SUGGESTOPEDIA

An interesting humanistic approach to

language teaching.
How does learning a language
make you feel?

Did you ever want to give up?

Did you ever feel like your brain

couldn't process the language?
 History
o Creator:
Bulgarian psychologist:
Georgi Lozanov
o Contention:
Human brain can
process a great deal
under the right circumstances
o Drew from Soviet psychological research and yoga
o A most conspicuous feature: the centrality of music
and musical rhythm to learning.
o “Learning is a matter of attitude, not aptitude.”
Key Elements of
De-Suggestopedia
1. Rich sensory learning environment

2. Positive expectation of success

3. Varied range of methods

Suggestopedia (Superlearning)
 Psychological barriers:
 Fear of bad performance,
 limited ability to learn, and
 failure.
 The main causes of failure in
language learning.
 Relaxed mind = maximum learning!
 Our full mental powers are not revealed so
they should be removed.
 It can teach languages approximately three
times as quickly as conventional methods.
(???)
Suggestology
 How to harness and redirect mental
capacity for maximum learning.
 It is based on Desuggestion and
Suggestion.
 Desuggestion: Unloading mental
reserves of unwanted memories.
 Suggestion: Loading the reserves with
facilitating memories.
Basics of Suggestology
1. Authority: The teacher’s CV, his belief in the
method and his manner are valued (the
placebo effect). People remember best and
are most influenced by information coming
from an authoritative source.
2. Infantalization: Ss take the role of a child
(games, songs, gymnastic exercises) which
helps them regain the self-confidence,
spontaneity and receptivity of the child.
3. Double-Planedness: Ss learns not only from
the effect of direct instruction but from the
environment in which the instruction takes
place (the bright decor of the classroom, the
musical background, the shape of the chairs,
and the personality of the teacher).
 Principles
1. Learning is facilitated in comfort.
2. Peripheral learning is valued.
3. Students must respect and trust the teacher’s authority.
4. The teacher “desuggests” the barriers: L2 learning is fun.
5. Students’ imagination is activated (Suggestion).
6. Students’ confidence is raised (Suggestion).
7. Choosing new names and biographies enhances
feeling of security (suggestion).
8. Easy to handle dialogs come first.
9. Students’ attention is off the form (structure) and on
communication to use the language.
10. The lessons indirectly enhance positive Suggestions.
11. Grammar and vocabulary are taught very superficially.
 Principles
12. L1 and translation are used to transfer meaning; reduces as
students advance.
13. Double planedness: Language message is the conscious level;
music is the subconscious level. They go together. Decoration of
the environment is so important.
14. To overcome the barriers, a pseudo-passive state is needed.
15. Homework is done at night and in the morning.
16. Dramatization and fantasy reduce the barriers to learning.
17. The arts (music, drama) should be part of the process of learning
as language and culture are complementary facets of
communication.
18. Novelty is the motivation (learning activities are varied).
19. Infantalization is the key; a childlike attitude to learning helps a lot.
20. In some activities the conscious attention focuses on using L2, not
on the structure and form.
21. Errors are tolerated as communication of intended meaning is vital.
teacher models and correct forms in later stages.
 Characteristics
 Zero beginners are different from false beginners.
 Ss are required to talk ex tempore (not from memorized
lines).
 Ss are immersed in the method and forget their past (new
names).
 Words are taught in word pairs.
 The texts should be emotionally and motivationally
powerful. They have literary value.
 Musical background leads to relaxed body and alert mind.
 Evaluation: in-class performance; not formal because of
heightened anxiety.
 Process: comfortable, relaxing; students choose “new”
identities; whole brain used-; feelings strongly
acknowledged, positive reinforcement.
 2 phases: Receptive & Activation
 Classroom methodology, not that different; difference is
atmosphere (music, comfy chairs).
Function of Music
 Gaston (1968) claimed that music
(1) can facilitate the establishment and maintenance of
personal relations;
(2) bring about increased self-esteem through increased
self-satisfaction in musical performance; and
(3) use the unique potential of rhythm to energize and
bring order.
 He uses music to relax learners, to structure, to pace
and to punctuate the presentation of linguistic materials.
 Varying the tone and rhythm of presented material helps
both to avoid boredom through monotony of repetition
and to dramatize, emotionalize, and give meaning to
linguistic material.
 The musical background helps to induce a relaxed
attitude which Lozanov refers to as concert pseudo-
passiveness.
The music
 Should have "largo" tempo (approx. 60
beats/min).
 Should have regular patterns.
 Voices (even choirs) and instruments should not
stand out against the orchestra.
 Ideally, the orchestra must have a neutral colour
(the same instruments be played throughout the
work) that is why the best choice is string
orchestras.
 The total effect is further increased by
suggestion, especially using the concert session
as a placebo.
 Advantages
 Learning environment
 Thinking highly of students’ feeling
 Can arouse students’ interests and potential to
memorize
 The emphasis of interaction
 The treatments to students’ mistakes
 Promoted belief in the power of the human brain
 There is a purpose behind deliberately induced
states of relaxation
 Teachers have experimented with music
Criticisms
 Lack of flexibility
 Lack of trust to teachers
 Over-emphasized of language use
 Absence of tests
 Different characteristics between students
 Focus on memorization
 Data on effectiveness, screwy
 Marketing for method not research-based
 Unfeasible
 Teachers need to be skilled in singing, acting and
psychotherapeutic techniques.
 Not much authentic material (potentially).
Approach
Theory of language
 The only major linguistic problems in the language
classroom are memorization and integration (Lozanov).
 If Ss remember the words and patterns of the language
and integrate them into their personalities, Ss have
acquired the language and T has done all that needs to
be done.
 The emphasis on memorization of vocabulary pairs - a
TL item and its L1 translation - suggests a view of
language in which lexis is central and lexical translation
rather than contextualization is stressed.
 Experiencing language material in “whole meaningful
texts” is important.
 ① Vocabulary pairs
 ② Lexical translation
 ③ Vocabulary and the grammar of the language rules
organizing vocabulary
 Theory of learning
 Suggestion is at the heart of Suggestopedia.
 It is different from hypnosis and other forms of mind
control because they lack a "desuggestive-suggestive
sense" and "fail to create a constant set up to reserves
through concentrative psycho-relaxation".
 Reserves are like human memory banks.
 There are six principal theoretical components through
which desuggestion and suggestion operate and that
set up access to reserves.
① Authority
② Infantilization
③ Double-planedness
④ Intonation, rhythm, and concert pseudo-passiveness
Design
Objectives
 The objectives of Suggestopedia are to deliver
advanced conversational proficiency quickly.
 Through the use of background music and
softly-spoken information students will absorb
information at a much higher rate than is
otherwise possible.
 Students will experience the sensation of
controlled relaxation.
 Attentiveness is manipulated to optimise
learning and recall.
Learning objectives
 Left and right brain integration will be enhanced through
the power of suggestion, music, relaxation, deep
breathing, metaphors and guided imagery.
 Self-image will be improved.
 Ss will have a positive attitude towards learning.
 Suggestopedia aims to deliver advanced conversational
proficiency quickly. T places a high value on vocabulary
recall, memorization of vocabulary pairs continues to be
seen as an important goal of the suggestopedic method.
 To memorize large amounts of target language
vocabulary.
 To be able to understand TL at the appropriate level
through T’s presentation of the language material
(gestures and intonation).
Language objectives
 To be able to translate TL vocabulary into
L1.
 To be able to gain meaning in the written
form of TL.
 To be able to communicate confidently in
TL at the designated level.
 To be able to apply TL in useful, 'real-life'
settings.
 Syllabus
 A Suggestopedia course
 lasts 30 days, 5weeks, 6 days a week, 4 hours a day.
 has 10 units, 3 days each unit.
 App. 1,200-word dialogue in each unit with a vocabulary list
and grammatical commentary.
 The dialogues are graded by lexis and grammar.
 Ss are given a new name in TL and a new biography in the
new culture with which they are to operate for the duration
of the course.
 Written tests are also given throughout the course, and the
performance are reviewed on the final day of the course.
 Day1- half of a day: T discusses the general content of the
unit dialogue.
 Day2- full day ,day3- half a day: Imitation, question and
answer, reading, and so on, of the dialogue and of working
with the 150 new vocabulary items presented in the unit.
 To make new combinations and productions based on the
dialogues.
Learning & teaching activities
 Imitation, question and answer, and role play.
 Familiar activities to language teachers.
 Activities more original to Suggestopedia: listening
activities, concern the text and text vocabulary of each
unit, typically part of the ‘pre-session phase’, takes place
on the first day of a new unit.
 Ss first look at and discuss a new text with T. In the
second reading, Ss relax comfortably in reclining chairs
and listen to T read the text in a certain way.
Techniques

Relaxing Peripheral Positive

classroom learning suggestion
set-up (posters) (music)

Visualization New identity Role-play

Roles of learners
(Relaxer, True-Believer)
 Follow instructions easily.
 Ss volunteer for a suggestopedic course, but
having volunteered, they are expected to be
committed to the class and its activities.
 Ss are expected to tolerate and in fact encourage
their own ‘infantilization’.
 Groups of learners are ideally socially
homogeneous, 12 in number, and divided equally
between men and women.
 Ss sit in a circle, which encourages face-to-face
exchange and activity participation.
 Teachers
 Roles: As authority figure, be confident and embodies trust,
respect, easily persuasive, auto-hypnotist, afford cheerful
atmosphere
 Goals:
 Accelerate process of learning everyday language
 Reduce psychological barriers
 Create situations in which Ss are most suggestible; then
present linguistic material in a way most likely to encourage
positive reception and retention by Ss.
 Expected behaviour:
1) Show absolute confidence in the method.
2) Display fastidious conduct in manners and dress.
3) Organize properly and strictly observe the initial stages of the
teaching process (choice and play of music and punctuality).
4) Maintain a solemn attitude towards the session.
5) Give tests and respond tactfully to poor papers (if any).
6) Stress global rather than analytical attitudes towards material.
7) Maintain a modest enthusiasm.
Roles of materials
1. Direct support: Texts and tapes (Text
book: emotional force, literary quality,
and interesting characters).
2. Indirect support: Classroom decoration
and music (Environment: the appearance
of the classroom, the furniture, and the
music).
Procedure
Extend
 Divide the course into three parts:
 reading explain (oral review section),
 listening oral reading (introducing new
materials),
 listening and speaking with music (the
séance or concert session).
 Having conservations
 in relaxed atmosphere and
 with background music.
 Less assignments, put emphasis on oral reading,
and correcting students’ fault is not involved.
 Four Stages of De-Suggestopedia
1. Presentation: A preparatory stage to help Ss relax and
move into a positive frame of mind, with the feeling that
the learning is going to be easy and fun.
2. First Concert – “Active Concert”: Involves the active
presentation of the material to be learnt (e.g.: dramatic
reading of a piece of text, accompanied by classical
music).
3. Second Concert – “Passive Review”: Ss relax and
listen to some Baroque music, with the text being read
very quietly in the background. The music is specially
selected to bring the students into the optimum mental
state for the effortless acquisition of the material.
4. Practices: The use of a range of games, puzzles, etc. to
review and consolidate the learning.
Conclusion
 Lozanov is unequivocally opposed to any
eclectic use of the techniques outside of the full
panoply of suggestopedic science (Scovel).
 Scovel examines Lozanov's use (and misuse) of
scholarly citations, terminological jargon, and
experimental data and states that a careful
reading of Suggestology reveals that there is
precious little in suggestology which is scientific.
 Lozanov makes no bones about the fact that
Suggestopedia is introduced to students in the
content of a ‘suggestive-desuggestive ritual
placebo-system’.
Why suggestion
Learning Hypothesis
 I will learn because I was accepted.
 I am now a native speaker, I can speak and understand
the language.
 I learned the text during the concert session, I know the
language.
 The material is getting easier, I must be learning.
 I have successfully graduated from a language course, I
can use the language.
 The teacher uses both verbal and non-verbal ways to
communicate the learning hypothesis: (X) I am doing
this, so (Y) I am learning the language; (X) I did, so (Y) I
can use the language. This is a necessary and
continuous part of suggestopedic teaching.
Why Desuggestion
 Negative suggestions:
 Oh, it is too late for me.
 I am too old.
 How can I remember that amount? Nobody can!
 They inhibit human potential from the social-
suggestive norm.
 Ts can free Ss’ natural potential by replacing
existing.
 The name of this method changed to emphasize
the importance on desuggesting limitations on
learning.