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Suggestopedia

Suggestopedia is a teaching method which is based on a modern


understanding of how the human brain works and how we learn most
effectively. It was developed by the Bulgarian doctor and psychotherapist
Georgi Lozanov. The term 'Suggestopedia', derived from suggestion and
pedagogy, is often used loosely to refer to similar accelerated
learning approaches.
Suggestopedia was originally applied mainly in foreign language teaching, and
it is often claimed that it can teach languages approximately three times as
quickly as conventional methods. It is now applied in several other fields, and its
central ideas inspired the development of my own Brainware workshops.
Like Community Language Learning and the Silent Way Method,
Suggestopedia is an innovative method that promises great effective language
learning results.
The name of Suggestopedia is from the words suggestion and pedagogy.
It is a set of learning recommendations derived from Suggestology, which
Lozanov describes as a science concerned with systematic study of the
nonrational and/or non-conscience influences that human beings are
constantly responding to.
Objectives:
The objectives are to deliver advanced conversational proficiency quickly. It
bases its learning claims on student mastery of prodigious lists of vocabulary
pairs and, indeed, suggests to the students that it is appropriate that they set
such goals for themselves. Lozanov emphasizes, however, that increased
memory power is not an isolated skill but is a result of positive, comprehensive
stimulation of personality. (Lozanov 1978: 253).

The main features of suggestopedia are:


The use of music to relax learners.
The furniture, decoration and the arrangement of the classroom.
Teachers authority. The teacher plays a central role and he/she is the
source of all information.
The arrangements and the physical atmosphere in the classroom are paramount for
making sure that the students feel comfortable and confident. The use of various
techniques including art and music, are used by the trained teachers.
In the beginning, the lesson based on Suggestopedia used to consist of three
phases: deciphering, concert session (memorization sance), and elaboration.
1. Later, it has developed into four phases as lots of experiments were done:
introduction, concert session, elaboration, and production.
2. Introduction: The teacher teaches the material in a playful manner instead
of analyzing Lexis and grammar of the text in a directive manner.
3. Concert session (active and passive): in the active session, the teacher
reads with special intonation as selected music is played. Occasionally, the
students read the text together with the teacher, and listen only to the music
as the teacher pauses in particular moments. The passive session is done
more calmly.
4. Elaboration: The students sing classical songs and play games while the
teacher acts more like a consultant
5. Production: The students spontaneously speak and interact in the target
language without interruption or correction.
This technique is based upon the idea that we perceive much more in our
environment than that to which we consciously attend. It is claimed that, by putting
posters containing grammatical information about the target language on the
classroom walls, students will absorb the necessary facts effortlessly.

Key Features of Suggestopedia


Comfortable environment
In suggestopedia method, the classroom is not the same as common
classrooms. In the classroom, the chairs are arranged semicircle and faced the
black or white board in order to make the students pay more attention and get
more relaxed. In addition, the light in the classroom is dim in order to make the
students mind more relaxed (Xue, 2005).
The use of music
One of the most uniqueness of this method is the use of Baroque music during
the learning process. Baroque music, with its 60 beats per minute and its
specific rhythm, created the kind of relaxed states of mind for maximum
retention of material. It is believed that Baroque music creates a level of relaxed
concentration that facilitates the intput and retention of huge quantities of
materials. Baroque music helps the students to reach a certain state of
relaxation, in which the receptivity is increased (Radle, 2008). The increasing of
learning potential is put down to the increase of alpha brain and decreasing of
blood preasure and heart rate. The use of music also depends on the expected
skill of the students: listening, grammar, pronunciation, discussion, etc.
Peripheral Learning
The students learn English not only from direct instruction but also from indirect
instruction. It is encouraged through the presence in the learning environment of
posters and decoration featuring the target language and various grammatical
information. They are changed every day. By doing this, the students can learn
many things undirectly in the classroom or outside classroom. For example,
students can produce simple sentence by using the posters or grammatical
information on the wall.
Free Errors
In the teaching learning process, students who make mistakes are tolerated, for
example in pronouncing the word. The emphasis is on the content not the
structure. Grammar and vocabularies are presented and given treatment from
the teachers, but not dwelt on.
Homework is limited
Students reread materials given in the classroom once before they go to sleep
at night and once in the morning before they get up.

Teachers Roles
Teacher should create situations in which learners are most suggestible and
then to present linguistic material in a way most likely to encourage positive
reception and retention by learners. Lozanov lists several expected teacher
behaviors as follows:
Show absolute confidence in the method.
Display fastidious conduct in manners and dress.
Organize properly, and strictly observe the initial stages of the teaching
processthis includes choice and play of music, as well as punctuality.
Maintain a solemn attitude towards the session.
Give tests and respond tactfully to poor papers (if any).
Stress global rather than analytical attitudes towards material.
Maintain a modest enthusiasm.
Learners Roles
The learners as well are should have faith in the system and accept that they
are in a childlike situation where they follow the teacher / parent (Knight, 2001,
p. 154). The students should not be critical, but simply absorb what is presented
to them.
Advantages
Classes are held in ordinary rooms with comfortable chairs, a practice
that may also help them relaxed.
Authority concept
Students remember best and are most influenced by information coming
from an authoritative source, teachers.
Peripheral learning: Suggestopedia encourages the students to apply
language more independently, takes more personal responsibility for
their own learning and get more confidence.

Disadvantages

Environment limitation: Most schools in developing countries have large


classes. Each class consists of 30 to 40 students. There should be 12
students in the class.
Use of hypnosis: Some people say that suggestopedia uses hypnosis, so
it has bad deep effects for human beings. Lazanov strongly denied about
it.
Infantilization learning: Suggestopedia class is conditioned be child-like
situation. There are some students who do not like to be treated like this
as they think that are mature.

CONCLUSION

Teacher will find different situation and different types of students in learning.
Therefore, teacher should be creative and smart in choosing and using different
types of methods in teaching different skill of language. Teacher can use
suggestopedia as teaching method in their teaching. Using suggestopedia is
very interesting but challenging to do. It can be seen from some considerations.
In one side it has some benefits, but on the other side it also has some
weaknesses. In addition, the key factors of effective teaching are not the
approaches and methods in language teaching themselves but the teachers
deliberate selection of different approaches and methods and the devoted
practice of putting theories into real teaching activities in a corresponding socialcultural context. It is a fact that no approach or method is perfect. However,
there is no end for teacher to seek the perfection of the approaches and
methods in language teaching. The language teaching method known as
Suggestopedia provides some valuable insights into the power of cognition and
creates techniques that make students feel comfortable, relaxed and
suggestible to the material being learned.

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