Name : Nur Lianti-TBI 5B (17203153100)

NATURAL APPROACH
Natural approach is one of approaches that are used in teaching language. This
approach was found in 1977 by a Spanish language teacher named Tracy Terrell and
developed together with Stephen Karshen in 1983. Despite of it, this approach is synonymous
with natural method that is based on natural acquisition of language. The theory of this
approach is stated that the focus of Natural Approach is on the communication as the main
function of language. In natural approach, learner will learn language from the vocabularies
first rather than the structure/ the grammatical. The process of learning will be same as the
learner was learning their first language that are listening and speaking. There are several
hypotheses underlying the Natural Approach, those are acquisition hypothesis, monitor
hypothesis, natural order hypothesis, in put hypothesis and affective filter hypothesis. In
acquisition hypothesis, acquisition is something happened naturally and learning conscious
rule. Afterward, in monitor hypothesis, the conscious learning as monitor or also called editor
that checks and repairs the time to apply rule, focuses on form (correctness), and knowledge
of the rule and those are called as acquired system. After that, in natural hypothesis, the
acquisition of grammar processed in a predictable order so that the learning is due by some
steps. Then, in input hypothesis, the input of the leaning is anything that the learners get from
the acquisition whether in written or spoken. The last hypothesis is affective filter; in
affective filter learners’ emotion state may impact the way learner accepting the input of
acquisition, for example; the leaner that have low motivation and get anxiety may get low
input. More over the design of this approach contain of objective, syllabus and learning
activities. The objective of natural approach is depended on what learner need, learner skill
and level being taught. It’s also increase learners’ level in a non-insulting manner. Then, the
syllabus of natural approach is developing the basis communication skill in a natural way
(acquisition) such as listening announcement in public and etc. After that, the learning
activities in natural approach, teacher will start the class by focus on the object, and learners
who are not ready yet is not require saying anything (it can decrease stress level of students).
And then, after the learners are ready the teacher will lead the learning by talking and asking
their students slowly then the students going to answer it using the words teacher ever said
before. Beside it, the student role will change through the change of their level. Then, the
teacher roles are providing comprehensible input, providing interesting atmosphere by
considering the theory of affective filter, selecting and arranging the rich mixture of
classroom activities. Moreover, the role of instructional material is to promote comprehension
and communication (to provide extra linguistic input). Material is from the real world rather
than the textbook. In conclusion, natural approach is an approach that based on acquisition,
so that learner will learn their second language by the same way with their way to learn their
native language. Beside it, in natural approach classroom teacher will minimize the learner
stressful level in order to increase their leaning input. In addition, learning is divided into
some levels and provide learner to reach each level step by step.

Reference: Richard, Jack C. and Theodore S. Rodgers. 2001. Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.