Chapter 1

Introduction

Kopf, Herz und Hand.

[Head, heart and hand]

Pestalozzi

Language teaching in Australian schools is often difficult, despite the fact that Australia is one of the truly multicultural societies in the world. Once the students realise that learning a second language adequately is not as easy or as much fun as they imagined, many lose interest. In particular, those who are only learning a language because the subject is compulsory can become very unenthusiastic — even disruptive — in the classroom.

A survey completed as part of the pilot work for this research (Felix 1986) has shown that even good language classes may have students who openly resist learning a language for a variety of reasons. They may believe themselves incapable, find the activity boring or a waste of time, or even react to a xenophobic attitude at home.

It would appear that one obvious solution to the problem is to present the language and the learning activity in a more interesting way. The introduction of Communicative Teaching, as exemplified by Widdowson (1978), Brumfit (1979) and many others, to South Australian schools has already improved conditions considerably. In order to develop real communication in the classroom there has been a shift away from the mechanics of language learning which are highlighted by a segregation of specific language areas such as phonology, grammar and lexis, to active language use. Emphasis has moved from teaching 'about' the language to making the learning activity intrinsically worthwhile in order to stimulate and retain students' interest. Materials are presented in a context which is meaningful to the students' lives and practised by means of communicative activities.

It seems that Communicative Teaching has indeed made the learning process a more satisfying and interesting one. It has, however, slowed down the process considerably. Practising meaningful materials in pseudo-authentic conditions might be a lot of fun, but it can be an extravagant use of teaching time which is already very limited in schools. There is also a real danger of interpreting a communicative approach as teaching for oral production only, which will act to limit students' overall proficiency.

Yet the positive qualities of Communicative Teaching cannot be denied. We therefore need a strategy which provides the conditions for good communicative teaching in a more economical fashion. A teaching method, developed in the early 1960s in Bulgaria, and referred to as Accelerative Learning in Australia, appears to have the potential to do just that and even more. Not strictly a language teaching method, but a technique applicable to any learning and teaching situation, Accelerative Learning is claimed to improve both the quantity and the quality of teaching as well as classroom conditions. Used for language teaching today, the method can be described as creative communicative teaching with the addition of an intricate combination of music, relaxation and suggestion. It can be seen as a holistic approach to teaching which endeavours to affect positively the psychological state of the student and through this process to facilitate effective learning.

While the strategies involved during the elaboration periods in Accelerative Learning, are most like those proposed for Communicative Teaching (Savignon 1972, Rivers 1972,1978, Littlewood 1974,1981, Johnson 1979, Krashen 1976, 1982, Widdowson 1978, Allwright 1979, Brumfit 1979, Krashen & Terrell 1983), Accelerative Learning also includes strategies not explicitly present in other teaching methods. These are best illustrated by taking a brief look at the origins and principles of Accelerative Learning.

The original version of the method was devised by Georgi Lozanov, a Bulgarian medical doctor, psychotherapist, Yogi and educator. In the 1950s and 1960s Lozanov was researching suggestion largely in the area of medicine, psychotherapy and parapsychology in Sofia. This field of research became known as Suggestology. Lozanov used suggestion in a waking state (in contrast to hypnosis) in the treatment of skin diseases, ulcers and allergies, in a limited number of organic diseases, and for psychological disorders. He also experimented with reducing sensitivity to pain under extreme conditions such as surgical operations. In a controversial example, Lozanov successfully sustained anaesthetization during a hernia operation lasting fifty minutes which was filmed and subsequently reported at the International Psychosomatic Congress in Rome in 1967 (Lozanov 1978).

Lozanov became interested in applying the principles of Suggestology to the learning process. Together with a team of experts he created a unique teaching approach which he called Suggestopedia. The term simply meant what it represented linguistically, namely learning through suggestion.

Following his experiences with suggestology and psychotherapy, Lozanov (1978) formulated the following principles of Suggestopedia.

1. Learning is characterised by joy and the absence of tension.
2. Learning takes place on both a conscious and an unconscious level.
3. The learner's reserve potential can be tapped through suggestion.

Joy and absence of tension. Suggestopedic classes were designed to take place in a physically pleasant environment, away from conventional academic surroundings. Classrooms look more like sitting rooms with comfortable easy chairs, plants and colourful posters. Ideally, class size is restricted to a maximum of 15 students.

Overall, enjoyment and relaxation are provided in Suggestopedia through the creation of what may be called a positive suggestive atmosphere. The tone is exclusively positive and non-threatening, emphasis is given to co-operation and support rather than to competition, and students are encouraged to function at the highest level of their academic potential. While all this is equally emphasised in good Communicative Teaching and in Humanistic Language Teaching as exemplified by Moskovitz (1978), Suggestopedia has at its disposal more powerful means to realise these conditions. The unique combination of suggestion and music has the potential to create a state of relaxed alertness in the students which Lozanov (1978) calls concentrative psychorelaxation, a state which is not only generally perceived as pleasant, but which is also claimed to enhance learning (Lozanov 1978).

Unity of conscious and unconscious processes. Lozanov (1977:3) believes that the "inhibition of unconscious functions during the consciously directed learning process does not correspond to the natural, dialectic, inseparable link between conscious and unconscious processes". This is not meant to imply that unconscious functions remain completely unutilised in conventional teaching approaches (Lozanov 1978:259). Lozanov's system simply draws more attention to the importance of these functions and to ways in which they can effectively be integrated into the instruction process. In practical terms this principle is observed in suggestopedic teaching at all times. It is best demonstrated by looking at the behaviour of the teacher and at the presentation of the materials.

The role of the teacher is paramount in Suggestopedia. Lozanov expects a great deal from his teachers. While most of the positive characteristics he outlines (Lozanov 1978:187) are equally required in other successful teaching methods, Lozanov gives special attention to dual plane behaviour. This means that the teachers' verbal behaviour has to be completely congruous with their unconscious non-verbal behaviour. Paralinguistic phenomena such as gestures, mimicry, eye contact and posture are very important in communication and especially in persuasion. Teachers will not succeed in convincing students that learning will be easy and successful while shuffling about nervously and avoiding eye contact with the students. Lozanov (1978:194) suggests that mastery of dual plane behaviour is not achieved through practice which would render the technique artificial, but through sincerity.

Paralinguistic elements are also included in the presentation of the materials in Suggestopedia, in particular during the introduction of materials and during the active concert session when verbal language is accompanied by appropriate body language. In this way students perceive the language material simultaneously on a conscious and on an unconscious level. A study by Baur and Grzybek (1984) indicated that learning may be most effective if the non-verbal elements used by the teacher are mimicked by the students. This was not originally suggested by Lozanov.

While the inclusion of paralinguistic elements is not unique to Suggestopedia — it is quite explicit in Asher's (1986) Total Physical Response approach and in Gattegno's (1972) The Silent Way method — one of the major contrasts to other teaching approaches that can be identified in Suggestopedia is the presentation of materials during two distinct modes of students' consciousness. Since students never find themselves in a truly unconscious state, it is perhaps more useful to illustrate the dichotomy by means of Deikman's (1971) model of bi-modal consciousness which consists of an action and a receptive mode. Each mode is characterised by distinct physiological and psychological properties described by Renigers (1981:1):

The action mode is basically what could be termed our 'every-day' waking consciousness. It is organised in order to manipulate the environment by selectively attending to certain inputs which are pertinent to a course of action. Physiologically the action mode is characterised by increased muscle tension and beta-wave E.E.G. Psychologically the action mode is distinguishable by object based logic, focal attention, heightened boundary perception and the dominance of formal over sensory characteristics.

The receptive mode by contrast is organised to perceive the environment. Physiologically it is characterised by decreased muscle tension and by alpha-wave E.E.G. Psychologically the receptive mode is manifested by para-logical thought, diffuse attending, decreased boundary perception and the dominance of the sensory over the formal.

While it can be said that the largest part of the learning in Suggestopedia takes place in the action mode, namely during the introduction of materials, during the activation and elaboration periods and during the active concert session, an important part also takes place in the receptive mode which is particularly demonstrated in the passive concert session. In this mode students can be described as being in a reverie-like state, completely relaxed, not specifically attending to the music or to the language which are presented simultaneously. Although students are not consciously attending to the learning task, Lozanov (1978:198) claims that "such passiveness facilitates hypermnesia and liberates the intellectual activity to operate without any disturbing strain." While Lozanov himself has not provided empirical support for this claim, research in subliminal learning (Budzynski 1976) indicates that a reverie-like state may indeed be conducive to memorisation. Benefits relating to the psychological and physiological state of the subject resulting from experience of a reverie-like state have further been demonstrated in hypnosis (Erickson 1980), in autogenic training (Schultz 1959) and in biofeedback (Green & Green 1977).

Suggestive intervention. Lozanov is interested in expanding the learner's potential on both a psychological level and an intellectual level. His goal is to improve students' self-concept, their attitude towards learning and the effectiveness of their learning. While all three principles of Suggestopedia are intricately involved in achieving this goal, suggestion is especially useful in overcoming students' barriers to learning. Language students in particular often hold a negative and misguided view about their learning potential which may be negatively reflected in their performance. This is especially the case in the students' oral performance where personality characteristics play an important role. Suggestion is intended to have a direct influence on the students' belief and set (Russel 1979) regarding the nature and difficulty of the task.

Lozanov's idea, however, was not to superimpose a set of suggestions - direct verbal, indirect verbal, direct non-verbal and indirect non-verbal (Schuster & Gritton 1985 define all these in detail) - on the teachers' normal way of teaching, but to integrate these naturally, yet consciously, not only into the instruction process but into their behaviour. In other words, the teaching environment as a whole is perceived as positive, supportive and inspiring.

For teachers this means a closer look at their own personality and communication strategies. Generally negative and cynical teachers could never hope to create a lastingly positive and inspiring classroom atmosphere, even if they managed to match their behaviour to the words that were transmitted. As Benoist-Hanappier (in Baudouin 1923:130) put it:

We do not act only by our words and by our example. Our personality exercises per se an influence which is as real as it is mysterious. Directly two human beings encounter one another, there ensues a phenomenon analogous to that which physicists describe under the name of osmosis. The intimate and powerful tie between a master and his disciple is sometimes created, not so much by formal instruction as by the instructive personality of the master. Make yourself stronger, make yourself continually better, and then leave your personality to its spontaneous radiation… Unconscious action is often more effective than willed or ostentatious action.

Good teachers are intuitively aware of this fact. Lozanov has simply gone one step further by labelling these expressions of personality, behaviour and communication as direct and indirect suggestion, just as he sees one role of the music as a form of non-verbal suggestion which acts as a stimulus for relaxation. Lozanov is a psychotherapist and therefore uses the terminology of a therapist. This does not mean that he proposes to hypnotise his students — on the contrary, he goes to some length to provide distinguishing factors between suggestion used in hypnosis and suggestion used in Suggestopedia (Lozanov 1978:118).

Accelerative Learning sounds like an attractive teaching method which merits investigation since it appears to have the potential not only to provide a stress-free environment but also to accelerate learning and improve psychological measures. Although the approach has already been widely used all over the world, reports of research results have been rather inconsistent, ranging from no significant effects on achievement (Knibbler 1982) to claims of learning being improved by fifty times (Ostrander & Schroeder 1979) and more. The emergence of several versions of Lozanov's original Suggestopedia over the past two decades, including commercial courses which tend to promulgate the exaggerated claims made for the method, have led to a state of confusion and controversy associated with Accelerative Learning.

Purpose of present study. In the broadest sense the present study set out to clarify the confusion, to review and investigate in detail the claims made for Suggestopedia and its adaptations, and to find out whether these are still supported when the method is compared to a teaching approach with similar objectives and strategies in the natural school environment.

The thesis is presented in three parts. Part I deals with the evolution of Suggestopedia over the past two decades and the development and contribution of three important adaptations. Part II deals with the claims which are made for individual elements involved in the approach and with the claims made for the method as a whole. Part III deals with empirical investigations of these claims in areas which have not previously been explored.

Chapter 2. Since some new versions of Suggestopedia have included elements which were not originally part of Suggestopedia, but which may well have an important effect on learning or affective measures, it was necessary to explore the development of the structure and content of the approach over the past two decades. One important flaw in the research on this subject is that names for the different versions are often used interchangeably, and that little attention is given to the exact content of the treatment administered when interpreting research results. This chapter will provide for the first time a detailed description of the evolution of the structure and content of Suggestopedia and its three major adaptations, identify changes and contributions made to the original version and, in the light of relevant research findings, discuss the merit of additions to Lozanov's Suggestopedia. The term Accelerative Learning will be used to refer to all versions collectively, while individual versions will be referred to by their specific names.

Chapter 3. The three major elements common to most versions of Accelerative Learning, and which distinguish the approach from other methods with similar objectives and strategies, are music, relaxation and suggestion. While Lozanov (1978) claims that the combination of these elements is effective in the learning process, he has not provided detailed empirical evidence for this claim. Subsequent research in Accelerative Learning has, however, placed some emphasis on isolating individual elements for investigation in order to determine the relative effectiveness and importance of each of these elements. This chapter provides a detailed review of the relevant literature within the field of Accelerative Learning and in related and independent fields.

Chapter 4. Literature reviews on research findings in Accelerative Learning when used as a complete teaching method, have so far been rather skimpy. Even major theses such as Fassiyian (1981) and Botha (1986) are largely restricted to an uncritical report of a small number of research studies. Furthermore, literature reviews tend not to distinguish between different versions of Accelerative Learning being used and, most importantly, with the exception of Schuster (1984) and Schuster & Gritton (1985), little or no distinction tends to be made between controlled experimental studies and non-experimental studies in terms of the significance of findings. As a result of this it is impossible to arrive at definite conclusions about the exact effects of Accelerative Learning. In this chapter an attempt was made to address these problems. A comprehensive critical review of the literature beginning with the Lozanov studies is presented. This includes non-language studies as well as language studies in order to determine whether the approach is particularly suited to language teaching as has often been claimed. The major aim of the chapter is to identify the claims made for the effectiveness of Accelerative Learning, to examine these in the light of controlled empirical support, and to highlight important gaps in the research.

Chapter 5. Although Accelerative Learning has been extensively used and tested in language classes, the most important gap in the research is of controlled studies in the natural school environment. While the claim for improved achievement appears to be reasonably well supported, claims for improved affective variables such as attitude, self-concept and behaviour, have not been well supported overall, and particularly not in this environment. Comparative studies have also generally not given much attention to the teaching method used in the control groups. The quasi-experimental study carried out in the natural secondary school environment reported in this chapter addresses these problems. Eight classes and five teachers at three different schools took part in the study. Emphasis was given to the testing of affective variables with language achievement being tested by means of broad measures only.

Chapter 6. Following the findings of the secondary school study which showed that use of the Accelerative Learning approach does have the potential to improve affective variables in this environment without compromising language achievement, it was decided to carry out an experimental study on a smaller scale in the primary school environment. The reason for this was threefold. Firstly, a study on a smaller scale allowed for more detailed language tests to be administered. Secondly, a study of this nature could more easily address a possible teacher-treatment confound. Thirdly, a study in the primary school environment could check the responsiveness of younger children to Accelerative Learning. In this study primary school children were assigned at random to either the experimental or control condition and teaching was carried out by the same teacher with teacher behaviour being monitored by independent observers. All four language skills as well as affective variables were tested.

Chapter 7. Following the findings of the primary school study which largely supported those of the secondary school study regarding affective measures, and which showed significant allround improvement in language achievement favouring the experimental students, the question arose whether this improved performance in achievement was solely due to improved memory skills, as has been claimed by some critics (Scovel 1979), or whether more sophisticated language skills were also affected by Accelerative Learning. In order to administer detailed language tests, a final study was again carried out on a small scale with one year 10 class providing the subjects. A simple time series analysis was employed which meant that the same group of students took part in both the experimental and the control condition. Teaching was provided by the same teacher for both conditions. Language tests were designed to test both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the students' language use.

Chapter 8. Conclusions. The implications of the review and the research findings for Accelerative Learning and for language teaching are considered in this chapter.