Suggestopedia

The language teaching method known as Suggestopedia provides some valuable insights into the power of cognition and creating/employing techniques that make students feel comfortable and relaxed, and "suggestible" to the material being learned.

Unfortunately it does not provide for the majority of language teaching environments teachers typically encounter. The dim lighting, large comfortable chairs and music selections are not readily available to the majority of schools, and these environmental factors are certainly close to impossible for very large classes. As with other methods, it does not take account of the fact that many learners in many countries do not necessarily bring an intrinsic desire to learn the language into their English lessons, and its basic foundations in cognitive theory in some ways limit it as a method to the realm of adult learning.

Still, many teachers can relate to many of the basic principles of the approach. Playing soft music to make students relax, making classrooms as comfortable as possible for students within the constraints imposed by space and budget considerations, having them assume new target language identities, employing role-playing activities, and decorating the classroom with peripheral aids to learning. In my opinion, these are the things that can be taken from the Suggestopedia method and effectively combined with more effective language teaching techniques specific to the students we find in various learning situations.

Something I have taken from Suggestopedia and experimented with extensively in terms of teaching young learners has been the concept that communication takes place on "two planes" - the conscious and the subconscious. Suggestopedia suggests that on the conscious plane, learners attend to the language itself and the linguistic message encoded therein. On the subconscious plane are factors influencing this linguistic message, such as the physical enviroment and various background ways to make the students relax and feel that the learning process is as easy, natural and stress-free as possible.

Objectives

The prime objective of Suggestopedia is to tap into more of students' mental potential to learn, in order to accelerate the process by which they learn to understand and use the target language for communication. Four factors considered essential in this process were the provision of a relaxed and comfortable learning enviroment, the use of soft Baroque music to help increase alpha brain waves and decrease blood pressure and heart rate, "desuggestion" in terms of the pyschological barriers learners place on their own learning potential, and "suggestibility" through the encouragement of learners assuming "child-like" and/or new roles and names in the target language.

Key Features

Here are some of the key features of Suggestopedia:

(1) Learning is facilitated in an environment that is as comfortable as possible, featuring soft
cushioned seating and dim lighting.

(2) "Peripheral" learning is encouraged through the presence in the learning environment of posters
and decorations featuring the target language and various grammatical information.

(3) The teacher assumes a role of complete authority and control in the classroom.

(4) Self-perceived and psychological barriers to learners' potential to learn are "desuggested".

(5) Students are encouraged to be child-like, take "mental trips with the teacher" and assume new
roles and names in the target language in order to become more "suggestible".

(6) Baroque music is played softly in the background to increase mental relaxation and potential to
take in and retain new material during the lesson.

(7) Students work from lengthy dialogs in the target language, with an accompanying translation into
the students' native language.

(8) Errors are tolerated, the emphasis being on content and not structure. Grammar and vocabulary
are presented and given treatment from the teacher, but not dwelt on.

(9) Homework is limited to students re-reading the dialog they are studying - once before they go to
sleep at night and once in the morning before they get up.

(10) Music, drama and "the Arts" are integrated into the learning process as often as possible.