Tracy D. Terrell

Tracy Dale (David) Terrell (June 23, 1943 – December 2, 1991) was an American professor, linguist and education theorist who wrote The Natural Approach along with Stephen Krashen. The Natural Approach is a way of teaching language, or methodology. In this methodology, learners should be exposed to a lot of language. The approach also says that lowering effective or emotional barriers to learning is important. He published textbooks for college level languages. Dos Mundos Spanish, Deux Monde French, and Kontakte German based on Natural Approach theory.

Career

Tracy D. Terrell graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a PhD in linguistics. He became an important American Hispanist and theoretical linguist. He taught at the University of California, Irvine from 1970 until 1985. Then, he took a job in the linguistics department at the at the University of California, San Diego. He retired in 1989, and finally died of AIDS in 1991. Along with Stephen Krashen, he developed the “Natural Approach” to second language learning. This was a popular way of teaching second languages. He was also well known and respected for his work in Hispanic linguistics. Dr. Terrell was fluent in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch Greek

Some books

• 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.