The ULAT respects the following methodology, approximating the natural way by which one learns one's native language :

1. Natural Language Arts Skills Sequence- The ULAT respects and simulates the natural means by which a person learned his native language - from listening to speaking and then, much later, to reading and then writing.

2. Vocabulary Presented with a Visual Context - The ULAT presents the learner with the most essential vocabulary in a visual manner (moving image or still image) at the same time that he hears the corresponding word or expression, simulating the observation and listening stage of language learning.

3. The Use of Gestures - The ULAT requires the learner to repeat the word and simultaneously to perform a gesture, much like sign language, symbolizing that word's meaning. The gestures have many advantages. They correspond very neatly to the participatory stage of language learning. In this stage, the learner enters into the activity or concept in some way, either through a motor activity (opening, picking up, turning on a machine, etc.) or through his senses (smells, tastes, sounds, tactile sensations, sights). Without participation in the activity or concept, vocabulary retention is very brief and, indeed, comprehension of the word's actual meaning is likely to be impaired. For example, if he has never experienced one, talk to a very small child about an elevator and he will look confused. Let him enter one a couple of times and experience the sensation of ascending and descending, and he will not forget the word "elevator".

4. The Use of Still Symbolic Images - For the representation of actions (verbs), after the moving image has been seen depicting the action, the ULAT introduces the key still image from the moving sequence - the one which best symbolizes the action. This is what we do internally, through "symbolization" when we speak, write or read of an action we have observed. Take the act of skiing, for example. First, we view a person skiing down a slope, from initially pushing off at the top of the run to twisting to a complete stop at the bottom. Thereafter, when referring to skiing, we internally call up a still symbolic image of that activity, probably one of the skier in full descent as he flashed by us. If we did not do this, but rather mentally replayed the entire moving image before we spoke, we would express ourselves or comprehend printed text in a truly ponderous fashion!

5. Building Learner Confidence - The ULAT intentionally gives no greater attention to irregular aspects of a language than to the regular ones. Too great an emphasis on the irregular aspects of a language gives the learner the impression that the language is illogical and that its mastery is beyond his grasp. Typically, world language textbooks, in an ill-advised attempt to provide supplementary reinforcement of irregular aspects of a language, give greatest attention to the exceptional than to the normative elements. The ULAT gives proportionate attention to that which is irregular, no more than the frequency of such elements in everyday usage would justify.

6. The Rejection of Translation - With the possible exception of during the most elementary reading activities, the ULAT will NEVER provide a translation of a word's or expression's meaning. Translation is the easy way out for an instructor, and the comfortable way for the learner who does not like to live with temporary imprecision of understanding, but it deals an absolutely fatal blow to the learner's long-term goal of attaining fluency. Translation creates a mental bridge, often more inexact than the learner realizes, between the second language and the learner's native language, a bridge which the learner will mentally have to cross each time he needs to refer to that word in the new language.

   The use of such an unfortunate technique causes the language learner to express himself in an undesirable and unnatural 3-step process. First, he has a mental image of the concept he wants to convey. Secondly, he assigns words from his native language to that mental image. Finally, he translates those words to what he considers their equivalents in the second language. The result is stilted, slow speech and, often embarrassingly inaccurate communication. The ULAT cultivates a 2-step mental process in the learner, just like the one we employ in speaking our native language, going directly from the level of mental image to the target language.

7. The Use of Symbolic Directions - Providing the student with too many instructions in his native language has the effect of ripping the learner out of the mindset of the target language he is trying to learn. Attaining a mindset as devoid as possible of one's native language is very desirable and not a thing to be casually sacrificed. Therefore, the ULAT uses symbolic directions (images) representing frequently used instructions, such as the image of a parrot to symbolize "Repeat!". These symbols are all explained in the ULAT's first lesson (1.1).

   *The term "relative" oral fluency refers to fluency (spontaneous speech attaining a rate of approximately 10 complete sentences per minute) within the limited scope of the student's active vocabulary. As a measuring stick, the student should have an active vocabulary of at least 500 words and be able to express himself at the aforementioned rate of speech before reading and then writing are introduced.