Teacher Development

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A portrait of the suggestopedic teacher

Galya Mateva

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To cite this article: Galya Mateva (1997) A portrait of the suggestopedic teacher , Teacher
Development, 1:1, 57-67, DOI: 10.1080/13664539700200005

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13664539700200005

Published online: 20 Dec 2006.

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 THE SUGGESTOPEDIC TEACHER
Teacher Development, Volume 1, No. 1, 1997

A Portrait of the
Suggestopedic Teacher [1]

GALYA MATEVA
Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria

ABSTRACT The article deals with a neglected yet crucial aspect of suggestopedia –
the suggestopedic foreign language (FL) teacher. An attempt is made to analyse her or
his value system, preferred teaching styles and dominant personality traits. The main
investigation instrument is a questionnaire filled in by a group of teachers. All items
are treated with a view to their importance and applicability in the learning process. A
discussion reveals their priority order in suggestopedic and conventional FL classes.
The portrait of the suggestopedic teacher is given a final touch by learners who
consider the impact of teaching on their personality and overall linguistic performance.
The ultimate aim of the research is to penetrate deeper into authentic suggestopedic
teaching styles and to question their vitality in a wider pedagogical context. The issues
raised are of immediate relevance to FL teacher training and development.

Introduction
Suggestopedia is generally referred to as one of the humanistic methods of
foreign language teaching (FLT) (Richards & Rodgers, 1986;
Larsen-Freeman, 1986; Cook, 1991; Stern, 1992; Stevick, 1992). It is indeed
consistent with the five emphases within humanism – on feelings, on social
relations, responsibility, intellect and self-actualisation (Stevick, 1992).
Nevertheless, it is usually labelled as an alternative, off-mainstream method
which deserves nothing but a brief mention in the prevailing literature. I
would argue that an alternative method like suggestopedia might still act as
a valuable source of fresh ideas, diverse experiences and techniques in the
FLT domain. But new techniques and creative insights can only be obtained
where there is sufficient information and an accompanying positive attitude
towards innovation. Underhill (1989) warns us that any attempt to advocate
humanistic recipes without commensurate understanding of the attitude,
awareness and vision that underpin them may be no more than another kind
of licensed authoritarianism.
This article will make an attempt to outline a portrait of the
suggestopedic foreign language teacher and thus raise awareness and
appreciation of suggestopedia as it has been practised at the Institute of

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GALYA MATEVA

Suggestology in Sofia. The portrait itself will be presented as the sum total
of teachers’ styles and techniques, their personal characteristics and
underlying beliefs and attitudes. It is our belief that finding the right balance
between one’s value system and corresponding teaching styles is as
important for experienced teachers as it is for anyone willing to change and
expand her or his horizons.

The Investigation
The object of investigation is the suggestopedic teacher viewed from the
inside (teachers reflecting about themselves) as well as from the outside
(students reflecting about their teachers). The representative sample
consisted of eight full-time teachers – six teachers of English and two
teachers of German. The total number of teachers who used to work at the
Institute of Suggestology in Sofia under the guidance of Dr Lozanov was 16.
Four more English teachers took part in a recorded interview and their
statements confirmed the research data from the questionnaires.
The purpose of the investigation is to highlight the suggestopedic
teachers’ value system and basic characteristics and, in addition, to establish
how relevant these can be in a non-suggestopedic context. The observation
instrument was a questionnaire containing 75 questions focused on teaching
styles and techniques, on teachers’ beliefs and attitudes as well as on
important personality traits. The choice of items was based on major
theoretical sources of suggestopedia (Lozanov, 1978, 1990a, 1990b;
Lozanov & Gateva, 1988), on preliminary interviews with suggestopedic
teachers and students, as well as on the author’s long experience and
observations at the Institute of Suggestology. To cross-examine and
reconfirm the results a certain number of redundant and mutually exclusive
items were included. Each answer was attributed a corresponding number of
points where highly important/applicable bears the highest number of 5
points. For each item the mean values were taken into consideration. In
order for an item to be considered typical, a mean value of over 4.5 points
(within the range highly/quite applicable) was required. The highest scores
in the following three groups: 1. Suggestopedic values, 2. Suggestopedic
teaching styles, and 3. Suggestopedic teachers’ personality traits, will be
revealed and discussed.

Group One: suggestopedic values

The suggestopedic teachers had to answer two basic questions:
1. How important are the following items to you?
2. How applicable are they in your teaching situation?
The items that yielded sufficiently high scores and represent teachers’
beliefs and attitudes are as follows:
item 8: To regard foreign language learning as a constant switch over from
unconscious to conscious activities and vice versa.

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 THE SUGGESTOPEDIC TEACHER
item 20: To assume that spontaneous, unconscious processes of FL acquisition
are essential and it is wise to make use of them.
item 19: To regard the teacher as an instrument but also the conductor of an
orchestra who gives opportunities to individuals or groups of people to
perform their part.
item 31: To be devoted to teaching to the point of forgetting one’s personal
problems.
item 22: To consider it equally easy to remember 20 out of 100 lexical items as
to remember 5 out of 20.
item 34: To believe in the potential abilities of your students and work in a way
which makes them learn faster and better than expected by mainstream FL
experts and books.
item 42: To regard each learner as a unique personality with unique abilities
and subtly show it at each stage of learning.

Group Two: suggestopedic teaching styles

The following items were found to be indicative of some basic teaching
styles and techniques:
item 39: To transfer linguistic information along conscious and unconscious
channels, to engage the central and peripheral perceptions of students in
FL classes.
item 37: To suggest your requirements for learning indirectly leaving space for
different options.
item 14: To teach the foreign language as a means of exchanging information,
feelings, attitudes, as a means of forming relationships.
item 17: To teach the foreign language as a means of improving your students’
mental abilities and health, emotional state and entire learning motivation.
item 38: To maintain reciprocity in your relations with students – to establish
an atmosphere of mutual trust, interest, gains and enjoyment.
item 46: To maintain relations with students which are both formal and
informal, that is to be both friendly with them and keep at a respectful
distance.
item 48: To make substantial use of positive stimuli (approval, commendation,
encouragement, etc.) and maintain constant feedback with learners.
item 43: To teach and learn in a state of relaxed concentration, i.e. to feel
relaxed and stress-free and at the same time maintain high mental activity.
item 57: To be able to teach effectively without feeling or making your
students feel tension, fatigue or boredom.
item 54: To integrate art (songs, mini-dramas, pictures, pieces of classical
music) at all stages of learning so that memorisation and communication
are made more effective.
item 52: To simultaneously activate the logical and emotional, the analytic and
holistic thinking of your students.
item 62: To present lexis, grammatical and cultural items in large information
portions in order to challenge students’ potential and accelerate learning.

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GALYA MATEVA
item 9: To learn the linguistic paradigm first and then focus on the separate
elements.
item 3: To emphasise fluency rather than accuracy.
item 61: To organise each FL class at discourse level so that most linguistic
tasks are disguised in the process of communication.
item 25: To pay greatest attention to the first and last day of the FL course, to
the beginning and end of each day.
item 49: To be in full command of the sound atmosphere, rhythm and
dynamics of the lesson.
item 45: To harmonise your verbal communication with your gestures, posture,
facial expression, intonation so that you avoid the syndrome ‘the mouth
belies the eyes’.
item 59: To be well-dressed and mannered in the classroom – often more
formal than informal.
item 56: To make learners feel like children – receptive, playful and trustful –
and at the same time to utilise their cognitive maturity.
item 53: To develop your own abilities (communicative, artistic, cognitive etc.)
in the process of teaching.
item 60: To decorate your room for each lesson accordingly, to make the
atmosphere cosy and conducive to communication.
There are three more items considered quite important and applicable by
suggestopedic teachers, namely:
item 13: To work in class with long, topic-based texts, tied into a plot and to
improvise your own activities dealing with them.
item 29: Every day to make improvised realistic conversations through the
medium of the FL.
item 40: To maintain continuous role play in the lesson (through assumed new
identities) so that psychological barriers are removed and social
interaction promoted.

Group Three: personality traits

Suggestopedic teachers think it is important that in class they manage to be:
item 64: patient.
item 65: delicate and tactful.
item 66: serene and smiling.
item 73: a good psychologist.
item 74: with a good sense of humour.
item 75: soft-spoken and suggestive.
item 67: clever and knowledgeable.
item 72: crafty communicators.
item 71: devoted and painstaking.
item 69: charming, charismatic.
item 68: artistic, emotional.
item 72: highly sensitive, empathetic.

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Discussion
What was apparent from the scores was the lack of discrepancy between the
teachers’ awareness of great importance and the corresponding applicability
in the teaching practice of all items under investigation. Importance and
practical relevance seem to go together. There is also a marked consistency
between teachers’ values, their preferred teaching styles, personality traits
and overall verbal and non-verbal behaviour in the classroom.
For instance, ‘to suggest requirements for learning indirectly, leaving
space for options’ is in line with ‘to be soft-spoken and suggestive’,
‘delicate and tactful’. The suggestive styles of teaching also relate to the
activation of the conscious and unconscious mind, the central and peripheral
perceptions of learners. Teaching is based on the assumption that
spontaneous processes of language acquisition are essential and that
teachers have to make good use of them. Hence, teachers try to harmonise
their verbal and non-verbal behaviour, to control the intonation, pace and
overall rhythmical characteristics of work in class. In order to achieve this
they have to be good psychologists, that is to make psychologically
motivated decisions in face-to-face interactions.
Further on, personality traits such as being charming, charismatic and
communicative and having a good sense of humour are associated with the
ability to organise each lesson at discourse level, to teach the foreign
language as a means of exchanging information, ideas, feelings, etc.
Generally speaking, suggestopedic teachers’ values and teaching styles
are underpinned by theories of learning which can be applied to other
subject areas as well. Learners are treated as whole beings and learning is
expected to mirror the global nature of the human mind and its functions
(Lozanov, 1990, p. 161). Hence, teachers provide learners with multiple
stimuli simultaneously, i.e. they appeal to their conscious and unconscious,
logical and emotional mind by presenting large chunks of linguistic
information together with music, visual imagery, mini-dramas, etc. (see
items 39, 17, 52, 62, 54).
At the same time FL suggestopedia is in line with widespread and
well-grounded theories of communicative language learning. Stern draws a
bridge between the subconscious activities of the mind and human
communication by asserting that “...in acts of communication the learner’s
attention is mainly on the meaning of the message and not on the code.
Whatever learning occurs during such language use must be largely
subconscious” (1992, p. 179). In his terminology teaching styles which
make use of subconscious acquisition through creating a receptive state of
mind in the learner can be defined as implicit while styles and strategies
which emphasise fluency, substantive topics and realistic conversations can
be termed experiential. Therefore, in reference to items 20, 8, 39, 37, 56, 3
and 29, it can be assumed that FL suggestopedia lies more towards the
implicit and experiential end of the teaching strategies continuum.

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GALYA MATEVA

In considering items 14, 54, 61, 60, 29 and 40, which lay heavy stress
on communication in its social, personal and informational aspects, FL
suggestopedia may also fall in the broad category of social communicative
and information communicative teaching styles (Cook, 1991).

Suggestopedia in Conventional FL Classes

On the basis of the same evaluation procedure (mean value of 4.5 points per
item) the group of suggestopedic teachers singled out 15 items as quite or
highly applicable in their present non-suggestopedic teaching situation.

Group One: suggestopedic values

item 31: To be devoted to teaching to the point of forgetting one’s personal
problems.
item 34: To believe in the potential abilities of your students and work in a way
which makes them learn faster and better than expected by mainstream FL
experts and books.
item 42: To regard each learner as a unique personality with unique abilities
and subtly show this at each stage of learning.

Group Two: suggestopedic teaching styles

item 14: To teach the FL as a means of exchanging information, feelings,
attitudes, as a means of forming relationships.
item 38: To maintain reciprocity in your relations with students, to establish an
atmosphere of mutual trust, interest, gains, enjoyment.
item 43: To teach and learn in a state of relaxed concentration, i.e. to feel
relaxed and stress-free and at the same time to maintain high mental
activity.
item 45: To harmonise your verbal communication with your gestures, posture,
facial expression, intonation, so that you avoid the syndrome ‘the mouth
belies the eyes’.
item 46: To maintain relations with students which are both formal and
informal, i.e. to be both friendly with them and to keep at a respectful
distance.
item 48: To make great use of positive stimuli (approval, commendation,
encouragement, etc.) and maintain constant feedback with learners.
item 52: To simultaneously activate the logical and emotional, the analytic and
holistic thinking of your students.
item 53: To develop your own abilities (communicative, artistic, cognitive,
etc.) in the process of teaching.
item 54: To integrate art (songs, mini-dramas, pictures, pieces of classical
music) at all stages of learning so that memorisation and communication
are made more effective.

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 THE SUGGESTOPEDIC TEACHER
item 56: To make learners feel like children – receptive, playful and trustful –
and at the same time to utilise their cognitive maturity.
item 57: To be able to teach effectively without feeling or making your
students feel tension, fatigue or boredom.
item 59: To be well-dressed and mannered in the classroom – often more
formal than informal.

Group Three: personality traits

item 65: delicate and tactful.
item 74: sense of humour.
item 64: patient.
item 66: serene and smiling.
item 73: a good psychologist.
item 67: clever and knowledgeable.
item 75: soft-spoken and suggestive.
item 72: a crafty communicator.

Discussion
Basically, the teachers have preserved their value system. They still believe
in their students’ unique personality and unrestricted abilities for language
learning, although they do not have at their disposal the full range of
techniques for revealing the hidden potential of learners. They are still
wholeheartedly devoted to their teaching job, which indicates that they have
succeeded in maintaining a pleasant atmosphere of mutual benefit and
interest in the FL classroom. No less important is the fact that effective
teaching and learning is being conducted without stress or fatigue, which is
a typical feature of suggestopedic classes. The ample use of forms of art
(role-play, storytelling, singing etc.) (Gateva, 1991) acts as a catalyst on
emotions and provides a motive for social interaction. Communication is
again assigned high value and plays a key role in learning. The
ex-suggestopedic teachers skilfully demonstrate in the new circumstances
the possibilities of the ‘light touch’ of teaching – the beneficial effect of
being soft-spoken, delicate and suggestive while their authority firmly builds
on knowledge and skills for communication. Last but not least, teachers
continue to be conscious of their overall appearance and manners.
What is obviously missing from the picture is the heart of
suggestopedia – the organised use of subconscious channels for increased
information intake and processing which, as a result, restricts and reduces
the range of FL skills and knowledge to be acquired during the lesson. In
this sense we cannot speak of genuine, full-blooded suggestopedia but rather
of suggestopedic elements integrated by qualified teachers into mainstream
practices.
Finally, in order to complete the portrait of the suggestopedic teachers
we have yet to consider the students’ points of view.

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GALYA MATEVA

Students’ Opinions about their

Suggestopedic Teaching and Teachers
It has been a long-standing practice in suggestopedia at the end of each FL
course for all students to do a final test, to participate in a dramatic
performance and fill in a questionnaire. A typical questionnaire would
consist of six sections concerning their preferred stage of the course, their
pleasant or unpleasant experiences, their attitude towards the forms of
didactic art, the impact of the course on their personality, self-evaluation of
their proficiency level and finally some general recommendations and
views. The suggestopedic students in this study were, in general, within the
age range of 18-60. They were people who needed quick mastery of a
foreign language (mainly English) in order to read professional literature or
more often to communicate with foreigners at home or abroad.
The questionnaires of 30 courses (25 English and five German) and
345 learners were investigated. Although there was not a section specifically
focused on teachers, students spontaneously expressed their opinion about
them in the other sections. It has been an extremely difficult task to
generalise students’ affective responses concerning their teacher and the
teaching method that has been used. Their attitudes have been classified into
two groups: characteristics of the teacher and evaluative statements
highlighting the learning experience. In order for an entry to be registered it
had to be mentioned by at least half of the students.

Group One: teachers’ characteristics

x extremely devoted, dedicated
x tolerant (usually preceded by ‘extremely’, ‘unbelievably’, etc.)
x calm and relaxed
x smiling and encouraging
x highly qualified and experienced
x artistic
x with a sweet, melodious voice
x with a sense of humour
x with superb communication skills
x not only an excellent teacher but also the perfect human being
x great, unique, incomparable

Group Two: characteristics of the learning process

x I learned how to communicate in English.
x I learned English in an easy and enjoyable way.
x I could learn a lot of words and phrases while listening to the music
(singing songs, role playing).
x I felt so immersed in the new language that I started to dream in English.

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x I recalled words and phrases spontaneously at work, at home.

x Comprehension and memorisation were facilitated – I even remembered
whole passages from the text.
x It was fun studying grammar because it was hidden in the text/in the
activity.
x I felt that all my blocks and barriers to speaking had been removed.
x I felt highly motivated to study and continue studying after the course.
x I felt calm and relaxed and at the same time intellectually active.
x I was amazed how much I could learn in such a short period of time, and
with less effort.
x The greatest benefit was that I could learn real, everyday English.
x This is the best way to get the basics of grammar and spoken English.

The Overall Impact of the Suggestopedic FL Course

The same sample of students reported on changes in their character and
personal lifestyles. In some aspects this corresponds to other research
(Veisson, 1990). As a result of the suggestopedic course students have
become more:
x self-confident and filled with self-respect;
x tolerant with people;
x considerate and caring;
x relaxed and balanced;
x sociable;
x efficient at work;
x vital, energised;
x willing to study and work; and
x intellectually capable (improved memory capacity etc.).
Suggestopedic teaching has also reportedly improved their health. Students
state the positive effect of FL learning on headaches, insomnia, irritability,
low/high blood pressure, also on psychotraumatic experiences of different
kinds.
On the whole, it can be claimed that suggestopedic teaching styles are
internalised by the learners, who perceive learning as communicatively
effective, enjoyable and stress-free. It is conducted through conscious but
also subconscious mechanisms which lead to spontaneous memorisation and
recall of linguistic units at sentence and discourse level. Learners’
judgements about their teachers’ personality are congruent with the view of
the teachers themselves. In suggestopedic classes students always thought
that they had the best teacher, in the same way as teachers thought that they
had the best students. Finally, the effect on their personality seems to be
global – it affects intellectual, linguistic, emotional, moral, social and even
health dimensions.

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GALYA MATEVA

Summary
The main findings of the investigation lend themselves to a brief summary.
x Suggestopedic teachers’ behaviour in general is determined by their value
system and entire educational philosophy. Teachers treat the learner as a
whole person. They believe in his or her unique personality and vast
potential abilities for language acquisition and overall development.
x Suggestopedic teachers employ conscious and subconscious, verbal and
non-verbal stimuli to enhance the effectiveness of FL learning. Their
teaching styles can be broadly defined as communicative, experiential,
holistic, artistic and stress-free.
x Teachers’ dominant personality traits (suggestive, delicate and tactful,
artistic and emotional, knowledgeable, communicative, etc.) are in
harmony with their beliefs and employed styles of teaching.
x Teachers’ self-evaluation is consistent with their students’ perception of
the learning process and the personality of the teacher.
x Suggestopedic teaching styles and techniques function at their best in
original suggestopedia but recent experience suggests that some of them
can be incorporated into existing pedagogic practice.

Correspondence
Dr Galya Mateva, 17, Fr. Nanssen Street, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria.

Note
[1] Suggestopedia was created by Dr Lozanov in the late 1960s. It has developed as a
teaching methodology at the Institute of Suggestology and Suggestopedia in Sofia. It is
still applied for teaching foreign languages in Bulgaria and other countries in the world.
Suggestopedia makes purposeful use of suggestion in the learning process. Suggestion
is broadly defined as multilevel, complex stimuli which are freely and selectively used
by individual learners according to their needs, interests, beliefs, etc. The term
suggesting, suggestive should be interpreted as offering, implying, leaving options,
giving freedom of choice, influential, recognised with authority, stimulating one’s
emotions, conscious and subconscious mind simultaneously. The aim of suggestopedia
is by orchestrating the complex stimuli (through specific techniques) to reveal students’
potential abilities and enhance the effectiveness of the learning and developmental
process.

References
Cook, V. (1991) Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. Sevenoaks: Edward
Arnold.
Gateva, E. (1991) Creating Wholeness through Art: global artistic creation of the training
process. Tierp: Accelerated Learning Systems.

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Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Lozanov, G. (1978) Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy. New York: Gordon &
Breach.
Lozanov, G. (1990a) Suggestopedia and some aspects of the psychophysiology of the
potential abilities (reserves) of personality, in Proceedings of the International
Conference on Suggestopedia. Tierp: Stiftelsen Pedagogisk Utveckling.
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Underhill, A. (1989) Process in humanistic education, ELT Journal, 43, pp. 250-260.
Veisson, M. (1990) Effects of suggestopedia in teaching English to Estonians, in Proceedings
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