Tracy Dale Terrell (June 23, 1943December 2, 1991) was an American

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

theorist who, along with

Stephen Krashen Stephen D. Krashen (born May 14, 1941) is an American linguist, educational researcher and activist known for developing the input hypothesis, a group of five hypotheses of second-language acquisition. He is Emeritus Professor of Education at the ...

, wrote ''The Natural Approach''. The

natural approach The natural approach is a method of language teaching developed by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Natural Approach has been used in ESL classes as well as foreign language classes for people of all ages ...

is a comprehension-based

language learning Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and ...

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

which emphasizes the idea of exposure and the lowering of affective or emotional barriers to learning. Terrell was a professor at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

Career

Tracy D. Terrell graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

with a Ph.D. in

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and in a comparatively short career of twenty-two years became one of the most important American Hispanists and theoretical linguists. He taught at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

from 1970 until 1985 when he accepted a position in the linguistics department at the University of California, San Diego. He retired in 1989, finally succumbing to

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

in 1991. He is credited along with

with the development of the “Natural Approach” to second language learning, now a widely utilized method of teaching second languages. In addition, he is widely respected for his work in Hispanic linguistics. Dr. Terrell was fluent in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, Portuguese, and

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

—for which he had a special affection.

Partial bibliography

*''The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom'', Hayward, CA : Alemany Press, 1983. *''Dos Mundos'', Spanish language textbook, McGraw-Hill *''Deux Mondes'', French language textbook, McGraw-Hill *''Kontakte'', German language textbook, McGraw-Hill *''Bravo'', Spanish language textbook, Glencoe (McGraw-Hill)

Journal articles

*Terrell, T. D. (1980). A Natural Approach to the Teaching of Verb Forms and Function in Spanish. Foreign Language Annals, 13(2), 129-136. *Krashen, S. D., Terrell, T. D., Ehrman, M. E., & Herzog, M. (1984). A Theoretical Basis for Teaching the Receptive Skills. Foreign Language Annals, 17(4), 261–275. *Terrell, T. D. (1977). A Natural Approach to Second Language Acquisition and Learning1. The Modern Language Journal, 61(7), 325–337.

References

1943 births 1991 deaths American education writers Bilingualism and second-language acquisition researchers University of California, Irvine faculty University of California, San Diego faculty University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni 20th-century American linguists {{US-linguist-stub