THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING, THE

SILENT WAY AND SUGGESTOPEDIA IN COMPARISON WITH

OTHER METHODS
(Fumiko tamura,1983)

A. INTRODUCTION
Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages Have Changed Over Time
Various techniques to teaching foreign languages have existed over the centuries,
the majority of them were founded on particular theoretical assumptions. With the
emergence and fall of these theories, related teaching methods shifted and
changed. The formalists and the activists reflect two mainstreams of thought that
underpin these ideologies. The former, whose teaching method is deductive,
focuses on the pedantic elaboration of fine grammar details, whereas the later,
whose supporters believe in inductive learning, promotes a functional approach to
structure.

That is, the formalist approach is a passive learning strategy concentrated

on written language and based on grammar. The activist approach, on the other
hand, emphasizes verbal communication with the goal of pupils actively using the
language they are learning. Because of the differences in teaching views between
the two, various teaching strategies are used: formalists place a premium on
reading and writing abilities, whereas activists place a premium on teaching
comprehension, or listening, and speaking skills. The Grammar-Translation
Method and the Direct Method, respectively, are typical instances of these two
approaches, with the former being the formalist approach and the latter being the
active approach. The Reading Method comes after the Grammar-Translation
Method, while the Audiolingual Method comes after the Direct Method.The
Teacher-Centered Approach and The 1960's and 70's introduced new approaches
to the teaching of foreign languages.

They were distinguished by philosophical differences that contrasted

traditional teacher-centered techniques with a learner-centered humanistic
approach. A group of psychologists and psychotherapists working on the subject
of speech disorders looked at foreign language instruction from the perspective of
client counseling, and so developed a novel approach known as Counseling-
Learning. Counseling-Learning is founded on the belief that removing any
barriers, tensions, and concerns will result in a better learning environment and, as
a result, better results.

B. LITERATURE REVIEW
1) Community Language Learning

The important feature of CLL is the non-evaluative or noncritical attitude

on the part of the (so-called) resource person (rather than the teacher) which arose
from the above-mentioned counseling of those who suffered from speech defects.
This nonevaluative attitude eliminates negative factors in the learning community
so that the learner may develop the feelings of security and independence.

The CLL procedure has two phases: "investment" and "reflection" in

which the learner participates in conversation in the learning community in the
first phase and then withdraws from it in the second phase to reflect on what he
has done while listening to a tape-recorded version of his own utterances. The
learners, who are seated in a closed circle, are to communicate to one another
during the "investment" phase in order to develop a sense of belonging to the
community, which is the major goal of this technique. All of the students are
classified into one of five developmental stages, which are determined by their
ability to function independently of the informant (or the resource person.)

 In stage one, the learner speaks short sentences in his native tongue, which
is immediately translated into the target language by the resource person
who stands close behind the learner. In case any correction has to be made,
the resource person does so in a non-evaluative, non-critical way. Then the
learner records his own utterances onto a tape. In the same way, everyone
in this community takes turns to tape-record his own utterances.
 In stage two, the learner says some sentences first in the target language
and then in his native languge.
  In stage three, he uses only the target language to carry on his
conversation. In this stage, the learner is expected to make errors, and
therefore, the importance of the way errors are corrected — free from any
sign of evaluative mood — is again stressed.
 In stage four, the learner develops the ability to speak the target language
more smoothly with less errors.
 In stage five or the last stage, the learner manipulates the target language
in such a way that the resource person only supplies pieces of information
on more subtle vocabulary or on structure from time to time.

There are three stages to do during the "reflection" phase. First, the learner
speaks in the target language about his experience of what he has just gone
through. The taped chats are then played back in the second step. Third, the
recorded talks are projected on the board, and the students copy them. Those who
created the original sentences provide the translations. When needed, the resource
person aids them by providing information.

To summarize CLL, one of its qualities is that it fosters a sense of

belonging among the learners by allowing them to engage in the closed circle
conversation. Another is the resource person, who is more of a counselor than an
all-powerful godlike instructor, who aims to decrease stress while also breaking
the typical teacher-student relationship by not instructing but assisting, rather than
evaluating or praising. In "A Way and Ways," Stevick compares the relationship
between the learner and the resource person to that of a child and a parent from a
psychodynamic standpoint.

To conclude, this strategy is particularly effective for those who have

already learned a foreign language in a traditional manner but are having
problems applying it.

2) The Silent way

Certain teaching strategies and materials are based on the Silent Way's
premise. There are also certain protocols to follow when using the approach to
teach foreign languages in a classroom setting. The description of these
techniques, along with an explanation of the theory, would not, however, provide
a comprehensive grasp of the Silent Way. There are a lot more psychological
aspects at play than you may think. The method's creator (Gattegno, C. 1972) did
not create it primarily for the aim of teaching foreign languages. Rather, he did it
as a result of his commitment to his job. Teaching other languages is a unique
implementation of his ideals for him.

He began by teaching mathematics and the first language using his

methods. As he puts it, one must cope with "aggression" in the learning process,
which is a new challenge from the outside. In the case of language, the
«aggression» can manifest itself in the form of error correction. Errors must be
corrected by the learner, who must use whatever resources he possesses, i.e. his
inner potential. In the case of learning to speak, the only thing the teacher can do
is point out the differences between correct and incorrect pronunciation. As a
result, this outside information is the «aggression.» The first step in learning is for
the student to commit himself to mental preparation for an unfamiliar

The teacher employs rods in class, which are ten brilliantly colored
wooden blocks of various lengths, as well as a word chart, a phonic chart,
drawings, worksheets, and novels. In the first phase, colored charts are used to
practice pronouncing sounds, and in the second phase, rods are used to practice
reciting words and numerals. The rods are used to practice speaking in the third
phase. The teacher employs a lot of motions and charts and says as few words as
possible. The technique relies heavily on continual visual exposure to these rods
and charts. The principle of the method is that teaching should be subordinate to
learning and the teacher's role is to help the students to acquire the language more
than just learning it.

3) Suggestopedia

Suggestology (or Suggestopedia) is a combination of the words

"suggestion" and "pedagogy" and it is a science of suggestion founded by
Bulgarian psychotherapist, Dr. Georgi Dimitrov (Lozanov, Georgi. 1979). His
research has focused on the role and importance of suggestion in the teaching and
learning process. He began it as a psychological experiment to improve memory
capacities in the educational process, but it evolved into a tool for the
experimental research of suggestion itself. Because suggestion is an ongoing
universal phenomena in human psychial activity, it can be gained not only in
hypnosis but also in a normal waking state.

According to Lozanov, we spend our entire lives under the influence of

limiting suggestions, conditioned to believe that we can only learn so much and so
quickly, and that our potential is limited. There were several brightly colored
charts on the wall that summarized the main points of the lesson: a list of names, a
list of occupations, a set of simple sentences demonstrating the use of pronouns, a
set of simple sentences demonstrating the use of simple verbs, questions with
possible answers, and the words of a song in the center above the rest.

C. METHOD
1) The Grammar-Translation Method

The Grammar-Translation Method has typically been used to conduct the

majority of foreign-language instruction. This prevalent method, despite the fact
that many foreign-language teachers recognize it is not the most effective or
appropriate method, stemmed from the belief that the ultimate goal of learning
foreign languages was to accumulate various types of knowledge and information
found in the written form of foreign languages, and as a result, mastery of the
rules of grammar was considered essential to approaching great literary works and
almanacs. Another reason for this method's widespread adoption is that most
foreign-language teachers find their classrooms packed with 30 or more students.
As previously said, the major goal of this method is to teach students how to
acquire grammar principles so that they may translate and eventually appreciate
literary works that are sometimes outdated and unsuitable for usage in real-life
settings.

2) The Direct Method

The key aspect of this method was that it solely used the target language in
the classroom, with a lot of gestures and motions, and often with the help of
drawings and objects of all kinds. Even some difficult vocabulary items were
explained in the foreign language, and grammar principles were taught at a later
point in the process of learning to speak the language. The problem was that,
without a firm understanding of the structure and syntax of the language they
were learning, when the students reached the point where they needed to be
creative in adopting and applying their knowledge of the structure of the language
they were learning, they fell into incorrect and inaccurate speech habits, revealing
clear evidence of first language interference. Because the structures of the foreign
language were so dissimilar from those of the native language, and because the
students were already more accustomed to their native-language speech patterns,
they expressed themselves in the foreign language by mechanically and
sometimes literally interpreting their native language grammar.

D. CONCLUSION

The last three methods, Community Language Learning, the Silent Way,
and Suggestopedia, are quite different from traditional skill-oriented teaching
methods in that they are centered on such things as learner counseling, the
elimination of tension, and the fear of making mistakes in speaking a foreign
language, as should be obvious to everyone. Instead, they emphasize the
significance of building a relationship between teacher and student that is
comparable to that of «parent and child» and emphasizing the learners' mutual
interdependence. The recent discovery of the right and left hemispheres of the
brain in Japanese and Westerners through the use of a color
electroencephalograph created by a group of Japanese medical doctors may
enlighten the scope of man's language acquisition, leading to yet another new
scientific and psychological teaching method in the twenty-first century.
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Bancroft, W. Jane 1972. "The Psychology of Suggestopedia or Learning without

Stress." Toronto : The Educational Courier.

Curran, Charles A. 1968. Counseling and Psychotherapy: The Pursuit of Values.

New York : Sheed and Ward

Fries, C. C. 1947. Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language. Ann

Arbor . University of Michigan Press.

Gattegno, C. 1972. Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools : The Silent Way.

Second edition. New York: Educational Solutions, Inc.

Ibid. 1968. Teaching Foreign Language Skills. Chicago : Univ. of Chicago.

Ibid. 1972. "Talking off the Top of Their Heads." TESOL Quarterly 6 : 71-81.

Ibid. 1976. Speaking in Many Tongues : Essays in Foreign-Language Teaching.

Rowley, Massachusetts : Newbury House Publishers, Inc.

Ibid. 1978. A Practical Guide to the Teaching of English : As a Second or Foreign

Language. New York : Oxford University Press.

Lado, R. 1976. Language Teaching: A Scientific APProach. McGraw-Hill

Publishing Co. Ltd. Rivers.

Wilga M. 1964. The Psychologist and the Foreign Language Teacher. Chicago :
Univ.of Chicago.