Natural Method             

 

Developed by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell in USA in 1977

 

1.       goal: basic interpersonal communication skills (conversations, shopping, listening to the radio etc.)

2.       a great deal of communication and acquisition should take place,

3.       comprehensible input: essential for triggering the acquisition of language

4.       language acquisition: natural, unconscious process developed through using the target language meaningfully

5.       meaningful exposition: listening to foreign language utterances, general message should be understandable because of a comprehensible situation

6.       delay of oral production (silent period): learners start to talk when they feel they are ready

7.       teacher:

a)   provides comprehensible input - teacher's language is understandable or just a little beyond the learners' level

b)   the creator of an interesting and stimulating variety of classroom activities (games, commands, skits, small-group work)

c)   creates friendly classroom atmosphere

8.       input is presented in the target language, using techniques such as TPR, mimic, gesture

9.       learner: should be as relaxed as possible, stress should be eliminated, positive emotions cause unconsciousang and spontaneous language acquisition

10.   errors: are not corrected, teacher repeatedly gives correct forms

11.   drawbacks:                                                                                                             

a)  sometimes the delay of oral production is pushed too far - an early stage is important for the teacher to step in and encourage students to talk                

b)  over-reliance on the role of input at the expense of the stimulation of output

12.   communicative syllabus

13.   important role of listening skills: designed to help beginners become intermediate, also good for adults with inhibition

tenets:

1.       the acquisition/learning hypothesis (learning - a conscious process of discovering rules about a language in artificial surroundings)

2.       The monitor hypothesis - conscious learning operates only as a monitor or editor that checks or repairs the output of what has been acquired, the monitor controls how much input is converted into intake (intake - what students really receive)

3.       The natural order hypothesis - grammatical structures are acquired in a predictable order and it does little good to try to learn them in another order

4.       The input hypothesis - people acquire language best from messages that are just slightly beyond their current competence

5.       The affective filter hypothesis - the learner’s emotional state acts as a filter that impedes or blocks input necessary to acquire the  target language

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