Firstly, the Natural Approach underlies the methodology of one of our coursebooks,

Amanda and Friends. Having a good understanding of the approach used in the
coursebook will allow us to make sense of the syllabus, the materials and learning
sequence, and this help to enhance our teaching experience.
As the teaching trend has shifted from grammar-based learning toward those called
communicative such as CLT, TBLT and so on. this approach aligns well with these
new trends.

This approach views language as a vehicle for communicating meanings and

messages. Its basic aim is to focus on developing communicative skills. This means
that it pays attention to the use of certain activities that make the process of learning
the language easier, such as content activities, activities based on personalizing
language, games and problem-solving activities. The focus is more on acquisition,
which means the way learners acquire the language naturally and gradually.
Lastly, the Natural Approach has been proven to be effective, especially for beginner
levels, such as primary and secondary students. This range of age are also the target
students of English House Kids. Thus, it is important to us to get to know teaching
approaches that are suggested to be beneficial to your target students.
Before we start, there are a few heads-ups to keep in mind. Firstly, feel free to ask
questions, however, due to time limitations, please save them for the Q&A sessions at
the end. Secondly, we'll just tap into the basics and key features of the Natural
Approach. If you find this approach interesting and would love to have more in-depth
information, I have created a reference list at the end of the slide. Lastly, as mentioned
before, I hope this workshop will be a good opportunity for us to bond both
academically and personally, outside of the class. That's why I didn't make it too
academic and lecture-like, but instead a project where we work together, discuss and
share our opinions. Your active engagement and participation in the workshop
activities is welcome and appreciated.
When you first see the word “natural”, what comes to your mind? (ask other members
to share their ideas)
Yes, as the word itself suggests, the term “natural” in natural approach refers to things
that are made naturally, without human impacts. This approach focuses on the
acquisition of basic language skills in a naturalistic manner in a class setting. To put it
simply, this approach tries to mirror the way students learn their 1st language. In this
sense, the spoken form was taught before the written form. This is based on research
findings of second language acquisition, that is L1 is quite similar to L2, especially at
the early stages.
Let's talk briefly about the father of this approach. That is Tracy Terrell, a Spanish
instructor who came up with a new teaching philosophy that place a great focus on a
naturalistic settting. And Stephen Krashen, one you may hear or see a lot when you
read about Second Language Acquisition. He's also famous for Input Hypothesis,
which we'll tap into later.
Although both of them emphasis on making foreign language learning experiences
similar to first language learning in children, there are some major differences.
To make it easier to understand this approach, let's take the way a child learn to
speak their 1st language for example. Do you still remember the way that your
parents used to talk to you?
OK, now take a look at the slide, which of the two ways is better to introduce
something to a child? Yes, obviously the 1st one, because the language is often
simple with lots of repetition to help the child comprehend. In this example, you can
see that context and visual cues are also used to support understanding. This is
called“caretaker speech”or comprehensible input. This is also the first and most
important principles of the Natural Approach, providing sufficient comprehensible
input for a learner to help them naturally and gradually develop their acquisition.
What is comprehensible input? It is the input that is not too difficult or too easy. It
should contain vocabulary and structure at a slightly higher level than what they
already understand. The slightly higher level of challenge is necessary for the learners
to try a little harder, provide them with clear context of how the language is used, and
interpret new linguistic concepts. This is also important because the context of the
input provides clues to maintain the integrity of the message. Therefore, it is believed
that growth in language occurs when learners receive comprehensible input.
Where can we find this source of comprehensible input? First, teacher talk was the
major source of comprehensible input as we can adjust the level of difficulty by using
gestures, mimes, and repetition of the keywords. Plus, it can come from other one-
way sources such as songs, stories, reading texts, and more.
Moreover, it can also come from two-way sources such as interactional contexts
where students need to negotiate for meaning.
Before we move into more detail, let's take part in the some role-play activities used in
the Natural Approach classroom to learn about other characteristics and key
principles. Now can you please tell me what teaching techniques that the teacher
uses in this teaching situation? That's mime, direct repetition and context to ensure
comprehension. This is closely related to other teaching approaches. Can you guess?
That's appropriate gestures in TPR (Total Physical Responses), and repetition in
Direct Method.
So from this, we can say that techniques that are used in the Natural Approach are
usually borrowed from the other methods as long as it's compatible with the principles
of the Natural Approach.
From the previous example, you can see that the student is not forced speak until they
felt ready to. The student also resorts to using L1, but that's acceptable as long as it
demonstrates their comprehension of the concept of time.
All of the activities from the previous excerpt aim at the learners' acquisition. To be
able to perform the given commands, the students need to understand whether
there's a woman or something red in the picture. This is a clear example of second
language acquisition. This process of production starts from non-verb responses and
eventually leads to the production of short phrases and longer sentences.
Why you wonder, if the focus is on acquisiton and meaning, where's place for
grammar? Teacher can include a grammatical element, but won't teach it as grammar.
The focus is on correct usage, not on knowledge of the grammar. Thus, learners are
not expected to use late acquired structures in the early phases of language
acquisition. While the main focus is on conveying messages by using the target
language effectively, this does not mean that grammatical accuracy will not receive
any attention at all.
The approach is based on three stages of language development: preproduction
(comprehension), early production, and emergence of speech.
In the last stage, the approach quite similar to TBLT in this sense (with more focus on
comprehension than production).