Suggestopedia, also known as Suggestopedy or Suggestopedagogy, is a pedagogical system devised by Georgi Lozanov and subsequently implemented in numerous instructional settings, including foreign language classes, in various parts of the world. The methodology takes its theoretical principles from suggestology, the comprehensive science of suggestion of which the primary aim is to tap man's unused or unexploited mental and physical capacities (Lozanov 1978a).
During the past decade or so, linguists and foreign language teachers, among others, have been somewhat intrigued by the extraordinary success claimed by the proponents of the Lozanov approach. However, for most of us the method remains largely a mystique of sorts, often described in the literature in somewhat nebulous terms and without precise directions for its actual implementation in the instructional setting.
The aim of this paper is to examine the theoretical principles of the suggestopedic method and assess its pedagogical implications, particularly with regards to foreign language instruction. It is hoped that a scrutiny of the literature on the subject, along with an investigation of the research already conducted, will give the reader, as well as the writer of this piper, insights into the usefulness of suggestopedic methodology. |