Many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language. These learners define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write, or comprehend oral language. They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire, and they assess their progress in terms of their accomplishments in spoken communication.
Language learners need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of knowledge:
Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary): Using the right words in the right order with the correct pronunciation
Functions (transaction and interaction): Knowing when clarity of message is essential (transaction/information exchange) and when precise understanding is not required (interaction/relationship building)
Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses between speakers, relative roles of participants): Understanding how to take into account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what reason.
In the communicative model of language teaching, instructors help their students develop this body of knowledge by providing authentic practice that prepares students for real-life communication situations. They help their students develop the ability to produce grammatically correct, logically connected sentences that are appropriate to specific contexts, and to do so using acceptable (that is, comprehensible) pronunciation.
Traditionally, the purpose of learning to read in a language has been to have access to the literature written in that language. In language instruction, reading materials have traditionally been chosen from literary texts that represent "higher" forms of culture.
This approach assumes that students learn to read a language by studying its vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, not by actually reading it. In this approach, lower level learners read only sentences and paragraphs generated by textbook writers and instructors. The reading of authentic materials is limited to the works of great authors and reserved for upper level students who have developed the language skills needed to read them.
The communicative approach to language teaching has given instructors a different understanding of the role of reading in the language classroom and the types of texts that can be used in instruction. When the goal of instruction is communicative competence, everyday materials such as train schedules, newspaper articles, and travel and tourism Web sites become appropriate classroom materials, because reading them is one way communicative competence is developed. Instruction in reading and reading practice thus become essential parts of language teaching at every level.
Reading Purpose and Reading Comprehension
Reading is an activity with a purpose. A person may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to critique a writer's ideas or writing style. A person may also read for enjoyment, or to enhance knowledge of the language being read. The purpose(s) for reading guide the reader's selection of texts.
The purpose for reading also determines the appropriate approach to reading comprehension. A person who needs to know whether she can afford to eat at a particular restaurant needs to comprehend the pricing information provided on the menu, but does not need to recognize the name of every appetizer listed. A person reading poetry for enjoyment needs to recognize the words the poet uses and the ways they are put together, but does not need to identify main idea and supporting details. However, a person using a scientific article to support an opinion needs to know the vocabulary that is used, understand the facts and cause-effect sequences that are presented, and recognize ideas that are presented as hypotheses and givens.
Reading research shows that good readers
Read extensively
Integrate information in the text with existing knowledge
Have a flexible reading style, depending on what they are reading
Are motivated
Rely on different skills interacting: perceptual processing, phonemic processing, recall
Read for a purpose; reading serves a function
Reading as a Process
Reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is.
Reader knowledge, skills, and strategies include
Linguistic competence: the ability to recognize the elements of the writing system; knowledge of vocabulary; knowledge of how words are structured into sentences
Discourse competence: knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect parts of the text to one another
Sociolinguistic competence: knowledge about different types of texts and their usual structure and content
Strategic competence: the ability to use top-down strategies (see Strategies for Developing Reading Skills for descriptions), as well as knowledge of the language (a bottom-up strategy)
The purpose(s) for reading and the type of text determine the specific knowledge, skills, and strategies that readers need to apply to achieve comprehension. Reading comprehension is thus much more than decoding. Reading comprehension results when the reader knows which skills and strategies are appropriate for the type of text, and understands how to apply them to accomplish the reading purpose.
Perhaps the most important study skill children learn is the ability to listen closely and comprehend what they have heard. As a teacher, students' listening skill levels can make a difference in their performance as well as the class atmosphere. By employing a variety of creative exercises, teachers can help students develop strong listening skills that will aid them throughout their academic careers.
Instructions
Step 1
Introduce the concept of a "main idea." Read a short paragraph to the children. Ask the children to state in one phrase or sentence what the main idea of a story is. Practice summarizing main ideas by reading short stories or fables, asking the children what good titles to the story would be (such as, "Don't Be Selfish!" or "John's Trip to the Store").
Step 2
Ask children to demonstrate listening by predicting the end of a story. Point out contributions that could not be possible according to previously disclosed facts. For instance, if you ask children to predict the end of "Three Little Pigs" you might point out that a prediction of "They run to the straw house!" would not make sense since the straw house was already blown down by the wolf.
Step 3
Encourage children to listen for unfamiliar words and raise their hands to ask for definitions to increase their comprehension.
Step 4
Play a record or tape recording of a children's song. Quiz the children on the song after playing it for the class.
Step 5
Practice learning foreign words that require careful listening. Teach the class to count to 10 in Spanish, repeating the Spanish numbers after you as you say them.
Step 6
Ask children to listen to a set of instructions (such as how to make a simple craft). Ask children to write down notes and then gather them into groups to compare notes and create a group guide to the topic.
Step 7
Play listening games like "Simon Says" or "Hokey Pokey," varying your instructions so that children have to listen closely to succeed.
The most important factor in writing exercises is that students need to be personally involved in order to make the learning experience of lasting value. Encouraging student participation in the exercise, while at the same time refining and expanding writing skills, requires a certain pragmatic approach. The teacher should be clear on what skills he/she is trying to develop. Next, the teacher needs to decide on which means (or type of exercise) can facilitate learning of the target area. Once the target skill areas and means of implmentation are defined, the teacher can then proceed to focus on what topic can be employed to ensure student participation. By pragmatically combing these objectives, the teacher can expect both enthusiasm and effective learning.
Choosing the target area depends on many factors; What level are the students?, What is the average age of the students, Why are the students learning English, Are there any specific future intentions for the writing (i.e school tests or job application letters etc.). Other important questions to ask oneself are: What should the students be able to produce at the end of this exercise? (a well written letter, basic communication of ideas, etc.) What is the focus of the exercise? (structure, tense usage, creative writing). Once these factors are clear in the mind of the teacher, the teacher can begin to focus on how to involve the students in the activity thus promoting a positive, long-term learning experience.
Having decided on the target area, the teacher can focus on the means to achieve this type of learning. As in correction, the teacher must choose the most appropriate manner for the specified writing area. If formal business letter English is required, it is of little use to employ a free expression type of exercise. Likewise, when working on descriptive language writing skills, a formal letter is equally out of place.
With both the target area and means of production, clear in the teachers mind, the teacher can begin to consider how to involve the students by considering what type of activities are interesting to the students; Are they preparing for something specific such as a holiday or test?, Will they need any of the skills pragmatically? What has been effective in the past? A good way to approach this is by class feedback, or brainstorming sessions. By choosing a topic that involves the students the teacher is providing a context within which effective learning on the target area can be understaken.
Finally, the question of which type of correction will facilitate a useful writing exercise is of utmost importance. Here the teacher needs to once again think about the overall target area of the exercise. If there is an immediate task at hand, such as taking a test, perhaps teacher guided correction is the most effective solution. However, if the task is more general (for example developing informal letter writing skills), maybe the best approach would be to have the students work in groups thereby learning from each other. Most importantly, by choosing the correct means of correction the teacher can encourage rather discourage students.
Let us first consider a general approach to foreign language instruction which has been named ‘the Comprehension Approach’. It is called this because of the importance it gives to listening comprehension.
One such method is Krashen and Terrell’s Natural Approach. Emphasis is placed on students’ developing basic communication skills and vocabulary through their receiving meaningful exposure to the target language. The students listen to the teacher using the target language communicatively from the beginning of instruction. They do not speak at first. The teacher helps her students to understand her by using pictures and occasional words in the students’ native language and by being as expressive as possible.
Another method is Winitz and Reed’s self-instructional program and Winitz’ The Learnables. In this method, students listen to tape-recorded words, phrases, and sentences while they look at the students described, to show that they understand their language to which they are listening, but they do not speak.
A new method, called the Lexical Approach. Students’ are given exercises and activities which raise their awareness about their lexical features of the target language. In particular, students are encouraged to notice multi-word lexical items such as ‘I see what you mean’ and ‘Take your time. There’s no hurry’. In this way, the phrasal lexicon of students can be developed.
A fourth method, James Asher’s Total Physical Response (TPR) that the fastest, least stressful way to achieve understanding of any target language is to follow directions uttered by the instructor (without native language translation).
THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
Principles
a.Meaning in the target language can often be conveyed through actions.
b.The students’ understanding of the target language should be developed before speaking.
c.Students can initially learn one part of the language rapidly by moving their bodies.
d.The imperative is a powerful linguistic device through which the teacher can direct student behavior.
e.Students can learn through observing actions as well as by performing the actions themselves.
f.It is very important that the students feel successful.
g.Students should not be made to memorize fixed routines.
h.Correction should be carried out in an unobtrusive manner.
i.Students must develop flexibility in understanding novel combinations of target language chunks.
j.Language learning is more effective when it is fun.
k.Spoken language should be emphasized over written language.
l.Students will begin to speak when they are ready.
m.Students are expected to make errors when they first begin speaking.
REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES
1.What are the goals of teachers who use TPR ?
Teachers who use TPR believe in the importance of having their students enjoy their experience in learning to communicate in a foreign language.
2.What is the role of the teacher ? What is the role of students ?
Initially, the teacher is the director of all student behavior.
3.What are some characteristic of the teaching/learning process ?
The first phase of a lesson is one of modeling.
4.What is the nature of student-teacher interaction ? What is the nature of student-student interaction ?
The teacher interacts with the whole group of students and with individual systems.
5.How are the feelings of students dealt with ?
One of the main reasons TPR was developed was to reduce the stress people feel when studying foreign languages.
6.How is language viewed ? How culture viewed ?
Just as with the acquisition of the native language, the oral modality is primarily.
7.What areas of language are emphasized ? what language skills are emphasized ?
Vocabulary and grammatical structures are emphasized over other language areas.
8.What is the role of students’ native language ?
TPR is usually introduced in the student’s native language.
9.How is evaluation accomplished ?
Teachers will know immediately whether or not students understand by observing their students’ actions.
10.How does the teacher respond to student errors ?
It is expected that students will make errors when they first begin speaking.
The method we will examine in this chapter advices teachers to consider their students as ‘whole persons’. Whole-persons learning means that teachers consider not only theirs students’ intellect, but also have some understanding of the relationship among students’ feelings, physical reactions, instinctive protective reactions, and desire to learn.
EXPERIENCE
Some of the activities are asfollows :
a.The teacher selects the verbs ‘be’ from the transcript, and together he and the student conjugate it for person and number in the present tense.
b.The students work in small groups to make sentences with the new forms.
c.Students take turns reading the transcript, one student reading the English and another reading the Indonesian.
d.The teacher puts a picture of a person on the blackboard and the students ask questions of that person as if they have just met him.
e.The students reconstruct the conversation they have created.
f.They create a new dialog using words they have learned to say during their conversation.
When they finish these activities, the class has another conversations, records it, and uses the new transcript as the basis for subsequent activities.
THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
Principles
1.Building a relationship with and among students is very important.
2.Any new learning experience can be threatening.
3.Language is for communication.
4.The superior knowledge and power of the teacher can be threatening.
5.The teacher should be sensitive to students’ level of confidence and give them just what they need to be successful.
6.Students feel more secure when they know the limits of an activity.
7.Teacher and students are whole persons.
8.Guided by the knowledge that each learner is unique, the teacher creates an accepting atmosphere.
9.The teacher ‘counsels’ the students. He does not offer advice, but rather shows them that he is really listening to them and understands what they are saying.
10.The students’ native language is used to make the meaning clear and to build a bridge from the known to the unknown.
11.The teacher should take the responsibility for clearly structuring activities in the most appropriate way possible for successful completion of an activity.
12.Learning at the beginning stages is facilitated if student attend to one task at a time.
13.The teacher encourages student initiative and independence, but does not let students flounder in uncomfortable silences.
14.Students need quite reflection time in order to learn.
15.Students learn best when they have a choice in what they practice.
16.Students need to learn to discriminate, for example, in perceiving the similarities and differences among the target language forms.
17.In groups, students can begin to feel a sense of community and can learn from each other as well as the teacher.
18.The teacher should work in a non-threatening way with what the learner has produced.
19.Developing a community among the class members builds trust and can help to reduce the threat of the new learning situation.
20.Learning tends not to take place when the material is too new or, conversely, too familiar.
21.In addition to reflecting on the language, students reflect on what they have experienced.
22.In the beginning stages, the ‘syllabus’ is generated primarily by the students.
REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES
a.What are the goals of teachers who use the Community Language Learning Method ?
Teachers who use the Community Language Learning Method want their students to learn how to use the target language communicatively.
b.What is the role of the teacher ? What is the role of the students ?
The teacher’s initial role is primarily that of a counselor.
c.What are some characteristic of the teaching/learning process.
In a beginning class, which is what we observed, students typically have a conversation using their native language.
d.What is the nature of student-teacher interaction ? What is the nature of student-student interaction ?
The nature of student-teacher interaction in the Community Language Learning Method changes within the lesson and over time.
e.How are the feelings of the students dealt with ?
Responding to the students’ feelings is considered very importantin Counseling-Learning.
f.How is language viewed ? How culture is viewed ?
Language is for communication. Culture is an integral part of language learning.
g.What areas of language are emphasized ? What language skills are emphasized ?
In the early stages, typically the students generate the material since they decide what they want to be able to say in the target language.
h.What is the role of the students’ native language ?
Students’ security is initially enhanced by using their native language.
i.How is evaluation accomplished ?
Although no particular mode of evaluation is prescribed in the Community Language Learning Method, whatever the evaluation is conducted should be in keeping with the principles of the method.
j.How does the teacher respond to students errors ?
Teachers should work with what the learner has produced in a non-threatening way.
It 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 utilises techniques from many sources of research into how best we can learn. The Bulgarian scientist, Dr. Georgi Lozanov, for example, has demonstrated that througha 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 results 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.
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. Not until the past twenty years, however, has the phenomenon of suggestion begun to be methodically researched and tested as to how it can and does affect learning. At the centre of these developments is the work of Lozanov. For more than 20 years he has been experimenting with accellerative approaches to learning, has founded the Institute of Suggestology 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 theorised 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 dramatically.
Well aware that methods directly involving yoga and hypnosis were not generally applicable or acceptable, he continued seeking universally acceptable means to tap the vast mental reserve capacities of the human mind we all have but which are rarely used. Suggestion proved to be the key.
Applications in the public schools have beenimpressive: eighteen schools in Bulgaria offered all subjects under Lozano’s supervision, and the results have been that children have learned the same amount of material as in control groups in less than half the time and with more enjoyment and less stress.
Dr.Georgi Lozanovof 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.
We are constantly, surrounded by suggestive influences. If we study them and become aware of them, then we are in a better position to “choose” which ones we want to influence us. 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. From birth on we are influenced by parents, friends, teachers, society, the media, the weather, the food we eat and the political environment in which we live.
The central premise is that we all possess considerable mental reserves which we rarely if ever tap under normal circumstances. 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.
Our response to every stimuli is very complex, involving many unconscious processes which have become automatic responses. These are largely patterned responses - in many ways peculiar to us as individuals. The responsestend to be automatic and typical for them - the result of an inner, unconscious disposition or set-up, which is the product of automatized, conditioned responses. 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 behaviour 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 enforcers of the beliefs and responses which contribute to the formation of our inner set-up. Genetic and other factors contribute as well. 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. This is why logical argumentation at the conscious level is often so useless - even when there is conscious agreement. This is why so much of the classroom experience remains an intellectual exercise: words, rhetorical mastery, even brilliance are of little lasting effect if they only engage the conscious levels of the student’s mind. Only when a teacher or a doctor is able to penetrate the set-up, engage it in a way which allows it to be accepting and open to extensions and transformation does the real potential of a student/patient begin to open up.
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 utilises 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, decor, 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. In other words, everything in the communication/learning environment is a stimulus at some level, being processed at some level of mental activity. The more we can do to orchestrate purposefully the unconscious as well as the conscious factors in this environment, the greater the chance to break through or “de-suggest” the conditioned, automatic patterns of our inner set-up and open the access to the great potential of our mental reserves.
The artful use of suggestion to stimulate the mental reserve capacities and accelerate the learning process necessitates the skilful handling of the antisuggestive barriers we all necessarily have.
“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.”
5. Means of Suggestion
Suggestive authority
A positively suggestive authority is one of the most effective means which we as teachers / doctorscan use, if we use it sensitively, wisely and purposefully.
The authority we are speaking of here has nothing to do with authoritarianism, traditional “strictness” or “toughness”. Lozanov defines it as “the non-directiveprestige 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. Students can sense when we embody the values and attitudes we “talk about”. And when there is congruency in the many levels of our communication, we become believable, compelling, worthy of respect.
Lozanov notes the parallel between the decisive suggestive power of the first session between physician or therapist and patient, and the first class session. Both patient and student come to their respective experiences with conditioned attitudes and beliefs - and with hopes and expectations. In that first encounter expectation and suggestibility are at their greatest. In the first session the climate is most favourable for suggesting that something new, something secretly or openly hoped for, something extraordinary is possible and probable. 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 which 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 naive state of a child to whom someone is reading, or who is reading on his own. He is absorbing the wonderful world of the fairytales. This world brings him a vast amount of information and the child absorbs it easily and permanently.
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”.
An important moment in suggestopedia. The artistic organisation of the suggestopedic educational process creates conditions for concert pseudopassivity in the student. In this state the reserve capabilities of the personality are shown most fully. The concert pseudopassivity (concentrative psychorelaxation) overcomes the antisuggestive barriers, creating a condition of trust and infantilization in the student, who in a naturally calm state accompanied by a state of meditation without special autogenic training can absorb and work over a huge quantity of information. In this state both brain hemispheres are activated”. (Creating Wholeness through Art; by Evelina Gateva p.28)
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 as a suggestive, relaxing medium. Lozanov researched a wide variety of means for presenting material to be learned which would facilitate the mentally relaxed, receptive state of mind he had found to be optimal for learning.
Yoga exercises, breathing techniques, special speech intonations were all tried with varying degrees of success. None of them, however, was found acceptable by nearly all cultural norms and belief systems.
Music proved to be the ideal medium, both for the purpose or creating a mentally relaxed state and for providing a vehicle for carrying the material to be learned into the open, receptive mind.
Music can become a powerful facilitator of holistic full-brain learning. 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, Händel, 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.
