Natural Approach Essay

441 Words2 Pages
The Natural Approach The Natural Approach was developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen, starting in 1977. The natural approach shares many features with the direct method. Both the natural approach and the direct method are based on the idea of enabling naturalistic language acquisition in the language classroom. They differ in that the natural approach puts less emphasis on practice and more on exposure to language input and on reducing learners' anxiety. Principles: 1. In the Natural Approach the teacher speaks only the target language and class time is committed to providing input for acquisition. 2. Comprehensible input is presented in the target language, using techniques such as TPR, mime and gesture. 3. Learners start to talk when they are ready. 4. Specific objectives depend on learners’ needs, skills and level. 5. No importance of error correction, drilling or conscious learning of grammar rules. 6. Visual aids are. essential. 7. The essence of language is meaning. Vocabulary (not grammar) is the heart of language. 8. Grammatical structures are acquired in a predictable order. 9. Students can use both the target language and their first language 10. Group techniques are similar to Communicative Language Teaching. Stages of the approach: 1. Preproduction 2. Early production 3. Speech emergence Students’ roles: 1. Students’ roles change according to their stage of linguistic development. Learner takes decisions on when to speak, what to speak about and what linguistic expressions to use. 2. In the preproduction stage students participate in the language actively without having to respond in the target language. 3. In the early-production stage students use single words, short phrases, they fill in charts and use fixed conversational patterns. 4. In the speech emergent phrase, students
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