THE NATURAL APPROACH VS. DIRECT METHOD
Principles:
Principles
within the Natural Approach and the Direct Method are very complex, I’ll give
you a little comparison of all of them.
Natural
Approach:
The
acquisition/learning hypothesis.
This
hypotheses talks about the two ways of getting information, the acquisition which
is the spontaneous way of getting information and the learning which is the way
the we learn in a conscious stage.
Direct
Method:
Students
learned sequences of strictly-chosen grammatical phrases by listening and
repetition.
This
principle tells us that students do not acquire knowledge, they strictly learn
it y repeating unlike the acquisition/learning hypotheses that besides of
learning, the students also acquire knowledge smoothly.
Natural Approach:
The Monitor Hypotheses.
This hypotheses
implies that the conscious learning monitors or checks everything that is being
learned and analyses every single piece of knowledge for a better understanding
or use from the student.
Direct
Method:
Classes was
developed by using abstract vocabulary.
Using an
abstract vocabulary implies that students must have a high level of
understanding unlike natural approach where knowledge arrives naturally is not
necessary to have a lot of abstract understanding of things.
Natural
Approach:
Natural
Order Hypotheses.
Everything
in life has an order and also in learning there’s a natural way for learning.
Especially
when learning a second language, order is a crucial element for its complete
understanding.
Direct
Method:
Grammar is
taught inductively.
Grammar is
fundamental in the second language learning, it is a rule to learn at least the
basic grammar rules for a good learning.
Natural
Approach:
Input
Hypotheses.
This
hypotheses refers that learners will be able to have a good or excellent
learning IF the information they receive is comprehensible and adequate for
their level. That way they improve and progress along the second or new
language.
Direct
Method:
No
translation is allowed.
If a
learner wants to be prepared for a new language then not translating is very
important.
If translation
is allowed then some of the learners might get accustomed to translate every
single thing they listen or write and that is a mistake if they don’t know
basic grammar rules, because translation is not completely accurate, for
example, some things may have only a meaning in Spanish and others only in English.
Natural
Approach:
The
Affective Filter Hypotheses.
This
hypotheses implies that the emotional status of the learner can block or only
allow the kind of knowledge that he/she needs, not letting another useless
knowledge or information pass into the important data. This works as a firewall
in computer systems, not letting bad or malicious information entering the
system.
Direct
Method:
Teaching
speech was taught by listening comprehension.
Speeches
are easier to develop to students while they listen to other people’s
conversations, they get information and develop their hearing, and Listening Comprehension
helps students to gain confidence for their own speeches practices.
As you can
see every principle of each method has its strong and weak points, that’s why
different methods were created so one can fulfill other’s work.
Advantages
and Disadvantages:
Natural
Approach
Advantages
-
This
method is very easy
-
Reliable
as it’s widely used
-
There’s
no grammar instruction in this method
Disadvantages
-
It
takes long time and learner can do only elementary things
-
It
does not suit for those who do not have much time
-
The
method rarely concerns about correctness
Direct
Method
Advantages
-
This
method introduces the use of teaching vocabulary using regalia which is stills
used today when teaching English to speakers of other language.
Disadvantages
-
The
big disadvantage of this method is that pretend that the second language is
learn exactly the same way as the first. Second language acquisitions varies
considerably from first language acquisitions.
When we
talk about advantages and disadvantages we have some differences, Natural
Approach does not tend to make the second language to be learnt perfectly as
direct method does, Natural Approach is based on spontaneous learning, not
perfection.
Student’s
Roles:
Natural
Approach
-
Provide
information about their specific goals.
-
Decide
when to produce speech and when to upgrade it.
Direct
Method
-
The
learner’s role is to communicate in realistic conditions of the target
language.
The student
or learner’s role in both methods implies a goal, this goals differentiate from
each approach in certain ways.
In the
Natural Approach the students provides his/her personal goals, specific personal
goals unlike the Direct Method, here the student has to achieve an specific
goal from that method that is to communicate in real conversations with native
speakers lets say…
As you can
see, both methods are very important because they complement each other,
Natural Approach and Direct Method, Silent Way and Suggestopedia, TPR and CLL,
etc. They all develop abilities in students and help teachers in their task,
making students learn a new language…
THANK YOU
FOR READING J
