Tracy D. Terrell graduated from the
University of Texas at Austin with a Ph.D. in
linguistics 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 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 in 1991. He is credited along with
Stephen Krashen 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,
French,
German,
Italian,
Portuguese, and
Dutch—for which he had a special affection. ==Partial bibliography==