The Natural Approach and Second Language Acquisition

In 1983, Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen proposed a new philosophy of language teaching and learning in their book The Natural Approach.

Terrell and Krashen second language theory became well known in the United States and around the world which has great impact on all areas of second language.

The Natural Approach principles descend from the communicative approach because it views communication as the primary function of language. Terrell and Krashen believe that second language learners should learn the way they acquired their native language which means not focusing on mastering language structures but on using the language and improving communicative skills.

This means that language acquisition takes place if language acquirers are exposed to sufficient meaningful messages in the target language.  The Natural Approach is based on five main hypotheses; the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis, the Monitor hypothesis, the Natural Order hypothesis, the Input hypothesis, and the Affective Filter hypothesis.

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