Compare the Audio-Lingual Method and The Silent Way

The Audio- Lingual Method

• In the Audio-Lingual Method, teachers want their students to be able to use the target language communicatively. In order to do this, they believe students need to overlearn the target language, to learn to use it automatically without stopping to think and achieve this by forming new habits in the target language and overcoming the old habits of their native language.

• The teacher is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the language behavior of her students. She is also responsible for providing her students with a good model for imitation. Students are imitators of the teacher's model or the tapes she supplies of model speakers. They follow the teacher's directions and respond as accurately and as rapidly as possible.

• The characteristics of the teaching/learning process : New vocabulary and structural patterns are presented through dialogs that are learned through imitation and repetition. Drills (such as repetition, backward build-up, chain, substitution, transformation, and question-and-answer) are conducted based upon the patterns present in the dialog. Students' successful responses are positively reinforced. Grammar is induced from the examples given; explicit grammar rules are not provided. Cultural information is contextualized in the dialogs or presented by the teacher. Students' reading and written work is based upon the oral work they did earlier.

• There is student-to-student interaction in chain drills or when students take different roles in dialogs, but this interaction is teacher-directed. Most of the interaction is between teacher and students and is initiated by the teacher.

• The view of language in the Audio-Lingual method has been influenced by descriptive linguists. Every language is seen as having its own unique system. The system is comprised of several different levels : phonological, morphological, and syntactic. Each level has its own distinctive patterns. Everyday speech is emphasized in the Audio-Lingual Method. The level of complexity of the sppech is graded, however, so that beginning students are presented with only simple patterns. Culture consists of the everyday behavior and lifestyle of the target language speakers.
  

• Vocabulary is kept to a minimum while the students are mastering the sound system and grammatical patterns. A grammatical pattern is not the same as a sentence. For instance, underlying the following three sentences is the same grammatical pattern : Meg called, The Blue Jays won, The team practiced. The natural order of skills presentation is adhered to : listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The oral/aural skills receive most of the attention. What students write they have first been introduced to orally. Pronunciation is taught from the beginning, often by students working in language laboratories on discriminating between members of minimal pairs.

• The role of the students' native language : The habits of the students' native language are thought to interfere with the students' attempts to master the target language. Therefore, the target language is used in the classroom, not the students' native language. A contrastive analysis between the students' native language and the target language will reveal where a teacher should expect the most interference.

• The evaluation accomplished : it was discrete-point in nature, each question on the test would focus on only one point of the language at a time. Student might be asked to distinguish between words in a minimal pair, for example, or to supply an appropriate verb form in a sentence.

• The teacher respond to student errors : Students errors are to be avoided if at all possible through the teacher's awareness of where the students will have difficulty and restriction of what they are taught to say.

The techniques of the Audio-Lingual Method :

• Dialog memorization
• Backward build-up (expansion) drill
• Repetition drill
• Chain drill
• Single-slot substitution drill
• Multiple-slot substitution drill
• Transformation drill
• Question-and-answer drill
• Use of minimal pairs
• Complete the dialog
• Grammar game

The Silent Way

• In the Silent Way, students should be able to use the language for self-expression--to express their thought, perceptions, and feelings by developed independence from the teacher, to develop their own inner criteria for correctness. Students become independent by relying on themselves. The teacher, therefore, should give them only what they absolutely need to promote their learning.

• The teacher is a technician or engineer. 'Only the learner can do the learning,' but the teacher, relying on what his students already know, can give what help is necessary, focus the students' perceptions,' force their awareness,' and ' provide exercises to insure their facility' with the language. The teacher should respect the autonomy of the learners in their attempts at relating and interacting with the new challenges. The role of the students is to make use of what they know, to free themselves of any obstacles that would interfere with giving their utmost attention to the learning task, and to actively engage in exploring the language. No one can learn for us. Gattegno would say; to learn is our personal responsibility. As Gattegno says, 'The teacher works with the student; the student works on the language.'

• Characteristics of the teaching / learning process : Students begin their study of the language through its basic building blocks, its sounds. These are introduced through a language-specific sound-color chart. Relying on what sounds students already know from their knowledge of their native language, teachers lead their students to associate the sounds of the target language with particular colors. Later, these same colors are used to help students learn the spellings that correspond to the sounds (through the color-coded Fidel charts) and how to read and pronounce words properly (through the color-coded word charts). The teacher sets up situations that focus student attention on the structures of the language. The situations provide a vehicle for students to perceive meaning. The situations sometimes call for the use of rods and sometimes do not; they typically involve only one structure at a time. With minimal spoken cues, the students are guided to produce the structure. The teacher works with them, striving for pronunciation that would be intelligible to a native speaker of the target language. The teacher uses the students' errors as evidence of where the language is unclear to students and, hence, where to work. The students receive a great deal of practice with a given target language structure without repetition for its own sake. They gain autonomy in the language by exploring it and making choices. The teacher asks the students to describe their reactions to the lesson or what they have learned. This provides valuable information for the teacher and encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning. Some further learning takes place while they sleep.
  

• For much of the student-teacher interaction, the teacher is silent. He is still very active, however--setting up situations to 'force awareness,' listening attentively to students' speech, and silently working with them on their production through the use of nonverbal gestures and the tools he has available. When the teacher does speak, it is to give clues, not to model the language. Student-student verbal interaction is desirable (students can learn from one another) and is therefore encouraged. The teacher's silence is one way to do this.

• The feelings of the students dealt with : The teacher constantly observes the students. When their feelings interfere, the teacher tries to find ways for the students to overcome them. Also, through feedback sessions at the end of lessons, students have an opportunity to express how they feel. The teacher takes what they say into consideration and works with the students to help them overcome negative feelings which might otherwise interfere with their learning. Finally, because students are encouraged throughout each lesson to cooperate with one another, it is hoped that a relaxed, enjoyable learning environmet will be created.

• Language of the world share a number of features. However, each language also has its own unique reality, or spirit, since it is the expression of a particular group of people. Their culture, as reflected in their own unique world view, is inseparable from their language.

• Since the sounds are basic to any language, pronunciation is worked on from the beginning. It is important that students acquire the melody of the language. There is also a focus on the structures of language, although explicit grammar rules may never be supplied. Vocabulary is somewhat restricted at first. There is no fixed, linear, structural syllabus. Instead, the teacher starts with what the students know and builds from one structure to the next. As the learners' repertoire is expanded, previously introduced structures are continually being recycled. The syllabus develops according to learning needs. All four skills are worked on from the beginning of the course, although there is a sequence in that students learn to read and write what they have already produced orally. The skills reinforce what students are learning.

• The role of the students' native language : Meaning is made clear by focusing the students' perception, not by translation. The students' native language can, however, be used to give instructions when necessary, to help a student improve his or her pronunciation, for instance. The native language is also used ( at least at beginning levels of proficiency) during the feedback sessions. More important, knowledge students already possess of their native language can be exploited by the teacher of the target language. For example, the teacher knows that many of the sounds in the students' native language will be similar, if not identical, to sounds in the target language; he assumes, then, that he can build upon this existing knowledge to introduce the new sounds in the target language.

• The evaluation accomplished : although the teacher may never give a formal test, he assesses student learning all the time. Since 'teaching is subordinated to learning,' the teacher must be responsive to immediate learning needs. The teacher's silence frees him to attend to his students and to be aware of these needs. The needs will be apparent to a teacher who is observant of his students' behavior. One criterion of whether or not students have learned is their ability to transfer what they have been studying to new contexts. The teacher does not praise or criticize student behavior since this would interfere with students' developing their own inner criteria. He expects students to learn at different rates. The teacher looks for steady progress, not perfection.

• The teacher respond to students errors : Student errors are seen as a natural; indispensable part of the learning process. Errors are inevitable since the students are encouraged to explore the language. The teacher uses student errors as a basis for deciding where further work is necessary. The teacher works with the students in getting them to self-correct. Students are not thought to learn much if the teacher merely supplies the correct language. Students need to learn to listen to themselves and to compare their own production with their developing inner criteria. If the students are unable to self-correct and peers cannot help, then the teacher would supply the correct language, but only as a last resort.

The techniques and the materials of the Silent Way :

• Sound-color chart
  
• Teacher's silence
  
• Peer correction
• Rods
  
• Self-correction gestures
• Word chart
  
• Fidel charts
  
• Structured feedback

Desuggestopedia

DESUGGESTOPEDIA

The originator of Desuggestopedia :
• Georgi Lozanov ( a Bulgarian psychotherapist )
• “ Learning is a matter of attitude, not aptitude.“

Georgi Lozanov ( 1988 ), Foreign Language Teacher’s Suggestopedic Manual

The meaning of suggestopedia
• Suggest => desuggest
• This method puts importance on “ desuggesting limitations on learning

Classroom set-up
• Armchair
• Light is comfortable
• Everything is bright and colorful
• Posters
• Music
• The teacher speaks confidently;
• The teacher leads the class in various activities involving the dialog, for example, question-and-answer, repetition, and translation;
• The teacher should integrate indirect positive suggestion ( there is no limit to what you can do ) into the learning situation.

Fine arts
• One of the ways the students’ mental reserves are stimulated is through integration of the fine arts-music, drama, or paintings.

Enjoy your learning
• The teacher gives the students the impression that learning is easy and enjoyable.
• It’s desire that the students achieve a state of ‘infantilization’ so they will be more open to learning.

Choosing a new identity
• This enhances students’ feeling of security and allows them to be more open.

Positive suggestion
• Direct suggestion
• Indirect suggestion

Active concert

• Teacher will introduce a story as related in the dialog and call the students’ attention to some particular grammatical points that arise in it, she reads the dialog in the target language. Music is played. The teacher begins a slow, dramatic reading, synchronized in intonation with the music. The music is classical and the teacher’s voice rises and falls with the music.

Passive concert

• In the phase, the students are asked to put their scripts aside. They simply listen as the teacher reads the dialog at a normal rate of speed. The teacher is seated and reads with musical accompaniment.

Primary activation

• The students playfully reread the target language dialog out loud, as individuals or in groups. Students are asked to read the dialog in particular manner : sadly, angrily, and cheerfully.

Creative adaptation
• The students engage in various activities designed to help them learn the new material and use it spontaneously. Activities particularly recommended for this phase include singing, dancing, dramatizations, and games.

1. The goals of teachers who use Desuggestopedia are :
• To accelerate the process of learning a foreign language for everyday communication.
• To desuggest learners’ psychological barriers.
• To activate learners’ ‘paraconscious’ part of the mind.
• To help students eliminate and overcome the barriers to learning and increase their communicative ability.

2. The teacher’s role :
• Authority => being confident and trustable.
• Security => affording a cheerful classroom atmosphere.

The students’ role :
• Relaxed => following the teacher’s instruction easily.
• Role play => enjoying in the new identity freely.

3. Some characteristics of the teaching / learning process are :
• Classroom atmosphere => decoration & posters.
• A new name and occupation => to dispel fear or anxiety
• Hand Out => for advanced students
• No test, no assignment
• Conversation with translation in music => to activate the ‘whole brain’ of the students
• Games, songs, role play => to strengthen the material

4. The teacher initiates the interactions in two way—
1) The teacher to a group of students
2) The teacher to only one student

The students respond through—
1) Nonverbal actions
2) A few target language

Student-student interaction—role play

5. The feelings of the students dealt with by

• Relaxed—psychological barriers are desuggested.

• Confident—the target language comes naturally.

--success is obtainable.

• Secure—assumption of a new identity

6. – Language itself is the first of two planes in the two-plane process of communication.
- Nonverbal factors also influence the linguistic message.
- The use of the fine arts is important in Desuggestopedia classes.

7. – Vocabulary is emphasized.
- Grammar is dealt with explicitly but minimally.
- Speaking communicatively is emphasized.

8. The role of the students’ native language is
• Native language is used to make the meaning of the dialog clear.
• As the course proceeds, the teacher uses the native language less and less.

9. The evaluation accomplished by
Evaluation usually is conducted on students’ normal in-class performance, not through tests.

10. The teacher respond to student errors by
Errors are corrected gently, with the teacher using a soft voice.

Suggestopedia is a teaching method developed by the Bulgarian psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov. The method has been used in different fields of studies but mostly in the field of foreign language learning.

Lozanov says that by using this method one can teach languages approximately three to five times as quickly as conventional methods. However, it is not limited to the learning of languages, but language learning was found to be a process in which one can easily measure how much and how fast something is learned.

The theory applied positive suggestion in teaching when it was developed in the 1970s. However, as improved, it has focused more on “desuggestive learning” and now is often called “desuggestopedia.” Suggestopedia is used in six major foreign-language teaching methods known to language teaching experts (the oldest being the grammar translation method.) The name of Suggestopedia is from the words “suggestion” and “pedagogy”. Many discussions and misunderstanding have caused this name because people connects the words “suggestion” to “hypnosis”. There are many different definitions for the word “suggestion”. When Dr. Lozanov chose this word, he was thinking about the English meaning : TO SUGGEST = TO OFFER, TO PROPOSE (BUT THE STUDENTS ARE FREE TO CHOOSE).

Desuggestopedia is an approach to education whose primary objective is to tap the extraordinary reserve capacities we all possess but rarely if ever use. This method utilizes techniques from many sources of research into how best we can learn.

Dr. Georgi Lozanov has demonstrated that through a carefully “orchestrated” learning environment including most importantly a specially-trained teacher, the learning process can be accelerated by a factor of three to ten times enjoyably. Such result are possible through the proper use of suggestion. The suggestive-desuggestive process allows students to go beyond previously held beliefs and self-limiting concepts concerning the learning process and learn great quantities of material with ease and enjoyment.

Lozanov’s “ Suggestopedia” is :

• Not Hypnosis

Lozanov, once a hypnotist himself, now strongly opposes against use of hypnosis. He has realized the danger of hypnosis and being hypnotized ( Lozanov 1978 ). In the process of refining his own Suggestopedia with Evelina Gateva, he has removed all elements that may induce “hypnotical states” of mind.
Lozanov defines hypnotic situation as being taken one’s freedom and creativity away by a hypnotic dictator. Every teaching method that uses “order”, “guidance”, “Monotonous intonation” and “ monotonous rhythm” may cause hypnotic states.

• Not Superlearning

The authors of “Superlearning” have never been trained by Lozanov. The book was written with limited information acquired from a short observation of Lozanov’s experimental research. Hence, there is a lot of misunderstandings in the book.

• Not NLP ( Neuro-Linguistic Programming)

Lozanov denies any kind of manipulation on ones personality, even if it would “program” however positive or optimistic way of thinking. Suggestopedia sees ”programming” is a product of “dictation” and “ manipulation” that, like hypnosis, inhibits freedom of persoanality.

• Not using a reclining chair, or a sofa

A suggestopedia class uses a room with a central round table and ordinary chairs surrounding the table. It never uses reclining chairs to lay down students and make them listen to a teacher’s voice. Such an activity may cause hypnotic states.

• Not using “breathing exercise”

• Not using “visualization exercise”

Lozanov calls such an exercise as “guided fantasy”. He regards this kind of guided fantasy in which people are forced to visualize some image is a hypnosis.

• Not using “alpha wave” enhance exercise

• Not using “slow baroque” music in the concert reading

Suggestopedia uses baroque music pieces in the second or “passive” concert session. However it never uses a “slow baroque” or a music piece written as “adagio”. It is simply because Suggestopedia does not want students to fall asleep in the concert session. Rather, it uses faster and livelier pieces to stimulate a whole brain.
In the first or “active” concert session, it uses even more lively pieces of classical music. The music list includes a quite dramatic piece such as Beethoven’s piano concerto No. 5.

• Not using rap music in the concert reading

Suggestopedia uses the power of the selected (scientifically proven) pieces of classical music because of its artistically harmonized colorful melody, rhythm, and emotion that stimulates all levels of mind as it changes from time to time. Music dominated by a monotonous rhythm and beat, such as rap music, may cause hypnotic states.

• Not only a group of teaching techniques

Teaching techniques are meaningless if applied without full comprehension of the theory. For example, giving a set of concert reading sessions in the traditional setting language classroom doesn’t work.

• Not able to teach without a teacher

Suggestopedia uses a lot of emotion in the classroom to stimulate all levels of human “personality” that works in coordination of consciousness and paraconsciousness. Self study can never receive such a global stimuli.

• Not selling tapes, CDs, Videos, and bio-feedback devices or any mechanical materials as such

Dr. Lozanov denies all the “mechanical” stimuli. Monotonous and meaningless stimuli generated by a machine that can cause hypnotic states.

Sources, History, Initial Results

The artful use of suggestion as a means of facilitating the learning and communication process is, of course, and has always been, a part of nearly all effective teaching and persuasive communication.

For more than 20 years he has been experimenting with accelerative approaches to learning, has founded the Institute of Suggestopedia in Sofia, Bulgaria and has authored the book : Suggestology and the Outlines or Suggestopedia ( Gordon and Breach, New York, 1997).

In his early research Lozanov investigated individual cases of extraordinary learning capacities etc., and theorized that such capacities were learnable and teachable. He experimented with a wide range of techniques drawn from both traditional and esoteric sources, including hypnosis and yoga, and was able to accelerate the learning process quite drammatcally.

Dr. Georgi Lazanov of the Institute of Suggestology in Sofia, Bulgaria is, together with his colleagues, the originator of these techniques. SUGGESTOLOGY is the study of the power of suggestion which can be verbal, non-verbal, conscious or unconscious.

SUGGESTOPEDIA is the study of these suggestive factors in a learning situation.

Lozanov maintains that a suggestopedic teacher spends most of the time de-suggesting the students, i.e., freeing them from any nonfacilitating influences from their past.

Purpose and theory

The intended purpose of Suggestopedia was to enhance learning by lowering the affective filter of learners. Suggestopedia is a system for liberation, the liberation from the “preliminary negative concept regarding the difficulties in the process of learning” that is established throughout their life in the society. Desuggestopedia focuses more on liberation as Lozanov describes “desuggestive learning” as “ free, without a mildest pressure, liberation of previously suggested programs to restrict intelligence and spontaneous acquisition of knowledge, skills and habits.” The method implements this by working not only on the conscious level of human mind but also on the subconscious level, the mind’s reserves. Since it works on the reserves in human mind and brain, which are said to have unlimited capacities, one can teach more than other method can teach in the same amount of time.

In Practice

The lesson of Suggestopedia consisted of three phases at first : deciphering, concert session (memorization séance), and elaboration.

Deciphering : The teacher introduces the grammar and lexis of the content.

Concert session (active and passive) : In the active session, the teacher reads the text at a normal speed, sometimes intoning some words, and the students follow. In the passive session, the students relax and listen to the teacher reading the text calmly. Music (“Pre-Classical”) is played background.

Elaboration : The students finish off what they have learned with dramas, songs, and games.
Then it has developed into four phases as lots of experiments were done : introduction, concert session, elaboration, and production.

Introduction : The teacher teaches the material in “a playful manner” instead of analyzing lexis and grammar of the text in a directive manner.

Concert session (active and passive ) : In the active session, the teacher reads with intoning as selected music is played. Occasionally, the students read the text together with the teacher, and listen only to the music as the teacher pauses in particular moments. The passive session is done more calmly.

Elaboration : The students sing classical songs and play games while “the teacher acts more like a consultant.”

Production : The students spontaneously speak and interact in the target language without interruption or correction.

How to Teach using Suggestopedia

Traditional books cannot be used in a Suggestopedic class since they fail to present the content and grammar following the function of the human brain. The way they present information is not according to the real way the human brain processes information. The whole book has to be adapted to be used in a Suggestopedic class. It is hard work but the final result are worth it.
In Brazil, there is a teacher who developed a whole teacher training course to apply and use Suggestopedia using traditional books. He teaches how to adapt and create a new Suggestopedic book to be used in Suggestopedic classes. The training also teaches the teachers how to conduct an intensive course in English or in any other foreign language using the newest development of Suggestopedia – Desuggestopedia.

Major Concepts and Features

1. Mental Reserve Capacities (MRC)

Among the examples of such capacities are the ability to learn rapidly and recall with ease large quantities or material, solve problems with great rapidity and spontaneous ease, respond to complex stimuli with facility and creativity. There is general agreement among researchers that the human being uses 5-10% of his/her brain capacity at the most. The primary objective is to tap into the MRC.

2. Psychological “Set-Up”

Our inner set-up operates when we encounter any situation – entering a school, being confronted with an opportunity – consulting a physician – as examples. Our inner, unconscious set-up is extremely basic and important to our behavior and to our survival – and it can be extremely limiting, for it can imprison us in unconscious, consistently patterned responses which prevent us from experiencing and exploring other alternatives – which might be far more desirable and beneficial to us. Prevailing social norms, instilled in us by all our social institutions, including family and schools, are the main carriers and enforces of the beliefs and responses which contribute to the formation of our inner set-up. The power of the influence of our unconscious set-up is very great, and any significant lasting change or overcoming of previous limits will necessarily involve a change in our unconscious patterns of response.

3. Suggestion

Suggestion is the key which Lozanov found to penetrate through the “set-up” and stimulate the mental reserve capacities. Even more, through suggestion we can facilitate the creation of new, richer patterns of conscious / unconscious responses or new (set-ups) : “Suggestion is the direct road to the set-up. It creates and utilizes such types of set-ups which would free and activate the reserve capacities of the human being.” ( Lozanov : The Key Principles of Suggestopedia”, Journal of SALT, 1976,p.15)
There are two basic kinds of suggestion : direct and indirect. Direct suggestions are directed to conscious processes, i.e., what one says that can and will occur in the learning experience, suggestions which can be made in printed announcements, orally by the teacher, and/or by text materials. Direct suggestion is used sparingly, for it is most vulnerable to resistance from the set-up.
Indirect suggestion is largely unconsciously perceived and is much greater in scope than direct suggestion. It is always present in any communication and involves many levels and degrees of subtlety. Lozanov speaks of it as the second plane of communication and considers it to encompass all those communication factors outside our conscious awareness, such as voice tone, facial expression, body posture and movement, speech tempo, rhythms, accent, etc. Other important indirect suggestive effects result from room arrangement, décor, lighting, noise level, institutional setting- for all these factors are communicative stimuli which result in what Lozanov terms non-specific mental reactivity on the paraconscious level (at the level of the set-up). And they, like the teacher and materials can reinforce the set-up, preserve the status quo, or can serve in the desuggestive-suggestive process.
Everything in the communication/learning environment is a stimulus at some level, being processed at some level of mental activity.

4. Anti-Suggestive Barriers

The first task of suggestology and suggestopedia is to remove people’s prior conditioning to de-suggest, to find the way to escape the social norm and open the way to development of the personality. This is perhaps the greatest problem suggestology is confronted with, since the person must be ‘convinced’ that his potential capacity is far above what he thinks it is. The individual protects himself with psychological barriers, according to Dr. Lozanov, just as the organism protects itself from physiological barriers :

• An anti-suggestive emotional barrier which rejects anything likely to produce a feeling of lack of confidence or insecurity : “This anti-suggestive barrier proceeds from the set-up in every man.”

• An anti-suggestive barrier of man’s rational faculty which through reasoning rejects suggestions it judges unacceptable : ‘This barrier is the conscious critical thinking’. But, very often this barrier is the camouflage of the emotional barrier.

• An ethical barrier, which rejects everything not in harmony with the ethical sense of the personality.

“These anti-suggestive barriers are a filter between the environmental stimuli and the unconscious mental activity. They are inter-related and mutually reinforcing, and a positive suggestive effect can only be accomplished if these barriers are kept in mind. The overcoming of barriers means compliance with them. Otherwise suggestion would be doomed to failure. “ It is clear that the suggestive process is always a combination of suggestion and de-suggestion and is always at an unconscious or slightly conscious level.”

Three barriers to Suggestion

1) Logical-critical
“That’s not possible “
“Others may be able to do that, but not me.”

2) Affective-emotional
“ I won’t do it. It just makes me feel uneasy. I can’t explain it really.
“ I’d rather not, thank you.”

3) Ethical
“ I really think that’s slightly dishonest.”
“I don’t think it’s fair.”

5. Means of Suggestion

Suggestive authority

Lozanov defines it as “the non-directive prestige which by indirect ways creates an atmosphere of confidence and intuitive desire to follow the set example”. Authority in its positive, suggestive sense, is communicated through our “global” presence, through all our non-verbal as well as verbal signals.
When we communicate in a simultaneous, congruent manner that we are confident with the material we are teaching, that we love what we are doing, that we respect the students who have come to learn, that we know they can learn it, and that we take delight in teaching – when we can communicate these things with our voices, facial expressions, posture, movement and words, we will achieve an invaluable rapport with our students, will arouse expectancy and motivation, and will establish a suggestive atmosphere within the student’s mental reserve capacities can be tapped. ( Self-fulfilling prophecy)

Infantilization

In suggestopedia we do not talk about infantilization in the clinical sense of the word, nor of infantility. Infantilization in the process of education is a normal phenomenon connected with authority (prestige). Infantilization in suggestopedia must be understood roughly as memories of the pure and naïve state of a child to whom someone is reading, or who is reading on his own.

Intonation

Intonation is strongly connected with the rest of the suggestive elements. The intonation in music and speech is one of the basic expressive means, with formidable form-creating influence and potential in many psycho-physiological directions. “Learning is state of mind dependent”. When varying your voice you ”reach” different “states of mind”.

Concert pseudo-passivity (concentrative psychorelaxation)

An important moment in suggestopedia. The artistic organization of the suggestopedic educational process creates conditions for concert pseudo-passivity in the student.

Successful classroom atmosphere

For a successful classroom atmosphere, Lozanov maintains these three elements should be present :

• PSYCHOLOGICAL

A nurturing, supportive atmosphere in which the student feels free to try out the new information, be inventive with it, make mistakes without being put down, and, in general, enjoy the learning experience.

• EDUCATIONAL

The material should be presented in a structured fashion, combining the Big Picture, Analysis and Synthesis. Every moment should be a didactic experience even when the learning process is not that apparent.

• ARTISTIC

The classroom should not be cluttered with too many posters and unnecessary objects, otherwise we don’t see them. We go into overwhelm. Good quality pictures should be displayed and changed every few days. Music can be played as the students enter the room, and during the breaks. Plants and flowers add to a pleasant atmosphere. If the chairs are arranged in a U-shape, there is a better communication possible between the teacher and students and among the students themselves.

Music

After conducting numerous controlled experiments using a wide variety of music, Lozanov concluded that music of the Classical and Early Romantic periods was most effective for the first presentation of material to be learned. The music of Hayden, Mozart and Beethoven is dramatic, emotionally engaging, and ordered, harmoniously structured. It stimulates, invites alertness, and its harmony and order evoke ease and relaxation. For the second concert presentation of material Lozanov found that Baroque music was especially suited. The music of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Corelli (among others) has a less personal, more rigorously structured quality, providing a background of order and regularity which supports very well the more straight-forward presentation of material during the second concert.

The Direct Method

INTRODUCTION

Since the Grammar - Translation Method was not very effective in preparing students to use the target language communicatively, the Direct Method became popular.
The Direct Method has one basic rule : No translation is allowed. In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visual aids, with no recourse to the students’ native language ( Diller 1978 ).

EXPERIENCE


THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE

1.Observation => The students read aloud a passage about United States geography.
Principle => Reading in the target language should be taught from the beginning of language instruction ; however the reading skill will be developed through practice with speaking. Language is primarily speech. Culture consists of more than the fine arts ( e.g. the students study geography and cultural attitudes ).

2.Observation => The teacher points to a part of the map after each sentence is read.
Principle => Objects ( e.g. realia or pictures ) present in the immediate classroom environment should be used to help students understand the meaning.

3.Observation => The teacher uses the target language to asks the students if they have a question. The students use the target language to ask their questions.
Principle => The native language should not be used in the classroom.

4.Observation => The teacher answers the students’ questions by drawing on the blackboard or giving examples.
Principle => The teacher should demonstrate not explain or translate. It is desirable that students make a direct association between the target language and meaning.

5.Observation => The teacher asks questions about the map in the target language, to which the students reply in a complete sentence in the target language.
Principle => Students should learn to think in the target language as soon as possible. Vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use it in full sentences, rather than memorizing word lists.

6.Observation => Students ask questions about the map.
Principle => The purpose of language learning is communication ( therefore students need to learn how to ask questions as well as answer them ).

7.Observation => The teacher works with the students on the pronunciation of ‘Appalachian. ’
Principles => Pronunciation should be worked on right from the beginning of language instruction.

8.Observation => The teacher corrects a grammar error by asking the students to make a choice.
Principle => Self – correction facilitates language learning.

9.Observation => The teacher asks questions about the students ; students ask each other questions.
Principle => Lesson should contain some conversational activity – some opportunity for students to use language in real contexts. Students should be encouraged to speak as much as possible.

10.Observation => The students fill in blanks with prepositions practiced in the lesson.
Principle => Grammar should be taught inductively. There may never be an explicit grammar rule given.

11.Observation => The teacher dictates a paragraph about United States geography.
Principle => Writing is an important skill, to be developed from the beginning of language instruction.

12.Observation => All of the lesson of the week involve United States geography.
Principle => The syllabus is based on situation or topics, not usually on linguistic structures.

13.Observation => A proverb is used to discuss how people in the U.S. view punctuality.
Principle => Learning another language also involves learning how speakers of that language live.

REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES

1.The goals of teachers who use the Direct Method are :
Intend that students learn how to communicate in the target language. In order to do this successfully, students should learn to think in the target language.

2.Although the teacher directs the class activities, the student role is less passive than in the Grammar – Translation Method. The teacher and the students are more like partners in the teaching / learning process.

3.Some characteristics of the teaching / learning process are :
Teachers who use the Direct Method believe students need to associate meaning and the target language directly. In order to do this, when the teacher introduces a new target language word or phrase, he demonstrates its meaning through the use of realia, pictures, pantomime; he never translates it into the students’ native language. Students speak in the target language a great deal and communicate as if they were in real situations. In fact, the syllabus used in the Direct Method is based upon situations ( for example, one unit would consist of language that people would use at a bank, another of the language that they use when going shopping ) or topics ( such as geography, money or the weather). Grammar is taught inductively, the students are presented with examples and they figure out the rule or generalization from the examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given. Students practice vocabulary by using new words in complete sentence.

4.The initiation of the interaction goes both ways, from teacher to students and from students to teacher, although the latter is often teacher directed. Students converse with one another as well.

5.The feelings of the students dealt with by
There are no principles of the method which relate to this area.

6.Language is primarily spoken not written. Therefore, students study common, everyday speech in the target language . They also study culture consisting of the history of the people who speak the target language, the geography of the country or countries where the language is spoken, and information about the daily lives of the speakers of the language.

7.Vocabulary is emphasized over grammar. Although work on all four skills ( reading, writing, speaking, and listening ) occurs from the start, oral communication is seen as basic. Thus the reading and writing exercises are based upon what the students practice orally first. Pronunciation also receives attention right from the beginning of course.

8.The role of the students’ native language is
The students’ native language should not be used in the classroom.

9.Evaluation accomplished by :
In the Direct Method, students are asked to use the language, not to demonstrate their knowledge about the language. They are asked to do so using both oral and written skills. For example, the students might be interviewed orally by the teacher or might be asked to write a paragraph about something they have studied .

10.The teachers respond to students errors by
The teacher, employing various techniques, tries to get students to self – correct whenever possible.

REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES

Reading aloud
Students take turns reading sections of a passage, play, or dialog out loud. At the end of each student’s turn, the teacher uses gestures, pictures, realia, examples, or other means to make the meaning of the section clear.

Question and answer exercise
This exercise is conducted only in the target language. Students are asked questions and answer in full sentences so that they practice new words and grammatical structures. They have the opportunity to ask questions as well as answer them.

Getting students to self-correct
The teacher of this class has the students self-correct by asking them to make a choice between what they said and an alternative answer he supplied. There are, however, other ways of getting students to self-correct . For example, a teacher might simply repeat what a student has just said, using a questioning voice to signal to the student that something was wrong with it. Another possibility is for the teacher to repeat what the student said, stopping just before the error. The student knows that the next word was wrong.

Conversation practice
The teacher asks students a number of questions in the target language, which the students have to understand to be able to answer correctly. In the class observed, the teacher asked individual students questions about themselves. The questions contained a particular grammar structure. Later, the students were able to ask each other their own questions using the same grammatical structure.

Fill-in-the-blank exercise
This technique has already been discussed in the Grammar-Translation Method, but differs in its application in the Direct Method. All the items are in the target language ; furthermore, no explicit grammar rule would be applied. The students would have induced the grammar rule they need to fill in the blanks from examples and practice with earlier parts of the lesson.

Dictation
The teacher reads the passage three times. The first time the teacher reads it at a normal speed, while the students just listen. The second time he reads the passage phrase by phrase, pausing long enough to allow students to write down what they have heard. The last time the teacher again reads at a normal speed, and students check their work.

Map drawing
The class included one example of a technique used to give students listening comprehension practice. The students were given a map with the geographical features unnamed. Then the teacher gave the students directions such as the following, ‘Find the mountain range in the West. Write the words “ Rocky Mountains” across the mountain range.’ He gave instructions for all the geographical features of the United States so that students would have a completely labeled map if they followed his instruction correctly. The students then instructed the teacher to do the same thing with a map he had drawn on the blackboard. Each student could have a turn giving the teacher instructions for finding and labeling one geographical feature.

Paragraph writing
The teacher in this class asked the students to write a paragraph in their own words on the major geographical features of the United States. They could have done this from memory, or they could have used the reading passage in the lesson as a model.

The Grammar - Translation Method

English words that look like Spanish words are called ‘cognates ’.
For example :
The English ‘-ty’ often corresponds to the Spanish endings –dad and –tad.
The word possibility is the same as the Spanish posibilidad.

The rule for use of a direct object with two-words ( phrasal verbs ) :
If the two-words verb is separable, the direct object may come between the verb and its particle. However, separation is necessary when the direct object is pronoun.
If the verb is inseparable, then there is no separation of the verb and particle by the object.

For example :

John put away his book.
or
John put his book away / John put it away.
but not
John put away it.
(because ‘put away’ is a separable two-word verb).
The teacher went over the homework.
but not
The teacher went the homework over.
(because ‘go over’ is an inseparable two-word verb).

THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE.

This has been just a brief introduction to the Grammar- Translation Method. To see what we have learned about The-Grammar Translation Method, we can make a number of observations, which from them we will try to identify the principles of the Grammar-Translation Method.

1. Observation => The class is reading an excerpt from Mark’s Twain Life on the Mississippi.
Principle => A fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in it. Literary language is superior to spoken language, Students’ study of the target language is limited to its literature and fine arts.

2. Observation => Students translate the passage from English to Spanish.
Principle => An important goal is for students to be able to translate each language into the other. If students can translate from one language into another, they are considered successful language learners.

3. Observation => The teacher asks students in their native language if they have any questions. A student asks one and is answered in her native language.
Principle => The ability to communicate in the target language is not a goal of foreign language instruction.

4. Observation => Students write out the answers to reading comprehension questions.
Principle => the primary skills to be developed are reading and writing. Little attention is given to speaking and listening, and almost none to pronunciation.

5. Observation => The teacher decides whether an answer is correct or not. If the answer is incorrect, the teacher selects a different student to supply the correct answer or the teacher herself gives the right answer.
Principle => The teacher is the authority in the classroom. It is very important that students get the correct answer.

6. Observation => Students translate new words from English into Spanish.
Principle => It is possible to find native language equivalents for all target language words.

7. Observation => Students learn that English ‘-ty’ corresponds to –dad and –tad in Spanish.
Principle => Learning is facilitated through attention to similarities between the target language and the native language.

8. Observation => Students are given a grammar rule for the use of a direct object with two-word verbs.
Principle => It is important for students to learn about the form of the target language.

9. Observation => Students apply a rule to examples they are given.
Principle => Deductive application of an explicit grammar rule is a useful pedagogical technique.

10. Observation => Students memorize vocabulary.
Principle => Language learning provides good mental exercise.

11. Observation => The teacher asks students to state the grammar rule.
Principle => Students should be conscious of the grammatical rules of the target language.

12. Observation => Students memorize present tense, past tense, and past participle forms of one set of irregular verbs.
Principle => Wherever possible, verb conjugations and other grammatical paradigms should be committed to memory.

REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES

1) The goals of teachers who use the Grammar-Translation Method are :
- A fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in the target language. Before that, students need to learn about the grammar rules and vocabulary of the target language.
- It is believed that studying a foreign language provides students with good mental exercise which helps developed their minds.

2) The roles are very traditional. The teacher is the authority in the classroom. The students do as she says so they can learn what she knows.

3) Some characteristics of the teaching / learning process are :

Students are taught to translate from one language to another. Often what they translate are readings in the target language about some aspect of the culture of the target language community. Students study grammar deductively, they are given the grammar rules and examples, are told to memorize them, and then are asked to apply the rules to other examples. They also learn grammatical paradigms such as verb conjugations. They memorize native-language equivalents for target-language vocabulary words.

4) Most of the interaction in the classroom is from the teacher to the students. There is little student initiation and little student-student interaction.

5) The feelings of the students dealt with by
There are no principles of the method which relate to this area.

6) Literary language is considered superior to spoken language and is therefore the language that students study. Culture is viewed as consisting of literature and the fine arts.

7) Vocabulary and grammar are emphasized. Reading and writing are the primary skills that the students work on. There is much less attention given to speaking and listening. Pronunciation receives little, if any, attention.

8) The role of the students’ native language is :
The meaning of the target language is made clear by translating it into the students’ native language. The language that is used in class is mostly the students’ native language.

9) Evaluation accomplished by :
Written tests in which students are asked to translate from their native language to the target language or vice versa are often used. Questions about the target culture or questions that ask students to apply grammar rules are also common.

10) The teacher respond to student errors by :
Having the students get the correct answer is considered very important. If students make errors or do not know an answer, the teacher supplies them with the correct answer.

REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES

Translation of a literary passage
Students translate a reading passage from the target language into their native language that provides the focus for several classes : vocabulary and grammatical structures in the passages are studied in subsequent lessons. It may be excerpted from some work from the target language literature, or teacher may write a passage carefully designed to include particular grammar rules and vocabulary. The translation may be written or spoken or both. Students should not translate idioms and the like literally, but rather in a way that shows that they understand their meaning.

Reading comprehension questions
Students answer questions in the target language based on their understanding of the reading passage. Often the questions are sequenced so that the first group of questions asks for information contained within the reading passage. In order to answer the second group of questions, students will have to make inferences based on their understanding of the passage. This means they will have to answer questions about the passage even though the answers are not contained in the passage itself. The third group of questions requires students to relate the passage to their own experience.

Antonym / synonyms
Students are given one set of words and are asked to find antonyms in the reading passage. A similar exercise could be done by asking students to find synonyms for a particular set of words. Or students might be asked to define a set of words based on their understanding of them as they occur in the reading passage. Other exercises that ask students to work with the vocabulary of the passage are also possible.

Cognates
Students are taught to recognize cognates by learning the spelling or sound patterns that correspond between the languages. Students are also asked to memorize words that look like cognates but have meanings in the target language that are different from those in the native language. This technique would only be useful in languages that share cognates.

Deductive application of rule
Grammar rules are presented with examples. Exceptions to each rule are also noted. Once students understand a rule, they are asked to apply it to some different examples.

Fill-in-the-blanks
Students are given a series of sentences with words missing. They fill in the blanks with new vocabulary items or with items of a particular grammar type, such as prepositions or verbs with different tenses.

Memorization
Students are given lists of target language vocabulary words and their native language equivalents and are asked to memorize them. Students are also required to memorize grammatical rules and grammatical paradigms such as verb conjugations.

Use words in sentences
In order to show that students understand the meaning and use of a new vocabulary item, they make up sentences in which they use the new words.

Composition
The teacher gives the students a topic to write about in the target language. The topic is based upon some aspect of the reading passage of the lesson. Sometimes, instead of creating a composition, students are asked to prepare a precis of the reading passage.