1. It is a teaching method for
teaching foreign languages
developed by the Bulgarian
psychotherapist Georgi
Lozanov in the 1970s.
It is an acronym of the
words suggestion and
pedagogy.
2. Some characteristics of
Suggestopedia are the
decoration, furniture, and
arrangement of the
classroom, the use of music,
and the authoritative
behavior of the teacher. This
is to make sure students can
feel comfortable and
confident.
3. The most relevant feature of
Suggestopedia is the centrality of
music and musical rhythm to
learning. This has relation with
the uses of music in therapy.
Music of therapy is used to
energize and bring order through
the potential of rhythm. Then,
Lozanov says this helps to relax
students likewise to do the
presentation of linguistic
material.
4. Lozanov further claims that
what distinguishes his
method from hypnosis and
other forms of mind control
is that these other forms
lack “a desuggestive-suggestive
sense” and “fail
to create a constant set up
access to reserves through
concentrative psycho-relaxation”
5. People remember best
and are most influenced
by information coming
from an authoritative
source and is more
appealing for learners.
6. Authority is also used to
suggest a teacher–student
relation like that of parent to
child. In the child’s role the
learner takes part in role
playing, games, songs, and
gymnastic exercises that help
“the older student regain the
self-confidence, spontaneity
and receptivity of the child”
7. Students also learn from the
environment in which the
instruction takes place such
as personality of the teacher,
the shape of the chairs, etc.
8. 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.
Both intonation and rhythm are
coordinated with a musical
background. The musical
background helps to induce a
relaxed attitude, which Lozanov
refers to as concert pseudo-passiveness.
9. Presentation
A preparatory stage in which students
are helped to relax and move into a
positive frame of mind, with the
feeling that the learning is going to be
easy and fun.
First Concert - "Active Concert“
This involves the active presentation
of the material to be learnt. For
example, in a foreign language course
there might be the dramatic reading
of a piece of text, accompanied by
classical music.
Second Concert - "Passive Review“
The students are now invited to
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.
Practice
The use of a range of games,
puzzles, etc. to review and
consolidate the learning.
