis which declares the acquisition of grammatical structures occurs only in a predictable order and it is almost useless to try to learn them in another order.
• The input hypothesis suggests that people acquire language best that is only partially unfamiliar to them or that is connected in some way with their daily activities and interests.
• The effective filter hypothesis, according to which people emotional state can perform functions of a so-called filter that either hinders or passes language and content needed to acquisition.
Natural Approach in the Classroom
In the classroom where Natural Approach is used, students listen to the teacher communicating in the target language from the very beginning. They are, however, allowed during the first stages of language acquisition to use their mother tongue along with the target language. One more peculiarity of the early stages of applying the Natural Approach in the classroom is that students are rarely corrected when they orally express themselves because the meaning is more important than the form.
There exist three generic stages identified in this approach:
1. Preproduction – the stage at which listening skills are being developed.
2. Early Production – the stage during which students are challenged to use the language orally and are corrected only when the mistakes hinder the content of the message.
3. Extending Production – the stage at which students develop their fluency through various activities.
The Natural Approach has receive plenty of criticism, including the accusations of the children being unable to comprehend the target language and having troubles expressing themselves when they feel they want to speak up their mind. It might be also difficult to manage such a class, where different students start to speak the language at different times depending on their personal capacity and skills. However, there are also certain positive techniques used as a part of this approach. Thus, students are surrounded many hours a day by the target language, which fosters the new language learning. Students are also involved in natural communicative interactions, which helps to acquire much useful vocabulary and structures which can be used in real-life situations. The learners usually communicate with several different native speakers, which helps them in future better recognize and understand the variety of accents.
Natural Approach led to the generally accepted norm for effective language teaching: Communicative Language Teaching.
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