Desuggestopedia
Instructor: Shih-hui Sophia Chen
Class meeting:
1. Day-time program: Tuesday 15:00~16:50
2. Evening program: Tuesday 18:20~20:00
& Wednesday 20:00~20:45

This method and the next few ones are
affective-humanistic approach called
by Celce-Murcia(1991); there is a
respect for Ss’ feelings.

Georgi Lazanov believes as does
Galeb Gattegno that LL can occur at a
faster rate then ordinarily occurs.

The reason of the inefficiency is that
we set up psychological barriers to
learning: 1) we fear we’re unable to
perform; 2) we’ll be limited in our
ability to learn; 3) we will fail.
Intro.

According to Lozanov and others:
we may be using only 5 to 10
percent of our mental capacity.

To make better use of our capacity,
the limitations we think we have
need to be “desuggested.”

Desuggestopedia has been
developed to help Ss eliminate the
feeling they cannot be successful or
the negative association they may
have toward studying and to help
them overcome the barriers to
learning.

One way the Ss’ mental reserves
are stimulated is through
integration of the fine arts, an
important contribution to the
method made by Evelyna Gateva.
Class and Location
- a university class in Egypt

Ss level: beginning.

Class meeting:
1) Two hours 2) Three mornings a week

The authors noticed this classroom is
different from all the others they’ve
been in so far.

Everything is bright and colorful and
there are several posters on the walls.

Most of the posters are travel ones
with scenes from the U.K; a few
contain grammatical information.

Classroom Observation
One has conjugation of “to be”
and the subject pronouns; another
has the object and possessive
pronouns.
 There is also a table with some
rhythm instruments on it.
 Next to the instruments are some
hats, masks, and other props.

T Behavior
Ss Behavior
T greets Ss in Arabic and
explains they are about to begin
a new and exciting experience
in LL. T says, “you won’t need
to try to learn. It’ll just come
naturally.”
T shows the class a poster w/
different English names printed
in color in the Roman alphabet.
T tells them they are each to
choose a name. She pronounces
each name and has Ss repeat.
T tells them they’ll create an
imaginary biography but for
now they’d just choose a
profession to go with the name.
Ss are told, “first, you’ll all get
to pick new names – English
ones. It will be fun.” Ss are
also told that they will need
new identities to go along with
the new experience.
Ss are familiar with these
alphabets from their previous
study of French.
One by one Ss say which name
they have chosen and T is
pleased with their choices.
By T’s using pantomime, T
acts out various occupations.
Ss choose what they want to be.
T Behavior
Ss Behavior
T greets each of Ss using their
new names and asks them a
few Qs in English about their
new occupations.
Through her actions Ss understand
the meaning and they reply “yes” or
“no.” There’s a lot of recycling of
the new language.
T teaches them a short dialog
in which 2 people greet each
other and inquire what each
other does for a living.
After practicing with the group, Ss
introduce themselves to T. Then
they play various rhythm
instruments as singing a name song.
T announces to the class
they’ll be beginning a new
adventure. T distributes a 20page handout.
Ss are told to turn the page. On the
right page are 2 columns of print: In
the left one is the English dialog; in
the right, the Arabic translation.
The handout contains a
lengthy dialog entitled “To
want to is to be able to,”
which T translates into Arabic.
On the left page are comments in
Arabic about certain English Voc.
items and grammatical structures Ss
will encounter in the dialog.
The items have been boldfaced in the dialog. Throughout the 20 pages are
reproductions of classical paintings.
T Behavior
Ss Behavior
Partly in Arabic and English and Ss are asked to pay attention to
partly through pantomime, T
the comments about Voc. And
outlines the story in the dialog.
grammar on the left-hand pages.
T tells Ss in Arabic that she’ll
read the dialog to them in
English and they should follow
along.
T plays Mozart’s Violin Concerto
in A. After some mins, T begins
to read in a quiet voice.
Ss are given sufficient time to
look at both English and Arabic.
T says to them, “Just enjoy.”
T’S reading seems to be molded
by the music as she varies her
intonation and keeps rhythm.
Ss are encouraged to highlight
and take notes during the session.
Ss follow along with T’s voice. T
allows them enough time to
silently read the translation in NL.
T Behavior
Ss Behavior
T sometimes pauses for Ss to
listen to the music.
For 2 or 3 times at a time, the
whole class stands and repeats after
the T, joining voices to the music.
The lesson pauses. When Ss
Ss are asked to put down their
return they see T has hung a
scripts and just listen.
painting of a calming scene in
nature in front of the room.
The 2nd time T reads the
dialog she seems to be
speaking at a normal rate. T
has changed the music.
The music is Water Music by
Handel. T makes no attempt
this time to match w/ music.
With the end of the 2nd reading, the
class is over. No HW is assigned.
T says if the Ss want to do
something, they could read over the
dialog once before they get up in
the morning.
T Behavior
The next class:
After greeting Ss and having
them introduce themselves with
new identities, T ask Ss to take
out the script again.
Ss Behavior
T indicates that she wants someone
else to wear the hat. A girl
volunteers. 3 more hats are taken
out and are distributed with lots of
playfulness.
T pulls out a hat from a bag, puts
it on her head and points to her
self. T names a character from
the dialog.
T turns to 4 Ss wearing the hats
and asks them to read part of the
dialog, imagining they are the
characters whose hats they’re
wearing
When Ss finish reading their portion
of dialog, 4 different Ss get to wear
the hats and continue reading the
script.
T Behavior
Ss Behavior
T asks the following three
groups to read in different tone:
Sad, angry and cheerful way
respectively.
T told them in order to impress
the director, they must read the
lines very dramatically.
Another four new volunteer are
told that they are auditioning for a
role in a Broadway play and they
want very much to win the role.
The 1st group reads several pages
of the dialog in this manner and
the rest of the groups do the same.
T asks Qs in E about the dialog Ss are asked to repeat E lines after
and asks Ss to give her E
her and sometimes individual S is
translation of an Arabic
asked a Q from the dialog.
sentence and vice versa.
The environment remains playful.
T teaches Ss a children’s
Ss are laughing and clapping as
alphabet song containing
they sing along.
names and occupations.
T Behavior
Ss Behavior
After the song, T has Ss stand The S catches the ball as he says,
up and get in a circle. T takes
‘My name is Richard.’ He is
out a medium-sized soft ball to indicated by T to throw the ball to
one S and asks him what his
another S while posing a Q.
name is in English.
T corrects in a very soft voice Richard asks, “What you do?’
saying “What do you do?”
The S: “I am a conductor.”
The game continues on in this manner with Ss posing Qs and
throwing ball. The 2nd class is now over. Again, there’s no HW
assigned, other than to read over the dialog if Ss wish.
During the 3rd class, Ss will continue working w/ this dialog. They
will move toward using the new L in a creative way. Ss will play
competitive games, do role plays and skits.
Important Principles
Learning is facilitated in a
cheerful environment.
 Ss can learn from what’s present
in the environment. (Peripheral
learning)
 T should recognize Ss bring
certain psychological barriers to
the learning situation. T should
try to “desuggset” them.
 Ss feel more secure and open if
they perform with a new identity.

Songs can free the speech
muscles and evoke positive
emotions.
 T should integrate indirect
positive suggestions into the
learning situations.
 T should present and explain the
grammar and vocabulary but not
dwell on them.
 Fine art provides positive
suggestions for Ss.
 Meaning is made clear through
NL translation.

Communication takes place on
“two planes”: on one the linguistic
message is encoded; on the other
are the factors that influence the
message.
 A calm state is ideal for
overcoming psychological
barriers and taking advantage of
learning potential.
 The distinction between the times
(before going to bed and just
getting up) is most blurred and
learning can occur.

Dramatization is a particularly
valuable way to activate the
material. Fantasy reduces barriers
to learning.
 The fine arts enable suggestions
to reach the subconscious.
 Novelty aids acquisition.
 It’s desirable that Ss achieve a
state of “infantilization” so that
they will more open to learning.
 Errors are corrected gently, not in
a direct, confrontational manner.
