THE CONCEPT OF SUGGESTOPEDIA METHOD
The Suggestopedia Method
Suggestopedia is a method developed by the Bulgarian psychiatristeducator Georgi Lozanov. Richards and Rodgers (1986: 142) define suggestopedia as a specific set of learning recommendations derived from suggestology. Suggestopedia aims to deliver advanced conversational proficiency quickly. It apparently bases its learning claims on student mastery of prodigious lists of vocabulary pairs and, indeed, suggests to the students that it is appropriate that they set such goals for themselves.
The suggestopedia method is used in order to accelerate the process bywhich students learn to use a foreign language for everyday communication. To do that process, the students’ mental powers must be tapped. This could be accomplished by desuggesting the psychological barriers that they have by using techniques to activate the paraconscious’ part of mind, just below the conscious mind (Larsen-Freeman: 2000: 81). The application of the study of suggestion to pedagogy, has been developed to help students eliminate the feeling that theycannot be successful or the negative association they may have toward studying and, thus, to help them overcome the barriers to learning. Moreover, suggestopedia method emphasize almost all language areas; vocabulary, grammar, and speaking communicatively. Prichard, Schuster and Pullen (1977) arranged astudy about application of suggestopedia method to secondary school in German. The study found evident that orchestrating the power of suggestion to increase motivation and positive expectation and using visual imagery could be a powerful teaching methodology.
Principles of Suggestopedia Method
Teacher is the authority in the classroom. The teaching learning process will success if the students trust and respect teachers. The students will be easier in retaining the subject, if the teacher is the one who highly confidence. The teacher should decorate the bright and cheerful environment to suggest the students that the lesson would be fun, this authority is one of the basic principles of suggestopedia method (Larsen-Freeman: 2000). One way that meaning is made clear is through native language translation. The teacher distributes two texts; one in English and one is the translation of the text in the native language. He also uses the native language in class when necessary. As the class proceeds, the use of native language may decline. Varying tone and rhythm in presenting the material helps to avoid boredom of learning and give meaning to linguistic materials. Both intonation and rhythm are coordinated with a musical background. The musical background helps to induce a relaxed attitude, in pseudo-passiveness (Richards and Rodgers:1986). The role of music is central in suggestopedic learning. The use of music may release the tension and empower the students’ concentration of the material presentation. Music and dynamic presentation are the other principles applied in using suggestopedia method.