Which method is known as the natural method?

Language-teaching methods differ chiefly in whether meaning is delivered through the mother tongue (via translation or explicit grammar explanation) or through direct association with objects, actions, and situations in the target language itself, the way an infant acquires its first language without any translation step.

The Direct method teaches by demonstration, gesture, and situational context in the target language itself, deliberately avoiding the mother tongue and formal grammar explanation, the same way a child naturally acquires speech before ever learning grammar rules explicitly. Because it reproduces this unmediated, acquisition-like process, this approach is termed the natural method.

• The grammar-translation method teaches by explaining grammar rules explicitly in the mother tongue and having learners translate practice passages, so mastery is judged by rule application and translation accuracy.

• The translation method has learners render target-language text word-for-word into the mother tongue, so comprehension quality depends on how accurately that rendering is produced.

• The bilingual method, associated with C. J. Dodson, pairs each target-language expression with a fixed mother-tongue equivalent, teaching meaning through matched bilingual pairs.

The Direct method reproduces first-language acquisition through situational demonstration without any mother-tongue step; this unmediated, acquisition-like teaching process is what earns it the name natural method.