The Natural Approach As Seen in Historical Context

1
The Natural Approach As Seen in Historical
Context

• Foreign Language Pedagogy
• Akemi Morioka

2
Introduction

• The paper will examine the significance of the
  Natural Approach in the history of foreign
  language education, both from the aspects of
  political context and theoretical background.
• It will review why the Natural Approach was
  received enthusiastically at the time it was
  introduced, address issues debated over time, and
  finally seek an alternative approach.

3
Significance of FL Education in the US and
California

• "To continue to compete successfully in the
  global economy and to maintain our role as a
  world leader, the United States needs to ensure
  that its citizens develop a broad understanding
  of the world, proficiency in other languages, and
  knowledge of other cultures. America's leadership
  also depends on building ties with those who will
  guide the political, cultural, and economic
  development of their countries in the future. A
  coherent and coordinated international education
  strategy will help us meet the twin challenges of
  preparing our citizens for a global environment
  while continuing to attract and educate future
  leaders from abroad." (President William J.
  Clinton, Memorandum of April 19, 2000)

4
Significance of FL Education in the US
California(continued)

• Vision Statement of ACTFL (American Council on
  Teaching of Foreign Language)
• All Americans should be proficient in at
  least one language and culture in addition to
  English.
• The 2002 Master Plan for Education in the State
  of California establish a foundation for
  future mastery of a second language by the end
  of elementary school, and attainment of oral
  proficiency and full literacy in both English
  and at least one other language by the end of
  secondary school.
• A core academic subject under NCLB Act.

5
Historical Incidents and Foreign Policies

• 1942 Army Special Training Program to train
  linguists for service in World War II
• 1957 Sputnik launch-off
• 1958 Title VI of the National Defense and
  Education Act
• 1983 Nation at Risk
• 1991 The National Security Education Act
• 2001 Promoting Foreign Language Education, Title
  III of the Homeland Security Education Act

6
History of Language Learning Theories and
Approaches

• The grammar-translation method ( 18th, 19th and
  early 20th century)
• The Audiolingual Method (ALM) very popular from
  the 1940s through the 1960s, is based on
  structural linguistics (structuralism) and
  behavioristic psychology (Skinner's behaviorism).
• Beginning in the 1950s, Noam Chomsky language
  is creative (not memorized), and rule- governed
  (not based on habit), and universal phenomena
  of the human mind underlie all language. Lead a
  paradigm shift from behaviorist/ empiricist view
  to rationalist view.

7
Natural Approach and Krashens 5 Hypotheses

• In 1977, Tracy Terrell, an Associate Professor of
  Spanish and Linguistics at UC Irvine at that
  time, published an article in the Modern Language
  Journal entitled "A Natural Approach to Second
  Language Acquisition and Learning." Stephen
  Krashen, currently at the University of Southern
  California, later collaborated with Terrell on
  the book The Natural Approach (1983). The
  Natural Approach developed by Terrell and Krashen
  came to exert a heavy influence on language
  teaching in the United States and around the
  world.

8
Key Words of the Natural Approach besides
Krashens Hypotheses

• Communicative competence
• Meaningful message
• Learner-centered
• Speech emerges

9
Natural Approach and Krashens 5 Hypotheses
(Continued)

• 1) Language acquisition (an unconscious process
  developed through using language meaningfully) is
  different from language learning (consciously
  learning or discovering rules about a language)
  and language acquisition is the only way
  competence in a second language can develop.
  (The Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis)
• 2) Conscious learning operates only as a monitor
  or editor that checks or repairs the output of
  what has been acquired. (The Monitor Hypothesis)

10
Natural Approach and Krashens 5 Hypotheses
(Continues)

• 3) Grammatical structures are acquired in a
  predictable order and it does little good to try
  to learn them in another order. (The Natural
  Order Hypothesis).
• 4) People acquire language best from messages
  that are just slightly beyond their current
  competence. i1 (The Input Hypothesis)
• 5) The learner's emotional state can act as a
  filter that impedes or blocks input necessary for
  language acquisition. (The Affective Filter
  Hypothesis)

11
Theoretical Support for Natural Approach and
Krashens Monitor Hypothesis

• Chomsky
• Generativism
• A paradigm shift from the behaviorist/empiricist
  view to the rationalist view.
• Vygotsky
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
• Cognitive approach
• Social interaction

12
Natural Approach Movement

• The Natural Approach, followed by development of
  Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), resulted
  in less-structured and more natural,
  communicative and experimental approaches and
  pointed to the importance of early real-world
  human interaction in foreign language learning.

13
The Debate over CLT the Natural Approach

• Kramsch(2002) Language should be looked at not
  just as a communication tool but as social
  semiotic praxis, i.e., language as social
  practice, or simplistically, the manner in which
  humans make meaning about themselves through
  language. (this is in distinct contrast to the
  previously-held Chomsky-ian view of language as a
  closed linguistic system.)
• Liddicoat(1999) Although CLT endeavored to
  teach about communication in a foreign language,
  it failed to lead learners to intercultural
  understanding, tolerance and harmony between
  different cultures.

14
Need for Alternatives Content-based
Instruction (CBI)

• Integrate language and content
• Lends itself to various theories, such as that of
  Vygotsky, Krashen and Kramsch, and achieves
  beyond CLT
• Fosters Intercultural Competence
• Facilitates critical thinking

15
Social Divide/Social Fault Line

• FL Ed in the US has been impacted by governmental
  policies originated by historical incidents, and
  educational theories in general. It reveals a
  profound and troubling change in our conception
  of national community. The notion of nationality
  has gradually shifted from political institutions
  to cultural communities and commonalities as it
  is observed in the trend of FL Ed theories.
• FL Ed that fosters the students language and
  cultural competence is not only a key for
  broadening the students perspectives of the
  world community, but also a key for bridging the
  distance among linguistically- and
  culturally-diverse students, families and
  schools.
• It is crucial to promote FL Ed in American public
  schools in order to facilitate intercultural
  competence among students who especially live in
  multi-cultural communities.

16
Conclusion

• I feel that the most revolutionary shift in the
  history of foreign language education in the US
  was brought about by the genesis of the Natural
  Approach. Reflecting the cognitive psychology and
  humanistic approach prominent in the field of
  education at that time, the Natural Approach
  shifted the culture of the language classroom 180
  degrees and brought a sense of community to the
  students by their sharing of the experience of
  learning the same language together.

17
Conclusion (continued)

• Foreign language learning constitutes a life
  experience for children and students alike, that
  is no less important than the study of any other
  school subject. Furthermore, when compared to
  some school subjects, such as math or physics,
  language learning can be considered as
  psychologically more closely related to ones
  social identity. For example, whether in a public
  or private situation, both the content and style
  of ones utterances reflects ones feelings at
  the moment, personality, gender, socioeconomic
  status, etc. We can say that the humanistic
  aspect of the Natural Approach has contributed to
  making the language classroom a place where
  students are able to express themselves
  comfortably.