Desuggestopedia: Unlocking Language Learning Potential
What are the goals of teachers who use Desuggestopedia? Teachers hope to accelerate the process by which students learn to use another language for everyday communication. In order to do this, more of the students’ mental powers must be tapped. This is accomplished by desuggesting the psychological barriers learners bring with them to the learning situation.
The Teacher’s and Students’ Roles
What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students? The teacher is the authority in the classroom. In order for the method to be successful, the students must trust and respect her. The students will retain information better from someone in whom they have confidence since they will be more responsive to her ‘desuggesting’ their limitations and suggesting how easy it will be for them to succeed. Once the students trust the teacher, they can feel more secure. If they feel secure, they can be more spontaneous and less inhibited.
Characteristics of the Teaching/Learning Process
What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process? The course is conducted in a classroom that is bright and cheerful. Posters displaying grammatical information about the target language are hung around the room in order to take advantage of students’ peripheral learning. The posters are changed every few weeks. Students select target language names and choose new occupations. During the course, they create whole biographies to go along with their new identities.
The texts students work from are handouts containing lengthy dialogues (as many as 800 words) in the target language. Next to the dialogue is a translation in the students’ native language. There are also some notes on vocabulary and grammar which correspond to boldfaced items in the dialogue. The teacher presents the dialogue during two ‘concerts.’ These represent the first major phase (the receptive phase). In the first concert the teacher reads the dialogue, matching her voice to the rhythm and pitch of the music. In this way, the whole brain (both the left and the right hemispheres) of the students become activated. The students follow the target language dialogue as the teacher reads it out loud. They also check the translation. During the second concert, the students listen calmly while the teacher reads the dialogue at normal speed. For homework, the students read over the dialogue just before they go to sleep, and again when they get up the next morning.
What follows is the second major phase (the active phase), in which students engage in various activities designed to help them gain facility with the new material.
Student-Teacher and Student-Student Interaction
What is the nature of student–teacher interaction? What is the nature of student–student interaction? The teacher initiates interactions with the whole group of students and with individuals right from the beginning of a language course. Initially, the students can only respond nonverbally or with a few target language words they have practiced. Later, the students have more control of the target language and can respond more appropriately and even initiate interaction themselves.
Addressing Students’ Feelings
How are the feelings of the students dealt with? A great deal of attention is given to students’ feelings in this method. One of the fundamental principles of the method is that if students are relaxed and confident, they will not need to try hard to learn the language. It will just come naturally and easily. It is considered important in this method that the psychological barriers that students bring with them be desuggested. Indirect positive suggestions are made to enhance students’self-confidence and to convince them that success is obtainable. Students also choose target language names on the assumption that a new identity makes students feel more secure and thus more open to learning.
Language and Culture in Desuggestopedia
How is language viewed? How is culture viewed? Language is the first of two planes in the two-plane process of communication. In the second plane are the factors which influence the linguistic message. For example, the way one dresses or the nonverbal behavior one uses affects how one’s linguistic message is interpreted. The culture which students learn concerns the everyday life of people who speak the language. The use of the fine arts is also important in Desuggestopedia classes.
Emphasis on Language Areas and Skills
What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized? Vocabulary is emphasized. Claims about the success of the method often focus on the large number of words that can be acquired. Grammar is dealt with explicitly but minimally. In fact, it is believed that students will learn best if their conscious attention is focused, not on the language forms, but on using the language. Speaking communicatively is emphasized. Students also read in the target language (for example, dialogues) and write in it (for example, imaginative compositions).
The Role of the Native Language
What is the role of the students’ native language? Native language translation is used to make the meaning of the dialogue clear. The teacher also uses the native language in class when necessary. As the course proceeds, the teacher uses the native language less and less.
Evaluation in Desuggestopedia
How is evaluation accomplished? Evaluation usually is conducted on students’ normal in-class performance and not through formal tests, which would threaten the relaxed atmosphere considered essential for accelerated learning.
Responding to Student Errors
How does the teacher respond to student errors? Errors are corrected gently, with the teacher using a soft voice.