Natural Approach

The Natural Approach is a language teaching method developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen, published in The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom (1983). It represents the practical classroom application of Krashen's Monitor Model hypotheses, particularly the centrality of comprehensible input (i+1) and the distinction between acquisition and learning.

Core Principles

• Language is acquired through exposure to meaningful, comprehensible input: not through explicit grammar instruction or error correction.
• Speech production is never forced; it emerges naturally when learners have received sufficient input.
• The Affective Filter must be kept low: anxiety, boredom, and self-consciousness impede acquisition.
• Grammar instruction has a limited role, useful only as a conscious "monitor" for self-editing.

Stages of Production

Krashen and Terrell identify four developmental stages:

1. Pre-production (Silent Period): Learners listen and respond through gestures, pointing, or yes/no. Total Physical Response techniques are used extensively here.
2. Early production: One-word or short-phrase responses. Either/or and simple wh- questions dominate.
3. Speech emergence: Longer phrases and sentences; role-plays, problem-solving, and guided discussion become possible.
4. Intermediate fluency: Extended discourse and conversation, though errors persist.

Classroom Techniques

Activities prioritise meaning over form: Total Physical Response, picture-based storytelling, dialogues, charts, maps, and games that generate comprehensible input. Explicit error correction is avoided because it is seen as raising the affective filter without contributing to acquisition.

Criticisms

The Natural Approach has been critiqued for overreliance on input at the expense of output, for undervaluing the role of explicit grammar instruction (challenged by Focus on Form research), and for vagueness about how i+1 is operationalised in practice.