Suggestopedia
The Suggestopedia is a physician and psychologist Georgi Lozanov ( Bulgarian , speak Losanov ) since the 1960 common method of teaching years, because of its pseudo-scientific learning research teaching is criticized for her character's action in the promise. The core of the methodology is the collection of elements of pedagogy and learning psychology, some of which are already known, to form a comprehensive overall methodology in which the student is offered and demanded a high level of personal responsibility for the learning process and a significantly more multi-dimensional learning experience than in conventional frontal teaching, which suggestopedia opposes directs.
While the first applications were exclusively related to foreign language teaching, suggestopedia has occasionally been used since the 1990s in teaching subjects as well as in training and further education.
Basics
The two terms suggestopedia and superlearning are to be understood as comparable approaches that both try to prepare the learning process in a way that is brain-friendly and holistic by providing visual , kinesthetic and auditory stimuli.
The aspects of suggestopedia (with a teacher) and superlearning (without a teacher) do not fundamentally contradict the psychological mainstream. For example, learning games in small groups within a class promote the idea of competition, whereby the motivational concepts differ greatly from conventional forms of teaching. In the alternation of movement and rest of a dramaturgically coordinated learning process, the role of relaxation for information processing is emphasized and required in order to make the alternation of tension and relaxation phases usable for learning processes.
In addition, learning strategies are also used in suggestopedic teaching. For example, empty walls of seminar rooms are initially visually designed using learning posters created by the learners so that the self-created content remains visible during the course and serves as peripheral stimuli, whereby this content also supports the consolidation phase during the classroom.
A relaxation method that works with teaching media such as text and audio files, but without a teacher, became known under the term superlearning . Even if the term superlearning does not go back to Lozanov and some elements of suggestopedia do not appear here, the approaches nevertheless have similarities.
To justify the effectiveness of such methods, which are neither necessary nor adequately proven, there are anecdotal reports of alleged hypermnesias in fakirs and yogis or frequency ranges in which the brain works depending on the activity. However, together with the exaggerated claims of effectiveness, these belong to the pseudoscientific context of the methods.
development
With the help of this knowledge, Lozanov developed a methodical system for conveying teaching and learning content in the above-mentioned suggestopedic cycle. He attached great importance to its sequence, adherence to it and the relaxation triggered by the concert phases mentioned above. The most important role for Lozanov is played by the teacher and their integrity, comprehensive education and responsibility for the well-being of the group and the promotion of the learning process. For the founder of the method, the artistic elements in the learning process are just as important, especially in the phases in which the learners consolidate the newly acquired material (integration and transfer). In integration, the conclusion of a suggestopedic cycle that began with a learning concert, the learners make the material available to themselves in artistic form. Often the result is a small play, a joint picture or poster, a joint project e.g. B. Interviews, "global simulation", or even an "opera performance". A holistic picture emerges, "a closed shape". With this element, suggestopedia also makes its contribution to the transfer (activation of what has been learned in changed learning situations) of lesson content.
The modern form of suggestopedics was developed from the Bulgarian foundations , especially in the West by professional associations, in the German-speaking countries by the DGSL (German Society for Suggestopedic Teaching and Learning) .
Suggestion and desuggestion
The effect of suggestions and desuggestions is of great importance in suggestopedia. Modern suggestopedia has outgrown what the founder once said. Positive suggestions are the focus of the trainer's work. This happens through one's own positive attitude towards the topic, the learner and the environment. This is intended to reduce fears (desuggestion) and activate motivation, curiosity and resources. The methods are also selected so that positive learning experiences are in the foreground. In the course of his research Lozanov became aware of the phenomenon of hypermnesia (abnormal increase in memory). Lozanov originally dealt with foreign language teaching because this represented a simple method of proving hypermnesia based on the number of learned vocabulary. The teacher achieves hypermnesia through suggestion and desuggestion. The teacher is the central element of the method. Suggestion and desuggestion take place, among other things, in that the teacher puts the learner in a state of relaxation, which enables them to learn in a completely new way. The two introductory concert phases, with classical and baroque music, lead to a state of relaxation. Finally, suggestion and desuggestion should strengthen the learner in the feeling that the teacher is convinced of his or her learning success. Desugging means that the teacher achieves through his behavior and the method to overcome the learning barriers that the learner has built up through his previous learning experience in conventional frontal teaching.
Elements of suggestopedia
Core elements
- Motivation: negative self-assessment is defused, positive self-assessment is encouraged
- Music: it is used as a catalyst for long-term storage of knowledge (particularly suitable: Baroque music , and a.. Largo - sets of Bach or Vivaldi ). The classical music used by Lozanov did not catch on in the period that followed. The reason is probably that the correct original pronunciation was distorted and therefore could not be a model for learning.
- Games: Educational games and spontaneous interpersonal actions promote the storage of knowledge
- Mental examination: critical examination of the subject matter promotes analytical thinking and trains cognitive skills
- Variety: phases of mental stimulation and concentration with active moments of play help to avoid tension
- Group work, partner and small group work promote exchange and shared experience.
- Stimuli: peripheral stimuli (mostly learning posters on the walls or NLP anchors ) support the retention rate by unconsciously absorbing learning material.
- Room design: light, temperature, table arrangement, color scheme and smell can influence learning performance. Suggestopedia uses this knowledge.
- Metaphors and stories, especially in the form of conveying the material: they simplify the presentation of even complex content and increase retention.
- Artistic elements: The individual makes the material he has learned available in an artistic form, that is, integrates it into his own system of world perception and self-expression. The knowledge that has been consolidated in this way is more readily available for transfer.
criticism
Critics of suggestopedia point out that in the context of suggestopedic teaching materials and seminars, effects known from research (e.g. relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation or the teacher's belief in the student's success, known as the Rosenthal effect ) are often combined with exaggerated promises of effectiveness (see Lukesch, 2000). Theoretically, they usually fall back on brain research in a simple form (for example hemispherical specialization), empirically the alleged successes are not confirmed. "
In critical publications on suggestopedia in scientific journals with peer-review procedures, pseudoscientific nature is therefore emphasized as the main point of criticism, regardless of any effectiveness of the methods. In addition, critics of suggestopedia point out that precisely the alleged spectacular effects of the method did not withstand experimental replication attempts (cf. Lukesch, 2000; Beitinger, Mandl & Renkl 1993; Dieterich 1987 and Edelmann 1991). Lozanov's impressive results in short-term empirical experiments (300, 500 and 1000 words in several hours), which established the reputation of his suggestology and suggestopedia and allegedly led to the support of Unesco, could not be replicated by their critics. The accumulation of elements of exploratory didactics in the classroom, the use of learning games and group dynamics demands on the learners as well as the rhythmization of the classroom with addressing all the senses works as a holistic approach even without the exaggerated promises. The diverse negative evaluations from the perspective of psychological teaching-learning research published in specialist journals with a peer-review system are contrasted with positive evaluations by the foreign-language didactician Ludger Schiffler (Schiffler, 1989). He claims that some of the test persons had a learning performance that could be called hypermnetic (Schiffler, 2002).
education
There is a legally unprotected qualification as a DGSL suggestopäde . Critics point out that this training is in no way anchored in university structures within the framework of teaching-learning research.
literature
- Rupprecht S. Baur: Superlearning and suggestopedia. Suggestions - Criticism - Perspectives , Langenscheidt, Munich 1991
- Walter Edelmann: Suggestopedia and Superlearning. Suggestopedic learning methods put to the test , Ansanger, Heidelberg 2007, 7th edition (= edition from 1988)
- Claudia Grötzebach (Ed.): Training with heart and mind. Introduction to suggestopedic training practice , Gabal, Offenbach 2006
- Jeremy Harmer: The Practice of English Language Teaching , 3rd Edition. Person Education Limited, 2001
- Werner Krag: On the effect of the suggestopedic teaching method: General theoretical justification and empirical review , Lang, Frankfurt am Main, Bern, New York, Paris, 1989
- Georgi Lozanov: Suggestopaedia , Gordon & Breach Science Publishers, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Paris, 1971
- Georgi Lozanov: Suggestopaedia - Desuggestive Teaching Communicative Method on the Level of the Hidden Reserves of the Human Mind
- H. Lukesch: Learning without effort? The siren song of the secret seducers , in: Journal for Educational Psychology. 14 (2/3) , 2000, pp. 59-62
- Josef Meier: More joy and success in learning English with innovative learning and mental techniques , IBS, Munich 1999
- Katja Riedel: Personal development through suggestopedia. Basics of school pedagogy , Schneider, Hohengehren 2000
- Ludger Schiffler: Suggestopedia and Superlearning - empirically tested. Introduction and further development for schools and adult education , Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main 1989
- Ludger Schiffler: Teaching and learning foreign languages more effectively - activate both halves of the brain . Auer, Donauwörth 2002
- Ludger Schiffler: Interhemispheric Foreign Language Learning - Activating Both Sides of the Brain , http://www.ludger-schiffler.de/ , 2003
- Edwin Tietjens: Desuggestion - your meaning and evaluation , reprint of the 2nd edition 1929, Survival Press, Obermarchtal, ISBN 978-3-937933-64-1
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ballstaedt, S.-P. (2005). Cognition and perception in the information and knowledge society In: Kübler, H.-D. & Ellring, E. (2005). Knowledge Society: New Media and Its Consequences. Bonn: Federal Agency for Political Education. ( Memento from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Journal for Educational Psychology No. 2 + 3/2000
- ↑ Lukesch, H. (2000): Learning without effort? The siren song of the secret seducers. Journal of Educational Psychology. 14 (2/3). 59-62