sebelumnya aku mau minta maaf kepada yang punya tulisan ini karena aku tanpa ijin share di blog aku, bukan ga mau minta ijin, tapi bingung mau bilang sama siapa?hee...
so, forgive my presumption :)
Suggestopedia as a Method for
Teaching Speaking for Young Learners in a Second Language Classroom
By
Arif Suryo Priyatmojo
Graduate Student of English Studies
Semarang State University
2009
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: Young
Language Learners (YLLs) development, suggestopedia, advantages and
disadvantages, suggestion for English teachers.
1.
Introduction
Teaching speaking for young language learners (YLLs) is
an interesting and challenging duty for teachers for some considerations. In
one hand, YLLs are individuals of very early age who are interested in many new
things such as a foreign language, English. Young language learners
(YLLs) are defined here as being school pupils
up to around 13 years old
(Hasselgreen, 2005). In this level, young learners seem to have the same
proficiency in speaking that is novice level. The characteristic of novice
level is the students’ ability to communicate minimally with learned material
and oral production consists of isolated words and perhaps a few high-frequency
phrases essentially no functional communication ability (Brown, 2001).
Related to this, Wells (1991:52-53) cited in Hammound
(1997) divided the students’ literacy into four levels. They are performative,
functional, informative and epistemic level. YLLs are included into
performative level. It emphasizes the ability to master speaking skill:
The emphasis at this level its on the code as code. Becoming literate,
according to this perspective, is simply a matter of acquiring those skills
that allow a written message to be decoded into speech in order to ascertain
its meaning and those skills that allow a spoken message to be encoded in
writing, according to the convention of letter formation, spelling and
punctuation. At the performative level it is tacitly assumed that written
messages differ from spoken message only n the medium employed for
communication.
On the other hand, teaching YLLs is regarded as the most
difficult thing to do in a second language classroom by some teachers. Since YLLs
have little or no prior knowledge of the target language. We can find many distructions
done by the students in every short time. Making noise, playing with others,
walking around, etc are phenomena encountered in every day teaching and
learning process by the teacher. So, the teacher is the central determiner to
accomplish their goal. Every eye and ear are focused on the teacher.
Moreover, English has been introduced as a second
language for years for YLLs, but the result is not satisfying. It can be seen
when they are asked to make small conversations in the first class of senior
high school. They tend to keep silent and do speaking activities after the
teacher gives some models of dialogues. There are some reasons why they have
difficulties to do speaking activities. One of which is the use of uninteresting
and unapplicable method in the teaching learning process by the teacher. Ramelan
(1991) says ‘The failure of English instruction can be explained
by many factors including little
knowledge of principles of foreign langauge taching and the ways of teaching’.
The teacher should utilize a teaching method that is
attracting to teach speaking for the students which includes materials,
comfortable environment, self-confidence teachers, etc.
2.
Suggestopedia
Suggestopedia
is a teaching method, which focuses on how to deal with the relationship
between mental potential and learning efficacy and it is very appropriate to use in teaching speaking for
young language learners (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, YLLs can get the memorization
25 times faster rather than conventional methods (Bowen, 2009).
Suggestopedia is an effective comprehensible
input based method with a combination of desuggestion and suggestion to
achieve superlearning. The most important objective of Suggestopedia is to
motivate more of students’ mental potential to learn and which obtained by suggestion. Desuggestion
means unloading the memory banks, or reserves, of unwanted or blocking
memories. Suggestion then means loading the memory banks with desired and
facilitating memories.
Lazanov (1978) cited in Lica (2008) argued that learners
have difficulties in acquiring English as the second language because of the
fear of the students to make mistakes. When the learners are in this condition,
their heart and blood pressure raise. He believes that there is a mental block
in the learners’ brain (affective filter). This filter blocks the input, so the
learners have difficulties to acquire language caused by their fear. The combination of desuggestion
and suggestion is to lower the affective filter and motivate students’ mental potential to learn,
aiming to accelerate the process by which they learn to understand and use the
target language for communication to achieve superlearning. It is the final goal of suggestopedia
Richard and
Rogers (1998) stated that there were some theoretical components through which desuggestion and
suggestion operate:
(1) Authority: students remember best and are influenced
when information comes from an authority or teachers
2)
Infantilisation: 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, YLLs 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, YLLs 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.
- Homework is limited
YLLs reread materials given in the classroom once before
they go to sleep at night and once in the morning before they get up.
- Music, drama and art are integrated in the learning
process
They are integrated as often as possible
b.
Suggestopedia
in the Classroom
Teaching speaking for YLLs using suggestopedia, the
teacher should take three steps (Lazanov, 1982) cited in Xue (2005):
a. Presentation
Presentation
is the basis of conducting Suggestopedia in class successfully. The main aim in this stage is to help
students relaxed
and move into a positive frame of mind, with the feeling that the learning is
going to be easy and funny. Desuggestion and suggestion happen at this stage at
the same time.
b.
Concert
First Concert.
This
involves the active presentation of the material to be learnt. The original
form of Suggestopedia presented by Lozanov consisted of the use of extended
dialogues, often several pages in length, accompanied by vocabulary lists and
observations on grammatical points. Typically these dialogues will be read aloud to YLLs to the
accompaniment of music.
Second Concert
The
students are now guided to relax and listen to some Baroque music. The best choice of music according to Lozanov,
with the text being studied
very quietly in the background. During both types of reading, the learners will sit in comfortable seats, armchairs
rather than classroom chairs, in a comfortable environment. After the readings
of these long dialogues to the accompaniment of music, the teacher will then make use of the dialogues for more
conventional language work. The music brings the students into the optimum
mental state for the effortless acquisition of the material. The students, then, make and practice dialogue after
they memorize the content of the materials.
c. Practice
The
use of a range of role-plays, games,
puzzles, etc. to review and consolidate the learning. Here is an example of teaching speaking using role play:
1.
The
teacher greets the students with either English or their native language and
tells them that they will have a new and exciting experience in language
learning.
2.
The
teacher asks the students to close their eyes and tell them that they will go
to an English speaking country. For example, they are in an airport. “Now, you
are in an airport of America, listen to the people around you. They are talking
with immigration officials”, said the teacher. The teacher asks them to open
their eyes and bring their awareness to the class. She says,”Welcome to
English!”.
3.
Then,
the teacher tells them that they will have new names and identities by showing
a poster showing English names. The students will pronounce the names by
repeating the teacher. The teacher helps them by doing pantomime to help them
understand about their new identities such as doctor, nurse, police, etc.
4.
The
teacher greets each student using his name and ask some questions in English
about his occupation. Through her action, the students understand the meaning and
they reply ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
5.
The
teacher teaches them a short dialogue about greeting in English. After that,
the students will practice. The teacher tells the students that they are having
a party and they have to introduce one another by their new names and
identities.
6.
Next,
the teacher announces that the class is over and they will have another exciting
activity tomorrow and they do not have homework.
c.
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, YLLs 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. YLLs 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.
c. Suggestion
for English Teacher
Teaching speaking for young language learners (YLLs) using
suggestopedia is not easy especially in the countries in which the level of
education is still low. It needs a professional and experienced teacher. Very
few working teachers are in a position where they can use this system (Adamson, 1997). The teachers should take more training in order to
utilize suggestopedia in the classroom. Richards and Rogers (1998) cited in
Xue (2005) stated that in conducting Suggestopedia for
YLLs, there are some suggestions:
(1) Teachers show absolute confidence
in the method.
(2)
Teachers display fastidious conduct in
manners and dress.
(3) Teaches organize properly and strictly
observe the initial stages of the teaching process. This includes choice and play of music,
as well as punctuality.
(4)
Teachers maintain a solemn
attitude toward the session.
(5)
Teachers give tests and respond
tactfully to poor papers (if any).
(6)
Stress global rather than analytical attitudes towards material.
(7)
Teachers maintain a modest
enthusiasm
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.
