Makalah Suggestopedia

 

 

Abstract

Suggestopedia, one of the humanistic approaches was developed in the 1970’s by the Bulgarian educator Georgi Lozanov. It is based on the idea that people, as they get older, inhibit their learning to conform to the social norms and in order to reactivate the capabilities they used as children, teachers have to use the power of suggestion. This paper presents theoritical components, key features and the use of this method in classroom. The conclusion is that, despite a lot of inconveniences, Suggestopedia has elements that can be used successfully to teach speaking for young learners.

Key words:  Suggestopedia, advantages and disadvantages

1.         Introduction

Suggestopedia is a teaching method, which focuses on how to deal with the relationship between mental potential and learning efficacy... (Xue, 2005). This method was introduced by a Bulgarian psychologist and educator, George Lazanov in 1975. Maleki (2005) believed that we are capable of learning much more than we think, provided we use our brain power and inner capacities. In addition, DePorter (2008) assumed that human brain could process great quantities of material if given the right condition for learning in a state of relaxation and claimed that most students use only  5 to 10 percent of their mental capacity. Lazanov created Suggestopedia for learning that capitalized on relaxed states of mind for maximum retention material. By using this kind of methof, students can get the memorization 25 times faster rather than conventional methods (Bowen, 2009).

The approach was based on the power of suggestion in learning, the notion being that positive suggestion would make the learner more receptive and, in turn, stimulate learning. Lozanov holds that a relaxed but focused state is the optimum state for learning. In order to create this relaxed state in the learner and to promote positive suggestion, Suggestopedia makes use of music, a comfortable and relaxing environment, and a relationship between the teacher and the student that is akin to the parent-child relationship. Music, in particular, is central to the approach. Unlike other methods and approaches, there is no apparent theory of language in Suggestopedia and no obvious order in which items of language are presented.

Richard and Rogers (1998) stated that there were some theoretical components through suggestion operate:

(1)   Authority: students remember best and are influenced when information comes from an authority or teachers

2)    Infantilization: learners may regain self-confidence in a relation of teacher-student like that of parent to child

(3)   Double-planedness: learning does not only come from direct instruction but also comes from the environment in which instruction takes places

 (4)  Intonation, rhythm, and concert pseudo-passiveness: varying tone and rhythm of presentation frees the instruction from boredom, and presenting linguistic material with music gets the benefit of the effect produced on body.

a.         Key Features of Suggestopedia:

1.      Comfortable environment

In this kind of teaching method, the classroom is very different from 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. The light in the classroom is dim in order to make the students’ mind more relaxed (Xue, 2005).

2.      The use of music

One of the most uniqueness of this method is the use of Baroque music during the learning process. Ostrander and Schroeder cited in Harmer (1998) said that 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 intake and retention of huge quantities of materials. Baroque music helps the suggestopedic student to reach a certain state of relaxation, in which the receptivity is increased (Radle, 2008). The increase in learning potential is put down to the increase of alpha brain and decrease of blood preasure and heart rate. The music used also depends on the expected skill of the students: grammar, imagination exercises, making future plans, discussion, etc

3.      Peripheral Learning

The students acquire 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 everyday. By doing this, the students can learn many things undirectly in the classroom or outside classroom. For example, studentss can make simple oral production by using the posters or grammatical information on the wall.

4.      Free Errors

In the teaching learning process of speaking, students who make mistakes are tolerated. The emphasis is on the content not the structure. Grammar and vocabularies are presented and given treatment from the teachers, but not dwelt on.

5.        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.

6.      Music, drama and art are integrated in the learning process

They are integrated as often as possible

b.         Design of Suggestopedia

The objectives of Suggestopedia are to deliver advanced conversational proficiency quickly. It bases its learning claims on student mastery of prodigious lists of vocabulary pairs and, indeed, suggest to the students that 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).

As Suggestopedia course lasts 30 days and consists of ten units of study. Classes are held 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. The central focus of each unit is a dialogue consisting of 1.200 words or so, with an accompanying vocabulary list and grammatical commentary. The dialogues are graded by lexis and grammar.

  There is a pattern of work within each unit and a pattern of work for the whole course. Unit study is around 3 days, day 1-half a day, day 2-full day, day 3-half a day. On the first day of work on a new unit the teacher discusses the general content of the unit dialogue. The learners then receive the printed dialogue with a native language translation in a parallel column. The teacher answers any questions of interest or concern about the dialogue. The dialogue then is read a second and third time in ways to be discussed subsequently. This is the work for day 1. Days 2 and 3 are spent in primary and secondary elaboration of the text. Primary elaboration consist of imitation, question and answer, reading and so on, of the dialogue and of working with the 150 new vocabulary items presented in the unit. The secondary elaboration involves encouraging students to make new combinations and production based on the dialogue. A story or essay paralleling the dialogue is also read. The students engage in conversation and take small roles in response to the text read.  

c.          Suggestopedia in the classroom

            As with other methods, there are variants both historical and individual in the actual conduct of Suggestopedia classes. Adaptation such as those we witnessed in Toronto by Jane Bancroft and her colleagues at Scarborough Collage, University of Toronto, showed a wide and diversified range of techniques unattested to in Lozanov’s writings. We have tried here to characterize a class as described in the Suggestopedia literature while pointing out where the actual classes we have observed varied considerably from the description. Bancroft (1972) noted that the 4-hour language class has three distinct parts. The first part we might call an oral review section. Previously learned material is used as the basis for discussion by the teacher and twelve students in the class. All participants sit in a circle in their specially designed chairs, and the discussion proceeds like a seminar. This session may involve what are called micro-studies and macro-studies. In micro-studies specific attention is given to grammar, vocabulary, and precise questions and answers. A question from a micro-study might be, “ what should one do in a hotel room if the bathroom tap are not working?” In the macro-study, emphasis is on role of playing and wider-ranging, innovative language construction. “describe to someone the Boyana Church” would be an example of a request for information from the macro-studies.

            In the second part of the class new material is presented and discussed. This consists of looking over a new dialogue and its native language translation and discussing any issues of grammar, vocabulary, or content that the teacher feels important or that students are curious about. Bancroft notes that this section is typically conducted in the target language, although student questions or comments will be in whatever language the student feels he or she can handle. Students are led to view the experience of dealing with new materials as interesting and undemanding of any special effort or anxiety. The teacher’s attitude and authority are considered critical to preparing students for success on the learning to come. The pattern of learning and use is noted, so that the students will know what is expected.

            The third part- the séance or concert session- is the one by which Suggestopedia is best known. Since this constitutes the heart of the method, we will quote Lozanov as to how this session proceeds.

At the beginning of the session, all conversation stops for a minute or two, and the teacher listens to the music coming from a tape-recorder. He waits and listens to several passages in order to enter the mood of the music and then begins to read and recite the new text, his voice modulated in the harmony with the musical phrases. The students follow the text in their textbook where each lesson is translated into the mother tongue. Between the first and second part of the concert, there are several minutes of solemn silence. In some cases, even longer pauses can be given to permit the students to stir a little. Before the beginning of the second part of the concert, there are again several minutes of solemn silence and some phrases of the music are heard again before the teacher begins to read the text. Now the students close their textbooks and listen to the teacher’s reading. At the end, the students silently leave the classroom. They are not told to do any homework on the lesson they have just had except for reading it cursorily once before going to bed and again before getting up in the morning. (Lozanov 1978: 272)

d.         Advantages and Disadvantages  of Suggestopedia

a.      Advantages

As a particular method, Suggestopedia offers some benefit for its use in the second language classroom for YLLs. There are some benefits in utilizing Suggestopedia:

1.      A comprehesible input based on dessugestion and suggestion principle

By using this teaching method, students can lower their affective filter. Suggestopedia classes, in addition, are held in ordinary rooms with comfortable chairs, a practice that may also help them relaxed. Teacher can do numerous other things to lower the affective filter. According to Kharsen (1989) cited in Xue (2005) activities that allow students to get better acquainted with each other may help lower anxieties and make students to adopt new names for the duration of the language course may have a similar effect.

2.      Authority concept

Students remember best and are most influenced by information coming from an authoritative source, teachers.

3.      Double-planedness theory

It refers to the learning from two aspects. They are the conscious aspect and the subconscious one. students can acquire the aim of teaching instruction from both direct instruction and environment in which the teaching takes place.

4.      Peripheral learning

Suggestopedia encourages the students to apply language more independently, take more personal responsibility for their own learning and get more confidence.  Peripheral information can also help encourage students to be more experimental, and look to sources other than the teacher for language input. For example, the students can make some sentences using the grammatical structure placed on the classroom’s wall, describe a particular place in an English speaking country by looking at the poster on the wall, etc. When the students are successful in doing such self-activities, they will be more confident.

b.      Disadvantages

It is not fair to analyze only from the benefit aspects. Suggestopedia also has limitation since there is no single teaching method that is chategorized as the best based on some consideration such as: the curriculum, students motivation, financial limitation, number of students, etc.

The main disadvantages of Suggestopedia are as follow:

1.                  Environment limitation

Most schools in developing countries have large classes. Each class consists of 30 to 40 students. One of the problems faced in utilizing this method is the number of students in the class. There should be 12 students in the class (Adamson, 1997).

2.                  The use of hypnosis

Some people say that Suggestopedia uses a hypnosis, so it has bad deep effects for human beings. Lazanov strongly denied about it.

3.                  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 thay are mature.

Conclusion

Teaching speaking for young learners 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 teacher’s deliberate selection of different approaches and methods and the devoted practice of putting theories into real teaching activities in a corresponding social-cultural context. It is a fact that no approach or method is perfect. However, there is no end for us 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.

 References

Adamson, Charles. 1997. Suggestopedia as NLP. Assian EFL Journal: English Language Teaching and Research Article. 27 Jan.2009 <http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/feb/suggest.html>.

Bowen, Tim. 2009. Teaching Approaches: What is Suggestopedia?. Assian EFL Journal: English Language Teaching and Research Article. 27 Jan.2009 <http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/feb/suggest.html>.

DePorter, Boby. 2008. Suggestopedia. Mediawiki. 20 Jan.2009 <http://www.englishraven.com/method_suggest.html>

Lica, Gabriela Mihaila. 2008. Suggestopedia: A Wonder Approach to Learning Foreign Languages. Assian EFL Journal: English Language Teaching and Research Article. 27 Jan.2009 <http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/feb/suggest.html>.

Maleki, Ataillah. 2005. A New Approach to Teaching English as a Foreign Language:
the Bottom-Up Approach. Assian EFL Journal: English Language Teaching and Research Article. 27 Jan.2009 <http:// http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/feb/suggest.html>.

Richard and Rodgers. 2001. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Radle, Paul. 2008. Suggestopedia. 27 Jan.2009 <http://www.vtrain.net/lang-sugg.htm>.

Xue, Jinxiang. 2005. Critical Review on Suggestopedia. Division of Language and Communication. 20 Jan.2009, pr 1 <http://www.eslkidstuff.com/Articles.htm>.

Mini lesson plan Suggestopedia  with

Chocolate

	Daily Instructional Lesson Plan Worcester County Public Schools
	Content Area(s)/Course/Grade: Indonesian/ begginer class	Unit: Suggestopedia
	Lesson Topic: Chocolate	Date: September 26, 2016
	Teacher: Sitti Rahma	School: Academy west Indonesia
Student Outcome(s):
Students will be able to: v  Recognize the differences between Indonesian and English text. v  Develop English listening skills during a read aloud. v  Focus their minds on the task at hand. v  Demonstrate comprehension through interactions and participation, using both the native and primary languages.
Context for Learning
This lesson was developed for a beginning level English class or for other students with no English background.  In an ESL classroom, I would use this method to teach English by reversing the role of the two languages. The classroom environment should be enjoyable but relaxing; with comfortable chairs and with relia that complements the text. Prior to this lesson, students were given English names and chose professions, in order to take on a different persona (if given time, students would choose names and professions as an opening activity).
Instructional Delivery
Opening Activities/Motivation: Gather students in a circle and encourage them to relax. The teacher will open the class with the positive dialogue then give them the text, in both Indonesian and English, to refer to during the readings. Inform students to clear their minds and follow along while the teacher reads in the target language, referring to the primary language for comprehension when necessary.
Procedures: Do not begin reading until the classical music has played for a couple of minutes and the students are relaxed. Begin reading the text in the target language. Read passage one.  Allow students to listen to the music for a couple of minutes before beginning to read the next passage. Read passage two. Allow students to listen to the music for a couple of minutes before beginning to read the next passage (time permitting). Read passage three (time permitting). Allow students to listen and enjoy the music for a few more minutes.
Assessment/Evaluation (Formative/Summative)
Informal assessment through teacher observation. After the lesson, students’ comprehension would be assessed through their participation and interaction in the planning and presenting of their “skit.”
Closure: After reading the three passages, inform the students that their homework for tonight is to read the text once more before bed and then again in the morning before getting up.

Reading text :

Once upon a time there was a young man who was addicted to chocolate. He ate it for breakfast in the morning, at lunch and dinner - it seemed that he was never tired of eating it. Chocolate with cornflakes, chocolate on toast, chocolate and beer - he even boasted of eating chocolate and steak.

 He was married to a beautiful woman whom he had met when he was recovering from flu. She was a nurse, responsible for all the patients in the area and very content with her job. In fact the only problem these two had was his dependence on chocolate. One day the young wife decided on a plan to make her husband allergic to chocolate forever. She confided in her best friend and asked her to cooperate with her in playing a trick on her husband. She was aware of the fact that her friend suffered from rats and she asked if she could borrow some of her rat poison. Her friend was a little surprised at the request but agreed to it and gave her the poison. The young wife hurried home and started work in the kitchen, very satisfied with herself. An hour later she emerged from the kitchen proudly carrying a large chocolate cake and the empty tin of rat poison. "Darling - I've made a lovely chocolate cake for you!" she called fondly. Down the stairs the greedy husband ran and in short time he had polished it off, right down to the last crumb.

He was released from hospital after only two weeks. He never accused his wife of poisoning him, but he was always slightly suspicious of her. Needles to say, he never again touched chocolate.

Pada zaman dahulu kala, ada seorang pemuda yang kecanduan akan cokelat. Dia memakannya pada saat makan pagi, siang dan malam- tampak seakan Ia tak pernah lelah untuk memakan itu. Cokelat dengan cornflake, cokela dengan roti, cokelat dan bir- dia bahkan membual tentang memakan cokelat dengan steak.

 Ia menikah dengan wanita cantik yang ia temui ketika dirawat karena flu. Dia seorang perawat yang bertanggung jawab pada semua pasien di area tersebut dan sangat berkomitmen dengan kerjanya. Faktanya, masalah mereka berdua hanyalah ketergantungannya pada cokelat. Pada suatu hari istrinya  memutuskan rencana untuk membuat suaminya alergis terhadap cokelat selamanya. Dia mengaku pada sahabatnya dan memintanya untuk bekerja sama dalam bermain trik pada suaminya. Dia menyadari bahwa temannya menderita karena tikus dan bertanya apakah dia bisa  meminjamkan sebagian racun tikus untuknya. Temannya sedikit terkejut dengan permintaan tersebut dan setuju untuk memberikannya racun. Istrinya pun bergegas pulang dan mulai berkerja di dapur, sangat puas dengan dirinya. Satu jam kemudian dia muncul dari dapur dengan bangga membawa kue cokelat besar dan kaleng berisi racun tikus. “Sayang, aku sudah membuat kue cokelat kesukaanmu ! dia memanggilnya dengan lembut. Dengan berlari cepat suami yang rakus turun dan dalam waktu singkat ia sudah memoles itu semua, hingga remah terakhir.

Dia keluar dari rumah sakit setelah 2 minggu. Dia tidak pernah menuduh istrinya yang meracuni dia tapi dia selalu curiga kepadanya. Tiada gunanya, dia tidak pernah menyentuh cokelat lagi.