DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 362 045FL 021 509

AUTHOR Schuster, Don, Ed.TITLE Journal of the Society for Accelerative Learning and

Teaching; Volume 12, Number 1-4.INSTITUTION Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching,

Inc.REPORT NO ISSN-0273-2459PUB DATE 87NOTE 228p.PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022)JOURNAL CIT Journal of the Society for Accelerative Learning and

Teaching; v12 n1-4 1987

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Acceleration (Education); Administrator Attitudes;

Adult Education; Classroom Techniques; EducationalHistory; Elementary Secondary Education; ForeignCountries; Higher Education; Imagination;instructional Effectiveness; Japanese; Memory;Mnemonics; Movement Education; *Music Activities;Program Descriptions; *Relaxation Training;*Retention (Psychology); Second Language Instruction;*Second Languages; Student Attitudes; TeacherAttitudes; Teacher Education; Teaching Methods

IDENTIFIERS Africa

ABSTRACT

The basic focus on this journal, which publishes awide variety of articles on suggestive and accelerative learning, isSuggestopedia theory, research, and application. Articles in thevolume presented here include: "The Effects of Superlearning onRetention/Hypermnesia of Rare English Words in College Students"(Lynn D. Anderson); "SALT in Africa: Unity in Diversity throughCommunication" (Frikki Van Kraayenburg); "An Accelerated LearningMagnet School: Attracting Teachers and Administrators" (StephanieMerritt); "Vital Components for Effective Teacher Training" (Twyla S.Moschel); "Eurythmy: Art of Movement in the Waldorf Schools" (Earl J.Ogletree); "Teaching Adult Learners Using Accelerated Learning"(Elaine Voci-Reed); "Music as Mnemonic Device in Second LanguageLearning" (Linda Dejin Zia, Loren Alexander); "Music and AccelerativeLearning: Some Historic and Current Applications" (Patrick S.Brislan); "Students' Attitudes Towards the Use of Music andMind-Calming in their High School Language Class" (Uschi Felix);"Relaxation and Imagination Imagery" (Connie R. Hull, Gary F. Render,Charles E. Moon); "Japanese Language and SALT" (Hideo Seki); and"Dual-Plane Awareness Techniques Other Than Lozanov's forAccelerating and Enriching Teaching and Learning" (Win Wenger).(MSE)

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THE JOURNAL OFTHE SOCIETY FOR ACCELERATIVE

LEARNING AND TEACHINGVolume 12, Number 1 & 2 Spring & Summer, 1987

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC1'

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ha document has been teproduced aa,ecen,ed from me Denson or orgootiottonoopmahog 11

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Published by the Society for Accelerative Learning andTeaching, Inc.

ISSN 0273-2459

THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FORACCELERATIVELEARNING AND TEACHING

Guidelines for Contributors

The Editor welcomes submission of manuscripts on an interdisciplinary nature relevant

to all aspects of suggestive learning-teaching-therapy counseling within the theoretical and

procedural confines of Suggestology and/or Sugge4.;topedia. Tbe JOURNAL FOR THESOCIETY OF ACCELERATIVE LEARNING AND TEACHING will publish awide variety of'

articles - including critical reviews, theoretical analyses, speculative papers, case studies,

quasi-experimental studies, as well as reports of empirical research (basic or applied) of

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Editor

The Journal of the Society for Accelittive Learning and Teaching

Psychology Department, lows State University, Ames, Iowa 50010

I BEST COPY AVAILABLE

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR

ACCELERATIVE LEARNING AND TEACHING

Volume 12, Numbers 1&2 Winter & Spring 1987

CONTENTS

The Ef fects of Superlearning on RetentioniHypermnesiaof Rare English Words in College StudentsLynn D. Anderson

3

Salt in Africa: Unity in Diversity through Communication

Frikkie Van Kraayenburg17

An Accelerated Learning Magnet School: Attracting

Teachers and AdministratorsStephanie Merritt

39

Vital Components for Ef fective Teacher TrainingTwyla S. Moschel

49

Eurythrny: Art of Movement in thr, Waldorf SchoolsEarl J. Ogletree

65

Teaching Adult Learners Using Accelerated Learning

Elaine Voci-Reed65

Music as Mnemonic Device in Second Language Learning

Linda Dejin Xia and Loren Alexander 95

BookreviewThe Magic Feather. The Truth About Special

Education, by Lori and Bill GrangerReviewed by Earl J Ogletree

1

107

Don Schuster PhDEditor

Marj Wh,tneyCirculation

EDITORIAL

W Jane Bancroft PhDScarborough CollegeLimy of TorontoWest Hill. Ont M1C 1A4

Owen Caskey. PhD8201 EdgernereEl Paso TX 79925

McCrae Cochrane PhDCenter for Cont Development64 Mountain StSharon MA 02067

Priscilla Donovan PhD3050 S Zenia StDenver CO 80231

Kurt A Fuerst. Ph. DCarleton UniversityColonel By DrOttawa. Ont K IS. 586

L yelle Palmer Ph DW,nona State UniversityvVinona MN 55987

K..9 Her r Ph DAssociate Editor

Renate Nummela-Caine PhDAssociate Editor

BOARD

Pedro R Portes. PhDSchool of EducationUniversity of LouisvilleLouisville KY'

Gabriel Racle Ph D1554 Rolland AvOttawa. Ont K1G 0J4

John Senatore. Ed DLow of Southern ColoradoPueblo CO 81001

JoLene Somsky3700 Orleans AvSioux City IA 51105

Win Wenger. PhDP 0 Box 332Gaithersburg MD 20877

Wendy Whitacre Stern5381 W Calle ConejoTucson AZ 85745

For subscription, send order to SALT Journal. Psychology Dept. IowaState University Ames IA 50011 Subscription rates $20 00 per year.individual sLbscription Outside US add $15 00 per year for air mailiCanada and Mexico. same as US) Back issues $7 00 per copy.$12 00 per doubled copy List of available back issues sent onrequest Copyright 1986 by the Society for Accelerative Learning andTeaching Psychology Dept.. lowa State University Ames IA 50011

Ma ling Permit 190. Ames Iowa 50010

Printed in the U S A

2

J. of me Socety ior Accelerative Learning and Teaching 1987, 1211&2).

The Effects of Super learning onRetention/Hypermnesia

of Rare English Words in College Students

Lynn D. AndersonNorthern Michigan University

andGary Render

University of Wyoming

Abstract. The purpose of this study was todetermine if the Super learning method, as definedby Ostrander and Schroeder, would producehypermnesia in learning rare English words. Thesubjects were 189 sophomore and junior educa-tion majors Subjects were randomly assignedby class section to either the control group orto one of four treatment groups. All groupsreceived pre- and posttests The control group,which consisted of two class sections, learnedthe ,rds by using any method of their ownchoosing. They were tested for retention afterone, two, and four weeks. One treatment group,also comprised of two ciass sections was testedone, two and four weeks after tre.atment Eachof the other treatment groups was tested onlyonce at one. two, or four weeks after treatmentThe same matching test: was used as a pre-post-. and retention test. Subjects were nottold their scores on any of the tests. An analy-sis of covariance, which removed the ef fects ofthe acquisition scores, showed that the controlgroup performed significantly tp < 05} better, onall of the retention tests than any of the treat-ment groups Reasons for these results areof fered and recommendations are proposed

3

141414

Introducti on

Georg Lozanov studied the phenomenal memorycapacities of certain yogis Each member of the Sto-traya sect of the Brahmins memorizes all of the sacredtext. so that if the text was destroyed and only onemember of the sect survived the entire sacred textcould be reproduced. Capacities of this kind, inherentto the individual were concealed from the massesbehind the veil of mysticism and the latter weredeprived of them (Lozanov. 1973 p 73). In developingSuggestology. Lozanov sought to make these reservesavailable to everyone Lozanov called this enhancedmemory hypermnesia and claimed that the productionof hypermnesia depends upon suggestion iLozanov.1978) Several aspects of Lozanov s method. alsocalled Superlearning. utilize suggestion.

Clinical psychologists have defined hypermnesia as anincrease in retention over time, and have conductedstudies investigating the conditions which producehypermnesia. It was found that hypermnesia occurredover repeated trials lErdelyi & Becker, 1974, Roediger &Payne, 1982; Roediger & Thorpe, 1978). and that thedepth of processing influenced hypermnesia Belmore.1981, Erdelyi. Buschke & Finkelstein. 1977. Erdelyi &Stein 1981

Philipov t1978) used Lozanov s method to teach a

beginning course in the Bulgarian language and found9 1 % average retention of learned material This level ofrecall was considered to demonstrate hypermnesia. Thetreatment group performed significantly better (p < 02)than a control group. even though the treatment groupspent only one third of the time in class that the con-trol group had spent

4

Method

For the purposes of this study, hypermnesia wasdefined in two ways. Both the clinical definition, thathypermnesia is an increase in retention over time, andLozanov's definition of hypermnesia as enhanced mem-ory were used. Ninety percent of the posttest scorewas applied as the ref erence criterion for enhancedmemory. In order to satisfy this definition, groupswere required to maintain the criterion score across alltests. Both definitions were used to analyze the data.

This study was conducted to determine if theSuperlearning method, as outlined by Ostrander andSchroeder. would produce hyperrnnesia under either oftwo ':esting conditions. One group was tested forretention once after treatment, while the other groupreceived repeated testing, i.e., three tests. A controlgroup received no Superlearning treatment, but wastested at all three intervals, one, two, and four weeks.

Seven sections of the undergraduate course. Foun-dations of Learning, at the University of Wyoming, wereused in this study. The course is required for ail edu-cation majors, and most students are sophomores orjuniors. Subjects were randomly assigned by section toeither a treatment or control condition.

The following procedure was used with the treat-ment classes.

1) Each participant received a sheet explaining theseries of steps to be followed.

2) A pretest was administered to provide a baselinescore. The pretest consisted of 25 rare Englishwords which were to be matched to their defini-tions. This same test was used as a pretest, a

5

hr

posttest. and as the retention test; each testadministration lasted approximately five minutes.Pretests were collected by the experimenter.

3) A list of the 25 words and their definitions wasdistributed to subjects. The researcher read thewords and definitions aloud to subjects, during atwo minute period Subjects studied the wordsand definitions for two additional minutes. Listswere then collected.

4) A tape was played to relax subjects minds andbodies. The tape suggested that learning would beeasy. This tape played for twent\., minutes.

5) A tape prepared by the researcher was played.This tape presented the words and their definitionsusing voice intonation, sequentially, normal, loud,and soft tones. Baroque music, with a 4/4 beatand 60 beats per minutes VV3S selected to prcvidethe background. Each word and its definition wasgiven during a four second (four beat) period. Afour second pause followed each word/definition.Subjects were instructed to breathe rhythmically,i.e. to hocl their breath while information wasbeing igNen, and to alternately inhale or exhale dur-ing pauses

6) Immediately following the treatment, a posttest wasgiven

7) Subjects were tested, by class section. for reten-tion, at one, tv.o. and f our week intervals. Onesection was tested at one week only, one sectionat two weeks, and one section at four weeks.Two class sections were tested at all three ofthese intervals Subjects were not told any oftheir test 'scores, nor were they inf ormed of whichitems they missed on any of the tests

The procedure used with the control class consistedof the following

6

1) Subjects were given a handout describing the pro-cedure to be followed.

2) The pretest was administered to provide a baselinescore This took approximately five minu'.es

3i The list of words and matching definitions wasdistributed to' students. The experimenter read thelist to students. during a two-minute period.

'4) Students were given twenty minutes (a time Periodequivalent to the relaxation tape used with thetreatment group) to learn the words and definitionsusing any strategy they chose.

5) After twenty minutes. the lists were collected andthe posttest was administered.

61 The control group was tested for retention at one.two, and four week intervals. Subjects were notinformed of any of their test scores, nor of whichitems they missed on any of the tests.

Results and Discussion

A one-way analysis of variance was used to deter-mine if there were any significant dif ferences betweenclasses. See Table I. Post hoc pairwise comparisonswere performed using Tukey's test. It was round thatthe control class performed signif icantly < 05) betteron the posttest, one week retention test, two weekretention test. and the four week retention test. than

any other group.

An analysis of covariance was then performed onthe data to remove the ef fect of the acquisition scoreon the retention test scores. The control class scoreswere still significantly (ID < 05) higher than the scoresof the other groups on all tests of retention (Table II.)

7

Table /: Means and Standard Deviations of Test Scoresby Class and Retention Testing Intervals

Class N Pre SO Post SD Week i SD week 2 SD Week 4 SO

1(Control) 54 .81 1.78 24.17. 2.02 22.85. 3.75 22.23. 4.25 18.32. 6.96

2(Treatmont) 56 .20 .86 19.11 5 95 14.56 6 70 13 23 7.54 12.59 7.85

3(Trtatment) 23 .13 .46 20.00 4 09 15.09 5.66

4(Troatment) 26 .19 .63 19 40 6 20 12.86 7.91

5(Treatment) 20 .80 1.30 19.60 5.66 9.16 5.27

< .05

8

Table II: Differences between Groups on Retention Tests

Week 1

SourceCovariate: PosttestMain Effect: ClassExplainedResidualTotal

SS3015.3

179.73195 0

929 74124.6

OFI

23

9297

MS3015.3

89.81065.0

9.942 5

F304.9*

9.1*107.7*

Week 2

Source SS OF MSCovariate: Posttest 3663.9 1 3663 9 194.1*Main Effect: Class 221.2 2 110.6Explained 3885.1 3 1295.0 68.6*Residual 1604.4 85 18.9Total 5489.5 88 62.4

Week 3

Source SS OF MSCovariate Posttest 3197 1 1 3197.1 109.4*Main Effect: Class 555.6 2 277.8 9.4*Explained 3752 7 3 1250 9 42 8*Residual 3213 3 110 9 2Total 6966 0 113 61.6

p < $4.* p < 001

9

Table II shows the ; esults of the analysis of covari-ance. At week one, there was a significant main effectfor class (p < .001). Significant main effects for classwere also found at weeks two and four (p < .004 andp < .001 respectively). The analysis of covarianceshowed that the control group scores were still signifi-cantly higher than the scores of any of the treatmentgroups.

A decline in test scores over time was found in alltreatment conditions. The data did not support the firstdefinition of hypermnesia (increase in retention overtime). The scores pertaining to the second definition ofhypermnesia (enhanced recall) for each group are pre-sented in Table Ill None of the treatment groupsshowed enhanced recall at any interval. Additionally, thecontrol group failed to show consistent enhanced recallon all retention tests. Therefore, hyperrnnesia was notdemonstrated in any condition.

Table Ill: Mean Retention Scores

Group N Week 1 Week 2 Week 4Control 54 94.5% 92.5% 75.8%Treatment 56 76.2% 69.2% 65.9%Treatment 23 75 5%Treatment 26 66.3%Treatment 20 46.7%

Note: Table entries are percentages of posttest scores.

Repeated testing in the treatment condition failed toproduce hyperrhnesia. There were no significant differ-ences between the scores of the treatment group

10

receiving repeated testing and treatment groups whowere tested for retention only once.

The effectiveness of the Super learning method mayhave been limited by the design of this study. Thesubjects ii the study had no previous classroom trainingin the use of Super learning relaxation techniques. Somesubjects may have found it difficult to relax, as evi-denced by brief laughter by one student in each ofthree of the five classes receiving treatment. Theresearcher had had no previous contact with any of theclasses in the study, which may have resulted in a lackof instructor-class empathy.

The single treatment in this study may also have lim-ited success. A longer treatment may prove to bemore ef fective. On the basis of this study, it wasfound that Superlearning, as defined and used in thisstudy. was not ef fective in facilitating retantion orhypermnesia. However, it may be possible that if stu-dents were taught to use the method over an extendedperiod of time, significant effects would be found.Previous research supports this view. In short, it maybe unrealistic to expect significant results after a treat-ment of short duration.

Another design factor which may have af fected theresults was the amount of time the experimental andcontrol groups were actually exposed to the vocabularylist The experimental group was exposed to thevocabulary list for a total of about four minutes; theremainder of the time being used to relax the subjectsin anticipation of the treatment. The control group wasin possession of the vocabulary list for a total oftwenty-two minutes. This time difference may haveaf fected the performance of the groups.

1 1

_ 4

Finally, it should be made clear that this study testedthe Super learning method, and not Suggestopedia orSALT. Dif f erent results may have occurred had Loza-nov s method been more closely f ollowed.

References

Anderson, L D 119851. The ef fects of Superlearningon retention hypermnesia of rare English words incollege students (Doctoral dissertation, University ofWyoming, 19851. Dissertation Abstracts Interna-tional, 46, 1492A.

Belmore. S M. (1981) Imagery and semantic elaborationin hypermnesia for words. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology: Human Learning and Memory, 7(3),191-203.

Erdelyi, M.H & Becker. J (1974). Hypermnesia forpictures Cognitive Psychology, 6, 159-171.

Erdelyi M., Buschke, H. & Finkelstein, S (1977).Hypermnesia f or Socratic stimuli: The growth ofrecall for an internally generated memory listabstracted from a series of riddles. Memory andCognition, 513), 283-286.

Eredlyi. M H & Stein. J.B. (1981) Recognitionhypermnesia: The growth of recognition memory (cllover time with repeated testing. Cognition, 9,23-33.

Lozanov, G (19731 Problems of Suggestoiogy. Sofia,Bulgaria- Bulgarian Ministry of Education.

Lozanov. G. (1978). Suggestology and Ouqines ofSuggestopedy. New York: Gordo: and Breach

Ostrander, S. Schroeder, L. & Ostrander, N (1979)Superlearning. New York: Delacorte Press.

Philipov. E R. (1978). Suggestopedia. The use ofmusic and suggestion in learning and hypermnesia.

12

Journal of Suggestive- Accelerative Learni ng andreaching, 3(2), 65-106.

Roediger, H.L. III, & Thorpe, LA (1978). The role ofrecall time in producing hypermnesia.. (v7emory andCognition, 613), 296-305.

Roediger, H.L. III. & Payne, D.G. (1982). Hypermnesia:Role of repeated testing. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 8(1),66-72

Les ef f ets de la Methode Acceleree sur la Retention;Hypermnésie de Pares Mots Anglais chez des Etudiantsde Hautes Ecoles.

Le but de cette recherche etait de determiner si la

Methode Acceleree, definie par Ostrander et Schroeder.pouvait produire une hypermnesie chez les su jets quiepprennent de rares mots de vocabulaire anglais. Les189 su jets choisis furent des étudiants de 2ème et3éme année niveau Hautes Etudes. Ils furent af fectésau hasard par section de classe soit au Groupe-Con-trôle soit a l'un des 4 Groupes-Traitement. Tous lesgroupes furent soumis a des examens avant et apres

xperience Le groupe-contrôle, qui consistait de 2sections de classe, apprit les mots de vocabulaire enutilisant une methode de son propre choix, les su jetsf urent examines pour leur abilite de Retention une, deuxet quatre semaines suivantes. Un des groupes-traite-ment, qui consistait aussi de 2 sections de classe, f utegalement examine une, deux et quatre semaines sui-vantes. Chacun des autres groupes-traitement fut testea une seule reprise une, deux ou quatre semaines apresle traitement. L assortment I-experience et ceux constit-uant les tests de Retention. II ne fut revele aux sujets

13

I fr;

leurs resultats a aucun moment. Une analyse de covari-ance, qui supprima les resultats du tout premier test,montra que, sur tous les tests de Retention, le groupe-contrôle s exécuta perceptiblement mieux que chacundes groupes-traitement. Des raisons de ces résultatssont of fertes et des recommandations sont proposées

Auswirkungen des Superlernens auf das Behalten/Hy-permnesia von seltenen englischen Vokabeln bei Univer-sitatsstudenten

Der Zweck dieser Studie war es festzulegen, ob dieSuperlernmethode. wie sie bei Ostrander und Schroederdef iniert ist, beim Lernen von seitenen englischen Wór-ten Hypermnesia erzeuge Versuchsob jekte waren 189Studenten des zweiten und dritten Jahrganges. Die Stu-denten wurden in Gruppen entweder zur Kontroll gruppeoder zu einer der vier Behandlungsgruppen zugeteilt.Alle Gruppen erhielten eine Vor- und eine NachpriifungDie Kontrollgruppe, die aus zwei Klassengruppenbestand. hat die Wörter mit beliebiger Lernmethode nacheigener Wahl gelernt Die Studenten wurden nach einer,zwei und vier Wochen auf das Behalten der Wörterdepriift. Eine Behandlungsgruppe, die ebenf alls aus zweiKlassengruppen bestand. wurde eine zwei und vierWochen nach der Behandlung getestet. Alle anderenBehandlungsgruppen wurden nur einmal nach 1, 2. oder4 Wochen gepri.if t. Die gleiche Prüfung wurde als

Vor , Nach- und Behaltenstest gebraucht Die Ergeb-nisse der PrOf ungen wurden den Schülern nicht mitge-telt Die Analyse dieser Verdeckung, die die Auswirkungen der VorprOf ungsergebnisse beseitigte, zeigte,daL die Kontrollgruppe in allen BehaltensprLifungenbedeutend besser (p < 0.051 al s ,rgendwelche derBehandlungsgruppen abschnitt Die Gründe dieser Resul-tate sind hier auf gestellt und Vorschlage werden darge-boten

P^/

14

Efectos del Superaprendizaje en Retencion/Hipermneslaen palabras raras del Ing lés, cor estudiantes universitar-ios.

El propósito de este estudio fue determinar si elmétodo de Superaprendizaje, como lo definen Ostrandery Schroeder, produciria hipermnesia en el aprendizaje depalabras raras del Inglés. Los sujetos fueron 189estudiantes universitarios, quienes fueron asignados al

ezar pare una secci6n de la clase ya fuere para el

grupo control o para un grupo de los cuatro en trate-miento. Todos los grupos recibieron examen antes ydespues del tratamiento. El grupo control, el cualconsistiO en dos secciones de la clase, aprendió laspalabras utilizando cualquier metodo que ellos mismosescogieron. El los fueron examinados por retenciondespués de una, dos, y cuatro semanas. Un grupoen tratamiento, también abarc6 las dos secciones dela clase y fué probado una, dos, y cuatro semanasmes tarde del tratamiento. C3da uno de los otrosgrupos en tratamiento fueron examinados solamenteuna vez en una, dos o cuatro semanas despues del tra-tamiento. El mismo examen fué utilizado como pre-,post-, y examen de retención. A los sujetos no seles dijo el puntaje de ninguno de los examenes. Un

anilisis de covarianza, el cual quite ef ecto al puntajedel exarnen previo, demostró que el grupo controlpresent6 mejor y significativamente (p<.05), todos losexamenes de retencion que los otros grupos en tra-tamiento. Las razores y recomendaciones de ertosresultados estan ofrecidas.

15

J. of Me Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 1987, 12(18L2).

SALT in Africa:Unity in Diversity through Communication*

Suggestopedic Accelerated Learning Techniques forTeaching English in Black South African Schools

Frikkie van KraayenburgLead the Field Africa (Pty) Ltd

Abstract. In 1985, after having introduced SALTto Stellenbosch University and various govern-ment departments, my company, LEAD THEFIELD, was granted the opportunity of introduc-ing SALT to four state schools for black childrenat the primary school level. Th3 vast majority ofblack children encounter English for the first timein their second grade at school. Vernacular andthe two of ficial languages (English and Afrikaans)are compulsory up to twelfth grade (schoolleaving) level. The project commenced withteaching English to Grade 2, 3 and 4 classesfrom 4 schools involving 560 students and 12teachers in January 1985 and will extend over 2academic years. Some of the classes consist ofup to 55 pupils, from as many as 5 dif ferentethnic languages (spoken at home). From thefifth grade all these pupils must have a suf ficientcommand of English to be able to receive theireducation through the medium of English. Frikkievan Kraayenburg, a retired industrialist, wastrained in 1979 by Dr. Lozanov and Mrs. Gateva

* Paper presented at 1987 SALT Conference in Ames.Iowa.

17

in San Francisco. He also visited Dr. Lozanovfor further training in Sophia, Bulgaria, and hastravelled extensively abroad in search of the bestmethod for implementing in the above project.He is pioneering Suggestopedia in Africa and isconvinced that this method is the key to thefuture success of education in South Africa.

* * *

The Challenge

Never before, anywhere in the world, has a chal-lenge of this nature and magnitude been undertaken.Our projected outcome is to achieve UNITY INDIVERSITY THROUGH COMMUNICATION. It is a union orcoming together of third world minds, backed by thou-sands of years of culture, ethnic distinctiveness anddiversity where feeling is predominant, and first worldminds cast in traditional logic and educational systemswhere reason is predominant and a paramount prerequi-site to success. SALT, resulting from natural evolutionor a possible mutation of consciousness, is the catalystin this exciting project. Our goal sis to balance thescales of Logic and Feeling.

Background

Before telling you more about the actual programme.I would like to set the scene, as it were, by giving yousome background information.

Situated at the southernmost tip of Africa, theRepublic of South Africa can truly be described as themeeting point of East and West, dividing, as it does, theIndian Ocean from the Atlantic Ocean. Its coastlinestretches from the Orange River mouth on the Atlantic

18

coast to Ponto do Ouro, the border with Mozambiqueon the Indian Ocean, a distance of almost 3,000 kilo-meters.

The total area of the country is 1,134,100 squarekilometers an area more than five times the size ofGreat Britain, three times the size of Texas, or largerthan Germany, France and Portugal put together. Thelargest of our nature reserves, the Kruger National Park,is approximately the size of Israel, or Belgium.

Population

The population of South Africa shows great diver-sity. It totals almost 315 million and consists of subs-tantive permanent communities (not random groups ofindividuals) representing the cultural identity of threecontinents: Europe the Whites; Africa nine distinc-tive Black peoples; and Asia the Indians and Chinese.There is also a large community of people of mixedorigin known as Coloureds. Where did all these peoplecome from?

White PeopleThe white community traces its origins to the first

Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652

a year before New York was founded Some thirtyyears later they were joined by a small number ofFrench Huguenots, fleeing the religious persecutions oftheir homeland. Later admixtures were the British set-tlers of 1820, who numbered 5,000, and variousgroups of Germans, who arrived from 1848 onwards.

In the Boer War of 1899 1902, England declaredwar on the two Boer republics, i.e., Transvaal and

Orange Free State, where more than 30,000 whiteAfrikaner women and children died in concentration

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camps. Af ter the British victory, immigrants mainly fromEngland, Ireland and Scotland, complemented the whitecommunity

More recently large numbers of Portuguese havesettled in South Africa making Portuguese the thirdlargest European language spoken in South Africa.

The two main languages are English and Afrikaans:the latter. by the way, is the only Germanic language tohave originated outside of Europe. The white peoplenumber 5 million today.

M i xed RacesThe early Dutch settlers, unable to procure labor

locally, imported slaves, principally from their East Indianterritories, such as Malaya. Their descendants todayform a group known as the Cape Malays Nho are allstaunch Muslims. In those days, of course the Dutchhad all rights to ownership over their slaves and thechildren born from such unions became ancestors tothe present Coloured or mixed race community totalling2.5 million today.

I nd igenousPopulating vast areas of Southern Africa at this time

were the Khoi-San people, more commonly known asthe Hottentots and the Bushmen. Although quite dif fer-ent from the Pygmies of Central Africa, these peopleare also small of stature, with mongoloid eyes, highcheekbones and, as Sir Laurens van der Post, a notedauthority of the Bushmen, says, "apricot coloured skin".

Another distinctive f eature is steatopygia or largedeposits of fat on the thighs and buttocks especially ofthe women a feature, I might add, said to be hugelyattractive to their menl

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These were stone age people, principally hunter-gatherers (although the Hottentots did have sheep andcattle which must have found their way f rom Asia anddown Africa many, many centuries before). They livedin family groups in complete equilibrium with nature,following migrations of the animals which they huntedwith small bows and arrows.

The Hottentots were prepared to barter their sheepand cattle with the Dutch but generally were not inter-ested in working for them a concept quite foreign totheir way of life.

So, we have very small groups of Khoi-San wan-dering around throughout Southern Africa, being over-whelmed by the larger and stronger people movingnorth-eastwards, i e., the white people.

Obviously there were many clashes between thesemigrant groups, resulting in today, the Bushmen living inthe less hospitable and drier areas in the west of thecountry, the Bantu-speaking people inhabiting generally,the higher rainfall areas both inland and along the eastcoast.

Today there are some 200,000 Bushmen in SouthAf rica of whom approximately 20,000 are pure-bloodBushmen still livirg a stone-age existence in remoteareas of Southern Africa.

AsianAfter the liberation of the slaves throughout the

British Empire in 1833, many Indians of fered their ser-vices as laborers f or ridiculously little pay anythingto escape the ab ject poverty in which they were livingat home and they began to make their appearance inmany parts of the British Empire

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Sugar cane was initially grown commercially in SouthAfrica in 1860 and, as the country was then a Britishcolony, Indians were brought over as indentured labor-ers to work in the cane fields Most of these peoplewere Hindus from the southern part of India. Theywere followed by fare-paying passengers from thenorthern part who, mainly Muslims, came to seek newmarkets as merchants ane;traders

As the contracts of the laborers expired they weregiven the choice of remaining in South Africa or return-ing to India The vast majority decided to remain inSouth Africa and today the city of Durban on the Eastcoast, has the largest Indian population of any city out-side of India and Sri Lanka.

There are five dif ferent Indian languages spokenhere Tamii, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Telegu althoughthese languages could disappear in the foreseeablefuture as the youngsters apparently prefer to communi-cate in English and nearly all their schooling is in English.East Indian' people number 1 million today

Blocks'Ne now come to the black people of Southern

Africa Where did they originate? It is generallyaccepted that they migrated southwards from some-where in c-mtral Africa, perhaps the areas where Zaireor Cameroun ere to be found today The reason forthe southerly migration was probably the result of a

population explosion in the area which caused smallfamily groups to move further and further away insearch of pasturage for their livestock and arableground for the cultivation of their grain These wereiron age people and although one or two archeologicalsmelting sites have been found which date back toabout 300 AD, the major migration seems to havestarted somewhere around the 1400 s

22

They moved, as I mentioned, in small family groups,loosely linked, rather like the clans of Scotland and set-tled in the most hospitable areas, often ousting withtheir superior size and strength, any previous inhabitants,such as the Bushmen.

There were clashes between the clans, mainly forterritorial reasons, and some of them joined togetherfor greater strength or protection. It was only in theearly 1800's however, that we see the emergence oflarge and powerful groups, such as the Zulu under theleader ship of the brilliant military tactician, Shaka. The

total black population today is approximately 22 million.

Languages Spoken

Generally, the languages spoken by these people

belong to one large group subdivided into four smallergroups, rather like, the division of the large Indo-Euro-pean group of languages in Europe which can bedivided into Romance and Germanic languages.

Amongst the Bantu-speaking people there are fourmain language groups, each one further sub-divided intoten separate languages, which, in turn, can be spoken inmany dialects. The word "bantu" or a form thereof,

meaning "people' is common to all these languages,

hence the grouping together under one name of theblack people of Southern Africa.

These language groups are

Nguni to which Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Nde-bele belong,

Sotho-Tswana to which North and South

Sotho and Tswana belong,

23

Tsonga to which Shongaan and Tsonga belong,and

Venda which only has one language

Within each group the languages are sometimesrelated in a similar way to. say Italian and Spanish,whereas the di f ference between others such as theNorth and South Sotho is more a matter of pronuncia-tion and dif ferent usages and forms of words ratherlike American and English,

Today we have two of f icial languages in SouthA frica, namely English and Af rikaans which all citizenslearn at school.

Development

The largest black concentrations in urban areas lie inthe industrial areas which developed around the diamondand gold mines which are to found mainlyi in the interiorof the country.

The Country

It is a f ascinating country, with modern cities andthe most advanced technology, but with vast areas ofunspoilt nature where large numbers of the originalinhabitants, namely lion, elephant, rhino, giraf fe andnumerous dif ferent species of antelope wander freely

The people inhabiting this southernmost tip of Africaare equally fascinating, from the little Bushmen, still liv-ing a stone-age existence. to some rural people stillliving a traditional tribal life, to the modern, Westernisedcity dwellers.

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Ciu.stered around industries where most work-op-portunities are to be f ound, the more f ortunate peoplelive in good homes with beautiful gardens, and others,live in the far less attractive, poorer areas, which are tobe f ound as part of any urban sprawl anywhere in theworld

The choice facing the central government waswhether to build better, but fewer houses, or simplerbut many more houses. They chose the latter. The

houses are known as matchbox houses consisting ofbasic essentials, i.e., usually 2 but sometimes 3 bed-rooms, a combined living/dining area and a kitchen.

Toilets were built in the back garden. Since then wehave seen other designs for economic housing beingbuilt to replace the slum areas. More recently the pri-vate sector, in the form of large industries, has con-tributed towards the cost of housing for their employ-ees and today a visit to a black city like Soweto revealsa rich variety of housing styles from the simple match-boxes mentioned earlier, through alterations to these

basic structures resulting in very pleasant homes toquite splendid mansions.

It is interesting to note the absence of high-riseapartment buildings in these areas. Only in the past 2to 3 years have apartment buildings, with a maximum ofthree floors, been built in Soweto, a black city nearJohannesburg.

Other land is being made available for more housingbut the provision of electricity, roads, sewage and otherservices must first be provided by government.Because of the tradition of extended families all livingtogether, many of the older and smaller houses areovercrowded and, in the rural areas, electricity is notalways readily available.

25

Before we go any further, however, i would like tomake it quite clear that I am neither condoning the situ-ation nor condemning it. That is not within the realm ofthis paper. In giving you the background and setting thescene. I am dealing only with the reality of the situation.It is not my intention to discuss politics.

Education

Bef ore dealing with our SALT project in fourschools, let us look very briefly at the history of edu-cation in South Africa. The very first school was, infact, a school for slaves at the Cape where owners ofslaves could send them to improve their skills (manywere highly skilled craftsmen like carpenters and build-ers). These were Malayan slaves imported by the Dutch.The children of the Dutch settlers also attended thisschool.

Later, as the settlers moved further and furtheraway from Cape Town itself, it fell to the ministers ofthe church communities to instruct their flocks in the'three R's" of reading, writing and 'rithmetic as well asto care for their spiritual needs.

Missionaries set up schools where they instructedthe converted in the ways of Western society andreligion, some of these later growing into fully fledgedschools and universities today. With the opening up ofthe interior of the land by the pioneers, itinerant teach-ers wandered from farm to farm of f ering frequentlyvery meave teaching skills in exchange for board,lodging and a pittance

Apart from the establishment of private schoolsthere was very little formal education available until afterthe formation of Union in 1910, at which stage the

26

central government concentrated primarily on catering tothe needs of the whites and the problems imposed bythe presence of two languages as home languages.

As a result education for other groups has laggedbehind, and although immense ef forts have been madeover the last ten years and are continuing to be made.there is still some discrepancy between the qualifica-tions of some black teachers and white teachers.

In the past teachers with a Std 8 (grade 10) qualifi-cation could obtain a teaching diploma after one furtheryear of study allowing them to teach in the primaryschools. This is no longer the case today and all pro-spective teachers (white and black) must have success-fully completed Std 10 (grade 12) and a three yeardiploma before being qualified to teach.

But what about those with inferior qualifications stillin the teaching profession? They are being encouragedto upgrade their qualifications through part-time study,knowing full well the benefits that will accrue, not onlybetter salaries but greater self-confidence and self-es-teem.

Cash grants are paid to those who complete one. ormore than one, university course in their spare timeOne year specialization courses have been introducedto train teachers for subjects where the shortageis most acute.Teachers can enroll at adult education centres (theequivalent of the American night school" system) toimprove their qualifications. There were about4,000 such enrollments in 1985.Special in-service training centres have been estab-lished. One of the largest, near Pretoria at Soshan-guve, was recently expanded to accommodate about480 teachers.

27

At this point it would be interesting to look at somefigures. There are more than six million black pupilsnow at school in South Africa. The total percentage ofschool-age children at school in South Africa is 65%compared with Egypt (64%), Ghana (52%), Tanzania (50%),and Ethiopia (29%) Adult literacy percentage in SouthAfrica is 71% compared to that of Kenya (47%), Egypt(38%), Nigeria (34%) and Mozambique (26%).

About 1800 million Rand (approximately $900 million)is now being spent annually on teacher training andschooling for black pupils. On average fifteen newclassrooms are built every day of the year by theDepartment of Education and Training aione. Thismeans, on the basis of 40 pupils to a classroom, pro-vision is being made f or 600 more pupils every day. anaverage of one entire school every day of the year!

But in spite of these vast improvements, we are stillfaced with the reality of a very high drop-out rate,especially after the 4th grade once all instruction is

given in English. One of the main reasons for this highfailure and drop-out rate is the appalling level of com-munication skills in English, as most of the black teach-ers either lack the necessary linguistic skills or arecompletely unqualified to teach through the medium of asecond language

With the burgeoning growth of the black populationthe situation is deteriorating as the teacher-pupil ratio ison the increase It is clear that no ad hoc or conven-tional ef fort, or approach, will improve the situationAlthough there are people working on birth control andthe advantages of smaller families are gradually beingmade apparent to black people, we are still faced withthe realities of the situation at present. The averagepopulation growth rate amongst black South Africansexceeds 3 5% per annum.

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The SALT Programme

We come now to our programme which com-menced in January 1985, and is directed towardsimproving the standard of English and academic qualifi-cations. Our project involies:

(a) 560 pupils and 12 teachers, in 4 primary schoolsand

(b) 850 pupils and 56 teachers, in secondary schools.Running parallel with the school programme, isanother programme for adults, i.e.,

(c) 120 black supervisors and 2 teachers in a goldmining complex.

Project (a), which began with the academic schoolyear in January 1986. is being monitored and evaluatedover a two year period by the Human SciencesResearch Council, an indepen,ient agency, and is beingclosely observed by representatives from several uni-versities around the country.

The Human Sciences Research Council will report onthe results to the Department of Education. The threeschools are all situated in the greater area of Pretoriaand Johannesburg, and vary from the relatively small andless well-of f farm school of Ennis Thabong to thelarger, modern school of Wedela which is wellequipped with many of the latest teaching aids, includingcomputers.

The secondary school pro ject covers topics such ascreative imagination, mind mapping, speed reading, mem-ory training and self -esteem. At the same time it wasalso extended to a project teaching English to adultblack mine supervisors to enable them to obtain blastingcertificates. A literacy programme is about to belaunched.

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The SALT method developed by Dr. Lozanov and aspresently being used in adult education had to beadapted to the teaching of a second language at primaryschool level. Because so much emphasis is placed onlearning and using English, the development of basicskills in the mother tongue is also very weak. Thedevelopment of reading and writing skills in English mustbe built on a solid foundation of literacy in the pupils'mother tongue The programme theref ore begins withcomprehensive reading and writing training in the ver-nacular, which is concentrated in Sub B (second grade)but introduced in Sub A (first grade) and used in a rem-edial f orm in Stds 1 and 2 (grades 3 and 4).

In this way the pupils in the four pilot projectschools are properly prepared to undertake the studyof English as a second language Both the vernacular,or mother tongue, programme and the English pro-gramme incorporate mathematics as an essential elementof language as it was f ound that the major areas ofpupil failure in the lower grades were reading and writ-ing in the mother tongue, English skills and mathematics.

The stories and elaborations employed in the teach-ing of English incort...)rate not only the essentials ofelementary mathematics, but also themes drawn fromother curricular areas, such as geography, history. healthand hygiene and environmental studies.

In this way the students develop a broad commandof English, and at the same time are being prepared toreceive their entire school instruction in English.

Because of the large classes (there were 65 pupilsin one of the classes last year') and unqualified teacherswith a poor pronunciation of English, innovative methodshad to be introduced

30

The typical Lozanov model of inf ormal, small groupsexposed to a highly trained and articulate teacher pre-senting two concerts was impractical. We compensatedby introducing a puppet show once a week which ispresented in 3 concert sessions of approximately 12

minutes each.

In the 1st concert, the teacher sets up a puppettheatre presents an animated show with hand, orglove puppets, each one ethnically sculptured. The

show is accompanied by a pre-recorded tape playedthrough a high quality sound system. The story unf olds,based on the required syllabus and vocabulary. employing professional English speaking voices and Baroquemusic

During the 2nd concert, the pupils follow the textof the show whilst listening to the same recording. In

the 3rd concert, they just listen passively to a recordingof one voice reading the text in the style of a Lozanovsecond concert. The teacher decodes the inf ormationusing games, songs, grammar and reading during therest of the week, the classes totaling 7 x 30 minuteperiods for Grades 3 and 4 and 10 x 30 minutes f orGrade 2 per week.

Structured lessons are worked out f or each teachingperiod and the teachers supplied with the printed playsf or the puppet show as well as suggested lesson plansEach pupil is supplied with a script of the puppet showwhich in turn is based on the lessons in the readers andlanguage books currently used by all classes.

The teachers are further provided with a compre-hensive Teacher s Manual to assist them in the deliveryof the lessons and to guide them in the proper use ofall the instructional materials.

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Teacher Training

Prior to all this the teachers underwent training inthe SALT method. In November 1985 three instructorsfrom the California Language Institute were brought byme to South Africa and trained, who trained the teach-ers at the Alpha Training Centre. The 16 teachers andprincipals of the four schools allocated to the projectby the Department of Education and Training wereexposed to a three week course in Spanish.

This was thought to be the best way of proving tothem that the method works and of demonstrating howit should be applied. Spanish was chosen as it is a lan-guage not generally heard in South Africa. The instruc-tor was Miss LupA Escamilla

The teachers also received thorough instruction inthe application of the method. A group of Grade 1

pupils, who have no English, were brought from a

nearby school for Lupe to demonstrate the ef fective-ness of only one lesson. At the end of the three weekcourse, the students gave a special presentation inSpanish to demonstrate their proficiency. An experi-enced puppeteer gave a concentrated week-end coursein puppetry This was followed up by further training inthe handling of puppets and the preparation of scripts

Once-a-month 3-day workshops for the teachersare held regularly during which talks are given on theo-retical and practical matters At these sessions theteachers have the opportunity to discuss their problems,ask for advice, compare notes with their colleagues andto demonstrate their ef f iciency in handling the puppetsand conducting classes in the Lozanov way

32

In addition the schools are visited at least once aweek by one of our co-ordinating team (themselvestrained in the SALT method) in order to help solveproblems, give encouragement and assess the capabili-ties of the teachers. The ef ficiency of the teachersand the enthusiasm ranged from excellent to poor. It isencouraging, however, to see how even the poorestteachers have improved since the beginning of the pro-gramme.

Regular tests are written by all students. This willserve as a basis against which to measure the resultsof further tests. These results are being monitored andtowards the end of the year it will be possible toproduce a graph showing the overall pattern andimprovement in the standard of English. The same testis being given to control groups at other schools whereEnglish is taught in the traditional way and these resultscompared with our SALT schools.

In the adult programme conducted at the gold mine,English is taught in the conventional Lozanov style.

Small groups of 12 persons spend up to 5 hoursper day in an informal classroom where they listen toconcerts one and two from texts specially written forthis purpose. A computer based programme isemployed to support the grammar and writing aspectsof the instruction. Remarkable success is beingachieved with the method. Interest by several largeorganizations has been expressed, but due to a shortageof skilled instructors, this opportunity can only beexplored in 1988.

In the secondary school programme which onlycommenced during February 1987, we adopted the ;:ol-lowing procedure:

33

(a) Orientation of school management and heads ofdepartmerA in order to get a commitment fromthem.

fb) Orientation and training of all teachers in SALT meth-odology.

(c) Training of pupils in the method, i.e., self -knowledgeand brain power skills such as rapid reading, mindmaps, creative thinking, relaxation and imaging, mem-ory training, ambidexterity, time management and goalsetting.

Regular weekly visits to the schools involve moni-toring of students in speed reading, mind maps, imagingand attitudes towards desired academic outcomes andself -esteem.

Cost

The cost of this project which was privately fundedfor the 1986 year amounted to 192,700 Rand($96,3501. Donations were received to the' value of19,000 Rand ($9,500), the shortfall being funded by mycompany.

Conclusion

I am convinced that SALT can make a major contri-bution to our country's progress towards Unity in itsDiversity, ensuring happiness and a good life for ali itspeople

* * * * * * * *

SALT en Afrique I Harmonie dans la Diversite grace ala communication, Techniques Suggestopediques de la

Methode Acceleree en vue de I Enseignement de la Lan-

34

gue Anglaise auprés des Ecoles pour Population Noireen Afrique du Sud.

En 1985, aprés avoir introduit SALT a l'Universite Stel-lenbosch ainsi qu'aupres de divers secteurs gouverne-mentaux, ma compagnie LEAD THE FiELD se vitoctroyée l'opportunite d'introduire SALT aupres de 4écoles primaires noires d'Etat. La grande majorite desenfants noirs font face a l'Anglais pour la premiere foisen 12éme. La langue nationale, l'Anglais et l'Afrikaansles deux langues of ficielles de lEtat sont oHigatoiresjusqUa la fin des etudes secondaires. Le pro jet corn-meng a avec l'enseignement de l'Anglais en 12éme,11éme et 10érne annees au sein de 4 ecoles primaires.impliquant 560 écoliers et 12 professeurs au mois deJanvier de I annee 1985; le projet s'etendra sur unepériode de 2 années academiques. Certaines parmi cesclasses comprennent jusqu a 55 &eves qui parlent jus-qu'a 5 jargons ethniques differents là la maison)Arrives en 9éme, tous ces éléves doivent avoir acquisune maitrise suffisante de l'Anglais pour pouvoir dore-navant recevoir leur education en langue anglaiseFrikkie van Kraayenburg, un industriel pensionne, futforme a San Francisco en 1979 par le Dr Lozanov etMrne Gateva. II rendit visite au Dr Lozanov a Sofia, enBulgarie, pour une ultérieure formation et a voyage defag on extensive a l'etranger dans sa recherche de arneilleure fag on de suppléer a la methode qui lui permettrait de realiser le projet decrit ci-dessus. Pionierde la Suggestopedie en Afrique, 11 est convaincu quecette methode est la cle du futur succes de l'Educationen Afrique du Sud.

SALT in Afrika Einheit in Mannigfaltigkeit durch Korn-munikation; Sugestopadische Beschleunigende Lerntech-niken fOr das Englischlernen in schwarzen siidafrikanis-chen Schulen.

35

Im Jahre 1985, nachdem SALT der Stellenbosch Univer-sitat und verschiedenen Staatsministerien vorgestelltworden war, wurde meiner Gesellschaft LEAD THEFIELD Gelegenheit gewahrt, SALT in vier staatlichenSchulen für schwarze Kinder auf Grundschulstufe ein-gef Uhrt Die Lokalsprache und die zwei of fiziellenSprachen (Englisch und Afrikaans) sind bis zum zwölften(Entlassungs) Schul jahr obligatorisch. Der Projekt begannim Januar 1985 mit dem Englischunterricht an Zweit-,Dritt- unci Viertkiasser aus vier verschiedenen Schulen(560 Schiller und 12 Lehrer) und wird sich Uber zweiSchul jahre erstrecken. Einige Klassen haben bis zu 55Schiller, die zu f Unf verschiedenen ethnischen Sprach-gruppen gehoren. Ab 5 Schul jahr milssen alle Schillergenügende Englischkenntnisse besitzen, um ihre Ausbil-dung durch das englische Milieu erhalten zu könnenFrikkie van Kraayenburg, ein pensionierter Industrieller,wurde 1979 von Dr Losanov und Frau Gateva in SanFrancisco ausgebildet Weiterhin besuchte er Dr. Lozanov f Lir eine zusatzliche Ausbildung in Sofia in Bulgarienund ist dann auch ausgiebig gereist, urn die beste Meth-ode zum Ausf Lihren dieses Pro jektes herauszuf inden.Kraayenburg bahnt den Weg f Or Suggestopadie in Afrikaund ist ilberzeugt, cla8 diese Lehrmethode der Schlüsselzum zukLinftigen Ausbildungserf olg in Sildafrika ist.

SALT en Africa Unidad y diversidad a traves decomunicacion Tecnicas Sugestopedicas Aceleradas parael Aprendiza je en la ensehanza del Ingles con negros enescuelas Sur Africanas

En 1985, despues de haber introducido SALT en la

Universidad de Stellenbosch y en varios departamentosdel gobierno. a mi compañia, LEAD THE FIELD, se lecon,- '3dio la oportunidad de introducir SALT en cuatro

36

escuelas estatalas para nifios negros a nivel de la

escuela primaria La mayoria de los nifios negros ensegundo grado encontraban dif icultades con el Inglespor primera vez. Vernacular y los dos idiomas of iciales(Ingles y Africano) son obligatorios en doceavo grado(Ultimo grado). El proyecto comenzó en enero de 1985el cual se extenderia en dos afios académicos ensefi-ando los grados: 2,3 y 4, en cuatro escuelas de 560estudiantes y 12 maestros. Algunas de las clases tienen55 alumnos, que provienen de 5 idiomas étnicos dif e-rentes (que hablan en casa). Los alumnos de quintogrado deben de tener suf iciente conocimiento del Ingléspara continuar su educación en Inglés. Frikkie van

Kraayenburg, industrial jubilado, f ué entrenado en1979 por el Dr. Lozanov y la Sra. Gateva en SanFrancisco. El también visitó al Dr. Lozanov en Sof iaBulgaria para adquirir mayor entrenamiento, también havia jado por el extranjero investigando intensivamentepara obtener e implementer el me jor método con re-specto a este proyecto. El es un pionero de la

Sugestopedia en Africa y este convencido que estemétodo es la Ilava del ex rto, en el futuro de la Educe-ción en Sur Af rice.

37

o

J. of the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 1987, 121'8(2l

An Accelerated Learning Magnet School:Attracting Teachers and Administrators*

Stephanie Merritt, M.S.Merritt Learning Systems

San Diego, Calif ornia

Abstract. Through the modeling of Lozanov sliberating/stimulating approach to education. andthe use of music, imagery and metaphor, a con-tinuing education course inspired teachers toimplement accelerated learning in their class-rooms. As a result, an entire ehmentary schoolhas become an accelerated learning magnet

school. Demographics about the school and

excerpts from the proposal are given.

At a time when a "back to basics" philosophy andthe resulting stress and anxiety of both teachers andstudents permeate public education, the San Diego CitySchool District views accelerated learning as an attrac-tive, viable and unique educational program. This fall

the Horton Elementary School will launch one of thef irst schoolwide accelerated learning programs in the

country The San Diego school has become a totalschool magnet that will draw students from the entiredistrict into its specialized program f or the purpose ofpromoting racial harmony.

* Paper presented at the 1987 SALT Conference in

Ames, Iowa.

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In the spring of 1986, I taught a 45-hour course atthe University of San Diego in the Merritt System ofAccelerated Learning. This system is based on Sugges-topedia combined with the Guided Imagery and Musictechnique developed by Helen Bonny of the Institute f or-Music and Imagery, and the use of metaphorical storyread to music Five of the 38 teachers enrolled in myclass were from Horton School. They were so enthu-siastic about accelerated learning that they began toimplement it in their own classes. It worked. Sixmonths later, when the school district of f iceapproached Horton administrators and asked them tosuggest a program for a new magnet school. theteachers recommended accelerated learning, never seri-ously expecting it to materialize A proposal was writ-ten by the district after I met with a committee severaltimes and agreed to be the consultant for the program.It was passed by the School Board in spring, 1987.The proposal outlines background inf ormation on Loza-nov s approach and research support based on Loza-nov s Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy(1978) and my own Successful, Non-Stressful Learning:A Guide to Teaching the Lozanov Method (1985).

The Horton School is located in Southeast San Diegoand enrolls 800 students. 48.8% of which are Black,23 4% Hispanic, 18.1% White. and 9 7% Asian and ot! ierethnic groups. While an existing Spanish LanguageImmersion program. established as an optional school-gvithin-a-school magnet. will be maintained, the entirestaff will now be trained in the accelerated stress-freeapproach to learning f or other subjects as well as f or-eign languages. To the extent possible. teachers willintegrate all of the subject areas. The focus will be onsocial studies. science and art (the more open-endedaf ternoon program). However. without distracting fromthe AGP (Achievement Goals Program). it will be possi-

40

ble to integrate all areas by incorporating reading, language and mathematics into the other sub jects. Thegoal will be to present a global, inter related view ofknowledge that will help children to learn and to retainwhat they learn. (Horton Proposal, 1987). Teacherswho f eel the method is not suited to their particularstyle, or who are not open to the accelerated learningphilosophy have been of f ered positions at other schoolsin the district. Only two teachers chose not to beinvolved in the program and were replaced. Class sizehas been reduced to 25 students per class, and sixteachers have been added to the staf. f.

In considering accelerated learning f or the new magnet school, certain f eatures of this ipproach rendered ita choice candidate. According to the proposal, the holistic presentation of subject matter, and the use ofmusic, games and the arts to. promote learning, coupledwith promising student outcomes, made it a potentiallypopular magnet program. Particularly attractive to theSchool Board was the fact that "accelerated learningdoes not change what is taught in the school curriculum.Rather, it aims to change teaching habits and modes ofthinking that are based on lef t brain conditionina andwhich perpetuate unbalanced development of thinkingskills" (Horton Proposal, 1987). It seems to be rr- .chmore viable to change the process of learning than tochange the content.

The fact that students are able to learn morematerial in less time with less ef f ort was, of course, avery appealing prospect. But just as compelling wasthe prospect of relieving the trauma and stress childrennormally experience in school, by creating a positive,joy f ul learning environment that would give studentsconfidence in their abilities, . . . help them to becomemore f ocused and receptive to learning, and promote

41

their mental, physical and emotional health (HortonProposal, 1987). Tenhers and school administratorsare becoming more and more concerned with the psy-chological needs of their students in these stressfultimes of dysfunctional families and child abuse. Theyare realizing more than ever, how much the well-beingof their students affects the learning process. Lozanovhad called his method psychotherapy in education(Lozanov, 1978). He claimed that 'Suggestopedy couldbecome a universal educational system applicable toevery level of school and university life," and that itwould require creating an atmosphere of profoundpsychological understanding, in which the personality isliberated and stimulated from early childhood (Lozanov,1978) In order for students to be free to developtheir potential, teachers must first liberate themselvesfrom the restrictions imposed on them by the rigidconditioning of educational programs and by society atlarge. Recently, with the focus on "keeping control oftheir classes, some teachers have actually been warnedby their administrators not to smile until after Christmas

Two of the Horton teachers shared with me thethings that had won them over to accelerated learning.One of the major influences was that they themselvesexperienced the liberating, stimulating ef fect of Loza-nov s approach They said that as their teacher. I hadmodeled a kind of learning that was fast, fun andef fortless, and they wanted their students to experiencethat same joy. They began to introduce the concept atHorton School, as spring was an excellent time toexperiment with new ideas Each week, when theyreturned to their school after experiencing my acceler-ated learning class at the University, they would teachtheir colleagues all they had learned the night beforeThe teachers would gather in the school lounge in a

spirit of contagious excitement. Each week, they tried

42

accelerated learning strategies and found that theybrought new life into their classrooms. Many of thembegan to incorporate classical music .into their curricula.selecting it carefully and using it appropriately Theyused it for stories and dialogs, for rest periods, forsmooth transitions from one activity to the next, forstimulating creative writing, for silent reading and math,and as a catalyst for self-exploration.

The teachers began to organize their units in a moreglobal, holistic way. as outlined in my new book, Suc-cessful, Non-Stressful Learning: Applying the Lozanov

Method to all Subject Areas (Merritt. 19871. Theyfound that the students greater motivation and interestled to higher test scores and happier children. Theystarted to notice how their body language and voicetone were affecting their students, and they made posi-tive changes by integrating the paraconscious influencesinto their teaching. Most important, these teachers gavethemselves permission to enjoy their teaching by devel-oping a suggestopedic attitude, one of natural sponta-neity, positive attitude and relaxed focus. A teacherfrom another elementary school claimed that the accel-erated learning class freed her to do things she knewintuitively were right, but seemed not to be the things ateacher should do.. such as playing music during worktime and oral reading, smiling, and being playful.

Learning to know and love classical music wasanother motivating factor for teachers. Many of themwho had had little exposure to it. felt that havingexperienced classical music had changed their lives Asone teacher put it. -It seems to add such a sweetnessto the atmosphere Another teacher said, Since listen-ing to classical music I actually like my class and seethe students in a totally dif ferent light I listen to musicbefore the children come into class and this relaxes me

43

and makes me more receptive to the children. Beforethis class I viewed this totally as a job and I had to bestrict and could not have fun Teachers who had beenBurned-out and frustrated with their work were ableto get back in touch with their love of teaching Theylearned to use music to energize. relax and motivateboth themselves and their students.

The Horton teachers felt that the music-imagingtechnique I used in class was very therapeutic for them,and I was able to combine this technique effectivelywith Suggestopedia. Music-Imaging, a group adaptationof the Guided Imagery and Music lGIM1 method enabledteachers to make major breakthroughs in opening up totheir own unconscious thoughts and feelings (Bonny.1973) Releasing the dominance of the left brainthrough relaxation, and stimulating right hemispherethinking by using a non-verbal medium such as musicencourages the development of whole, healthy and cre-ative individuals (Summer. 1981) This is true for teach-ers as well as students When teachers entered theclass each week, filled with distracting thoughts, tensionand fatigue. I opened each class by suggesting a placein nature and asked them to notice visual images, mem-ories colors or feelings the music was bringing tothem I f ollowed this with a piece of classical music toevoke imagery, si.ich as those suggested by the Institutef or Music and Imagery (Keiser, 19861 Af ter listen.ng tomusic in this relaxed state. teachers drew their impres-sions and then shared them with the group. The sharingis an important part of the experience, as it acknowl-edges and clarifies the imagery and encourages open-ness and connection among the members of the group.The music softened their armor, broke down their rigid-ity, brought them back in touch with their emotions, andopened their hearts to each other They began to useMusic-Imaging in their classes and f ound that students

44

abreacted unconscious material that broke though learn-ing blocks. A teacher who had been experimenting withmusic and drawing remarked, 'One kindergartner, whohad been abused, told a very vivid story about monstersand other frightening things the music brought up forhim. I feel it released a lot of stress and fear. Hesettled down the most in the group, although he is themost hyper" (Merritt, 1987). For teachers and childrenalike, the joyful, peaceful feelings that music can evokeis therapeutic as well. When these music and art activ-ities culminated in creative writing teachers reported thatthe writing was not only more prolific and spontaneous,but that grammar and sentence structure had alsoimproved.

There is no doubt that implementing acceleratedlearning in a school system in order to convince admin-istrators that it works may be more ef fective thanwriting a proposal and submitting it to a school districtthat has not yet experienced its successes. The Hortonteachers, several of whom have already been imple-menting the new method, were trained in the MerrittSystem of Accelerated Learning for one week in

August, 1987. I will observe their classes and giveongoing workshops on a monthly basis throughout theschool year My new book, Successful, Non-StressfulLearning: Applying the Lozanov Method to All Sub-ject Areas is being used as the training manual for theprogram.

The Horton School of fers optimal conditions for thepioneering of an accelerated learning school. the admin-istrators are openrninded and humanitarian, the teachersare loving, supportive and talented human beings, a spiritof cooperation and integrity permeates the environment,and three of the teachers are writing new units ofstudy based on accelerated learning for their Master s

45

Degree in Curriculum Writing. The program will beevaluated by the school district according to their owndesign for implementation evaluation.

References

Bonny, H & Savary, L 119731. Music and Your Mind:Listening with a New Consciousness. New York,N Y Harper & Row

Keiser, L H (1986). Conscious Listening. Port Town-send. WA: Institute for Music and Imagery (for-merly Institute for Consciousness and Music)

Lozanov G 11978, Suggestology and Outlines ofSuggestopedy. New York. N.Y Gordon & Breach

Merritt. S (1985, Successful, Non-Stressful Learning:A Guide to Teaching the Lozanoy Method. SanDiego, CA Merritt Learning Systems (formerlyLearning to Learn,

Merritt. S. (19871 Successful, Non-Stressful Learning:Applying the Lozanov Method to All Subject Areas.San Diego. CA Merritt Learning Systems (formerlyLearning to Learn,

San Diego City Schools (1987, Proposal for HortonElementary School of Spanish Language Immersion!Accelerated Lear ni ng. San Diego: UnpublishedDocument

Summer. L (1981, Tur.ng up in the Classroom withmusic and relaxation Journal of the Society forAccelerative Learning and Teaching, 6(1). 46-50.

Une Ecole-Aimant de la Methode Acceleree AttirantProf esseurs et Administrateurs

-6

Grace au modèle de I approche liberatrice;stimulante duDr. Lozanov envers l'education, et l'emploi de la musique.des images et de la métaphore, un certain cours pour lacontinuation de I education inspire des prof esseurs a

employer la methode accéléree dans leurs classes. Lerésultat qui s'ensuivit fut que toute une ecole primairedevint un modéle, une école-aimant de la méthodeacceléree. Des elements demographiques sur cetteecole et des fragments du pro jet sont donnes.

Eine Lernbeschleunigende Magnetschule: Anlock en vonLehrern und Verwaltern.

Ein Weiterbildungskurs nach dem Muster von Losanov sbefreinde-anregender Einstellung zur Erziehung und derGebrauch von Musik. Verbildlichung und Metaphor hatdie Lehrer zum Gebrauch von der beschleunigendenLernmethode in ihren Schulzimmern angeregt. Darausf olgte, dais eine gesamte Grundschule zur lernbeschleu-nigenden Magnetschule wurde. Bevölkerungsstatistikenüber die Schule und Auszi.ige aus dem Unternehemenwerden dargeboten.

Aprendizaje Acelerado en una Escuela Magnetica.Maestros y Administradores atrayentes.

A u dvés del modelo de Lozanov en liberacion. estimula-cion como acercamiento a la educacion, y el uso demusica, imaginación, metaf ora y cur sacion continuadainspirada a los maestros a implementar el aprendizajeacelerado en sus salones de clase. Corno resultadotoda la escuela elemental se ha vuelto una escuelamagnetica en aprendizaje acelerado Demograf ia conrespecto a las escuelas escogidas estan dadas.

47

J. of the Society f or Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 1987, 12(18.21.

Vital Components for Effective Teacher Training*

Twyla S. Moschel

Abstract. The purpose of this study was toimpact the ef fectiveness of teacher-trainingcourses in the use of accelerative learning prin-ciples and techniques through assessing theneeds and experiences of teachers trained to usethis teaching and learning system. This studypinpoints to what degree teachers used the dif-ferent components of the system and why therewas a variation in usage among the components.The study also identifies dif ficulties teachers hadin implementing the system and why these dif fculties occurred. In addition, teachers describedstrengths and benefits of the system as revealedby their experience. Given this information,instructors can determine how best to designteacher-training courses and follow-up programsthat provide the kind of training and support thatenables teachers to better utilize the system as awhole as an ongoing instructional method.

* * *

Introduction

Suggestopedia, the f oundation for accelerative learn-ing, is a philosophy and system for teaching and learn-ing that enables students to maximize the use of their

Paper presented at the 1987 SALT Conference in

Ames. Iowa

49

potential. However, it is not a system one learns touse simply by reading articles and books. One can learnabout suggestopedia from the literature, but one learnshow to teach using this system by observation, by par-ticipation in a class that is taught with this system, andby training and practice with the techniques. One gainsin expertise through experience and continued study.

Acceleration, or the increased use of potential, canbe measured by improved academic achievement, bylearning a greater amount of material than is usual in agiven amount of time, by learning a given amount ofmaterial in less time than is customary. and by improvedretention and recall of material learned.

The outcomes associated with accelerative learningare the result of the combined and cumulative ef fect ofpositive expectancy, relaxation, whole-brain instructionalorientation and teacher competency. That teacher com-petency in the use of this system is a prime factorthe success of the system is suggested in the resultsof comprehensive studies reported by Applegate andJensen (1983) and Schuster and Gritton (1985). Theacademic gains among the accelerative-learning classeswere reported to be idiosyncratic to each teacher andattributed to teacher competency. When one comparesthe dif ferences in achievement gains among otherreported studies in the United States (Moschel, 1986)one further concludes that teacher expertise with theaccelerative learning system is a crucial factor in thesuccess of the system

Lozanov (1978), the originator of suggestopedia,contends that the acceleration in learning and the posi-tive af fective gains attributed to the use of this systemare greater than the sum of the components of thesystem. He cautions that using bits and pieces of the

50

suggestopedic system will be counterproductive and willdetract from the cognitive and affective ef fectivenessof the system. To this end Lozanov ideally advocatesselection of those who will teach using this method,careful training in the system, and ongoing supervisionof teachers using the system.

In support of ongoing supervision, Rand-Barzakov(1986) reports that presently there are teachers in thesuggestopedic schools in Bulgaria who have lapsed intoprevious ways of teaching. Because Lozanov is nolonger with the Institute of Suggestology, he is unableto provide the training and supervision deemed neces-sary.

Schuster (1965) to emphasize the importance ofknowledge and competence, cites an example of anindividual in Germany who, after attending a basic SALTworkshop and with no further training, became an

"instant expert on SALT. The tapes and books thisperson produced did not follow sound system principiesand those who used them did not achieve the expectedresults. It is likely that there are other instances whereaccelerative learning is used by persons who, for vari-ous reasons, are less than competent with the systemSchuster suggests that some form of certif ication in

accelerative learning should be considered to protect theintegrity of the system

Proponents of teacher competency in the use ofsuggestopedic based instructional systems are justifiablyconcerned. Not only do old habits die hard, but theteacher using accelerative learning may be an island ontohimself/herself in a setting where other educators use adif ferent instructional method Proficient use of accel-erative learning requires knowledge, skill, and practiceBecause this system is still evolving (Rose, 1985) prac-

51

titioners need to keep abreast with new developmentsin the field. Therefore, supervision and or training fol-low-up become paramount to continued ef fective appli-cation of the principles and techniques of the system.

How, then, does a prospective accelerative learningteacher acquire the training and continued supportneeded to ef fectively teach using this system? In real-ity, those wishing to use accelerative learning as aninstruction method will find that the training, supervision,and educational setting in the United States is quite dif-ferent from Lozanov's experimenta schools in BulgariaIn all likelihood, training will consist of an intensivethree-day or one-week workshop with little or no fol-low-up once the teacher is back in the classroom. Insome instances, an additional advanced training course isavailable on a similar three-day or one-week basisOccasionally two or three-week training programs areof fered. Because training generally takes place outsidethe standard university teacher-training programs. thecourses or workshops have had to be designed toaccommodate the time that teachers have available forpersonal training aside from the demands of theiremployment Hence. the short, intensive workshop for-mat.

Teachers desiring to use accelerative learning comefrom a wid variety of instructional settings. Therefore.practitioners and trainers in the United States suggestthat. after training in the philosophy, principles. andtechniques of this system, one should begin implemen-tation with the componentls) with which one is mostcomf ortable. Then. as one learns more about the sys-tem and gains in expertise with the techniques of thesystem, other components of the system can be incor-porated into the instructional process until as much aspossible of the system as a whole is utilized (Barzakov.

52

1984: Brownlee, 1982; Merritt, 1985: and Schuster &Gritton, 1985).

Given the time constraints for teacher training, whatcan be done to assure that teachers desiring to useaccelerative learning will receive the kind of training thatwill enable them to successfully use the system in theirclassroom? Teachers who have received training andwho practice an accelerative learning method in varyingdegrees can provide valuable insight into what consti-tutes an effective training course. This study is basedon a survey directed to teachers who were trained touse an accelerative learning system. The survey pro-vides insight into the degree that the different compo-nents of the system were used and why there was avariation in usage among the components. The surveyidentified difficulties that teachers had implementing thesystem and why these dif ficulties occurred. From per-sonal experience, the teachers described the strengthsand benefits of the system. Analysis of the surveyprovides information and guidance to those who designand instruct teacher-training courses in accelerativelearning.

Survey

A twenty-two item survey was sent to seventy-fiveeducators who had participated in either a three andone-half week OPTIMALEARNINGtm Summer Institute in

San Francisco, California, or a one week Joy of Learn-ing summer workshop in Cedar Falls, Iowa or CedarRapids, Iowa. Of those seventy-five surveys, sixty-fourpercent were returned usable for tabulation. Therespondents included elementary, junior, and senior highschool teachers, junior college instructors, and universityprof essors. A variety of academic subjects was repre-sented. Although the majority of the respondents had

53

8

used accelerative learning for less than one school year,twelve respondents had used the system from two andone'-half to seven years.

The questionnaire identified the components ofaccelerative learning, and respondents indicated thedegree that they used each component by giving eachcomponent a rating of one to five (five indicatingplanned integrated use) on a Likert-type scale. Respon-dents identified a reason from a given list of possibili-ties for each item rated one, two, or three. Five open-ended questions enabled the respondents to commenton positive results from the use of accelerated learning,specific dif ficulties encountered, future plans for incor-porating accelerative learning, feedback from students,colleagues. administrators andior parents, and personalbenefits from the use of this system. Although therespondents could remain anonymous, the vast majorityof those responding signed the survey.

Analysis

An analysis of the degree of usage of the compo-nents of accelerative learning reveals a distinct dif fer-ence in the degree of usage among the components.Those components with a significantly higher percentageof four or five ratings .high usage) were music forrela)-ation. music to create a mood, reverse motivationeducative feedback on student in-class contributions,physical relaxation exercises. global theme, integration ofthe arts, whole-brain instructional orientation, and a

planned, enriched classroom environment. There was afairly even split between the four and five ratings andthe one two, or three ratings (low usage) on imageryfor relaxation. imagery to review or teach content, andconcert reading for long term memory Those compo-nents with a significantly higher percentage of cne two,

54

or three ratings (low usage) compared to four or fiveratings (high usage) were best performance imagery,pseudo-personality, metaphor and/or story line, andinvention/recreation

The majority of respondents rating any of the formsof imagery with a one, two, or three indicated that theydidn't feel suf ficiently skilled in the component or thatthey were uncomfortable using the component. A fewrespondents related that they didn t use the componentbecause student response was discouraging.

The most frequent reasons given for a one, two, orthree rating for the use of pseudo-personality, storyline and/or metaphor, concert reading for long termmemory, global theme, physical relaxation, and invention/recreation were also that respondents didn't feel suffi-ciently skilled or didnt feel comfortable using them.Another common reason cited for lower usage by afew respondents was that those components requiredtoo much time either in teacher preparation or in classtime.

Occasionally a respondent assigned two of the givenreasons for a one, two, or three rating. In most of thecases where a respondent declined to assign a reasonfor a one, two or three rating it was noted that thecomponent was not used because, in his opinion thecomponent was not applicable or appropriate to thecourse of instruction or the instructional setting In

some cases respondents indicated they declined to ratean item because they were confused by the terminology

In addition to the rated items, five open-endedquestions provided the respondents with the opportunityto comment on positive results, dif ficulties encountered,future plans, reactions of colleagues and others. and

55

personal 'life-activating benefits. A synopsis of thosecomments follows.

When asked about specific positive results, therespondents answered in reference to themselves thatthey felt more creative, relaxed, energetic, and inspired.They reported that teaching was more fun, student:teacher rapport was good and that there were more'aha s for the teacher as well as for the students. In

reference to the students the respondents said that thestudents had a higher success rate. they were moreinterested and inquisitive, they learned easier, up-tightstudents performed better and that students were hap-pier and more involved. Teachers also reported thatstudents had better understanding, their work was moredetailed, and their writing was more descriptive

In response to inquiry about specific dif ficultiesencountered a significant number of the respondentscommented on the amount of time involved in prepara-tion with an accelerative learning method. Teachers whotraveled from room to room reported that there werelogistical problems in room set-up and in bringing inequipment. Many teachers noted that it was dif ficult tosecure appropriate music Several teachers observedthat some students Just couldn t or wouldn't give thingsa chance, felt uncomfortable with the techniques and/orcouldn't accept that learning could be fun Severalrespondents commented that they felt like pioneersand needed more contact with other teachers usingaccelerative learning as an instructional method.

Almost without exception respondents had plans forthe future. Those things mentioned most frequentlywere to increase the use of music, the use of differentkinds of imagery, and the use of relaxation techniques.Many teachers stated that they wanted to gain more

56

expertise with the techniques and that they wanted touse them in more of their subject areas and in a moresystematic, consistent manner. Respondents also fre-quently mentioned that they wanted to learn more aboutwhole-brain learning and become more knowledgeableabout accelerative learning

In reference to feedback, respondents most fre-quently noted student enthusiasm f or and enjoyment ofimagery and music. Several respondents related thatparents had requested music for use at home. Whilesome teachers found that their administrators were neu-tral, others reported that administrators were supportiveor enthusiastic One teacher was cautioned by anadministrator to not do anything "too strange'. Whereasone respondent reported that parents requested aworkshop for parents, a few other teachers said thatsome parents indicated that this method was "too non-traditional" While several teachers reported colleagueinterest in accelerative learning, one teacher related thatcolleagues couldn t understand how kids could have funlearning Several respondents expressed the opinionthat accelerative learning methods should be introducedcarefully and slowly to help ensure a positive receptionfrom the educational community. Teachers who hadstudents who thought accelerative learning methodswere boring or silly or who w e otherwise disinter-ested, felt that perhaps it was because they, as teach-ers, were not confident and/or expert enough in theuse of the system and/or specific techniques. Otherteachers said that, aside from a small minority of stu-dents, students who at first were skeptical becamepositive.

Because OPTIMALEARNING7 an accelerative learningsystem. has been termed a "life-activating system byits creator, Ivan Barzakov, respondents were queried

57

about personal benef its. The following phrases are

representative of respondents comments: lif e is fun . .

there isn t enough time to do all I want to do a

lot of work but I enjoy the challenge . use music andimagery f or relaxation and best performance . have

taken on better health habits . . .broadened my interests

want to explore OPTIMALEARNING" moregreater awareness of my need to relax . whole-brainlearning most useful . . have done mere reading forlearning in other areas . . increased personal motivation

increases awareness of the need for aesthetics inmy home . . more energy . . . more creative ideas . .

picked up on previous hobbies . . . taught myself toplay the guitar and composed a song that was used atschool . . . began piano lessons . more aware ofalternatives . . . use some of these techniques to helpmy own children with homework . . . more aware ofthe importance of my own life . . better memory . .

have become more assertive . . . more positive attitude .

am more funny in the classroom . . . have studiedmore in the subject area I teach for fun . . communi-

cate at a deeper level . . .accomplish more with my

time'.

lnf ormation gleaned from this survey will provide

direction for those who develop training courses in

accelerative learning and for those who seek training inaccelerative learning. The f ollowing recommendationsare made in the context of a training course of opti-mum use f or educators.

Recommendations

1 In order to avail oneself of the best possible train-ing, a prospective accelerative learning trainee

should seek a course that is taught utilizing the

accelerative learning system The medium is the

58

message, and the message is the medium In thatway the trainee experiences the system firsthandwhile learning the system

2 The course should provide a foundation in the

basic philosophy and principles of accelerativelearning as well as the techniques of the system.This promotes confidence in the system and assiststhe participants in becoming articulate about thesystem.

3 The course should be taught by an instructor whois well grounded and trained in the philosophy,principles and techniques of the accelerative learn-ing system. who is experienced in the use of thesystem, and who models the system when teachingThus. the integrity of the system is maintained.

4 The system should be of fered as an alternative tothe instructional method that the participant is cur-rently using It appears that teachers who ef fec-tively use this system have an af finity for this phi-losophy and style of teaching. They are ready foror have begun some f orm of personal transf orma-tion. This is a system for teaching and learning,not a curriculum.

5 Direct classroom application is more eas:ly madewhen the course is designed specifically for teach-ers Demonstrations 'and examples of lessons andunits of study for a variety of grades and subjectsshould be provided to assist teachers in personaladaptation and application Some teachers relatethat they need a bridge from course context topersonal application

6 Ample opportunities should be provided for indi-vidual and group pract,ce with the techniques ofthe system accompanied by feedback This is

especially crucial for imagery concert reading,relaxation exercises and the use of metaphor and.>tory line as these are techniques with which

teachers, in general, are least familiar and, there-f ore, most uncomfortable using

7. The course should clearly compare and contrastaccelerative learning with common educational prac-tices and should include education-related researchthat supports and explains the techniques andresults attributed to an accelerative learning system.This will enable the novice to implement the systemwith confidence and to explain the system so thatit can be better understood by others.

8. Participants should be given the opportunity to out-line sample lesson and unit plans that utilize thesystem. Feedback should be given. Near the endof the course participants have found it helpful tof ormulate a "plan of action- through which they canbegin to implement accelerative learning in theirinstructional setting.A course that provides follow-up is ideal. Thefollow-up could be in the form of advanced cour-ses that can be repeated as desired, periodic sym-posiums, and/or periodic interest group meetingsdirected to perpetuating the study and use ofaccelerative learning.. Follow-up provides neededsupport and encouragement, and f osters furthergrowth.

Additional Comments

The Society f or Accelerative Learning and Teachinghas become the umbrella organization f or accelerativelearning and could take an ongoing active role in

impacting teacher training. In the interest of the integ-rity of accelerative learning and the quality of the useof this learning system, it is suggested that the SALTorganization:

60

1 develop guidelines for course content (core com-ponents),

2. develop guidelines f or assessing instructor (trainer)

competency.3. provide course and instructor endorsement,

4 promote a commonality of accelerative learning

terminology so that terminology will be uniformamong instructors, practitioners, and proponents ofthe system and acceptable to American educators,

5 actively facilitate the formation and working oflocal accelerative learning interest groups for net-working and study.

References

Applegate, R.L & Jensen. M C. (Eds.). (1983). Acceler-

ating Learning Potential: Classroom scripts. Para-

dise, CA Paradise Unified School District.Barzakov, I (1984. July-August. Optimalearning

Summer Institute. Institute conducted in San Fran-

sisco. CA by Barzak Educational Institute.

Brownlee, P P. (1982) Suggestopedia in the classroom.Academic Therapy, 17 (4), 407-414.

Lozanov, G (1978) Suggestology and Outlines ofSuggestopedy. New York. Gordon and Breach

Merrit S (1985) Successful Non-stressful Learning,

A guide to teaching the . Lozanov method San

Diego Learning to learnMoschel, T S. (1986) Suggestopedia: A system and

workshop for maximizing the use of learning poten-tial. Unpublished master s research paper. University

of Northern Iowa.Rand-Barzakov. P. (19861 Bulgaria revisited. SALT

Newsletter, 11 t 61. Ames, IA: Society for Accel-erative Learning and Teaching

61

1

Rose, C: (1985). Accelerated Learning, Messeden,England Topaz Publishing.

Schuster, D. (1986). Europe with the Schusters. SALTNewsletter, 11(6). Ames IA: Society for Accelera-tive Learning and Teaching.

Schuster, D.H. & Gritton, C.E. (1986). Suggestive-Ac-celerative Learning Techniques. New York: Gordon& Breach.

Composantes essentielles pour la formation efficace duprofesseur.

Le but de cette recherche etait d assurer l'efficacité descours de formation des professeurs dans leur utilisationdes pnncipes et des techniques de l'EnseignementAcceleree a travers I evaluation des exigences et desexperiences de ces professeurs mémes, entrainés aappliquer ce système d'enseingnement. Cette etudeindique a quel degre les professeurs utilisérent les différentes composantes du système, et les raisons pourlesquelles ils les manipulérent de facon variée. L etudeidentifie egalement les difficultes recontrees par lesprofesseurs dans leurs efforts a suppléer au systèmeet les raisons pour lesquelles ces difficultes apparurent.De plus. les professeurs decnvirent les points forts etles bienfaits du systerne au fur et a mesure de leurexperience. Grace a cette source de reseignement, lesinstructeurs a leur tour ont I opportunite d'ebaucher lesmeilleurs modeles de cours de formation pour profes-seurs et d'augmenter l'efficacite des programmes four-nissant ce genre de formation ainsi que le support per-mettant au professeur un meilleur emploi du systemedans son entite, en tant que methode dinstruction.

62

Vitale Komponenten für wirkungsvolle Lehrerausbildung

Der Zweck dieser Studie war es. die Wirksamkeit derLehrerausbildungskurse in lernbeschleunigenden Prinzipien

und Techniken durch das Festlegen von Bedürfnissen undEr f ahrungen der Lehrer. die in dieser Lern- und Lehr-methode geschult waren. zu beeinflussen Die Studiehebt hervor. zu welchem Grad die Lehrer die verschied-enen Komponenten des Systems gebrauchten und warum

es Unterschiede irn Gebrauch der Komponenten gabDie Studie erkennt auch die Schwierigkeiten. die die

Lehrer beim Anwenden der Methode hatten und warumdiese Schwierigkeiten eingetreten sind Aufierdern bes-chrieben die Lehrer auch die Sthrken und Vorteile desSystems Mit dieser Information können die Lehrer bes-timmen wie sie am besten Lehrerausbildungskurse undweitere Programme darstellen sollten welche diejenigeAusbildung und Unterstüzung bietet die es den Lehrernermbglicht. das System als Ganzes als eine fortdauerndeLehrmethode besser zu gebrauchen

Componentes Vita les para un Entrenarniento Efectivo en

el Maestro

El proposito de este estudio fue impact& a efectividaden los cursos de entrenamiento del maestro usando losprincipios del aprendizaje acelerado y las tecnicas pormedio de las necesidades y expijadas en los maestrosentrenados para utilizar este sistema de ensenanza y

aprendizaje Esto estudia puntos claves en que

grado los maestros usaron los diferentes compo-nentes del sistema y por que hubo variacion al uso

enVe los componentes El estjdio tambien identificalas dificultades que el maestro tuvo implementando el

sisterna y por que ocurren estas dif icultades Tam-

bien los maestros describieron fuerzas y benefic-

63

ios del sistema como revelación de sur propia exper-iencia. Dada esta información, los instructores puedendeterminar como es mejor para diseñar los cursos deentrenamiento para maestros y siguiendo losprogramas que proporcionan la calidad de entre-namiento y ayuda a capacitar a los maestrospara que utilicen mejor el sistema como continuaciónde todo un rnétodo instructivo.

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J. Of tre Sccety for Accelerative Learning and Teach:rig, 1987. 12118.2).

Eurythmy: Art of Movement in the WaldorfSchools*

Earl J Ogletree

Abstract. Eurythmy is a form of controlledtherapeutic movement developed by RudolfSteiner (1861-1925), the founder of the Wal-dorf schools. Eurythmy is employed in the arts,education and medicine. It is used in the Wal-dorf curriculum to facilitate physical and psycho-logical development of children and to enhancethe areas of speech, language arts, geometry andphysical education.

* * *

Many children are frustrated by their failure in a

society that places great emphasis on intellectual devel-opment and academic achievement. The emphasis hasbeen on the abstract, the theoretical and sometimes themeaningless aspects of education. rather than the con-crete. the physical and emotional aspects of learningAs a consequence of this neglect, coupled with theincreased sedentary activity of TV viewing by young

* The Waldorf Schools, f ounded in 1919 in Germany byRudolf Steiner. are among the largest independentschool movements in the world. There are now 400Waldorf Schools internationally, including approximately80-90 in the United States See Ogletree, E.J. (1980)Waldorf Schools An Artistic Approach to Education.Journal of the Society for Accelerative Learning and

Teaching, 5(2) for additional inf ormation

65

a

children, there is an alarming increase in the number ofchildren who lack adequate motor coordination and bodymanagement skills.

Physical movement in learning is particularly impor-tant f or children in terms of the way they get to knowtheir environment, the world. They are f irst active,dynamic moving beinos and are emotionally and motori-cally involved in learning about themselves and experi-encing their surroundings. Cognition is the last step inthe learning process. For children, movement is thef irst step in the learning process. Purposeful movementstresses the unity of the person--linking and coordinat-ing the physical, emotional, social and intellectual in pro-ductive activity.

Raymond Barsch (1965) founder of Movigenicsthestudy of the origin and development of movement pat-terns leading to learning eff iciency--concluded:

Movement has survival value to the humanorganism. When energy forces must be man-aged, informational data processed and behaviororganized in ever increasing complexity, a pro-gram devoted to achieving optimal movementholds promise of making a signif icant contribu-tion to learning ef f iciency (p. 16).

Wholistic learning approaches exploit the hiddenphysio-psychological potentialities of the human being.By adhering to the rnaturational readiness stages oflearning, wholistic learning becomes an integral part ofthe learning process. The teacher is able to takeadvantage of the psychic reserves of the learner,thereby making learning compatible, ef f icient andimpressive. Similarly, suggestive education or Sugges-tology economizes the learning process by impressing

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Gar

what is being learned in an ef f icient manner. as doesrhythmical motor activity Rhythmical activity providesexperiences that are compatible with the child s learningstyle and lays the foundation for later conceptualizationand abstract learning As with Suggestology. rhythmicalbased learning is not harmful to the child, it enhanceslearning, interest and attention and reduces anxiety

The child grasps the meaning and signif icance ofwhat is being learned without reliance on the analyticprocesses of cognition. The very act of disciplinedrhythmical movement enables the child to experienceacademic content without being aware that he/she hasdone so Suggestive education also enables the learnerto participate actively which enhances the ability to con-centrate and respond quickly Research shows thatlearning gained via motor activity is more rapidlyacquired and more stably f ormed than learning acquiredpassively (Haggard and Rose, 1944) Allport (1960)stated The perception of meaning is incomplete withoutfull manipulation and bodily movement (p 1851. Learn-ing is possible only when there is active assimilationwhich subsequentially transforms the learner. RudolfSteiner 11861-19251 had more or less the same idearegarding the influence of controlled motor-movementwhen he developed the art of Eurythmy in 1912Eurythmy (which is not .o be conf used with Dalcroze sEurythmics a f orm of dance to melody), is instead, aform of disciplined movement of the arms and thebody that expresses the vowels and consonants ofspeech and the rhythm and intervals of music. Eurythmyis an art f orm (perf ormed by groups or by individuals)and also a f orm of therapy There are three types ofEurythmy speech, tone. and curative (remedial) SpeechEurythmy is associated with speech. and tone Eurythmywith music Both are utilized in the performing arts onthe stage and a technique of teaching sub ject matter in

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the school. Both have an artistic and pedagogical func-tion. Curative or therapeutic Eurythmy, on the otherhand, is based on the gestures and movements of artis-tic and pedagogical Eurythmy tspeech and tone) exceptthat the movements are emphasized more dynamically,and are given and supervised by a medical doctor.

Eurythmy is not merely an arbitrary movement, nor aform of dance to music that has been intellectuallythought out nor is it aerobics. It is a disciplined artdeveloped out of a particular concept of human devel-opmentthe idea of what the human should become.Steiner concluded that the movements of the organs ofspeech when producing speech sounds were similar tothe movements of the dynamic or energy forces in thebody. Steiner (1932) adopted, transf ormed andextended these speech formations made by the speechorgans, to the movements of the whole body, particu-larly to the arms and the hands.

Wallace (1942), a curative Eurythmist. explained therelationship between speech, the inner dynamic forcesof the body and Eurythmy:

The whole connection between the sounds ofspeech and the inner dynamic of our wholeorganism was clarified oy Steiner. He showedthat the dynamics which produce the smallestmovements of speech are the same as the cre-ative (energy) forces which construct and main-tain our organism; that speech is only a weakreflection or condensation of these forces (p 8).

In fact, speech is the resounding product of energyforces It is an artistic expression, a performing art. Itis used to facilitate speech development, and it is usedtherapeutically to enhance and rebalance the developmenttransformations of the body

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The purpose of teaching Eurythrny, according to KarlVan Oordt 119551 an Eurythmist is tnat:

If we keep alive this stream of life through ourbody and let it enliven us again and again, weshould be able to stand more firmly in life,would be able to bring our intellectual knowl-edge, what we learn in our heads, into the limbs,into our motivations and into our actions That iswhat we want to achieve when we do Eurythrnywith the children

She adds that Eurythmy facilitates: . . natureforcesliving, growing lif e forces--to streamfreely and unhindered through our body--rotwildly and chaotically, but consciously guided bythe personality which abides in the body, by ourreal selves (ego) (1)

What Van Oordt is ref erring to is that every physicalgesture of -,ovement we make requires energy anddynamic creative forces of growth By means of thedisciplined movements inherent in Eurythmy. thesedynamic forces are brought under the control of theperson doing Eurythmy What occurs is an enhancedcoordination of motor-movement, emotions and thinkingas well as having a healthful influence u e. the energy orforces of physical growth are the same forces usedf or cognition)

The movements in speech and tone of Eurythmy areprescribed and taught by the Eurythmists Howevercurative Eurythmy requires a physician to diagnose themalady and prescribe specific movements The dif fer-ence between curative and other forms of Eurythmy isthe form and emphasis of the movements A speciallytrained physician is generally associated with a Waldorf

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tfj

school. The physicians are trained in Steiner's anthro-posophical (wholistic-homeopathic) form of medicineand Eurythrny There are probably hundreds of suchspecially trained medical doctors, mainly in Europe.However, the limitations of this paper do not permit adetailed exploration of Steiner's theory of child devel-opment and medicine.

In curative Eurythmy, the consonant and vowelsounds of speech such as B -U", or "A", "E" areexpanded into and overtly expressed in the largermovements of Eurythrny using the arms and body,'which, when intensified in curative Eurythmy exercise.work or are reflected back into the organism to acti-vate (and stimulate), the dynamic upbuilding forces ofthe body," rather than turning them outward in artisticexpression. (See Figure IV)

Wallace 11942), a curative Eurythmist for over fortyyears, says: "Curative Eurythmy is used to stir intonormal activity those upbuilding forces which havebecome too sluggish to maintain health." According toWallace, the consonant sounds performed Eurythmicallyhave a relationship to and an effect on the organs :.,ndfunctions of the body; "diseased organs often can berebuilt and disturbed functions normalized.' She addsthat one combination of consonant exercises wakes upthe stolid type of person both physically and mentally,while another builds more stamina into the (weak) bodyof the oversensitive type."

The Eurythrnic vowel sound exercises have an effectupon the psychological development of the person Forexample, the E" sound and its corresponding Eurythmicexercise help the uncertain, shy or weak person to gainconfidence and self-directed activity. Whereas a care-fully chosen combination of consonant and vowel exer-

70

cises can help to harmonize and unif y physical, mentaland intellectual development, making the physical bodymore amenable for the developing personality.

Like the consonants, these movements are done invarious positions and intensity. Curative Eurythmy workswith the single sounds of speech, based on medicaladvice Not only are single sounds and certainsequences of sounds used, but walking and moving incertain patterns. e.g., spiral, lemniscate, pentagram, etc..and rhythms are integral parts of Eurythmy. Hexameter,iambic and trachee rhythms are used to treat differenttypes of personality disturbance and pathological condi-tions Wallace (1942) stated that Eurythmy is used tohelp the physical body to become a more pliable instru-ment for the child s developing personality and intellectSht: added

Toward adolescence special exercises help toharmonize the whole organism, making the tran-sition period less chaotic. The wide varie ofproblems range from correction of posture andpronated ankles to disturbance of the metabolic(respiratory) and nervous systems, from difficul-ties of a psychological and temperamental char-acter to serious illness (p 61

Tone Eurythmy is also used therapeutically Music hasalways been thought to have a healing ef fect on thehuman being Beat, rhythm. tone and intervals, the basisof the Eurythmy, are related therapeutically to therespiratory, nervous and the metabolic systems. In

addition. to the medical aspects of Eurythmy, in theWaldorf schools it is basically used to help bring har-mony between the child and his, her own body so thathe she develops his, her best faculties Eurythmy istaught to the child to help his, her personality grasp his,

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her own physical body in the proper way, thereby gain-ing conscious control over his/her activities to integratethe childs physical development with his,her psychologi-cal development--the basis of gross and finer motorskill development.

Pedagogical Eurythmy is also employed to introduceand teach a myriad of academic subjects such asspeech, reading, geometry. drama, poetry and music.

By means of Eurythmic exercises the childrenexperience the sounds of speech with their whole body,and enhance the skill of proper listening. Young chil-dren find pleasure in imitation and delight in movement.In the teaching of writing and reading, the characteristicsounds and forms of letters spring into life as theyperform them Eurythmically. For example the rollingmovement of the R" is expressed Eurythmically by thatof rolling wheels in motion: See Figure IV.

'rntrbinfirnr-rTo complete the letter for 'R", as they write the verse:

'Restlessly rushing, rippling, rolling, races theriver down to the sea.

Poetry and music are incorporated to support thesegestures, allowing the child to experience these subjectsthrough ear, eye and movement, so that the child'swhole being is involved in the learning process, not justthe intellectual The Waldorf children learn most of theletters of the alphabet in this manner, conveying tothem the feeling that the letters are intimately related tothem. The letters become their friends, so to speak.Learning becomes play--movement--fun

72

Also in the early grades, the children run geometricforms Eurythmically to the accompaniment of musicalthemes. Here the child experiences a straight, curvedand bent line with his/her whole body. He/She is

experiencing it before he/she intellectualizes it. Childrenare learning subject matter without really realizing theyare learning it, because learning is fun.

Heydebrand, a Waldorf teacher, says that the mark-ing of rhythm in poetry is cultivated. -Meter is markedby children taking long and short steps in pacing torecitation.. Listening is developed by the children clap-ping their hands and running with their feet to simplerhythms of poetry. Also moving in Eurythmic forms tomusic enhances the children s feeling and appreciationfor it.

Little children love to express high and low, loudand soft, long and short sounds in movement. And atages nine and ten children enjoy listening to andexpressing minor and major scales Eurythmically.Eurythmy not only assists children in learning the musicalscales in an overt expressive manner, but helps them"to pass unscathed through the difficult early stages oflearning to play a musical instrument Learning is

couched in activities that are compatible with their natu-ral style of active participation in their environment.

Musical movement is also associated with the rhyth-mical forms and patterns found in geometry. In thelower grades the children learn to run straight andcurved lines, beginning with the forming of the circle.Harwood 119581 concludes, 'Here the foundations ofgeometry are laid "The children step, walk and run--to music in varying rhythms--the forms of the square,circle, pentagram, lemniscate, and so on. Eurythmicalgestures are an integral part of the lessons This is

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carried over into their form drawing lessons, whichform the basis of writing. In the Waldorf schools formfree-hand geometry drawing precedes the writing ofletters and numbers, and writing precedes learning toread. They first learn to read what they have writtenand, in the later grades, to read from a printed page.See Figure 5 (at the end of the article), geometric formpatterns.

Form drawing is used to facilitate the coordinationof motor movement and mind, perceptual-motor devel-opment. An examination of the geometric forms inFigure 5 shows the forms evolve from simple to com-plex--from simple wavy to complex metric patterns.Via repetitive exercises children learn to execute theforms accurately. What was initially a conscious-cogni-tive-motor exercise gradually unfolds into instinctivemotor control. This transition becomes therapy, i e., asthe form drawing becomes a less conscious activity,perfection in execution is the result. The perfection ofa motor activity lies in the forgetting of the consciousprocess. For example, we learn to perfect our drivingand writing skills by means of instinctive responsesbecause the actual process of accomplishing the activitysinks into the subconscious and is consciously forgot-ten. Form drawing is taught in grades one through five,followed by plane, perspective and projective geometricexercise using compass, protractor and ruler in gradesone through nine. The Waldorf children experiencegeometric patterns and figures prior to learning theirmathematical bases. Not only do the children developvoluntary control over their gross and fine motor sys-tems and expand their concentration abilities, but theyalso acquire the feeling for form, geometric relation-ships and harmony

74t

The geometry in Eurythmy is taught simultaneouslywith the learning of number forms and the movementsof the alphabet. which correspond to the vowels andconsonants, in the first and second grades 1The alpha-bet method of reading is taught in the Waldorf schools!

In the third grade, the Eurythmic movements for dif-ferent sounds are suf ficiently developed to presentword pictures and sentences. The language of poetry,its content and inner beauty are stressed in the

Eurythmy lesson

In the elementary grades. Eurythmy exercises aregiven to develop alertness, a feeling for space andmobility, still others for the purpose of awakeningsocial feeling by performing Eurythmy in group activities

As the children progress through the grades, the

manner of forming the Eurythmic gestures becomemore disciplined and precise For example, Eurythmy isalso used to correct careless handwriting and to bringthe nine year old child into more conscious relationshipwith his,her environment

In the fourth and fifth grades. language is graspedmore consciously through grammar in which the gram-matical elements of speech are practiced throughEurythmic movements in space Heydebrand (19661

explained

The child should make the forms in speech fordoing words and for nouns A line which runs

forward awakens a different feeling from a

curve running backwards Through such formswhich lre the expression of the essential natureof the word. the child grasps the grammaticalelement of the language, not only with his head.

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but with his whole f eeling and will f or lif e (p.25).

At this time period, geometry in Eurythmy now includesthe f ormation and the shaping of patterns as a group,'knowing that in a square, for instance, each one is onlya fourth of the whole and that they have to considerthe movement of the three others in order to form themoving square shape' as in Figure 1

Figure 1

The children experience the feeling of a square byrunning the four sides, running the diagonals (which arelonger than the sides), and finally running from the f ourcorners to the center of the figure (arrows) and backto the corners again. The abstract square becomes realto the child. According to Van Oordt. "this is a coop-erative ef fort that helps to build up a social feeling intheir whole being."

Spiral Eurythmic exercises are employed for treatingcertain types of developmental, personality and physicaldisturbances For example. the nervous, unconcentratedchild can be quieted and strengthened psychologicallythrough the use of the ingoing spiral (See Figure 21

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Figure 2

In contrast, the outgoing spiral is used for the with-drawn, self -conscious, slow child (See Figure 31.

Figure 3

In the fifth and sixth grades. Eurythmy is the vehiclefor learning the classic melodies of Schumann, Mozart,

Haydn and Bach. In addition, the content and variousmoods of poetry are stressed and experienced by

means of Eurythmic movements. More complex geo-metric patterns, concentration exercises, exercises in

control and group Eurythmic forms are practiced withthe purpose of not only learning the subject, but toharmonize motor-movement, feeling and thought. In

every school subject there is movement and motoractivit V

Eurythmy. which provides a compatible medium forlearning and activity, brings feeling and will power intothe educational process so that children led into thiselement cannot remain motionless or intellectual Intel-lecti.3 learning to elementary school children is pale,

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passive, non-stimulating, and, in many cases, ineffective.However, learning that involves their whole being cre-ates enthusiasm, eagerness to learn, interest andstrength of character and physical body.

Since Eurythmy is a disciplined art of movement itnot only is an ideal vehicle for vitalizing the learningprocess, meking learning more concrete and practical,but it also forms the basis of a developmental motor-perceptual, body management program for all children.It helps to develop self -and space awareness, balance,coordination, a sense that the child, through carefullyselected exercises, makes the ef f ort himself :herselftoward overcoming motor coordination and body man-agement deficiencies. The physical body becomes amore responsive instrument to the mind.

There are many other aspects of Eurythmy. Adescription of this art of movement is highly inadequatein terms of understanding and feeling it. Seeing it andexperiencing it is the only real basis for knowing it.

To become a professional Eurythmist requires fouryears of full time training, plus an additional year oftraining to become a curative Eurythmist. There areEurythmy schools located internationally, and a list isavailable from the author. The two schools in theUnited. States are:

School of Eurythmy, Dorthea Mier- -Artistic Director,285 Hungry Hollow Rd., Spring Valley, NY 10977.TeleF.hone: 914-352-5020.

Eurythmy Association of North America, RR 3 Box 76,Great Barrington, MA 01230. Telephone:413-528-0605.

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$at

To understand Eurythmy, it is necessary to readSteiner's and other publications, visit Waldorf Schoolstof which there are over 400. internationally) to see itbeing used. and, of course. attend an Eurythmy school.

The Eurythmic gestures not only provide a basis f orlearning to read and understand geometry, but also havea balancing influence on the participant. For example,the vowel movements express moods and emotions andhelp subtle dif f iculties of temperament and emotions.From a curative (therapeutic) aspect the A & B gesturesenhance self concept and awareness, B facilitates theflow of secretions in the body. K and R help thedigestive and metabolic processes while L assists therespiratory process and the U gesture facilitates theblood circulation in the lower extremities (Glas. 1971)Eurythmic gestures are illustrated in Figure 4

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Fig. 4: Eurythmy Gestures

The vowel "a" movement is a mossing gesture ofthe arms. It can also be done with the legs.

The consonant "b" movement is anembracing or cradling gesture, similarto cradling a small infant.

The vowel "e" movement is a thrusting (pointing)gesture with one arm pointing upward, the otherdownward.

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Ths consonant "k" movement is adownward, cutting gesture with oneor both arms fully xtended.

The consonant "I" move .merit is a vertical, upwardgesture using both arms inunison. The motion is sirni.lar to the cascading otwater fountain, beginningat a single source at thebase and dispersing at thecrest in manifold 11(13.

8 1

The consonant "r" movement is a forward rolling. rotating, or cartwheelmaion of 36r with both arms.

The vowel "u" movement is an upwardand/or downwsrd gesturing of both armsheld parallel, forming "u".

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* * *

References

Barsch R A. (1965 Movigenic Curriculum. Madison,WI Bureau for Handicapped Children

Donath A D (19371 The Basic Principles ofEurythmy. New York Anthroposophic Press

Glas M 11971) Experience in Remedial Eurythmy.Gloucester, England Fellowship Press

Harwood, A.0 (19581 The Recovery of Man inChildhood. London Hodder & Stoughton

Heydebrand, C 119661 The Curriculum of the FirstWaldorf School. London Steiner School Founda-tion

Oordt K.V i1955-561 Why Do We Teach EurythmyEducation as an Art: Bulletin of the RudolfSteiner School Association, 16(4)

Steiner R (1932) Eurythmy as Visible Song. Lon-don Androposophical Publishing Co

Steiner R. 119561 Eurythiny as Visible Speech. Lon-don Anthroposophical Publishing Co

Steiner R 119711 Introductory Words for a EurythmyPerformance. Eurythmy. Northridge. California: TheEurythmy Association of Southern California

Wallace M (19421 Curative Eurythmy Education asan Art Bulletin of the Rudolf Steiner SchoolAssociation, 1(2)

* * *

L Eurythmie Art du Mouvement dans les Ecoles Wal-dor f

L Eurythrnie est une forme de mouvement therapeutiquecontrolle developpee par Roudolf Steiner (1861-1925),

83

fondateur des Ecoles Waldorf. L Eurythmie est utilisêedans le domaine des Arts, de I Education et de la Méde-cine. Elle est employee dans le curriculum Waldorf af inde facMer le développement physique et psychologiquedes enfants, et d intensifier les dornaines de [elocution,des qualites linguistiques, de la geometrie et de i educa-tion physique.

Eurythmie. Kunst des Bewegens in Waldorf er Schule

Eurythrnie ist eine Form von kontrollierter therapeu-tischer Bewegung, eitwichelt von Rudolf Steiner(1861- 1925), dem Begri.inder der Steiner Schule.Eurythmie wird in Kunst. Erziehung und Medizin einge-setzt Irn Waldorfer Lehrplan wird sie gebraucht, urnphysische und psychische Entwicklung der Kinder zu er-leichtern und urn die Gebiete des Sprachvermögens, derSprachkunst, der Geometrie und des Turnens zuvergröfiern.

Euritmia Arte de movirnientos en las escuelas Waldorf.

Euritmia es una forma controlada y terapeutica delmovimiento desarrollada por Rudolf Steiner(1861-1925), el fundador de las escuelas Waldorf. La

euritmia es empleada en las artes, educación y medicina.Es utilizada en el circulo Waldorf para facilitar f isica ypsicologicarnente el desarrollo de niños y para me jorarlas areas del lenguaje, artes del lenguaje, geof isica.

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J. of the Soc ety for Accelerative Learning and Teaching. 1987. 12(1&2).

Teaching Adult Learners Using Accelerated Learning*

Elaine Voci-ReedThe Center f or Mental Health

Anderson, Indiana

Abstract. This article describes a college levelcourse taught to adult learners using a humanis-tic, global, and accelerated approach. It highlightsthe outcomes of replacing the traditional, indus-trial age student-teacher relationship with one

that is student-centered, and collaborative It

suggests that teachers must provide educationf or the whole person, by sharing themselves in acontactful. energized relationship with their stu-dents.

* * *

Introduction

In the Health Arts Bachelor s Degree program at theCollege of Saint Francis, Principals of Management' is arequired. f our credit course lasting 15 weeks. The

degree program attracts primarily nurses, and otherhealth care prof essionals. Many of them have notattended school f or over 20 years. and doubt theirability to achieve success in the classroom.

*Paper presented at 12th Annual SALT Conf erence,April 1987. Ames IA.

855

=1111

These evening school students bring with them theeffects -of a traditional public education: they expect theteacher to be the authoritarian expert who impartsknowledge primarily through didactic lecture, and thenjudges students by their performance on exams. Atthe end of the term, the teacher assigns a letter gradedesignating students from the "best to the worst.-Students expect to play the passive role of absorbingdata, and regurgitating it on exams, all the while con-forming to rigid rules, and in search of the right*answer

The 23 students in my class were all females, rang-ing in age from 21 to 55 years: they are employed asnurses in hospitals or nursing homes. They pursue aBA degree "to meet increasing career demands of theirf ield. A secondary goal for many is to achieve per-sonal growth and self -actualization.

Attendance in the weekly class meeting represents anumber of sacrifices for students: they must meet inthe evenings after working all day, they must foregotime with their families, and they must place themselvesin a potentially stressful environment where competitionand resourcefulness are challenged.

Goals

The 15 week class was structured around the f ol-lowing goals:

1) I wanted the students to be actively involved intheir own education, to see themselves as part-ners with me, and to have an experience ofsuccess in the classroom

2) I wanted them to see management from a

global perspective, and to understand the impact

86

of the Information Age on management prac-tices, and its implications for the future.

3) I wanted the students to be empowered aswomen. to recognize and appreciate the uniquestrengths that women bring to the workplace

Methods

rhe methods applied to teaching the course included:a) a pre-class letter of introduction greeting the stu-

dents. instilling energy and enthusiasm for theupcoming class

b) distributing copies of the Final Exam on the firstnight of class to firmly convey my belief in thegoal of true education. to draw out of studentswhat they already know. and to further demonstratemy relation to them as a coach and a partner in

their learning discoveriesc) lecturettes lasting no more than 45 minutes, plus

the use of metaphors. and story-telling in thepresentation of materials

d) group activities, including experiential exercises,group discussion. film-viewing, and self-assessmentinstruments on management style, listening skills.assertiveness. etc

ei guest lecturers on tv.o evenings, presenting realworld issues in management

f, independent projects on subjects chosen by thestudents for their interest and relevance.

gi a circular seating arrangement so that everyonecould feel part of the whole group and be able tomake eye contact with each other

h) bonding acuvaies, including a pitch-in supper at theend of the semester and encouragement to sharespecial events within the group (promotions.awards etc

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il what's happening board f or posting poetry news-paper articles, book reviews, and other items ofinterest to the class, especially related to \,\ omen inmanagement.a brief relaxation exercise during the last 15 min-utes of each class to help members make thetransition from class to the return trip home, andto encourage the use of relaxation methods forenhanced health, learning, and, creativity

k) the assignment and inclusion of Tof fler s ThirdWave, and Peters and Waterman's In Search ofExcellence as texts, as well as a standard manage-ment text.

I) the showing of the video, The Global Brain. byPeter Russell, and One Fine Day- by Kay Weaver.

Results

Each of the 23 students completed the class; therewas an extremely low incidence of absences during thesemester and a high level of enthusiasm as the semes-ter progressed. One student remarked on the last nightof class that she had been "depressed" during the dayas she realized that we would no longer be meeting onThursday nights and that the semester was at an end.No student achieved below a B grade level for thecourse as a result of their participation. creativity, andthorough understanding of the material presented

One clear demonstration of the enthusiasm levelwere the 12 dif ferent independent projects presented inclass; they covered a multitude of topics. including.Women in the Media. The Art of Listening, Managementwith Enhanced Perception. Androgyny in Management.Motivation and Leadership, and Selling Yourself in

Today s Market. While some students presented bythemselves, others worked in collaborative pairs, all of

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them chose topics based on their genuine desire toexplore such areas. Many of the presentations showedgreat creativity, one team s project was in the f orm ofan original skit, another was a video tape made of thesubject, and another combined a video with music anda decorated cake that spelled out Motivation:

Three of the students subsequently accepted pro-motions into management at their place of employment:another tfree attended a weekend retreat f or womenthat I co-led during the month af ter the semesterclosed Two of the women left nursing, and beganactively networking into new careers, and, finally, severalstudents were responsible f or recruiting me as a pre-senter at a statewide occupational health nurses conf erence, and at a mental health association workshop f orwomen. Perhaps one of the most pleasant experiencesf or me occurred towards the end of the semester,when students discovered it was my birthday, and theysent me flowers with a card inscribed 'To our mentorwith Thanksgiving on your birthday I have had lettersand phone calls or personal visits from several of thestudents since the class met last, and have enjoyed thecontinuing contact.

The f ollowing is a sample of student evaluations

The entire class was a study in leading people by usingnew age management principals . The class was par-ticipatory, student-oriented you shared all the inf orma-tion (some of which we co-created). There was diversity. flexibility, and cooperation We were empoweredto be creative 3nd take charge of our learning A pic-ture is worth a 1,000 words, and you painted one that

w ill remember Bravo'

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This course has given me more self -confidence andhas made me realize that there are other ways to man-age people besides the hospital s way. This course hasencouraged me to grow . . . If I were to manage. I

believe I would be much less authoritarian than I wouldhave been before. I feel I would be more respectfulof other numan beings and their thoughts and dreams

The relaxation exercises I loved I m a person whonever relaxes, and I just loved learning how to do that,let go and learn so easily.

This class has given me confidence in knowing that I

can succeed in college . . I like one-on-one teaching. I can see how the world has shrunk and continues to

do so with the wake and explosion of the New Age.It's exciting to know I can live to be a part of it, tosee the transition. Thank you f or making this class funfor me .

'This course is the first one I've taken that I felt corn-f ortabie and truly receptive to feedback Giving theinae pendent project increased my communication skillsbecause I was able to get verbal and written feedbackwhich was very helpful."

I have learned one's personal and professional life areclosely interwoven A person who f eels good aboutherself is more likely to be successful in a professionalmanagerial role.''

Self -esteem is the most important value I haveobtained In spite of this being a terrifying time in his-tory, this class gave me the greatest gift of all andthat is HOPE!"

90

By giving a presentation to the class on the subject I

f ind very interesting and worthwhile. I found that I couldeasily express my ideas and feelings The meditationhelped me to believe I could do it. but I think that thekey was that I felt what I had to say was worth hear-ing Possibly, if I could see my own ideas as a bitmore worthwhile. I d have no trouble expressing themA flash of insight'

Discussion

Accelerated learning represents much more than a

method. or strategies for helping people learn quicklyIts most basic premise is to create a learning environ-ment in which persons can be fully engaged emotionally.intellectually, and spiritually It reaches the whole personin the context of a team where teacher and student areequal partners Towards this goal. the student s com-fort, conf idence level, and ideas are respected and paramount in importance to the teacher. It is a caringrelationship

Adult learners have special needs: the demand upontheir trne and energy levels are often great Accelerated learning is an especially attractive approach for thispopulation, given its attention to a relaxed atmospherein the classroom and its promotion of easy learning

In addition nurses are a unique group of studentsand their long history of service has not demanded acollege education in the past Indeed, three year nursingprograms were considered the premier method oftraining Over the past decade however, pressureshave been exerted to require at least a BA degree in

order to meet hospital administration policies, and theAmerican Nurses Association standards While youngernurs ng students attend degree programs during the day

9 1

on a full-time basis, many older nurses must work f uil-time and go to school in the evenings. They must jug-gle the roles of nurse, homemaker, parent, and studentSchool, for these individuals, is one more burden to beborne in a fast-moving world.

Furthermore, nurse-managers are struggling toachieve greater autonomy in decision-making, and morerespect from physicians and hospital administrations.

To teach a course on management to these studentswithout taking into account these issues and conditionswould be inef fective. Also, it is important for studentsto recognize the 'Big Picture, and to understand howthe dramatic changes in nursing are happening else-where Health care, after all, does not exist in a vac-uum; what goes on there is subject to all the outsideinfluences that occur within a shifting culture, and anincreasingly global economy.

A humanistic orientation toward teaching, in combi-nation with accelerated learning techniques is a powerf ulapproach to meeting the needs of contemporary stu-dents. In this mode, teachers can work in concert withstudents to capture information, make it fun to learn.create a challenging yet relaxed atmosphere, and makethe connection to the real world that the student worksin daily

References

Gawain, S (1978) Creative Visualization. Mill Valley.California Whatever Publishing.

Harragan, B (1977) Games Mother Never Taught You.New 'i'ork Warner Brooks

Keeton. K t19851 Woman of Tomorrow. New York:St. Martin s Press

Peters, T & Waterman, R. (1982). In Search ofExcellence. New York. Harper & Row.

Russell. P (1979). The Brain Book. New York. E.P.

Dutton.Sheehy, G (1981). Pathfinders. New York: Bantam

BooksTof fler. A (1980). The Third Wave. William Morrow.Wonder. J & Donovan. P (1984). Whole Brain

Thinking. William Morrow.

Enseigner aux eleves-adultes en utilisant la methodeacceleree

Cet article decrit un cours enseigne a des adultes -auniveau de hautes etudes avec I emploi d'une methodehumane, globale et acceleree. L article met en lumiereles resultats obtenus en remplagant le traditionnel rap-port professeur-eleve de lere industrielle par un rap-port de collaboration, centre essentiellement sur l'eleve.L article evoque I idee qu il est tres important que lesenseignants entourent I eleve dans son entite et qu ilsprennent part a accomplissement de leur but en creantun rapport energetique et riche en contact human avecleurs eieves

Erwachsene Schuler werden gelehrt. das beschleunigendeLernen zu gebrauchen

Dieser Artikel beschreibt einen Universiteskurs furErwachsene. der mit humanistischer, globaler und bes-chleunigender Methode gelehrt wurde Die Betonung

93

liegt auf dem Ersetzen einer aus dem Industriezeitaltertraditionellen SchUler-Lehrer Beziehung durch eine, dieSchüler-konzentriert und zusammenarbeitend ist Eswird vorgeschlagen, dall der Lehrer eine Ausbildung derganzen Person f estsetze, indem er selbst an einer kon-takt- und energievollen Beziehung mit seinen SchUlernteilnimmt.

Enseriando a adultos aprendices utilizando AprendizajeAcelerado

Este articulo describe un curso a nivel universitario enlo cual enseñaron a adultos aprendices utilizando human-istico, global, y acercamiento acelerado. Es como sialtas luces de afuera vienieran a reemplazar lo tradi-cional, la edad industrial del estudiante-maestro y la

relacion con el estudiante-centro, y colaboracion. Estosugiere al maestro que debe proporcionar educacionpara la persona en si y compartir con ellos mismos enun contacto Ileno y energizado en la relacion con susestudiantes.

94

o' tne Socetv 'or Acce;erat ve '..earrimg ane Teach, ng, 19.87. '2i'&2;

Music as Mnemonic Device in//Second Language Learning*

Linda De jin Xia and Loren AlexanderKansas State University

Abstract. This study is based on a ten-weekChinese musical program to teach 34 Americanf ourth graders in a local elementary class tolearn Chinese conversation. The course wasdivided into 20 sessions with 45 minutes f oreach session The experiment investigates theapplication of mnemonic principles such as

imagery. chunking. serial learning, association,context and rhyming in musical TPR, languagesongs and imagery music Qualitative outcomesof the study show positive ef fects on learningmotivation, language acquisition, creative expres-sion and learning retention

* * *

Introduction

The Chinese language has generally been regarded asthe most dif f icult f oreign language by many AmericansDespite a common attitude that learning Chinese is verydif f icult. the statistics also indicate objectively that toreach the same level of language prof iciency. it takes2-3 times longer in the study of Chinese than of theEuropean languages i0maggio, 19861 However, the fact

* Paper presented at the 1987 SALT Conference in

Ames Iowa

95

that music is a daily experience for most peopleregardless of age, sex or social background givescredibility to its significance f or language learning.Since Lozanov f irst used Baroque music to create con-ditions for relaxation and subconscious learning withadult learners, the relaxing and soothing ef f ects ofmusic have been adapted to students of any age at anylevel of second language proficiency (Lozanov. 1978;Schuster & Gritton, 1985; Schaefer. 1980; and Ban-croft, 1982). If one compares musical tempo withspeed of speech, rhythm with cadence, melody withintonation, and lyrics with written text, one will find thatmusic and human language share many common aspects(See Appendix). It is interesting to see that thesedynamic units of music can be used to their bestadvantage as a springboard to overcome both psycho-logical and pedagogical barriers in second languagelearning.

Jakobson (1980) categorizes language into twoaspects, the intellectual language to the left hemisphereand the emotional language to the right hemisphere.Based on his neurolinguistic research on subjects withcerebral lesions, he discovered that though the speechcomponents depend on the left brain, all other audiblestimuli such as environmental noises, intonation, cough-ing, laughing, yawning and so on, are tied to the right .side of the brain Paivio (1979) pointed out tnat infor-mation is processed by two mental systems: theimagery system, which stores information in nonverbalmemory representing spatially organized events, concreteobjects, and imagination: ar.d the verbal system, pro-cesses with either auditory or visual images of words.Although the verbal mediator operates in a more nearlysymbolic and linear level, Paivio believes that memoryimages are a cruciai mediating mechanism for verbalexpression. Since traditional second language teaching

96

approaches have of ten been preoccupied solely withverbal learning, music can certainly integrate the emo-tional components into the linguistic skills to increaselearning retention.

Introduction of the StudySubjects tor this study were 34 local elementary

f if th graders. ages 10 to 11. The program consistedof ten musical lessons, which were taught in 20 ses-sions. Songs and music used in this program toenhance language instruction were composed, sung orplayed (on piano) by one of the authors (Linda Xia).

During the whole course. spoken language instructionwas comprehended mainly through pictures, nonverbalcues or contexts instead of using the first languagetranslation Listening comprehension, oral productionand motivational aspects were evaluated at the conclu-sion of the course through a picture multiple choicetest, memorization game, and a student feedback ques-tionnaire The purpose of the study was to investigateif dif ferent strategies of using music can lower psy-chological barriers in second language acquisition andaccelerate learning.

The following is a discussion of three self-designedmusical projects in this program.

Language SongLanguage songs used in this program were made

from dialog, rhyme, or texts consisting of five or sixsentences. The melodic lines in language songs aregenerally based on the intonation of natural speech, asare the rhythmic patterns. Another f eature of languagesong is its application of imitative words and repetition,such as Little dogs, little dogs. bark bark bark barkunder the tree: little cats, little cats. rniao miao miaomiac by the tree, little birds, little birds, twitter twittertwiter twitter on the tree

97

Generally Linda Xia used three steps to teach a lan-guage song.

(1) Achieve comprehension of the lyrics through variouscomprehensible channels contexts, pictures ornonverbal cues.

(2) Rhythmic reading of the lyrics with exactly the samerhythmic pattern that is going to appear in the song.

(3) Singing: Add melodic lines to the lyrics. The singingcould be repeated 4-5 times until the students cansing in chorus without the help of the instructor.Most of the songs are combined with acting duringsinging. Generally one or two songs are taught foreach session and all the songs will be reviewed inthe same steps: comprehension, rhythmic readingand singing.

Discussion and ResultsEight language songs were taught during the whole

course. In response to one of the questions in thequestionnaire at the conclusion of the class 'Music andsongs helped me a lot to memorize Chinese characters",33 students out of 34 marked 'yes" and only one stu-dent marked "undecided". Responding to another ques-tion in the same questionnaire: I can sing more thanf ive Chinese songs now", 25 students answered "yes ,six students answered 'undecided'', and only three stu-dents out of thirty-f our answered 'no" A languagesong also helped lessen the boredom of repetition bybuilding up a communicative atmosphere. It was noticedthat the greeting song "Hello' was repeated six times inone session and -Hello" in Chinese was sung at least 24times. However, it is significant that there was not theleast sense of boredom indicated on the part of thelearners.

98

1=1,

Musical TPRTotal Physical Response (TPR) is a teaching method

focusing on listening comprehension by eliciting physicalresponse from the listeners iAsher. 1977) Musical TPRuses dramatic changes of tempo, rhythmic pattern andintensity in music to suggest physical movementstogether with oral commands. Tempo and rhythm aretwo key factors in musical TPR; however, a dramaticchange of intensity can aIso change the mood of theaction Musical TPR can be used f or isolated commandsas well as f or nonverbal story per f ormance In musicalTPR stories students merely react to the music and thenarration by physical movements, such as acting thestory Race between Tortoise and Rabbit

Discussion and ResultsIt is believed that TPR activity involves primarily the

use of the right hemisphere of the brain, though at thebeginning stage the lef t brain is activated in reasoningand comprehension With this logic, music combinedwith TPR activity may further emphasize the functioningof the right brain and thus increases relaxation, sub-conscious learning, imagination and emotional involve-ment One student wrote in her diary about musicalTPR Today. we played a neat game I wish we couldplay it more Another student remarked I think themusic is helpful I could do better when you (Linda Xia)mixed your order with the music Again writtenobservations on musical TPR shows that the studentssucceeded in responding to the melodic suggestion ofthe music while they failed to do so to the oral com-mands

Imagery MusicImagery music is used in the background f or story

telling or vocabulary introduction or skit perf ormanceTo present a vivid image of a certain character, such as

99

a boy, a dog or a bird, is to find out the right pitchand volume (high or low, loud or soft), and the typicalspeed and rhythmic pattern to indicate the character'sphysical movements or personality, then create a musicaltheme or imagery by combining the melody with theabove factors. For example, the image of a bird canbe reproduced on piano by rlaying a trill in the higheroctaves, and the dog can be created by playing someinharmonious chords in the lower octaves. Delicate littleanimals such as the squirrel or the lamb are usuallyplayed softly: violent creatures such as the lion, thewolf or the monster are often represented by roughand heavy touches on the keys.

Discussion and ResultsImagery music not only enriches the environment f or

language acquisition, but also acts as an indirect channelto convey language instruction in a suggestive way. In amusical story, imagery music vivif ies the characters,provides f ood f or the students imagination, and thusencourages greater. student participation. It is interestingto see that when the character's leitmotiv was playedwith the narration f or the second or the third time, thestudents naturally joined the activity by imitating thebarking or crawling of the dog, or straining their voiceto talk like a bird. One student said af ter the class thatthe language was hard, but music had made it easy.

Summary and Discussion

Through using the soothing Baroque music in Sug-gestopedia, and the suggestive ef fects in musical TotalPhysical Response. imagery, music and language songsare correlated closely with the meaning of words.While relaxation in Suggestopedia is achieved through acertain period of "Pseudopassivity- (Lozanov, 1978), a

stress-free atmosphere in the above musical projects

9

100

was acquired through active stimulation of the melodicimages. In an informal memorization game (say the pic-ture objects in Chinese) to test the retention of 30objects learned in this program, the retention rate wasas high as 85 per cent.

It is amazing to see that the mnemonics which havebeen practiced f or many centuries are working in har-mony with the recent holistic brain approach in thismusica! program It is suggested in numerous memorystudies that subjects gain accelerated learning speedwhen they are in a better mood for learning, whenabstract and unfamiliar words are associated with con-crete and familiar things, when vocabulary is presentedin meaningful contexts, when isolated words are neatlygrouped into chunks or arranged in serials, when (actualor imaginary) physical movements are reiated with lan-guage instruction, and when imagery is used to assistcomprehension (Higbee, 1977, Atkinson, 1975; Dean,1983; Gadzella, 1975; & Halpern, 1984. ) Obviously, thesuggestive ef fects of music, or rather the suggestivemusic in language songs, musical TPR and imagery musiccan play an active role in fulfilling the following tasks:

1 To Lower Anxiety: The aesthetic ef f ects in musicand songs, rather than their soothing ef fect. createlearning en joyment. active participation and motiva-tion

2 To Enhance Physical Response: Tempo, intensityand rhythmic pattern, which are combined togetheras a dynamic portion in musical TPR, add imagina-tion and excitement in language learning

3 To Suggest Context: The emotional and imaginativeforce of music can indicate a specif lc theme or acertain atmosphere, which creates an assimilatedand contextual learning environment in languageacquisition

101

Ii

4. To Associate: When lyrics are sung with music,new and unfamiliar words would become associ-ated with pleasant melodic expressions. The mel-ody can later on serve as a cue f or lyric memori-zation

5 To Organize: Discrete sentences are chunked intoa pattern or flowing thought with the melodic con-tinuity. People recite songs better than stories asthe information is processed in a more organizedmanner and they more easily retrieve the informa-tion through the key of chunking and serial learning.

6 To Activate the Right Brain: When languageinstruction is taught in the f orm of music, theimagery system as well as the verbal system is

activated The suggstive ef fects of music onimagery. physical movements, context and emotiona!atmosphere obviously tap the rich mental reserveof the right brain. Thus more accelerated learningacquisition and learning retention can be accom-plished

Although the impact of music is probably too subtleto assess at various psychological levels, findings ofthis study reveal a close relationship between suggestiveef f ects of music and accelerated learning retentionWhen music and songs are used popularly in the secondlanguage classroom, the science of music in secondlanguage learning and teaching will surely become anarea of more intensive research

References

Asher, J. (1977) Learning Another Language throughActions: The Complete Teacher's Guide. LosGatos, California. Sky Oaks Publications

102

Atkinson. R C (1975) Mnemonics in Second-LanguageLearning American Psychology, 30, 821-28

Bancroft, W J (1982). Suggestopedia. Sophrology. andthe Traditional Foreign Language Class Foreign Lan-guage Annuals, 15(51,373-379

Dean. R.S 1983, Pictor/al Organization in ProseLearning Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8,20-27

Gadzella, B.M. & Whitehead. D A (1975). Ef fects o fAuditory and Visual Modalities in Recall of Words.Perceptual & Motor Skills, 40, 255-260

Halpern, A R (19841 Organization in Memory forFamiliar Songs Journal of Experimental Psychol-ogy: Learni ng, Memory and Cognition, 10(3).465-469

Higbee. K L. (19771 Your Memory: How it Worksand How to Improve it. New Jersey. Prentice-Hall

Jakobson. R (1980) Brain and Language. Ohio: Sla-vica Publishers

Lozanov. G. (1978) Suggestology and Outlines ofSuggestopedy. London. Gordon & Breach

Omaggio, A C (1986) Teaching Language in Context.Boston Heinle & Heinle

Paivio, A (1979). Imagery and Verbal Processes.New Jersey Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Schaefer, D A (1980i My Experience with the Loza-nov Method Foreign Language Annuals, 13(4).273-278

Schuster. D H & Gritton C E (1986) SuggestiveAccelerative Learning Techniques. New York Gor-don & Breach

103

Append I x

Basic Components of Music Relative to Language

MUSIC

LANGUAGE

1.

Musical Note.

Harmonious sound. denoting tones

I.

Linguistic Unit,

Basic linguistic sound pro-

of the 12-tone scale of European origin

duced by the human voice

2Quality:

Variance of

tone

color

produced by

2Duality:

Pitch and color of

the human voice

0,fferent instruments or people.

which varies from person to person.

3Melody

A group of musical notes In a succes-

3Intonation.

Change of stress and pitch in oral

sion to express a certain thought.

Communication in order to be expressive.

4Tempo

Speed of beat in a musical piece

4Speed of Speech

The rate at which a person

speaks.

5Rhythm

A group of tones organized in a recur-

5Cadence

Pause and change of speed in expres-

CD

ring time pattern

sion.

6Lyric

Words or sentences sung harmoniously

GSentences

Words combined

linguistically

to

with melodic lines, usually rhymed

express thought.

7Imagery

Musical

notes

grouped

in

certain

7Word

Description

words

or

sentences

con-

rhythmic and melodic patterns to present musl-

structed to describe a certain object, thought,

cal

ideas

feeling or situation

8Musics,

Theme.

Certain musical

style tO sug-

8.

Context:

A series of sentences incorporated tO

gest specific atmosphere or setting

suggest a specific situation

MOod

The emotional

part of

a musical

peice

9.

Way of Expression

Choice of words or use of

communicated by melody

n particular

tones to

indicate the state of mina and feel-

1rIg

10.

Intensity.

Loudness or softness of

the acous-

10.

Volume of Voice.

the amount ot sound a person

tic effects in musical performance

uses in hls/her speech

La musique: moyen rnnemonique dans I etude d'une sec-onde langue.

Cette recherche est basee sur un programme demusique chinoise d une duree de 10 semaines aux finsd enseigner la Conversaticn en Langue Chinoise a 34jeunes écoliers americains de Serne aupres d une écoleprimaire locale Le cours fut réparti en 20 sessions de45 minutes chacune. L experience permit d examiner endetails les résultats de l'application de principes mnemo-niques tels l'image, l'arrangement partiel, l'etude en serie,['association, le contexte et la rime dans le TPR musical,les chansons en langue-cible et la musique imagee. Lesresultats qualitatifs de cette experience revelent a quelpoint la motivation des eleves, leur acquisition de lanouvelle langue, l'expression de leur creativite et leurabilité a retenir la matiere repondent aff.irmativernent auxeffets positifs de la musique.

Musik als Gedachtnishilfe beim Fremdspracheunterricht

Diese Studie basiert auf einem zehnwöchigen Chines-isch-Musikprogramm, 34 amerikanischen Viertiklaalern ineiner lokalen Grundschule Konversation auf Chinesischbeizubringen. Der Kurs war in 20 Sirzungen. je 45Minuten, unterteilt. Der Experiment erforschte dieAnwendung von mnemotischer Prinzipien wie Bilder-sprache. Klumpen- und Setielernen, Assoziationen, Kon-text und Reim bie musikalischem TPR lphysisches Erwi-dern). Sprachlieder und bildliche Musik QualitativeErgebnisse dieser Studie zeigen positive Wirkungen aufLernmotivation. Sprachaneignung, kreativen Ausdruck undBehalten

105

Musica como estratagema mnernónica en el aprendizaje

de un segundo idioma.

Este estudio esta basado en diez-semanas de un pro-grama musical Chino para ensehar a 34 Americanos enuna escuela elemental local pare aprender conversación

China. El curso fue dividido en 20 sesiones con 45minutos para cada sesión. El experimento investigó laaplicacion de principios mnemónicos tales corno imagi-nacion, aprendizaje seriado, asociaciones, concursos, yritmo en musica TPR (con actividades psicomotrices),canciones en el idioma e imaginación con müsica. La

cualidad viene del estudio y demuestra efectos posi-

tivos como motivación en el aprendizaje, adquisi-

ción del idioma, expresión creative y retención en

el aprendizaje.

106

The Magic Feather:The Truth about Special Education

by Lori and Bill GrangerE.P Dutton, New York, NY 1986. pp. 259 516 95

Reviewed by Earl J OgletreeChicago State University, Chicago. Illinois.

Are too many children being labeled as handicapped?According to recent articles, such as State Suspiciousof Handicapped Label on Students, that appeared in

the October 7, 1984 issue of the Chicago Tribune, thereported disproportion of minority children in specialeducation programs (The School-age Handicapped, Con-tract Report, U.S Dept. of Educ.. 1985) related studiesand the current book, The Magic Feather thereappears to be an overkill in special education place-ments.

Some may question the objectivity of The MagicFeather written by the authors who revolted againstthe public school system when their child Alex wasmisiabeled as having an IQ of 47 and a learning disabil-ity Alex s parents were told by school psychologistsadministering the tests that the test results wereincontrovertible, and Alex would have to be placed in aspecial education classroom, despite the fact that thechild could . read several years above his grade level--and proved it The book is not only a story of theirbattle to save their child from the Special Ed Trap andcriticism of their nonscientific basis of special educationas a field of knowledge but to help parents who facereal problems with the schools and their children

Bill and Lori Granger although involved in the emo-tional turmoil of f ighting for the future of Alex s edu-

107

cation and life, are well qualified to write this investiga-tive-reported book. Bill is a columnist for the ChicagoTribune and the author of 16 novels and a contributorto national journals. Lori Granger is a teacher, writer.newspaper editor, political consultant and a doctoralcandidate at the University of Chicago The proselytizingsomewhat biased narrative is balanced by statistical data,interviews and expert testimony. The authors appear tomake a damning case against special education and itsoveruse:

1 Nearly 11 percent of the nation's school childrenare currently confined in special education, whileonly 3 percent, at best of all school-age childrenmight benefit from special education placement.

2 'More than one million school children are classifiedas mildly handicapped.--learning disabled, mildlyretarded or emotionally disturbed.

3 National surveys show teachers identify nearly 60percent of their students as needing special orremedial help.

4 According to the National Center for EducationStatistics, teachers identify a little over 20 percentof their students as being handicapped and in needof special education.

5 Racial and ethnic segregation are enforced by usingspecial education programs. For example, currentnational data show blacks make up only 16 percentof the students in the U.S , but they account for39 percent of the students in the educable mentallyretarded population In 1980 a narent group inChicago protested the misplacement of over 7,000children in Special Ed classes and also found thatblack children were twice as likely to be placed insuch classes as white children. A 1985 U S.Department of Education report concluded, 'Theproportion of blacks in schools for seriously emo-

108

tionally disturbed students is higher by two thirdsto three-quarters than the comparable proportionsof whites.

6 Since the passage of PL 94-142 (The Special Edu-cation Law). the number of children classif ied ashandicapped has increased dramatically.

The authors believe that there is something wrongwith a system that increasingly justifies its growing fail-ure rate (54 percent of Chicago public school studentsdropout before the twelfth grade) by calling more andmore children mentally defective. They also claim thereis a prof it motive behind the rush to classify in that foreach child successfully placed in a special educationprogram. a school district receives f our thousand dollarsin government monies The Grangers support thisassertion by their experience They took their son, Alexto an Evanston, Illinois hospital for independent testing.for which they paid. hoping to get a more honest andobjective appraisal They relate,

We still remember the happy psychologists whohad cried I ye got one' I've got one!' We dis-covered that the local school district would gainmore that $4,000 in salaries, contracts and sup-plies, if Alex were placed in full-time specialeducation.

The Grangers blame the misdiagnosis of children as

mental and behavior misfits and the disproportionateassignment of the Hispanic and Black children to specialeducation programs to the nebulous speculations as towhat constitutes a special education child or program.No one knows what a -learning disabled child is. andthe difference between him and another called emo-tionally disturbed or retarded' may be non-existent.What the authors learned via investigative reporting is

109

-there is no accepted body of scientif ic knowledge thathas fotind the causes of school-based problems- -oragrees on the cures. They claim that educators whosay they are basing their diagnosis or conclusions abouta child on scientif ic findings are lying. They also ada-mantly assert that what labeled special education childrenhave in common is that the regular classroom teacherrejects them, -They do not f it in, and their teachers didnot like them

Another reason for the mislabeling, according to thewriters, is how retardation or disability is measured.They claim Very imprecisely. Instead of getting infor-mation from parents- real descriptions of the child sout-of -school behavior, educators rely on the old-standbys,- the IQ tests and teachers judgments. Thisincreased reliance on testing and labeling, according toGerald Coles of the Rutgers Medical School in HarvardEducation Review, is that,

-By positing biological bases f or learning prob-lems, the responsibility for failure is taken fromthe schools, communities, and other institutionsand is put squarely on the back, or rather withinthe head, of the child . It is the classic exam-ple of blaming the victim."

Bill Granger vented his frustration with Special Educationin his weekly Tribune column. As expected he attractedsupporters (parents, teachers, principals to school-sys-tem superintendents and organizations) as well asdetractors who attempted to get him f ired from hiscolumn. To Alex s good f ortune Dr. Daniel Nast, anoptometrist who read the column, contacted the Gran-gers, stating he could help the child. He f ound thatAlex had a lazy eye that prevented him from f ocusingboth eyes in unison. Eye glasses and therapy corrected

fj

1 1 0

6k-

the problem. Alex s la reading scores, attention span,

speech and handwriting improved rapidly. The Granger $

received a stream of testimonials from parents andeducators who had similar experiences in which thebasis of seemingly diagnosed mental disabilities turnedout to be visual, hearing or medical problems. Thou-

sands of parents and educators shared their own prob-lems with special education with the Grangers in the

course of writing their book.

The Grangers are on a crusade. The intent of thebook is to relate their own experiences with a misdiag-nosed child, their interpretation of the b'Pses and specialproblem in laymen terms, advise on \A/1.e is wrong withthem, and to remind parents that they are the primary-

teacher and no one is going to save their child except

themselves.

Although, The Magic Feather gives only one side

of the special education issue, the troubled parents'

viewpoint, it makes one aware of the quality of Ameri-can education and provides another view and, perhaps, a

much needed evaluation of Special Education from the

lay person s perspective. The Grangers' book should be

read by parents, educators, psychologists and legisla-

tures in hope that the diagnostic techniques, education

and treatment of children who are dif ferent will be

enhanced.

THE JOURNAL OFTHE SOCIETY FOR ACCELERATIVE

LEARNING AND TEACHINGVolume 12, Number 3 & 4 Fall & Winter, 1987

SALT

Published by the Society for Accelerative Learning andTeaching, Inc.

ISSN 0273-2459

k12

THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR ACCELERATIVELEARNING AND TEACHING

Guidelines for Contributors

The Editor welcomes submission of manuscripts on an interdisciplinary nature relevantto all aspects of suggestive learning-teaching-therapy counseling within the theoretical andprocedural confines of Suggestology and/or Suggestopedia. The JOURNAL FOR THESOCIETY OF ACCELERATIVE LEARNING AND TEACHING will publish a wide variety ofarticles - including critical reviews, theoretical analyses, speculative papers, cam studies,quasi-experimental studies, as well as reports of empirical research (basic or ariplicd) ofmajor significance. The basic focus is Suggestopedis theory, , research and application.

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All manuscripts should be delivered by first class mail to:

Editor

The Jamul of the Society for ACCWftillfb Learning and ToschingPsychology Deportment, laws Stets University, Ames, lows 10010

J. of the Society forAccelerative Learning and Teaching, 1987, 1213&4).

Table of Contents

Music and accelerative learning: Some historic and cur-rent applications. Patrick S. Brislan115

Students' attitudes towards the use of music and mind-calming in their high school language class.Uschi Felix141

Relaxation and imagination imagery. Connie R. Hull,Gary F. Render and Charles E. Moon169

Japanese language and SALT.Hideo Seki

181Dual-plane awareness techniques other than Lozanov'sfor accelerating and enriching teaching and learning.Win Wenger

195Book Reviews

A Teacher's Guide to Whole BrainedLearning, by PeterW. Majoy. Reviewed by John Senatore 217

Accelerated Learning, by Colin Rose.Reviewed by John Senatore 220

Teaching for the Two-sided Mind, by Linda VerleeWilliams. Reviewed by John Senatore 223Tables of Contents. Volume 12 225Author Index, Volume 12 227Topic Index, Volume 12 228

113

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114

J. of the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 1987. 12(3&4).

Music and Accelerative Learning:Some Historic and Current Applications*

Patrick S. BrislanElder Conservatorium of Music

Abstract.

Music has long been recognized as an art, sci-ence and form of therapy, in myth and legend.Modern scientif ic methods have enabled objectivestudies to be undertaken which show how musiccan exert both harmful and beneficial influenceson the individual's psychological, physiological andneurological make-up. The acoustic environment,which includes music as well as other sounds,has undergone profound changes over centuriesresulting in altered "soundscapes". Since musicalsound has the capacity to promote well-being,which is in turn an essential pre-requisite f oref f ective accelerative learning, then appropriateuses of musical sound need to be thoughtfullyapplied. This paper reviews reports of threedif f erent investigations into specif ic uses ofmusic: as an aid to language discrimination inyoung children, as a means of alleviating labora-tory-induced stress, and as a positive influenceon the regulation of some functions of theautonomic nervous system.

* * *

1 15

This paper examines some ancient and evolutionaryuses of music in society together with some currentapplications. For many people, music is an art, or sci-ence, or recreation, or perhaps even a "spiritual force",but as I hope to illustrate, it is certainly more thanthese things. Music has long been recognized as a"harmonizer of the spirit", as a healing and therapeuticagent and as a backdrop often unconsciously per-ceived to many aspects of daily lif e. In this capacity,the use of music may be planned or spontaneous,obtrusive or helpful. Music has a vital part to play inthe educative process and particularly in accelerativelearning, but we need to reflect on some of its histori-cal associations before thoughtfully applying it in a

modern scientific manner.

There are many references from antiquity which wecan peruse f or reflection. Some of our sources arehistorians, some illustrations and relics, and some greatworks of literature such as the scriptures. Someexamples are:

Plutarch reported that at human sacrifices in Phoeni-cea, centuries before the Christian era flutes and drumswere used 'so that the cries of the wailing should notreach the ears of the people" (Sendrey, 1974).

The ancient Hebrews regt.ilarized the use of song as'enhanced speech' for religious incantations, but 'song'probably grew out of primitive speech f ormulae whichgradually crystallized into song the first 'tunes'.Instrumental music, on the other hand, probably beganas a reaction to the motor impulses of the body; it was

* Paper given at the SALT Conference, April 1987 inAmes, Iowa.

116

certainly unemotional and at its lowest stage wasentirely rhythmic (beating thighs, stamping on the floor,use of drums, pipes and horns or trumpets (Sendrey,1974).

The Hebrews gradually developed choral and instrumental music as part of their religious life this wascalled prophesying in the Bible, and according to theauthor Alfred Sendrey, must have exercised a fascinating, even hypnotic ef fect upon the people of thosetimes, as evidenced by the experiences of Saul and hismessengers:

'And Saul sent messengers to take David: andwhen they saw the company of the prophetsprophesying, and Samuel standing as appointedover them, the Spirit of God was upon themessengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.'

Notice how 'prophets' and prophesying' are separable.

Another interesting Biblical ref erence (there aremany) is to be found in the superscription of the FifthPsalm which uses the expression; "To the chief Musicianupon Nehiloth".

One scholar, Mowinckel (Sendrey, 1974), has claimedthat this psalm was used specifically 'against sickness',however, it was the supposed healing power of musicthat accounts for many of the legendary tales throughout the centuries, perhaps David's curing of Saul's melancholy' by playing the harp being the most famous.

Also, we have many accounts from earliest times ofthe use of worksongs to relieve stress, boredom,fatigue and drudgery. Often these worksongs were infact Psalms. Another scholar, Chrystostom, mentions

117

some of the prof essions in which singing was custom-ary because of its rhythmic regularity: nurses rockingbabies, wagoners' driving animals, vintagers' treadinggrapes, sailors' pulling the oars, weavers' tossing theshuttle. However, a talmudic report states:

'The singing of sailors and ploughmen is permit-ted to facilitate their work, but that of weaversis prohibited because w..lavers sing out of frivol-ity' (Schafer, 1977; p. 64).

But the Talmud also reports another use of musicthe blowing of the sacred horn, the Shofar, at publicplaces in hard economic times such as the decline in

trade or decrease of money s buying povver (i.e. infla-tion) (Sendrey, 1974).

The legends and achievements of Orpheus over thir-teen centuries B.C. have been recognized by a modernneurologist. Schipkowensky, as those of a healer-song-ster 'who would tame wild beasts, that is, man's pas-sions, by his enchanting music; move rocks, that is,reach the bottom of even the most unfeeling hearts,cure patients, and even revive the dead.' (Schipkowensky,1977). It is interesting to speculate that at a time ofcomparative clinical primitiveness, the 'clinically dead' andthe 'actual dead' were often not correctly identified.

In the old Olympic games dating from seven centu-ries B.C. music and singing accompanied the processions(Sendrey, 1974). By contrast, everyone is familiar withthe music used at the modern Olympic games forexample, the playing of national anthems at the medalceremonies.)

Incidentally, a special Greek instrument the Aulosa kind of double oboe was used to accompany such

118

sporting activities as the discus, high jump and javelinthis may be compared with the modern aerobics class,with its apparently compulsory accompaniment of beat-oriented rock-type music.

Such specifically applied use of music was also thepredominating influence in the later Roman empire, dur-ing which in particular, the use of brass instruments f ormilitary and outdoor entertainment purposes wasstrongly developed. Again according to Sendrey (1974),'The basic principle of Roman music is generally consid-ered to have been solida utilhas practical usefulness'.

'However the greatest merit f or the creation anddevelopment of the musical science of theGreeks belongs to the philosophers, Plato, Aris-totle and Aristoxenos. Although Plato was noexpert in music he developed basic thoughtsabout the influence of music upon the mind andcharacter of man, and is the originator of thedoctrine of ethics in music. Aristotle's concep-tion, was that music possessed, by its verynature, the faculty to influence the soul of thelistener in a specif ic way. (And it was widelyheld that) by its power of healing, music couldalso achieve moral purif ication and recovery (orkatharsis)' (p. 380).

I will touch on some contemporary aspects a little later.

All of the examples chosen for this brief surveyillustrate one or more of these ancient uses of music

(11 to mask other sounds,(2) as a heightened f orm of speech,(3) as a calming or soothing agent,(4) as a therapeutic agent,

119

(5) as an accompaniment to other activity such as work.religious or secular ritual, and recreative activity suchas sport

A most enlightening approach to the history andethics of environmental sounds and music has beenmade by the author Murray Schaf er in his book TheTuning of the World, (1977). In this fascinatingaccount Schafer has surveyed the history of environ-mental sounds from antiquity to the present day, withconclusions drawn from a .number of researchersinvolved in an international study called the WorldSoundscape Project. The word "Soundscape" is hereanalogous to 'landscape" and refers to the soundsboth natural and artificial pleasant and unpleasant, in

the changing social environments over the centuries.Schaf er reminds us of the significance of many sounds

some now extinct which provide a backdrop todaily living and profoundly influence the community.Some examples include church bells, military bugles anddrums, the posthorn, the f og-horn, the curfew bell, thecathedral organ, folk music and dancing, street musiciansand songs of work there are obviously many others.All of these sounds in the Soundscape carried emotionaland aesthetic messages which provided a backdrop todaily lif e.

Most of these sounds were af f ected in turn by thechange from rural to urban life some disappeared andnew ones were created. For example, the advent ofthe industrial revolution brought a new range ofmechanical sounds the clatter of machinery, conveyorbelts, steam engines and whistles, jacks and hammers.The ambient noise level rose (and incidentally remainshigh today.) Against this backdrop it was no coinci-dence that worksongs and street musicians graduallyfaded away, and that music gradually moved indoors.

120

As Lewis Murnford (1934) put it in Technics and Civi-lization, 'Labor was orchestrated by the number ofrevolutions per minute, rather than the rhythm of songor chant or tattoo.' Not surprisingly, the first of manysubsequent laws enforcing noise abatement wereenacted (Schafer, 1977).

By far the most important influence on environmentalmusic and sound came in the nineteenth century inwhat Schaf er calls 'The Electric Revolution'. Its gradualconsequerces led to the electric cell, the dynamo andthe electric arc light, the telegraph, telephone, phono-graph and radio (later, the tape recorder). Radio wasparticularly revolutionary; never before had sound disap-peared across space to reappear again at a distance.As Schafer says: "The community, which had previouslybeen defined by its bell or temple gong, was nowdefined by its local transmitter" (p. 92). And "the radiohas actually become the birdsong of modern life, the'natural" soundscape, excluding the inimical forces fromoutside" (p. 93).

Of course the electric revolution has brought manymore advantages than disadvantages; f or example, wecan listen to music of our choice anywhere and at anytime though sometimes there is a small price to payin the way of some discomf ort.

So with the increase in variety and volume ofunwanted noise modern acoustic engineers have turnedtheir attention to methods of usina sound to mask othersound, and to using music as a painkiller whatSchafer calls audio-analgesia. "The use of audio-anal-gesia extends in modern life from its original use in thedental chair and wired background music in hotels,of f ices, restaurants and many other public places" (p.96)including, I may add, the cabin in aircraft prior to take-of f and after a successful landing!

121

It may appear that objections to the abuse of musicin this and other ways are trivial and that such music

helps to 'brighten up the environment, however theabuse of this practice lead, in 1969 in Paris, to thefollowing resolution being passed unanimously by theGeneral Assembly of the International Music Council ofUNESCO (Schafer, 1977).

''We denounce unanimously the intolerable in-fringement of individual freedom and of the rightof everyone to silence, because of the abusiveuse, in private and public places, of recorded orbroadcast music. We ask the Executive Commit-tee of the IMC to initiate a study from all angles

medical, scientific and juridical without over-looking its artistic and educational aspects, andwith a view to proposing to UNESCO, and to theproper authorities everywhere, measures calcu-lated to put an end to this abuse." (p.97).

Since then acoustical engineers have come up with akind of solution the use of 'white noise' to mask dis-tracting sound, the sort of sound which is convenientlyemitted from air conditioners and heating furnaces.Sometimes this 'white noise' is amplified if the naturalsource is not loud enough. A memorandum from onefirm of acoustic engineers ran as f ollows: 'MusicLibrary: There should be enough mechanical noise tomask page turning and f oot movement sounds'. Its

proponents prefer to call it 'acoustic per fume' but I

think a more accurate term is 'acoustic deodorant'.

What are we to do? How are we to overcomethese obstacles and create a more satisf ying musicalsoundscape? Well, there are a number of things thatcan be done. Firstly, we can attempt to find out how

) ;,

122

and what music alleviates stress, since the rise in vol-ume of ambient noise is one of the unconsciousstress-increasing factors; secondly we can consciouslyattempt to apply musical sound even in an elementaryway in the field of education, and thirdly, we canconduct scientific experiments to discover how suitablemusic can aid our psychological and physiological well-being. All of these measures have obvious implicationsfor accelerative learning, and in the final part of thispaper I'd like to illustrate each of these strategiesthrough three research reports presented in the last tenyears or so. Before doing so, however, it will behelpful to look briefly at the classification of sounds.

According to Schafer sounds may be classified in

several ways:

1. According to their physical characteristics .

Acoustics2. According to the way in which they are perceived .

. . Psychoacoustics3. According to their function and meaning . . . Semi-

otics and Semantics4. According to their emotional or af fective qualities .

. . Aesthetics

In the first of the research reports I mentioned pre-viously. an interesting laboratory experiment was con-ducted on 120 volunteer male students (not majoring inmusic) at Florida State University. This study, by JudithJellison, entitled 'The Ef f ect of Music on AutonomicStress Responses and Verbal Reports' (1977), sought todemonstrate the ef fects of music. measured physiologi-cally, on the volunteers who were placed in a stresssituation. There were 4 groups of 30 volunteers: a

control group, 2 groups given music stimuli and 1

123

group given 'white noise'. The two music stimuli werelabeled 'exciting' or 'calming due to the influence ofprevious research, and they were the first two minutesof the fourth movement of Dvorak's 'New World' Sym-phony, and the first two minutes of Bach's 'Air on aG-String'. The sound segment for the 'white noise'stimulus consisted of two minutes of intermodulatory'white noise' recorded from the FM broadcast band.The control group was tested in silence.

The experimental design was as follows:

1. All subjects had shock electrodes f itted to thef ourth and fifth fingers of the left hand and wereindividually tested for delivery of a shock whichwas set at a 'pain intensity for all subjects andtreatments.

2. All subjects were also 'wired up to record changesin Blood Pressure, Galvanic Skin Response (changesto skin resistance in the fingers) and Finger PulseVolume.

3. All four groups, including the silence control groupthen received 4 treatment-shock conditions over a12-minute test period, and their physiologicalresponses were recorded.

4. At the end of the session all subjects provided averbal report, these were assessed by the StateAnxiety scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventorya psychology test developed in 1969.

The results showed some inconsistencies in theaverage changes for physiological responses, due forexample to the habituation ef fect of the electric shocks,and the 'exciting' Dvorak music in having the ef fect of asmaller change in Galvanic Skin Response. However theverbal reports were very revealing. It was found that:

124

1 Both music stimuli treatments (Dvorak and Bach)resulted in significant decreases in Anxiety-Statescores suggesting a reduction of verbal stressresponses.

2. The music stimuli groups did not dif fer significantlyin the reduction of verbal stress responses.

3. The 'white noise treatment resulted in significantincreases in Anxiety-State scores, suggesting anincrease in verbal stress responses.

4.' The 'white noise' group was significantly dif ferentfrom both of the music stimuli groups; the scoresof the 'white noise' group indicated significantincreases in verbal stress responses; the scoresof the music stimuli groups indicated significantdecreases.

Apart from anything else, this study, I think, shouldgive us pause to consider the desirability of continueduse of background 'white noise as an 'acoustic deodo-rant' in modern buildings and other public places.

A simple but illuminating study entitled 'The Use ofMusic Stimuli in Teaching Language Discrimination' byClif ford Madsen, Charles Madsen Jr. and Donald Michel,at Florida State University (1977) shows that through thesystematic application of music and tones, language dis-crimination for those children with discrimination disabil-ities can be improved. The use of simple tones pairedwith the words was shown to increase significantly thechild s ability to discriminate between words which aresimilar in sound (such as 'web-wed'). This study wasbased on the rationale that discrimination capacity fortones and melodies develops prior to language discrimi-nation.

The carefully controlled study involved 216 black5-year-olds from culturally dif ferent backgrounds who

125^

had learning problems with standard English. Using 40paired words from a standard text the children weretested before and after the music treatment sessionsand a story was read which incorporated all the wordsfrom the text There were five music treatment sessions over two weeks. For the test words which weresimilar, a dif ferent sound was used for each, if thewords were the same sounding, the same sound wasused. The musical sounds were designed to facilitatediscrimination, not to serve as discriminative stimuli, andso the tonal cues were randomly recorded to occur .5second before the word or .5 second after the word.

In addition to this material the stories using all thewords were set to music, and sung by a musicallytrained teacher. So the treatments over five sessions in the two weeks were as follows:

1. Repetition of words2. Repetition of words plus music tones3. Stories4. Stories plus music

For the second treatment the volume of sound ofthe music was gradually reduced to zero by the fifthsession. The control groups used for comparison weregiven only treatments one and three over the testperiod

The researchers concluded that

1. Problems of forgetting are not the same withmusical melodies as they are with words.

2 It would seem that if the primary ability in learningto read standard English involves discriminationbetween language sounds, then merely talking orreading to the child with a dif f erent backgound isinadequate and inef ficient.

126

Table 1. Number of words discriminated vs. experimentalmusical treatment (Madsen, Madsen & Michel, 1977)

Pretest Posttest Difference

Repetition plustones (n=35)

12.8 19.0 6.2

Stories plusmelodies (n=34)

16.0 22.1 6.1

Contact control(n=35)

11.7 13.9 2.2

Verbal repetitions(n=33)

13.9 16.1 2.2

Stories (n=33) 16.9 17.1 0.2

3. Perhaps the next step is to devise a beginningreading technology which employs music in a systematic procedure.

The final research report, which is really a collectioncf separate reports compiled after a series of laboratoi-N experiments, is entitled 'Music, Emotion and Autonorirc Function', by Harrer and Harrer (1977) from theDepartment of Psychology at the University of Salzburg.The effects of music on such autonomic functions asstrength and frequency of pulse, muscle activity andrespiration, they found, were influenced by a number offactors such as the 'tone of the autonomic regulatoryprocesses which in turn are affected by constitution,age, sex, mode of life, physical fitness, general state ofhealth, or such temporary factors as fatigue, drinkingalcohol or cof f ee; or emotional reactivity and attitudes

127

toward music, the importance of music in the subject'slife, and also upon the subject's immediate attitude

towards the piece of music presented in the test situ-ation Some of these findings can be briefly mentioned.

This diagram illustrates some of the changes takingplace when the subject listens twice to the same pieceof music the second time without emotional involve-

ment The interesting findings are:

1. The PGR (not rated too highly by the researchersbecause of dif ficulties of calibrating the signal, and

fatigue in the response, despite being the mostsensitive indicator) is shown to be markedly dif fer-ent.

2. Although the emotional involvement is reduced onthe second learning the enjoyment of music may bejust as profound. and

3. Music may lead to an autonomic reaction although

the sounds are not consciously perceived, forexample, in sleep and with 'background' music.

This latter finding is obvio:Isly highly significant in appli-cations of music in accelerative learning situations.

It is also f ound that in some persons psychologicalstimuli such as stress give rise to respiratory changespredominantly, whereas in others marked circulatory or

galvanic skin response alterations are elicited by thesame type of st:inuli.

Not surprisingly, it was also af firmed that pieces ofmusic such as dance music or orchestral marches pro-duced predominantly motor responses, while other typesof music are more likely to elicit respiratory or cardio-vascular responses.

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128

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129

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Recordings of respiratory movements during the

playing of music were particularly interesting. The nextillustration is of Pneumograms of five dif ferent people

while listening to the same piece of music (Africr'.drumming from Uganda).

The features here are:

A. Gradual adjustment of the respiratory rate to thegradually accelerating and temporarily slowing beat.

B. Is similar, but the respiratory rate is much slower.A 'sighing respiration is caused by subjectivefatigue.

C Demonstrates a rate of period of respiration inter-mediate between the other two.

D. Is characterized by a slowing of the respiration at

the period of the fastest drum beat; this type ofresponse if found when an intrinsic biorhythm is

unable to f ollow the extrinsic pacemaker any fur-ther, so a shift is made to a dif ferent periodicrelation between the intrinsic and extrinsic rhythms.

E More consistent and smaller rates of change.

The most interesting finding was that these indi-vidual modes of response were widely reproduciblewhenever the tests weie repeated with the same pieceof music. Such responses correspond with considera-ble dif ferences in attitudes towards the drumming. In

conventional or 'classical' music the inter-individualrespiratory dif ferences were less significant, and certainpieces of music elicited responses in all subjects. In

reaction to pieces of music with a prominent accelera-tion or deceleration of the rhythm, some of the sub-jects showed a tendency towards a primary pulse syn-chronization, others tended to exhibit synchronization ofthe respiratory rhythm. All of these factors also haveimplications for music used in accelerative learning.

130

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Figure 4 Pnetunogram of five differtnt subjects (AE) listening to the same

piece of mune (negro drummmg by natives of Uganda).1 min

Other tests during the perception of music underlaboratory conditions were concerned with muscleactivity which was measured electromyographically. Fig.3 illustrates this measurement of muscle action potentialwith some informative comparisons.

The subject had been asked not to move during thetest and there was no muscular movement as far ascould be judged from observation, even at the height ofthe electromyographic discharges. A simultaneousrecording of body movements showed no response.

The final illustration is one of a polygraph of a sub-ject listening to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 1.

Measurements are shown f or muscle activity (ormuscle action potential), the oscillations of the pulserate, the pulse rate, a graph for the music and therespiratory rate.

The features are:

1. Muscle Activity. There was some increase evenshortly bef ore the music began. Fluctuations ofmuscle activity are shown and these changes werereproducible by repeat performances, and theyoccurred at the same passages.

2. The pulse rate increased at the beginning of thepresentation and continued at a raised level.

3. The respiratory rates accelerated at the beginningof the music, temporarily coupled with a reducedrespiratory volume in other words the breathingbecame faster and shallower but subsequentlyshowed an increase in volume.

4. At the end of the perf ormance the respiratory ratefell to levels which were less than half those atthe peak.

132

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5. It is clear that the increases of muscle activity,pulse and respiration rates which occur at thebeginning of the music are the expression of agenerally raised level of activity.

Two special features are also reported on by theresearchers:

1. The changes in muscle activity were reproducible (inthe same subject. I presume) by repeat perform-ances of the music, and they occurred in the samepassages.

2. A temporary slowing of the respiratory rate (bra-dypnoea) occurred at a certain passage, and in

repeat performancec this phenomenon alsooccurred at exactly the same passage and

3. At the end of the perf ormance, oscillations of thepulse rate occurred synchronously with the respira-tory rate and presumably indicated an alteration in

the respiratory regulation. This conclusion is dis-puted, however, by Adelaide researchers whobelieve that regulation of the pulse rate may causealteration in the respiratory volume (White, 1977).This disputed result, however, does not contradictthe view that it seems perfectly evident that musiccan detirably af fect regulation of the autonomicnervous system, for the promotion of psychologi-cal and physical weli-being and both, of course,are essential prerequisites to ef fective accelerativelearning in the environment of the classroom or theprivate study.

In this paper I have ranged fairly widely, and briefly,on those many aspects of music as an art, a healingagent, as a means of promoting well-being and as at)aid to accelerative learning.

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The experiments reported on are fully in keepingwith the ideals and ideas of the ancient Greeks andHebrews, the ethical principles of Plato, AristotleAristoxenos, and the spirit of 'solida utilitas' (practicaluse) of the Romans.

In becoming more, aware of the changing sound-scape over the centuries and in mitigating some of theundesirable ef fects we have inherited, researchers haveshown how the benefits of Schafer's 'Electric Revolu-tion', properly applied, can aid our well-being and createmore favorable conditions f or the use of recordedmusic in learning. Such laboratory and classroomexperiments as those I've mentioned are also fully inaccord with the 'study from all angles, medical, scientificand so on (of the use of music) without overlooking itsartistic and educational aspects . . : which f ormed partof the International Music Council's proposal to UNESCO.

References

Harrer, G. & Harrer, H. (1977) Music, emotion andautonomic function. In MacDonald Critchley, Ed.

Music and the Brain: Studies in the Neurology of

Music. London: Heinemann.

Jellison, J. A. (1977). The ef fect of music on auto-nomic stress responses and verbal reports. In Mad-sen, Greer and Madsen, Eds. Research in MusicBehavior: Modifying Music Behaviour in the

Classroom. Columbia University. Teachers CollegePress.

Madsen, C. K., Madsen, C.H. & Michel, D.E. (1977). Theuse of music stimuli in teaching language discrimina-

136

tion. In Madsen, Greer & Madsen, Eds. Research in

Music Behaviour: Modifying Behaviour in the

Classroom. Cokimbia University: Teachers CollegePress.

Schafer, R.M. (1977). The Tuning of the World. NewYork: Knopf.

Schipkowensky, N. (1977). Musical therapy in the f ieldof psychiatry and neurology. In Chritchley and Henson, Eds. Music and the Brain: Studies in theNeurology of Music. London: Heinemann.

Sendrey, A. (1974). Music in the Social and Religious

Life of Antiquity. New Jersey: Associated University Presses.

White, J. (1987). Personal communication. University ofAdelaide Health Service.

*** +I** *** **44

La musique et les Etudes Accélérés: Quelques applications historiques et présentes

La musique a èté reconnue comme un art depuis longtemps, la science et la f orme de thérapie, dans le mytheet la légende. Les méthodes scientifiques moderanesont permis aux etudes objectives d'être poursuivier etqui permettent de voir jusqu'a quel permit la musiquepeut déployer des influences a la f ois nuisibles etbenéficiaires sur la psychologie de l'individu, psychologigues y neurologiques aspects. L'environnement acoustique qui se compose de la musiques et d'autres sons, asubi de prof ond changements a travers les centenairesresultant en "sons tuyaux" altérés. Puisque le son musical a la capacite de promovoir le bien ètre, lequel a son

137

tour est une condition préalable aux etudes acceléreesef fectives, par consequent l'utilisation du son musical abesoin d'être utilisé avec réflexion. Cette étude examineles rapports de trois dif férentes investigations sur l'utili-sation particuliére de la musique: Comme supplement ala discrimination de langue des jeunes enfants, commemoyen d'éviter la pression provoquée au laboratoire, etcomme influence positive sur la regulation de certainesfonctions du systéme nerveux automatique.

Musik und Beschleunigendes Lernen: Einige Historischeund Gegen wartige Anwendungen

Musik wurde schon lange als Kunst, Wissenschaft undeine Art von Therapie in Legenden und Mythologienanerkannt. Mit modernen, wissenschaftlichen Methodensind objektive Studien möglich geworden, die zeigen,wie Musik sowohl vorteilhaft als auch nachteilig auf diepsychologische, physiologische und neurologische Ver-fassung des lndividuums wirken kann. Die akustischeUmgewelt welche musik wie auch andere Tone umfaflt,wurde Liber Jahrhunderte eine grundlegenden Wandlungunterzogen, was zur Anderung der "Tonwelt" gef iihrt hat.Das musikalische Tone die Fahigkeit besitzen, ein Wohl-sein zu bewirken, welches in der Tat die wesentlicheGrundlage f Ur ein erf oigreiches schnelles Lernen ist,mull der Gebrauch von musischen TOnen bedachtangewendet werden. Diese Arbeit überpriift Berichtewon drei verschiedenen Untersuchungen irn Gebrauchder Musik: als Hilf e für Sprachdiskrimination bei Kleinkin-dern, als Streaverminderung in Laboratorien und alspositiver Einflu1 auf die Regulation einiger Funktionendes autonomishcen Nervensystems.

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Müsica y Aprendizaje Acelerativo: Varias AplicacionesHistóricas y Actuales.

Desde hace tiempo müsica se ha reconocido comoun arte, una ciencia, y una f orma de terapia, en mito yleyenda Métodos cientif'cos modernos han permitidoque se Ileven a cabo estudios objetivos los cualesmuestran côrno müsica puede ejercer influencias tantoperjudiciales como beneficiales sobre la composiciónpsicolàgica, fisiológica y neurológica del individuo. El

ambiente acüstico, el cual incluye müsica al igual queotros sonidos, ha experimentado cambios profundos através de los siglos, resultando en "soundscapes" altera-dos. Como sonido musical tiene la capacidad defomentar el bien estar, que es a la vez un requisitoesencial para aprendizaje acelerativo ef ectivo, hay queaplicar sonido musical cuidadosamente. Este articulorepasa información de tres investigaciones dif erentessobre usos especif icos de mUsica: como auxiliar en ladiscriminacion linguistica de niflos pequefios, comornetodo de aliviar stress inducido en laboratorio, y comoinfluencia positive en la regulación de algunas funcionesdel sistema nervioso autonómico.

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J. of the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 1986, 12(38(4).

Mbgen hatten wir schon wollen, aber trauen haben wiruns nicht dürf en. Karl Valentin

We would have liked to want to, hut we weren'tallowed to dare . . . or

Students' attitudes towards the use of music andmind-calming in their high school language class.

Uschi FelixFlinders University, South Australia

Abstract. This study was designed to get someindication of children's attitudes to the use ofSALT elements in their language class. 118 stu-dents at two high schools were interviewedusing three dif ferent approaches: class inter-views, individual interviews and questionnaires.These revealed that the majority of studentsquite liked SALT and felt it had a positive effecton their learning and behavior, but that theywere reluctant to admit this in public. The resultsfurther indicated that a large number of studentsdisliked the choice of music, and that they haddif ficulties handling abstract images during themind calming.

*

Introduction

We have heard a lot over the past decade about thesuccess of Suggestive Accelerative Learning and Teach-ing, particularly as a language teaching method foradults. Countless articles, even books, have been pub-lished on the subject, and teachers' and students' ath-

141

tudes have always been reported as overwhelminglypositive (see the extensive bibliography in Schuster &Gritton, 1986).

By now enthusiasts and critics alike have remarkedon the fact that the method works best under idealconditions. These included among many others: smallclasses, pleasant surroundings, motivated students and3-4 hour daily sessions. Most teachers in a conven-tional high school, alas, will find each one of theseconditions conspicuously absent from their teachingenvironment. Instead they are blessed with classes of25-35, of ten uncomf ortable and unattractive sur-roundings, and in most cases less than one hour'steaching time. And the fact that language learning iscompulsory for the first or the first two years in manyAustralian high schools mly account for the fact thatsome of the students are unenthusiastic, even hostile,about learning a second language.

What awaits the SALT teacher in this less than idealenvironment?

In South Australia there are about a dozen highschool teachers experimenting with SALT. Many areenthusiastic about the results their ef forts have pro-duced. They have reported that students get bettergrades in the language, are able to handle morematerial during the year, are more interested in the lan-guage and are generally better behaved.

Many teachers have also found that they are lessstressed themselves since they have been using SALT,and that as a result, they enjoy teaching more and findtheir teaching load less fatiguing.

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The most valuable change in the teaching environ-ment mentioned by all teachers, is summarized by Vale(1984):

The one great advantage of suggestopedia*which is already most apparent not only to me,but also to the vast majority of my students andto the visitors who come to observe the methodin action, is the atmosphere of tranquility whichpervades the typical suggestopedic lesson. This issomething which cannot be denied, and it issomething which is a great bonus. If sugges-topedia of f ers no more than this, then it isworthwhile!

However, this is not yet reason for euphoria! Many

teachers hasten to mention that there can also beproblems with the introduction of what must appear tothe children a rather strange teaching approach.

In sharp contrast to adults, who more readily take torelaxation and baroque and classical music, children in

Australia can be very uncomplimentary about the use ofsuch elements in their teaching environment And ifthere happen to be 2 or 3 students in a class of 27who actively resist the method, disaster is imminentThese students are often the ringleaders in a class, and

their opinion becomes the dominant one. This overtexpression of dislike for the approach has disheartenedsome teachers and even persuaded a f ew to give upthis way of teaching entirely.

* In Australia the method is still largely referred to assuggestopedia, despite the inclusion of mind-calmingtaken from SALT.

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But do the children really mean what they say?

Subjects and Setting

To get some indication of the students attitudestowards SALT, 118 students from years 8, 9 and 10,with ages ranging from 12 to 15, were interviewed attwo dif ferent high schools in Adelaide. Children at bothschools come from a similar socio-economic back-ground. School A is a newly established school withexcellent f acilities and very pleasant surroundings.School B is an old established school with uncomf orta-ble classrooms and rather cramped surroundings. SchoolA has no special interest sub jects, while school B

of fers music as a special interest. Most of the Germanstudents at school B were also music students. Thechildren at both schools are f airly similar in terms ofacademic ability, with those of school A being slightlymore outspoken.

The two teachers involved were highly compatible interms of experience and competence. but with theteacher at school A placing more emphasis on discipline:

The SALT program had been running for an entireyear at both schools, and included relaxation/mind-calming at the beginning of the class and passive con-certs every so often to introduce or reinf orce newmaterials. These sessions were accompanied by musicincluding environmental (e.g., Halpern), classical (e g., Bee-thoven) and baroque (e.g., Bach, Handel). For the mindcalming students were given mainly guided imageryranging f rom realistic images (a walk on the beach) toabstract images (being in an orange).

4

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Method

Since the rest of the program did not really dif fervery much from the communicative language classes thatthe teachers normally taught, students were not askedany specific questions regarding the method, but invitedto give their reaction to the use of mind-calming andmusic in the classroom.

In order to get an accurate view of the children'sattitudes the information was gathered in the f ollowingways.

Class interviews at school A

These took the form of completely unstructureddiscussions with each class. They involved 17 studentsf rom year 8 French, 54 from year 9 German (in twoseparate groups) and 7 from year 10 German.

The discussions of approximately 15 minutes werelighthearted and unthreatening in nature. Students spokefrankly, making many constructive observations, in ses-sions f illed with laughter and good humor.

Individual interviews at school A.

The class discussions were followed by a privatetalk with the most negative and the most positive stu-dent in each group in order to get some feedback onwhether the comments made in class were truly repre-sentative of the attitudes of the group as a whole, ormerely reflected the view of a f ew outspoken students.

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;-)

Questionnaires administered to students at school A.

As a result of the conflicting comments made by

the large and small groups, a questionnaire wasdesigned to test the reliability of the most importantpoints

The questionnaire further contained questionsregarding specific ef fects the method might have onlearning and behavior.

Individual interviews at school B.

Because of the suspicion of too much group pres-sure in the class interviews at school A, it was decidedthat individual interviews might be more fruitful. 5 stu-dents from year 10 German and 8 students from year9 German were involved.

The content of the interviews was structured tocoincide with the most important points made by thestudents at school A in order to either confirm orrefute them. Questions, however, were left mostlyopen-ended, except in some cases where promptingseemed necessary.

Students, here too, spoke frankly with a lot of goodhumor making many constructive observations.

Class interview at school B.

In order to get some indication whether or not the

students attitudes at this school were influenced bythe interviewing method, the year 8 German group(N=27) was interviewed as a whole.

146

It was pointed out to the students that they wereinvited to put f orward their own opinion, not that ofthe teacher nor that of their class mates.

Results

Interviews at school A -

Quizzed on their overall reaction to the use ofmusic and mind-calming in their classroom, about 65%of all 78 students expressed negative feelings. Onlyabout 15% said that they liked having music and mind-calming while the cast appeared to be indif f erent. Themost negative comments came from the year 8 group,followed by year 9A (upper stream) and year 10, withyear 9B (lower stream) being the most positive group.

The most frequent comments, regardless of yearlevel, were: boring, makes you sleepy, waste of time,music f oul."

Positive comments had to be prompted by, "Doesanyone have anything good to say?" And they consistedof, "helps you learn, helps you relax, made my headachego away."

The most strongly held views concerned the musicused. About 80% of the students did not like it. Theyfound it boring, too slow and inappropriate f or relaxing.Two or three in each class absolutely hated it, while anequally small number liked it very much. No oneseemed to know what it was they ref erred to it asour teacher's music.

When asked for suitable alternatives, one girl actuallysuggested strings and cellos; that is, the majority of

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music that they had already heard! Other suggestionswere soft pop, songs from the fifties and synthesizermusic. Hard metal and the like were ruled out aftersome discussion since the students agreed that themusic had to be reasonably unobtrusive.

The children, however, observed that they likedmusic as part of their environment and that it helpedthem work The most constructive suggestion was thatevery so often music might be sele,..ted by members ofthe class and brought to the lesson ready to play.Everyone, even the most negative students, thought thatthis compromise might work.

Regarding the guided imagery the most pertinentconcern was: "How do you imagine yourself in an

orange?" The students had been asked to imaginethemselves in an orange, then being the orange andfinally unfolding each segment slowly while letting goand relaxing. While this had by no means been the onlytype of guided imagery, it was the one spontaneouslymentioned by each group and it became obvious thatthe students had real difficulties imagining abstract situations. Most thought that it would be easier to makeup their own images, especially if they had their ownmusic.

The students also largely objected to the positionused for the mind calming. About 70% found it difficultto relax with their heads resting on crossed arms ontheir desks. They preferred to choose their own position. It was pointed out that lying on the floor wasorganisationally too difficult with a group of 27.

Another concern was the frequency of the mindcalming and the loss of time it involved About twothirds thought that it was probably too much to have amind calming with every lesson. In principle most

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Ck

agreed that there was a need for mind calming, but theyf elt that it was greater towards the end of the day orthe week. Most thought that they were f airly relaxedand well behaved at the beginning of the day. A com-promise of twice a week sounded feasible.

A final complaint ref erred to drowsiness. About 60%f elt that they were too sleepy after the mind calming.Some claimed that as a result they could not concen-trate on the lesson. They suggested that they neededsome pep-up in between, and one pertinent observationcame from a girl who claimed that they needed some-thing like soothing energy.

These observations taken at face value would hardlyinspire a dedicated language teacher to persevere withthis obviously unwelcome teaching approach, and in factthis teacher had already decided to discontinue the useof SALT with the most negative groups in his care.

Happily the individual interviews here revealed a

slightly dif ferent picture.

Speaking in complete privacy away from the classand the teacher, all these children mentioned that theirclass had probably reacted to peer group pressure, andthat some might have been i-,fluenced by the teacher'spresence. The two students from year 8, especially, f eltthat the general attitude towards having music andimagery in their lessons was more positive than hadbeen expressed in class. This was later supported bythe questionnaire results where out of 16 respondingyear 8 students, 8 said that they had positively reactedto the approach and only 2 said that they had beennegative

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41M

Representatives from all year levels felt that themethod had had a positive ef fect on their learning aswell as on their behavior, but that most students did notlike to admit this in class. They also mentioned that theirteacher was more relaxed since the method had beenused. They maintained, however, that the music usedwas genuinely disliked by most students in their classand that because of this many students became alien-ated and hostile and as a result they actively resistedthe method.

On the whole they felt sure that most studentswould continue with the approach, especially if thechoice of music were modif ied.

Interviews at school B

Although more positive regarding the overall reactionto SALT, the students interviewed in class with theirteacher present, duplicated some of the negative com-ments heard at school A, in particular pref erring dif fer-ent music and being too drowsy after the mind-calming(Appendix B). They also mentioned having a greater needfor relaxation towards the end of the school day.

The most interesting observations, however, camefrom the individual interviews here. Not only did theysupport most of the observations of the individualinterviews held at school A, but they also brought tolight attitudes not hitherto mentioned.

Overall, 65% of the students quite liked having beentaught with SALT or at least did not mind. 10% liked ita lot while 25% disliked it intensely. According to theteacher the latter tended to be the troublemakers,except for one girl who thought the course was not

, ) !

150

hard enough to warrant such an approach (Appendix B).There were not many dif ferences in comments betweenyear levels.

Most interesting was that even the negative onesbelieved that the method would help them if they couldbe bothered taking part. Negative reactions tended tobe blamed on elements independent of the approach,such as an intense dislike of the language itself or notbeing interested in learning as a whole (Appendix A).

The value of the passive concerts was frequentlymentioned (Appendix B) with students being convincedthat they learned more and more easily as a result.

As music students they did not object too much tothe music. They thought that it was appropriate forrelaxing, but that some of it was too slow. However,25% did not like it at all. For alternatives they of feredsoft pop, and in two cases slow Japanese music.

Apart from the negative students all claimed thatthey had no trouble coping with the guided imagery, butthat it was necessary to concentrate. They also thoughtthat it would be fairly easy to make up their ownimages. Some preferred just to daydream and oneobjected to the psychological intrusion, referring to theteacher; behaving like a psychiatrist (Appendix B). (Noabstract imagery had been used at this school.)

Nobody found it dif ficult to relax with feet on thefloor, arms and head on desk and eyes closed. Themajority felt that the time was not wasted and that theyeasily made up for the 5 minutes spent in relaxation.

Many students mentioned that their class was nowbetter behaved but that there were always the odd few

151

troublemakers who would "muck around" anyway

(Appendix B).

Finally, most students thought that they had no trouble

going from the relaxation to the class proper.*

Quite a dif ferent picture from the one first pre-

sented at school A it seemed. Was it really possible

that students' attitudes dif fered that much between two

schools? The questionnaire results threw some light on

the confusion:

Summary of questionnaire results

Looking at the results presented in Table 1 and

comparing these to the comments made by the students

in class, several discrepancies became obvious. In con-

trast to their initial overwhelmingly negative reactions,

only 20% claimed to have been negative, while the rest

were either positive or indifferent. Furthermore, 85%

said that they would co-operate fully if they liked the

music played.

74% preferred the position they had had f or mind

calming to 2 others, and only 8% said that they defH

nitely needed livening-up between the mind calming and

the lesson proper. 42% wanted a mind calming session

with every class, and 80% said that learning time would

not be lost as a result (Table 2 ).

* The teacher at this school used more suggestions to

bring the students back to the classroom activities.

152

Table 1. Questionnaire results (N = 74 respondents)Total

answersOverall reaction: positive negative i nd i f ferent 74

27 15 3236.5% 20.3% 43.2%

Music preferred:* pop rock classical 8653 21 12

61 6% 24.4% 14 0%

Music tempo:* fast moderate slow 8516 52 17

18.8% 61.2 %20%

Co-operation yes no if own music 74if music liked 63 8 3

85.2% 10.8% 4.0%

Prefer own images: yes no sometimes 7441 9 24

55.4% 12.2% 32.4%

Mind-calming position. straight he on desk lying down 743 55 16

4 0% 74.3% 21.6%

Livening-up needed: yes no sometimes 746 33 35

8 1% 44.6% 47 2%

Frequency of ** every class every other one class never 73mind-calming: 31 26 11 5

42.5% 35.6% 15.0% 6.9%

* It was possible to tick more than one box for these questions.** One student did not answer this question.

153

- (1

Table 2. Questions on successful mind-calming

Yes No Total

Would learn less 3 68 714.2% 95.8%

Would learn same 30 41 7142.3% 57.7%

Learning easier 62 9 7187.3% 12.7%

Learning more effective 63 9 7287.5% 12.5%

Learning more fun 57 17 7477.0% 23.0%

Would learn more 56 18 7475.7% 24.3%

Students better behaved* 48 22 7068.6% 31.4%

Teacher more relaxed* 55 15 7078 6% 21.4%

Better communication* 52 18 7074.3% 25.7%

Learning time lost* 14 56 7020.0% 80.0%

* For these questions 4 students ticked both boxes;theref ore their answers were disregarded here.

*** *** *** *** *** ***

154

The students' dislike for classical music, however,was again maintained with 86% pref erring other typesof music. And 61% thought that a moderate tempo wasmore suitable than either fast or slow tempo. The stu-dents' preference f or making up their own images eitheralways or at least sometimes was also confirmed.

As at school 2 no correlation between children'sages and comments, nor at this school between learntlanguage and comments, could be found. However, sincethe subjects in this study were very unevenly distributedacross ages and especially across languages (only oneFrench class), the researcher feels that it would beunwise to draw def inite conclusions from this.

The most interesting answers were those referringto the ef f ects of successful mind calming, summarizedin Table 2.

A large number of students who had volunteeredalmost exclusively negative observations about the intro-duction of music and mind calming into their lessonwhen interviewed in class, gave overwhelmingly positiveanswers regarding the ef f ect it might have on theirlearning and behavior:

More than three quarters of all students respondingthought that learning with SALT would be easier, moreef fective and more fun. They further estimated thatthey would learn more, that communication would bebetter and that their teacher would be more relaxed.And 68% thought that they would be better behaved asa result.

These are hardly the reactions of a group of neg-ative and hostile students, and since they had only theirown experiences to go by, one might assume that they

155

were not all that negatively inclined towards the methodin the first place. Assuming that the questionnaire is amore reliable instrument for measuring children's atti-tudes than whole class interviews, the results are veryencouraging.

Discussion

Since the answers to the questionnaires largely sup-port what was said in the individual interviews at bothschools, it seems that rather than displaying vastly dif-ferent attitudes towards SALT, children at both schoolshad very similar opinions. The students at school B,

however, displayed a more positive attitude towardsthe music, which might have been the result of theirbeing music students.

The physical environment does not seem to influencechildren's attitudes towards SALT very much. Students atschool B, where conditions are far less comfortableand aesthetically less pleasing than at school A.responded just as favorably, if not more so. This issupported by Schuster (1985) and Cureau (1983), whohave successfully introduced a version of SALT or in

the case of Cureau, suggestopedia to schools in veryunderprivileged areas.

The majority of students in this study showed thatthey clearly did not object to the approach. Moreimportantly they did not think that it was a waste oftime but indicated that it had a positive ef fect not onlyon their learning but also on their behavior. They evenagreed that learning would be more fun and easier.What they were not going to do, however, was to saythis out loud in public. On a questionnaire, perhaps, orto a complete stranger in privacy, but not in front oftheir teacher, or worse it seemed, in front of their

156

peers. As one of the students mentioned, there was animage to uphold the tough act (Appendix C) into whichrelaxation and baroque music are dif f icult to fit andwhere good behavior must be sacrilege.

However, the students made two important observa-tions which were clearly supported by the questionnaire:

1. A large number of students disliked the music used.(Only 14% agreed with the teacher's choice ofmusic at school A).

2. Students f ound it dif ficult to handle abstractimagery during the mind-calming sessions (e.g., theimage of an orange).

The latter problem is easily overcome by restrictingthe imagery to realistic situations, and by eventuallyallowing the children to make up their own images.These might every so often take the form of subjectoriented imagery as suggested by Herr (1982). Here theimagery would be focused on an authentic scene inGermany with the children actively taking part in itthrough the power of their imagination. Very little gui-dance would be necessary after the children have beenintroduced to the German cultural environment with thehelp of slides, films and magazines.

The children's dislike for classical and baroquemusic is more dif ficult to resolve. Numerous studies(Lozanov 1978, Lehmann 1982) show that this type ofmusic is most suitable for the concert sessions. Itseems sensible, therefore, to retain this music for thepassive concerts. Children object mostly to the factthat it is boring and too slow: 61.2% at school A pre-ferred a moderate tempo which was corroborated bythe transcripts of school B. This supports Lozanov's(1984) latest recommendations for faster movements

157

and entire concert pieces, such as Vivaldi's Four Sea-sons and Haydn's Symphony No.82. It seems necessaryto introduce children slowly and carefully to this kindof music, and to inform them about the exact role itplays in SALT. The students' initial dislike f or classicalmusic has also been mentioned in European studies(Stockwell, 1985).

Instead of forcing a type of music on children thathas the potential to alienate them from SALT immedi-ately and irreparably, a compromise might be reached. Itbecame clear through the interviews that students arevery ready to make compromises. After all 85.2% atschool A said that they would co-operate fully if theyliked the music.

There is no reason why the children cannot choosetheir own music, at least every so often, f or the mindcalming sessions, since its function here is simply torelax them. The children claimed that if they were ableto have their type of music, which after discussionthey restricted to soft pop or suitable film music with-out words, they would not object to the teacher'smusic f or the passive concerts. Naturally these pieceswould have to be approved by the teacher since theyneed to be suitable for slowing down body rhythms inorder to facilitate relaxation. They should also be freefrom af fective content (Assagioli, 1965).

Since the interviews, the teacher at school A hasalready successfully experimented with pieces of musicsupplied by the students. As a result, the studentsappear less hostile towards the whole idea of usingmusic in the teaching environment. Instead they aregiven a chance to make a positive contribution and asense of responsibility towards the success of SALT intheir language class.

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In conclusion, it appears that the success of SALT inAustralian secondary schools is quite independent of thephysical environment in which the classes are held. Itseems, however, dependent on the teachers' psycholog-ical resilience in overcoming the initial negative feedbackthat the students may offer and on their ability todevelop strategies to overcome some students' extremereactions.

One of these strategies must involve the use ofappropriate suggestions by means of verbal and non-verbal communication. The successful suggestive atmos-phere in the classroom depends largely on the teachers'own belief in the method, their understanding of thevarious elements and on how comfortable they feel withthese. Using suggestions confidently and with credibilityis one of the most important tools of the SALTteacher, and often the most dif ficult to handle.

With experience, though, teachers find out whatworks in their classroom and what does not Classeswill invariably have one or two students who activelyresist the method for various reasons, often indepen-dent of the approach itself. Teachers need to be pre-pared to expect less than ideal conditions, in order notto be tempted to blame possible setbacks on themethod, on the students or on themselves, and give upin despair.

Being prepared for the students' objections to themusic, their diff iculty in handling abstract images, andtheir tendency to conform to the dominant opinion inthe class, teachers might instead make use of the chil-dren's willingness to compromise and create an environ-ment that is suitable for their particular children, theirparticular school, and not least, their own particularpersonality.

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This is by no means an easy task, but as the two

teachers in this study have shown, it is worth the

ef fort!

References

Assagioli, R. (1965). Psychosynthesis. New York:

Hobbs, Dorman & Co.Cureau, J. (1983). Approches suggestopediques en

milieu scolaire. Le Francais dans le Monde, 175.

Herr, K. (1981). Guided Imagery in the Classroom: An

Enhancement to Learning. Bilingual Resources, 5(2).

Lehmann, D. (1982). Zur Rolle der Musik in der Sug-

gestopadie. Wissenschaftliche Berichte, 2, Karl-

Marx University, Leipzig, Germany, DDR. For-

schungsberichte, Forschungsstelle für Mnemologie.

Lozanov, G. (1978). Suggestology and Outlines of

Suggestopedy, New York: Gordon & Breach.

Lozanov, G. & Gateva, E. (1984). Suggestopedisk

Sprakundervisning. Tierp, Sweden: Stiftelsen

Pedagogik.Schuster, D.H. & Gritton, C.E. (1986). SALT, Suggestive

Accelerative Learning Techniques, Theory and

Application. New York: Gordon & Breach.

Stockwell, T. (1985). Testkurs 'Lozanov" 1985 Ober-

schule Vaduz. Vaduz, Liechtenstein: Report of the

Lozanov Institute.Vale, D. (1984i. Suggestopedia in the German class-

room: Years 8-10 A.L.S.A. Conference Proceedings.

(i 1

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APPENDIX A

Transcripts of comments made by the most negativeand the most positive student at school B.

Student 1, boy (year 10)

1. Overall reactionIt works, it would work for me if I listened but Idon't like German.

2. What about the music?It's O.K.Do you like it, don't you like it?/ wouldn't listen to it at home.Is there any other music you could use?Not for relaxation anyway.

3. What about the images ?Depends if you listen or not.When you do, do you feel that it makes you morerelaxed?Yes

4. What about the way you sit?When we do the relaxation, everybody usually putstheir head down, it's alright.

5. What's the effect on the whole, how are peopledif ferent?They're more relaxed.You obviously don't want to learn German... If thismethod was used for your favorite subject do youthink you would learn more?Yes, but it's terribly different stuff.Would the kids be more attentive ?I suppose so.

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6. Does it make you sleepy?No, ah, it does a bit if you're tired.But you're alert enough to follow the class, if youwanted to follow the class?Yes.

7. Are there any times when the relaxation is mosthelpful?Don't know, better later in the day, I suppose.If you did something like this seriously would youfeel less fidgety, more relaxed?I suppose so.Even though you are not so keen on it, you are stillwilling to go along with it?Yes.

Student 3, girl (year 10)

1. Overall reaction

I like it, I think it's good, it relaxes you, you putyour mind more on it, it helps when she goesthrough the work, I like it.So what does it actually help you with?You are kind of thinking more about what you aredoing, the words go quickly into my brain, I justlike it.So you've seen a real dif ference between havingdone German before and doing it now?/ don't mind doing it without it, but I find itbetter with it.How many do you think feel like you do?I'd say about half the class or a quarter.There is a big dif ference between half and a quar-ter'I reckon about a quarter.Why do you think the rest don't feel the same?They haven't got their mind on it.

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What do you think is the reason for that?Hmm, I don't know. I suppose some of them don'tlike German anyway.And do you like German?No, not really, well, I do and I don't, ah, I do ina way, but I don't want to do it any more.But you don't actually like the relaxation because youlike German very much, you would do it with anyother subject?Yes.

2. What about the music?/ actually like the slower music better, like whatwe had this morning.Can you think of any other music that could be usedf or relaxation?No words, just melody music, really quiet stuff.Some that Mrs S. plays, it's really nice stuff.Do you know what it's called?No.

3. What about the position when you do your relax-ation?/ just sit as if I'm going to sleep, and sometimesI really go into it deep.And do you find it easy enough to go back to theclass?Yes.And you're never distracted by some of the kidswho act a bit silly?/ just keep my mind on the music and the musicreally relaxes me. I hear them but I don't thinkabout them. I just picture myself in a forest orsomething and that's it.

Do you sometimes do your own imagery?

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No, cause I haven't got the music, I'd like to whenI'm learning for tests and that, I often wonderedif Mrs. S. would lend me the music.And in the class, do you sometimes make up yourown images?/ just stare at things and the other kids ask mewhat I am staring at.You couldn't persuade some of the other kids tohave the same opinion?You couldn't persuade someone like N., or someonelike that, cause they're all like one group, if onedoesn't like it, the rest doesn't like it. I don'treally like German at school, the book we used tohave is really stupid.Do you think this relaxation has had any influence onyour liking f or German perhaps?All our grades went up when it happened so itmade a difference to most of us.Did it make a dif ference to the ones who are neg-ative as well?Yes.but they still don't do it?Ah they do, but they just... C. and N. don't do it,I don't know, it just doesn't sink in with them, Idon't know why, I like it, I feel funny if wedon't have it in the morning with German, I justlike relaxing to it.

APPENDIX BExcerpts of most interesting points made at school B

I don't really need it this year because tne classes havebeen fairly easy, but if it became harder it would prob-ably help. (girl, year 10)

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It brings the class into a sort of silence. It makes iteasier f or Mrs. S. to keep that silence. You got tohave a bit of noise though, it's dif ficult to concentratein dead silence. (boy, year 10)

We used to muck around before, but when you aredoing this over and over it gets a bit boring muckingaround, so now we are relaxing. (Boy, year 8)

I remember we came in after a debate once that hadbeen really nerve-wracking, the relaxation helps. (girl,year 8)

When I am riding home after German in the last lessonI feel really spaced out I can't snap out of it. (boy,year 8)

I think it -.:Des work with the work you have to remem-ber, it helps you remember. (girl, yr 8)

I think it's good because it helped me. In the first termof German I got a C. and in the second term when weactually did the thing I got an A. So it helped me. (boy,year 9)

We think the music is good. Sometimes she'll ask uswhere our imagination took us. And also we have itduring tests. It relaxes you. There are two year 9classes who did it, and the other class decided theydidn't want to do it any more, and our class in all ourtests got higher marks than they did. (girl, year 9)

After you've been out f or a while or to another lessonit sort of helps you to f orget your problems. You don'tthink about overdue assignments and things like that. Ithelps you thinking about what's really happening insteadof something else. It's helped me. My marks have comeup from high Cs to high Bs. At the end of last year I

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got a C, in first term a B, in second term a B+ andnow I am on an A in German. (boy, year 9)

Even bef ore we were a good class that wants to learn,but there are the odd f ew who like to muck things up.I don't think they want to learn anything anyway. I'velearnt a lot more this year than last year. (boy, year 9)

If we have really hard learning like vocabulary she goesthrough it with music . I had a test once and I got 12out of 20, and then she did it with music and I got 18out of 20 the test was 2 days after the music ses-sion. (girl, year 9)

If the mind calming was longer than five minutes itmight be a bit wasted, because if it goes on for toolong it's not worth it, but f ive minutes is pretty goodbecause it's going to help you get a job, so I think it'sreally worth f ive minutes of every lesson. (boy, year 9)

I find it hard to concentrate, it's supposed to geteverything out of your mind, well, I can't stop thinkingabout things, everything comes into my mind, I guess I

have a problem with being tense. It's up to the peopleto put their mind to it. I think it would probably helpme, but I have too many things on my mind. It's notvery good to be tense. I might give relaxation a try.(girl, year 9)

Some kids are a bit destructive, perhaps they think it'sno good to do it, you know the big tough act. (boy,year 9)

It's not that we don't like it, sometimes I can do it, butthe rest of the time, I don't know, she just acts likeone of those psychiatrists or something. She's good atit, but I just sit there and stare at one point The sec-

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ond part when she does it with the music always helps.(girl, yr 9)

3,19H4 M tf* **it ***

L'attitude des étudiants envers l'utilisation de la musiqueet calme d'esprit durant leurs cours de langue au lycée.

Cette etude est destinée a avoir une indication de l'atti-tude des enfants envers l'utilisation des èléments de laSociété pour Accélérer les Etudes et l'Enseignementdans leurs cours de langue. 118 Studiants de deuxlycées utilisant trois dif férentes approches ont étéinterviewé: interviews de classe, interviews individuels etquestionnaires. Ceux-ci ont révélé que la plupart desétudiants ont bien aimé SALT (ou SAEE) et pensantqu'elle a un ef f et sur leurs etudes et conduite, mais ilsne veulent pas l'admettre en publique. Les résultats onindiqué en outre qu'un grand nombre d'étudiants n'aimai-ent pas le choix de musique, et gulls avaient des dif fi-culté a supporter l'extrait des images durant les ses-sions de calme d'esprit

Die Einstellung der Schiiler gegeniiber dem Gebrauchvon Musik und Entspannung im Sprachunterricht aut derOberschule.

Diese Studie untersucht die Einstellung der Schiller, inderen Sprachklassen die Elemente von SALT wurdengebraucht. 118 Schüler an zwei Oberschulen wurdenauf drei verschiedene Methoden gefragt klasseninter-view, individuele Befragung und Fragebögen. Diese hatgezeigt, daB die meisten Schiller die SALT Methodenmochten und meinten, sie hätte einen positiven EinfluBauf ihr Lernen und Verhalten, doch wollten sie diesenicht öf f entlich zugeben. Die Ergebnisse der Umfrage

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zeigte weiterhin, clail die meisten Schüler die Wahl derMusik nicht einverstanden waren und daa sie w.ahrendder geistigen Entspannung Schwierigkeiten mit abstraktenBildern hatten.

Nos hubiera gustado querer, pero no nos permitieronatrevernos o... Las actitudes de estudiantes de bachillera-to hacia el uso de musica y sosegación mental en suclase de lengua.

Se disenó este estudio con el objeto de obteneralguna indicación de la actitud de nirios hacia el uso deelementos de SALT en su clase de lengua. Se entrevis-taron 118 estudiantes en dos escuelas utilizando tresmétodos distintos: entrevistas en clase, entrevistas indi-viduales, y cuestionarios. Estas entrevistas indicaron quea la mayoria de los estudiantes les gusto SALT, quesintieron que tuvo un efecto positivo en su aprendizajey comportamiento, pero que estaban poco dispuestos aadmitir esto en püblico. Los resultados indicaron ade-mis que a la gran mayoria de los estudiantes no lesgusto la selección de müsica, y que tuvieron dif icultadmane jando imagines abstractas durante la sosegaciónmental.

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J. of the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 1987, 12(3&4)

RELAXATION AND IMAGINATION IMAGERY

Connie R. HullGary F. Render

Charles E. MoonUniversity of Wyoming

Abstract Two questions were addressed by thisstudy. Does a guided relaxation exercise elicitthe relaxation response measured by skin temp-erature? What is the relationship between skintemperature and cone. ollability and vividness ofvisual and auditory imagery? Subjects (N=132)were randomly assigned to act as subjects orobservers. Observers observed and recordedskin temperature during a guided relaxation exer-cise and while responding to the visual and audi-tory sections of the survey of mental imagery(SMI). There was a signif icant (p < .001) lineartrend and also a significant (p < .001) nonlineartrend in changes in skin temperature. Theseresults indicated that subjects did exhibit a relax-ation response to the guided relaxation exercise.There was not a significant relationship betweenrelaxation and perf ormance on the SMI. Results,implications and recommendations are discussed.

Introduction

Imagery is believed to play a crucial role during theincubation and Illumination stages of the creative pro-cess (Hull & Render, 1984a). The type of imagery thatis at work during these stages, imagination imagery, ischaracterized by its low controllability and high vividness.The state of consciousness associated with imagination

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,

imagery is one of relaxed attention where there isreduction in sensory stimulation coupled with a degreeof conscious awareness (Hull & Render, 1984a). Green,Green, and Walters (1970) found that imaginationimagery is experienced when the brain is emitting low-frequency alpha and theta rhythms. Alpha rhythms areassociated with daydreaming while theta rhythms areassociated with borderline sleep and reverie.

Research has shown that the state of consciousnessassociated with 'imagination imagery can be enhanced inseveral ways. Use of electroencephalographic biof eed-back can be used to train subjects to voluntarily enterthe state of consciousness where low-frequency alphaand theta rhythms are emitted (Green et al., 1970). In

addition, techniques such as progressive relaxation:hypnosis: zen, yoga and transcendental meditation; andautogenic training have been associated with the reveriestate. Besides increasing alpha and theta rhythms, thesetechniques elicit the healthful relaxation response whichincludes decreased oxygen consumption, respiratoryrate, heart rate and muscle tension and increased skinresistance (Benson, Beary & Carol, 1974).

Understanding of the role of imagination imagery inthe creative process and of ways to enhance thisimagery should help educators in their quest to improvetheir students' creativity. Relaxation training seems par-ticularly suited to classroom settings since it is simpleand cost ef fective. Nevertheless, in a previous study, arelaxation exercise administered in a classroom settingshowed virtually no significant ef fects on the controll-ability and vividness of imagery (Hull & Render, 1984b).There were, however, shortcomings in the procedure ofthat study. Even though the subjects were takenthrough a relaxation exercise, it was not known whethersubjects had achieved the relaxation response. Follow-ing the relaxation exercise, the subjects were asked to

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complete The Survey of Mental Imagery (Switras, 1979)by opening their eyes, reading the survey, and blacken-ing in the desired response on an IBM answer sheetThis method of responding may well have cancelled therelaxation response had it been achieved.

The present study wasshortcomings. Specifically,questions:

1. Did the chosen

designed to overcome theseit investigated the f ollowing

relaxation exercise elicit therelaxation response?

2. What is the relationship between skin temp-erature, and controllability and vividness ofvisual and auditory imagery?

Method

Subjects The sample was 132 University of Wyomingstudents enrolled in Educational Foundations courses.

Procedure Ten classes participated in the study. Stu-dents within each class were randomly assigned to acteither as subjects or as observers. Each subject waspaired with an observer. Subjects were given directionson how to respond to The Survey of Mental Imageryusing hand signals. A small skin temperature instrumentcalled a "biodot" was placed on the finger of each sub-ject Each observer recorded the color of each sub-jects biodot at ten assigned times throughout the study.

The first reading was taken prior to the relaxationexercise, thereby providing a baseline skin temperaturef or each subject.

Following the initial biodot reading, subjects satcomf ortably with their eyes closed and listened to ataped relaxation exercise (See the Appendix). Four skintemperature readings were recorded during the relax-ation exercise. After the relaxation exercise, subjects

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were asked to remain in their relaxed state with theireyes closed. They were reminded of the hand signalsto be used in responding to the survey. A skin temp-erature reading was taken bef ore the survey was read.Then the researcher read the survey, and the observersrecorded the subjects hand-signalled response to eachitem. Two skin temperature readings were taken duringthe visual portion of the survey, and two skin tempera-ture readings were taken during the auditory portion ofthe survey. Subjects were told to return to a wakingstate with eyes open, when the survey was completed.

nstrument

Imaging ability was assessed with Form A of TheSurvey of Mental Imagery (Switras, 1979). The instru-ment is a self-report measure which measures bothcontrollability and vividness of imagery in seven sensorymodalities. However, in this study only the visual andauditory sections of the survey were utilized. The sur-vey has been shown to be a reliable measure of mentalimagery (Hull & Render, 1984b; Switras, 1979). Thesurvey has been validated against several other existingimagery instruments (Switras, 1979).

A sample question from The Survey of MentalImagery is:

Can you see the color red? 1-no, 2-unsure,3-yes.Rate its vividness: 1=low, 2, 3, 4, 5=high.

Results

An analysis of variance with repeated measures wasused to determine if any pattern of skin temperaturechange existed over the ten readings. There were eightpossible biodot colors ranging from black, the coolestskin temperature, to violet, the warmest skin tempera-

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ture. Cool 'skin temperature is associated with tensionwhile warm skin temperature is associated with relax-ation.

Table 1 shows the means and standard deviations ofskin temperature for the ten recorded times. Both asignificant strictly monotonic trend (F = 76.70, df = 1,

p < .001) and a signif icant non-monotonic trend (F =52.65, df = 1, p < .001) were shown.

Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations of SkinTemperature at consecutive times. (N=131)

Ti me Mean S.D.

1 4.50 2.19

2 4.60 2.11

3 5.39 2.27

4 5.78 2.25

5 6.15 2.07

6 6.04 2.02

7 5.91 1.87

8 5.82 1.95

9 6 02 1.93

10 6.11 1.93

In order to determine if any relationship betweenskin temperature and imagery production existed, eachsubject's skin temperatures at times seven through tenwere correlated with his/her imagery scores using Pear-son r's. Tables 2 and 3 show the correlation coeffi-cients for each of the relevant correlations.

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Table 2. Correlations between Skin Temperatures andVisual Imagery

Time Visual Controllability Visual Vividness

7 -.13 (n = 132) -.11 In = 127)

8 11 In = 132) -.10 (n = 127)

Table 3. Correlations between Skin Temperatures andAuditory Imagery

Time Auditory Controllability Auditory Vividness

9 04 In = 131)10 15 (n = 131)

Discussion

-.04 (n = 127)-.11 In = 127)

One question this study investigated was whether or nota relaxation exercise would elicit relaxation. As a

group, the subjects skin temperatures increased withboth significant linear and nonlinear components fromtime one to time ten. Since increased skin temperatureis associated with relaxation, it appears that the relax-ation exercise was in fact effective for most subjects.

,A significant nonlinear component showed a patternof increasing skin temperatures from time one throughtime five, followed by a pattern of decreasing skintemperatures from time six through time eight, followedfinally by another increase during times nine and ten.Subjects were finished listening to the relaxation tapeand had been reminded of the procedure for answeringThe Survey of Mental Imagery when time six was

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recorded. It appears that the subjects lost some oftheir relaxation response when their focus was shiftedfrom relaxation suggestions to survey instructions.Subjects' relaxation lessened further during the visualsection of the survey, but began to increase again dur-ing the auditory section. Perhaps with further trainingsubjects could learn to maintain the relaxed statedespite being asked to engage in mental tasks unrelatedto relaxation such as listening to instructions andresponding to survey items.

It should be noted that while the relaxation exerciseused in this study was ef f ective for the group as awhole, some individuals were not able to relax. Teach-ing subjects a variety of relaxation techniques wouldpossibly help each person find a technique that works.

The second question that this study addressed waswhether or not physiological state and the productionof imagery are related. Despite evidence from the lit-erature that relaxation enhances imagination imagery, nocorrelations were found between physiological state asmeasured by skin temperature and either controllabilityor vividness of visual and auditory imagery. This indi-cates that, contrary to theory, imagery production doesnot seem to be related to physiological state in thisstudy.

Several questions suggested by this study could,however, lead to further research. Even thoudh sub-jects did increase their skin temperatures and thereforebecome more relaxed, they may not have been relaxeddeeply enough to produce the low-frequency alpha andtheta rhythms which are associated with the productionof imagination imagery. Future research might investi-gate whether providing subjects with several days orweeks of relaxation training would allow them to relax

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more deeply and to produce imagination imagery. Also,more research on the relationship between skin temper-ature and states of consciousness associated with vary-ing brain-rhythm patterns could also be conducted.

Another question raised by this study is whetherimagination imagery can be measured using an instrumentsuch as The Survey of Mental Imagery. Imaginationimagery is characterized by low controllability and highvividness. The Survey of Mental Imagery treats thesetwo aspects of imagery as parts of a whole rather thanas separate characteristics: that is, respondents are firstasked to produce a specific image (controllability) andare then asked to rate the vividness of that specificimage. However, a person experiencing imaginationimagery, while not having much ability to produce thespecific image requested, might experience a highly vividimage other than that requested by the survey item. Inanswering the survey, the person would neverthelesshave to report that the requested image was not vividat all. Future research might use dif ferent instructionsfor The Survey of Mental Imagery or a totally differentinstrument.

This study does not support the theory that relax-ation can enhance the production of imagination imagery.More research is needed in order to understand howone might learn to produce imagination imagery at will.

References

Benson, H., Beary, J. F., & Carol, M. P. (1974). Therelaxation response. Psychiatry, 37, 37-46.

Green, E. E., Green, A. M , & Walters, E. D (1970).Voluntary control of internal states: Psychologicaland physiological. Journal of Transpersonal Psy-chology, 1, 1-26.

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Hull, C. R., & Render, G. F. (1984a). A review of therole of imagery in the creative process. Journal ofThe Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching,8(3), 41-60.

Hull, C. R., & Render, G. F. (1984b). The effect ofrelaxation, fantasy journeys, and free imagery on thecontrol and vividness of imagery. Journal of Men-tal Imagery, 8(2), 67-78.

Switras, J. E. (1979). Survey of mental imagery testmanual. Fairmont, MN: Author.

APPENDIX: RELAXATION EXERCISE

Check your face. Make sure there's no contrivedexpression at all...Just simple. natural.

Consciously you will relax each part of yourbody .Breathe rhythmically and smoothly. Concentrate onthe palms of your hands, f eeling life energy.

Relax your right foot...Relax your right ankle...Relaxthe calf of your right leg...the knee..and the right thigh.

Relax your left foot...your ankle...the calf of your leftleg your knee. Relax your left thigh...Both legs feellimp and at ease...

Relax the right hip...the left hip...Relax the abdominalarea Relax your right hand and each finger...Forearmrelax .the right elbow...the right upper arm...

Relax your left hand and each finger...Forearmrelax..the left elbow...and the left upper arm...Both armsfeel limp and at rest...

Relax the base of the spine...lower, middle, and theupper back... Relax the heart..Peace is in your heart,your mind...Enjoy this peace in and around you...

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k

Relax your shoulders, the back of your neck...thebase of your skull...

Relax the front of the neck...the thyroid area at thebase of your neck...relax your face...your mouth...yourcheeks...nose...rest your eyes...

Concentrate your awareness between the eyebrows,at the third eye the forehead...and the top of thehead...Breathe rhythmically, deeply Allow yourself thesemoments of peace and quiet. Rest in childlike simplic-ity Allow yourself the pleasure of peace.

**it *** *** ***

Relaxation et Imagination des Images

Deux questions ont eté traitées dan cette etude. Est-cequ'un exercice de relaxation dirigé provoque la reponsede relaxation mesuree par la temperature de la peau?Quelle est la relation entre la temperature et le controlet vivacité de l'image visuelle et auditive? Des su jets (N= 132) ont éte désigné pour servir de su jets ou observateurs. Les observateurs ont note et enregistré la

temperature de la peau durant un exercice de relaxationdirigé et pendant qu'ils repondaient aux sections vis-uelles et auditives a I examen mental de l'image (SMI). II

y avait une tendance lineaire significative (p<.001) etaussi une tendance non-lineaire significative (p<.001)dans les changernents de temperature de la peau. Cesrésultats ont indique que les sujets ont exhibé unereponse de relaxation a l-exercice de la relaxationdingo. II n'y a pas eu de relation significante entre larelaxation et la performance a l'examen mental de l'i-mage. Les resultats, implications et recommandationssont discutes.

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Entspannung und Phantasiebilder

Zwei Fragen werden in dieser Studie gestellt. Erhöhteine geleitete Entspannungsi.ibung die durch Hauttemper-atur gemessene Entspannungsreaktion? Welche Bezie-hung besteht zwischen der Hauttemperatur, der Kontrol-lierbarkeit und der Intensitat vo visuellen und auditoriellenBildern? Willkürlich wurden die 132 Teilnehmer in zweiGruppen zugeteilt: die Sub jekte und die Beobachter. DieBeobachter beobachteten und notierten die Hauttempera-tur wahrend einer geleitenten Entspannungsübung sowiebei der Reaktion aouf sichtbare und hörbare Abschnitteder Uberwachung der geistigen Bilder. Eine entscheid-ende (p < 0.001) lineare Tendenz und auch eine ent-scheidende nicht lineare Tendenz (p < 0.001) in Veran-derung der Hauttemperatur war ersichtlich. DieseResultate wiesen darauf hin, deli die Sub jekte entspan-nend auf die geleiteten Entspannungsübung reagierten.Es gab keine entscheidende Beziehung zwischen Ent-spannung und der Ausführung der geistigen Bilder.Resultate, lmplikationen und Empfehlung werden hier dis-kutiert.

Relajación e Imaginación en Imagineria

Este estudio se dirigio a dos preguntas. Puede unejercicio de relajaciOn guiado producir (a reacción derelajacion medida por la temperatura de la piel? Quérelacion existe entre temperatura de la pie) y controlabi-lidad y vivacidad de imagineria visual y auditiva? Seasignaron sujetos (N=132) al azar a actuar como sujetou observadores. Observadores observaron y marcarontemperatura de :la piel durante un ejercicio de relajaciónguiado mientras los sujetos respondian a la sección v is-ual y (a sección auditiva del examen de imagineria mental(SM)). Se encontró una tendencia lineal signif icativa

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(p<0.001) y también una tendencia no lineal significativa(p<0.001) en cambios de temperatura de la piel. Estosresultados indican que los sujetos mostraron una res-puesta de relajación al ejercicio de relajacign guiado.No se encontró una relación significativa entre relajacióny rendimiento en el SMI. Se discuten resultados, con-secuencias y recomendaciones.

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J. of the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 1987, 12(3&4).

Japanese Language and SALT

Hideo SekiUnified Science Laboratory

Tokyo, Japan

Abstract. This paper deals with the problem ofwestern language education for Japanese and

that of Japanese language education for west-erners. The author believes that the ef f ect ofvisual information in the memory f ormation pro-cess of most Japanese has a more importantrole than.that of the simple phonetic sound envi-ronment, even though Tsunoda's famous researchstresses the importance of audio environment inJapan. At the same time, the author points outthe necessity of the research on Double-Plane-oriented Education (DPE) so as to increase theachievement ratio in the current SALT classes.

Remarkable Features of Japanese LanguageThe most remarkable dif f erences between Japanese

and western languages may be summarized in twopoints. The first point is the use of hieroglyphic or Chi-nese characters in its sentences, and the second pointis that its sentences are written by the mixture of twokinds of letters, i.e. hieroglyphic and phonetic alphabetor "kana." In discussing the first point, one might assumethat the situation must be the same in China. However, it

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must be remembered that there is a different conditionthere, i.e. the four Chinese tones or accents are usedfor pronunciation, while Japanese has no such discrimi-nation scheme between the dif ferent meanings with thesame pronunciation. For example,

MIC MX and M

A faz ft

have dif ferent characters with dif ferent meanings inChinese, and so they can discriminate between words.But in the case of Japanese language, we cannot under-stand their meaning without some means of judgingmonotonic pronunciation. Even though the Japanese candiscriminate dif f erent words with the same pronunciationin very rare cases, e.g. "hashi" corresponds to threemeanings: "bridge," ''chopsticks," and "edge," in mostcases we have no special intonations or accents fordif ferent meanings. This characteristic is more remarka-ble in the expression of complex and sophisticatedcontents. In spite of these situations, the reason whymost Japanese can understand and discriminate betweenwords using the same pronunciation may be attributedto the imagination of hieroglyphic characters in theirbrains. Such associations appear to be largely uncon-scious but allows them to derive the proper meaningfrom ,its place in context.

The second point, use of the phonetic and hiero-glyphic alphabet, has two "kana" variations: "hira-gana"and "kata-kana." Thus, the total number of phoneticalphabetic characters is about 100. These kanas areused for verbs, auxiliary verbs and particles, etc. Onthe other hand, most nouns are expressed by Chinesecharacters of about 2000 letters. Japanese sentences

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'r

are a mixture of these various letters. Usually, words offoreign origin are written by kata-kana or sometimes byRoman alphabet. Because of this complex mixture, sen-tences require more time than that of western language,

though it has been greatly improved and speeded uprecently by the advent of word-processors. On theother hand, we believe that the reading speed of Japa-nese is generally faster due to the use of hieroglyphiccharacters, which are far easier to recognize than let-ters of the phonetic alphabet. The children in our kin-dergartens learn to read the Chinese characters first.and to write the kana. This phenomenon may be under-stood by recalling how easily a baby learns to distin-guish its mother's face. Such pattern recognition may be

involved in the recognition of hieroglyphic letters andmay be easier to learn than phonetic characters.

Dr. Gabriel Racle (1980) has introduced in the SALT

Journal Tsunoda s description of the possible brainfunctions of the Japanese. His view stresses the impor-tance of vowel sounds in the Japanese language. I also

agree such sounds are critical for distinguishing meaning,but wish to add that the visual ef f ect is also importantThe language culture of the Japanese brain is thereforestrongly af fected by both visual and audio stimuli.

Development of Multi-language LearningWhen compared to the Japanese language, language

expressed with the Roman alphabet is learned mostlythrough the auditory sense. Mr. Yoh Sakakibara, presi-dent of the Transnational College of LEX (LanguageExperience, Experiment and Exchange), tried a curriculumof multi-lingual activities, teaching English, Korean, Span-ish, French, Chinese, German and Japanese simultane-ously. He tound that there exists a mutually opposingconsciousness within th9 bilingual environment, while it

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disappears in a trilingual world or more. The Canadiangovernment introduced suggestopedia in 1973 in orderto train the English-speaking officials in French. In thebilingual speaking countries, it is said that very few canspeak both. The author supposes that this is due to themutually opposing consciousness between two lan-guages. Sakakibara says that a symbiotic consciousnessappears at the instant when the situation of an over-trilingual environment emerges, dissolving whatevermutually opposing consciousness that existed before inthe bilingual society. His language class became suc-cessful after he added Spanish lessons. The studentsbegan to compare two languages and said, "I like thislanguage- or -No. I like that language. These choicesfluctuated after a moment and then they enjoyed singingeach language alternatively. The speaking ability of stu-dents gradually increased later. Thus, he has nowincreased the number of languages to six.

I met with Mr Sakakibara in 1986 and found thatthe students in his class had no apparent progress forthe first year, after which they progressed rapidly. I hadnoticed that multi-language learning is very similar to thepattern recognition in visual learning. We can easilymemorize thousands of our friends' faces by discrimi-nation of visual stimuli. Just as babies learn to discrimi-nate their mothers' faces at first, given strong motiva-tion we may discriminate and learn the features ofseveral dif ferent languages. The Hippo Family Club wasorganized to create such an environment

LEX operates a sub-organization for daily activi-ties called 1-lippo Family Club Through this club,language facilitators, called 'fellows' play aprominent role in assisting members to learnforeign languages Currently, in order to providea richer variety of multi-lingual settings, peopleof other nationalities are being encouraged to

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become fellows and members. (Sakakibara,1984).

Tomimoto Amano (1982) has also proposed multi-lingual education by three languages together with theAmano chair and it seems his psychological idea is a

little dif ferent from Sakakibara's.

Foreign language learning for Japanese and Japaneselanguage learning for foreigners are not necessarily thesame, but at least in the f ormer case, the unconsciousassociation of Chinese characters plays an importantrole for effective learning. Multi-language learning maybe further improved by introducing the idea of audio-visual symbiosis.

Introduction of Display SessionAs a natural result of the preceding discussion, the

author has newly introduced a display session betweenactive and passive sessions currently used in the con-ventional SALT classes. Of course, I would not like touse the word "final" as used in my former paper(1984), in the meaning of general education, but instead,for the narrowly limited case of SALT as engineeringeducation in a large size college class over 400 stu-dents in one department.

The lesson program of the usual SALT class maysimply be summarized as follows:

a. Oral lectureb. sessions (1) active session

(2) passive sessionc. elaboration

Let us call this curriculum the standard SALT system. Ofcourse, the elements of playing, games, psychodrama,

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etc., must be included in the curriculum, but these maybe considered as a part of elaboration.

The author's method may be summarized also in asimple form as follows, calling it as "audio-visual sys-tem":

a. oral lectureb. sessions (1) active session

display session(3) passive session

c. elaboration

The details of the audio-visual system are already pub-lished in the SALT Journal, so it may not be necessaryto repeat them here. This system is the result of fiveyears of experiments, and I believe it is the best onefor large size college classes, although minor improve-ments may be expected hereafter in the course offuture practice. For the time being, some explanationsmight be necessary about the display session in thesystem in question. In this session, no oral explanationis given by the teacher except overhead projector dem-onstrations :nth background meditative music. I believethis not only facilitates the communication between con-scious and unconscious channels under the influence ofthis music, but also may set up the psychological condi-tions necessary for the passive session without theteacher's direct suggestion Finally, students will recovertheir regular consciousness by the allegro music playedf or a few minutes at the end of a passive session.

In the elaboration time, the students solve easyquizzes by consulting each other and the patrollingteachers, because they are allowed to talk to each otherfreely during this interval In favor of the audio-visualsystem. the author was able to educate a large numberof engineering students with great success.

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Sy

Double-Plane-Oriented Education (DPElThe so-called "double-planeness" is one of the

important means of suggestion to overcome the anti-suggestive barriers and to achieve Osuggestion, whichis one of the elements of nonspecific mental reactivity(NMR), as was Shown by Lozanov (1978).

In spite of a maximum achievement record of 1800or 3000 words per day as reported by Wolkowski(1974), most of the actual classes are said to haveattained only 200 words per day, or a 3 to 5 timesacceleration over conventional classes. This result, I

suppose, is due to the incomplete training technique on

the teachers side, especially in double-planeness. Of

course, Lozanov (1974) emphasized that no suggestive

work shouid start without teacher mastery of the

double-planeness of behavior. Though I have to agreewith his view in this point, still his explanation about thesecond plane seems abstract.

On the other hand, most of the neuroanatomistssuggest that all memories are not stored in one speci-fied location in spite of extensive research. Prof essor

Richard Thompson (1984) of the Psychology Depart-eclat, Stanf ord University, developed evidence pinpoint-

ing precisely where certain memories are stored in partof the cerebellum. These memories do not mean allmemories for all time, so some assumptions are neces-

sary to explain the mechanism of memory functions and

to improve the curriculum of the SALT system. The

author also would like to allow revising the f ollowing

assumptions, if necessary, af ter listening to the latestbrain research on the memory by Dr. Lynn Nadel. Butbefore proposing my assumptions. I tell this story.

On the way back from Rio de Janeiro (Third Interna-tional Symposium on Accelerative Learning) last March,

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1987, the author met a medical doctor, Leopold DiazMartines, of Guadalajara, Mexico, and got an importanthint for accelerative learning techniques. He once met anunknown patient when he was examining many otherpatients at the National Railway Worker's Hospital, then(October 26, 1976) a vice-director there. After treat-ment, the unknown patient disappeared after going outthe hospital door. According to the doctor's reflectionafter telling him goodbye, he noticed that the contentsof knowledge got from the unknown patient required aweek or so to explain to his friends by vocal means. "Icannot explain," he said to the author, "why such anamount of information has been stored in my memoryonly in two hours." The author also could not explainthe reason for his outstanding ability of memory at ayounger age. According to his retrospection, his nick-name during his student days was "Page.' He couldremember the contents of an anatomy book of about1500 pages for a year and he could instantly point outthe appropriate page after listening to a question givenby his friends.

It is time to consider deeply the case of Dr. Diazand propose some assumptions The following assump-tions which may explain the theory of accelerativelearning of Dr. Diaz, may also be useful for elucidatingthe mechanism of our c.;vuble-planeness. Of course, thesecond plane may be invisible to physical scientificmeans, but we may assume that it really exists. Further-more, the memory capacity of the second plane is soenormous that all the information in our lives can bestored there easily At the same time, the channelcapacity of the second plane is so large, that all thecoming information may be processed almost instantly.However, the amount of information and the processingtime in the first plane is limited by our five senses andthe physical nervous system. The author also would like

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to propose one more assumption that there must be aninformation channel between the first and secondplanes, called "antaskarana" (Bailey, 1925). But it mightbe better to call it "higher path'' for simplicity's sake.

This higher path is not available normally for ordinarypeople. Only some information can pass through thiseasily and sometimes with dif ficulty, depending on theindividual mental condition. Here is the key for findingout the technique of DPE.

Just as the computer has temperary memory (regis-ters) and permanent memory (main memory), our brainmust have two kinds of memories. The memory in thefirst plane may correspond to the register in a com-puter, while the memory in the second plane may cor-respond to the main memory. Assuming these assump-tions, then we can consider three main routes to reachthe main memory. The first is the direct route to thesecond plane through the sixth sense, the second is theindirect route through visual images and the higher path,and finally the third is the indirect route through theaudible sense and the higher path. The author would liketo recommend not only learning through the second andthird routes, but also learning through the first route,because the DPE may be achieved by the combinationof all routes. A fourth route through the sense of touchmay exist, having a special use as learning Braille by theblind.

In the case of Dr. Diaz, the inf ormation was sentthrough the first and third routes, but he was uncon-scious of the former route. However, his learning abil-ity in his youth to receive visual information page bypage and to express them vocally substantiates the easycommunication through the higher channels.

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In conclusion, it may be worth considering develop-ing DPE, especially for the ef ficient learning of Japa-nese language for westerners as well as western lan-guages for the Japanese. One example is the introduc-tion of the ''display session" between active and passivesessions which the author has used for engineeringeducation in a large size class. In this session, it may bevery ef fective to mix beautiful and authoritative picturesamong many instructive materials. Another example isthe use of the learning speeder proposed by Dr.Machado (1982) and applied to his CLC system.

Some RemarksFinally, I have some remarks on the learning problem

of Japanese language by foreigners. The importance ofthe audio-visual symbiosis is not so necessary for pri-mary grades or everyday conversations. However, fortraining Japanese language teachers, where they have tolearn Chinese characters, an audio- -zual symbiosis isabsolutely necessary. This is the reason why the authorrecommends a display session in the course of thecurriculum. On the other hand, there has been noproper Japanese dictionary with Chinese charactersavailable by f oreigners until recently. Fortunately, a f or-eigner from Israel (Halpern) to Tokyo, studied Japanesemany years and compiled a dictionary which is conven-ient f or f oreigners to search for new characters by theprinciple of pattern recognition, and which will soonappear in bookstores af ter July 1987.

Material to be shown in the display session may beusually pictures, but the author supposes the hiero-glyphic characters from such a dictionary may bring thesame ef fects to the students in listening to meditationmusic. By this means, we can exclude the suggestivewords usually given in suggestopedia before the passive

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session, and thus make it possible to activate the limbicsystem without hypnotic techniques.

ReferencesAmano, T. (1982). Simultaneous multi-lingual accelerated

learning program. Journal of the Society for Accel-

erative Learning and Teaching, 7 (2), 162-172.Bailey, A. (1925). A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. New

York: Lucis Publishing Company.Lozanov, G. (1978). Suggestology and Outlines of Sug-

gestopedy. New York: Gordon and Breach.Machado, L. J. (1982). Report on an experiment with

the CLC system of accelerated learning. J. of the

Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 7

(1), 19-30.MachPdo, L. J. (1986). The secret of intelligence. Stud-

ies on Emotology, 1. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: author.Rac le, G. L. (1980). Civilization of the left cerebral hemi-

sphore? J. of the Society for Accelerative Learning

and Teaching, 5 (4), 267-274.Sakakibara, Y. (1984). From the "General" to the "Spe-

cific". Tokyo: Hippo Family Club and LEX.Seki, H. (1984). Final f orm of the SALT method suitable

for engineering education in a large size class. J. ofthe Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching,

9 (3), 169-181.Thompson, R. (February 1984). Searching for memories:

Where and how are they stored in your brain? The

Stanford Observer.

Wolkowski, Z. W. (1974). Suggestology: A major contri-bution by Bulgarian scientists. Mankind ResearchUnlimited, Inc., Monograph #10.

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La langue Japonaise et la Société pour Accélérer lesEtudes et FEnseignement

Cette etude s'occupe du problème des d'etudes de Ian-gue de l'Ouest par les Japonais et celui des etudes duJaponais par les gens de l'Ouest. L'auteur pense queref fet de l'information visuelle dans le systeme de for-mation de la mémoire de la plupart des Japonais a un(-Ole plus important que celui d'un simple milieu de saphonetique, bien que la fameuse recherche de Tsunodainsiste sur l'importance du milieu audio au Japon. L'aut-eur fait remarquer, en méme temps, la nécessite derecherche sur "Le Point Double de L'Education Dirigée"(PDED) en vue d'augmenter le taux de réussite dans lescours actuels de la Societe pour Accelerer les Etudeset I Enseignement.

Japanische Sprache und SALT

Diese Studie handelt von Problemen des westlichenSprachunterrichts für Japaner und des Japanischunter-richts für Westliche. Der Autor glaubt, daa die Wirkungder visuellen Inf ormation im Prozel3 der Gedachnisf or-mationen bei den meisten Japanern viel entscheidendersei als die der einfachen phonetischen Tonumgebungwenn auch Tsunodas berühmte Forschung die Wichtigkeitder auditor iellen Umgebung in Japan betont hatte.

Ebenso deutet der Autor auf die Notwendigkeit derForschung in der Doppelflachig orientierten Ausbildungdamit die Leistungen in den gegenwartigen SALT Klassenerhöht werden könnten.

El Idioma Japones y SALT

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Este articulo trata del problema de ensenar un idi-oma occidental a Japoneses y de ensenar el idiomaJaponés a occidentales. El autor cree que el efecto deinformación visual tiene un papel mis importante que eldel ambiente simple de sonido fonético en el procesode formación de la memoria de gran parte de losJaponeses, aunque la investigación famosa de Tsunodaacentua la importancia del ambiente auditivo en el Japón.A la misma vez, el autor subraya la necesidad de inves-tigación de la "ensenanza orientada al piano doble" (DPE)para aumentar la proporción de resultados positivos enclases actuales de SALT.

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J. of the Society of Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 1987, 12(381.4).

Dual-Plane Awareness TechniquesOther than Lozanov's, for

Accelerating and Enriching Teaching and Learning

Win Wenger, Ph.D.Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Abstract. Lozanov demonstrated that to giveboth conscious and unconscious mind the samedata, so that the responses of one "plane ofawareness" do not conflict with tho-1 of theother "plane of awareness," has therapeutic valueas well as pedagogical benefit Lozanov'sdescription of the nature and role of the "sec-ond plane of awareness" is quite consistent withvirtually all other findings in the various branchesof psychological inquiry regarding "the uncon-scious mind." This writer proposes visual thinkingas another strategy f or usefully engaging the richsensitivities, information and perceptions, heldunconsciously and seemingly unavailable to thelearner in that second "dual plane". Such visualthinking engages little-noticed phenomena whichappear in all of us. The writer defines specifictechniques, both teaching methods and tests ofthe supportability of a number of relatedhypotheses which appear to be of considerablepedagogical and human consequence.

Introduction

Dr. Georgi Lozanov's Suggestopedic method builds in

large part around the principle of orchestrating class-

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room communications to convey the same message toboth the conscious and unconscious "planes of aware-ness" in the learner.

Probably the aspect of Lozanov's theory and prac-tice least argued over, is this aspect of unconscious-second plane of awareness." This may be because /ofthe nearly unanimous observation by most of the div-erse branches of psychological inquiry that there isindeed an unconscious level of perception, thought andfeeling. I f concurrence among many diverse researchersis indicative, there is indeed such an unconscious; thisunconscious is a major part of the inf ormation pro-cessing within each individual; this unconscious aspectinteracts extensively with and is usually seen to domi-nate the conscious responses and inf ormation process-ing of each individual.

In face of these nearly unanimous observationsacross virtually every diverse branch of behavioral sci-ence inquiry, it seems somewhat remarkable that theSuggestological proposition should be accepted soreluctantly and slowly as has been the case. Given theabove, it seems clear enough that by arranging mattersso as to send the same educational content message toboth conscious and unconscious, one reduces the con-flicting interf erence between these two levels within theindividual so that the installation of extensive inf ormationby such orchestrated means constitutes a useful therapyabove and beyond the simple morale boost of f indingoneself able to function as a superior learner.

It also seems remarkable that the parallel Sugges-topedic aspect should also find similarly reluctantacceptance that such orchestration o message con-tent to harmonize the conscious and unconscious levelstogether simultaneously, accelerates learning, improves

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the quality of that learning as the dysharmonic "noise"of conflicting inputs is reduced, and results in long-term high rates of accurate recall of the inf ormationthus learned. Since we perf orce do address theunconscious in ourselves and in each other in any case,we might as well look toward doing so in a way whichpromotes healtii and clarity rather than their opposites.

Perhaps some lack of understanding of key aspectsof Suggestological theory and practice on the part ofsome of us who evaluate and even advocate these, hasplayed a role in the slowing of acceptance.

So long as either therapist or educator accepts theessential paradigm of the unconscious as a major factorin the individual, arid in the processing of perceptionand inf ormation in each of us, the only admissible argu-ments should be over the comparative merits of Sug-gestopedic techniques versus other techniques f orrelating unconscious to conscious inf ormation process-ing, and over the comparative merits of each respectiveapproach to doing so.

That most psychological and educational argumentover Suggestopedia has not even reached these twoareas of admissible, respectable, discussion, much lessrestricted itself to these, appears to say f ar more aboutmany educators, psychologists and their respective insti-tutions, than it does about Suggestopedia at least untiland unless the present paradigmatic underpinnings ofbehavioral science, especially those regarding the humanunconscious, are called back into question.

In this present paper we shall venture an alternativestrategy for productively engaging the unconscious in

the act of learning. We shall argue some of the basesfor this alternative strategy. We shall propose proce-

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dures to test and to implement this alternative strategy.We shall not venture to argue relative merits betweenthis alternative, visual thinking, strategy and the Sugges-topedic strategy, except to propose that these seteralstrategies definitely are not mutually exclusive alterna-tives and indeed appear to be positively synergistic.These are, nonetheless, very distinct strategies.

Whatever the relative merits of the visual thinkingstrategy vis-a-vis the Suggestopedic strategy may be,on a case by case basis visual thinking's ef f icacy, thusfar has been strongly supported by observation, as hasSuggestopedia's Formal quantitative studies of theSuggestopoedic method have, indeed, by now been per-f ormed and reported, but we appear to be well over-due for a quantitative testing of the visual thinkingstrategy on a comprehensive, systematic formal basis.Such an evaluation, which publication of this paper ishoped will encourage, may add substantially to currentunderstandings about human brain and mental functionand about human learning.

Bases of the visual thinking strategy

When taken together, two widely or universallyaccepted f indings about human brain function say a

great deal about the human unconscious, and suggeststrongly a unique strategy with many possible diversetechniques expressable from that strategy f or engagingthe unconscious productively in the task of learning.

One of these two generally accepted facts is theresult of a half century of electroencephalographic (EEGmapping. 80% of the brain by area is involved in visualresponse, substantially more than with any other sense,though the various senses overlap also into some ofthese regions

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By contrast a half century of electroprdoe studyduring neurosurgery has demonstrated that less than 1%of the cells of the brain scattered over less than 5% ofthe area and volume of the brain are involved in conscious response. The rest, a truly vast "silent majority,"are unconscious.

Significance of the Relationship between these twoData

The preponderance of visual response is at unconsciouslevels. Visual response arises mostly in unconsciousregions of the brain. While unconscious content in

those regions plays little role in objective, exteriorvision, and only some role in directed interior imagery,it appears to define the product of spontaneous, undirected mental imagery processes, processes whichappear to occur in every individual including the reader.

Upon questioning, most subjects acknowledgeexperience of forms of undirected hypnogogic and/orhypnopompic visual mental imagery in addition to theexperience of dreams as such. Beginning around 1974,the writer found he could elicit reported experience ofthis same undirected imagery in "subjects" (actually, students and clients) in a fully awake state and withouthypnosis. The ease of elicitation indicated that suchimagery is a continuous, ongoing process within each ofus.

Even without any training to create a special mentalstate or relaxation state, many people, including somereaders of this paper, can, immediately upon closingtheir eyes readily observe this ongoing imagery. A fewreport that they can observe it even with eyes open,any time they care to switch attention to this ongoing"visual commentary."

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Persons who did not report this experience, none-theless upon closing their eyes in almost every casecould soon be observed to be giving some reflexiveattention to internal phenomena even though fully awake.Observable cues for such attention-responses include:

* Movements of the eyes under the closed lids similarto REM Rapid Eye Movement, during sleep;

* Momentary suspension of breathing. as one holds hisbreath waiting to see what happens next:

* Trace muscle responses in face, neck, arms andshoulders.

When questioned immediately after such cues. 'Whatwas in your awareness just then? nearly every subjectimmediately or soon reports that s.he was indeed hav-ing a dream-like visual mental imagery experience andcan describe it.

In almost every instance, the act of describing suchimagery in sensory-rich detail while eyes are keptclosed elicits further and richer visual mental imagery;such sustained ongoing description usually leads toexperiences which carry great apparent meaning for theperson.

The first two forms of attention cue, the breathingsuspension and the closed eye movement, are so readilyobserved even by wholly untrained observers that thiswriter designed and published popular-level trainingprocedures and later more comprehensive forms ofthese procedures, enabling anyone be s/he layman or ina consulting or in a professional or research role, toreadily train perception of this ongoing phenomenon inoneself and in others. (Wenger, 1981a & b. 1987a).

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Note also that back-up procedures, many of whichare also already published (Wenger, 1985) have beenable to elicit the perception of this ongoing undirectedvisual phenomenon in anyone who did not reach thisperception from reinforcement of attention cues.Without exception every one of the lest several thou-sand persons trained through various of these proce-dures has reported experiencing these ongoing visualmental imagery phenomena.

It approaches certainty, theref ore, that the readerand many other human individuals with ordinary vision,also possess this ongoing visual and mental faculty andmay readily access its perception given appropriatetechniques, even if in most of us this phenomenon hasuntil now been largely or wholly unnoticed.

The prevalence of this order of undirected, ongoingvisual phenomenon has been masked by a confusion inthe literature between these spontaneous, undirectedimages and more directed forms practiced in many pro-grams f or a variety of purposes. Virtually everyonereferring to "imagery" thus far has referred to directedtypes of imagery and appears unaware even that thereis another, undirected type with its own significance andits own possible uses.

The writer has suggested a neurological significanceand use f or the phenomenon in that the actual ongoingdescription of such inquiry, engaging verbal centers inwhat is usually the far lef t temporal lobe and very dis-tant in the brain from the apparent areas sourcing theexperience of such imagery, improves both understand-ing and intelligence. This "pole-bridging," exercisingand building up links between widely separateregions of the brain through intense combinations ofactivities and perceptions characteristic of those

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widely separate regions or "poles," may prove to bean invaluable general strategy for increasing human intel-ligence, able to generate hundreds of specific suchtechniques to render the various resources of the brainmore accessible to each other and to whatever tasksand processes are ongoing (Wenger, 1984a).

Apparently ef f ective problem-solving techniques builtupon the same phenomenon cast this topic in a highlypractical light. For any type of problem: engage thisongoing commentary phenomenon of undirected sponta-neous visual mental imagery to quickly find answers toquestions, and solutions to problems and problem con-texts without otherwise directing the contents ofimagery. We have f ound in such processing:

Confirmation that the second 'dual plane" is indeedmuch more sensitive to data. cues and perceptionthan is the first conscious plane'.

2. That these two "planes" may be addressed sepa-rately, as well as together, that the unconsciousmay be addressed directly and respond withoutdistortion or interf erence by the subject's con-scious "plane" or mind.

3. Expectations are seated in or near the conscious,so that when the conscious is unaware of thetopic, problem or question being presented. expec-tations do not have opportunity to distort the databeing "read" from this ongoing undirected visualimagery commentary!

Where Lozanov s strategy in part is to bring con-scious and unconscious content into closer agreement,this one element of visual thinking strategy is to takeadvantage of the differences between the "two planes"to bypass some of the limitations found in the conven-tional 'first plane."'

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Besides practical answer-finding and solution-finding,this latter aspect bears implications for conflict man-agement and conflict resolution counseling, potentiallyhelping to resolve conflicts at interpersonal, interorgani-zational and international levels.

Applying Image Responses to Settling Conflicts

Beginning in 1980, this writer f ound in a successionof unpublished experiments that groups which con-sciously are bitterly divided over some issue, nonethe-less unconsciously agree unanimously on the best resco-lution of the same conflict issue, as evidenced by thecontents of the undirected imagery resulting when"concealed" questions on that issue are addresseddirectly to the unconscious!

Despite the remarkable nature of such a finding, letus hasten to add that the interpretation of undirectedimagery content despite some objective procedures, atthe present time is substantially subjective. Where thehard lines of conflict are drawn, such elements of sub-jectivity limit the acceptance and usefulness of thisimagery approach to the resolution of conflicts.

What this finding does suggest, however, is thatsimilar unanimity can also be obtained through use ofmuch more concretely objective bioinstrumentation. Thewriter has proposed a test of the hypothesis that peo-ple on all sides of a given conflict are unconsciously inagreement as to how best that issue should be settled.The writer will be pleased to send copies of the gen-eral test protocol to inquires c/o this Journal.

Another major area of potentially practical signifi-cance f or this phenomenon of ongoing undirected visualimagery commeritary is pedagogical.

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Pedagogical Implications of the Spontaneous ImageryPhenomenon

Even in highly directed imagery processes, spontane-ously unexpected, surprise components of experienceoften appear. Both these and the wholly undirected,spontaneous, ongoing form of imagery phenomenareflect unconscious data and perceptions formed intoimagery within that vast majority of the visual responsesystem of the brain which operates beyond focusedconsciousness.

A basic teaching procedure, using such phenomena,is to shape a context in reference to the desired intel-lectual or artistic understandings or physical skills. Usethat context, then, to elicit the otherwise undirectedcontent of ongoing imagery, or to define an otherwiseundefined "space for surprises" in a directed imageryexperience. Have the student continue to observe andto describe such experience aloud. The student thusdescribes into his/her full conscious perception fromthe 'second plane of consciousness" a far richerawareness than until then could be found in his/her"first plane"

Since 1977 the writer has been using for pedagogi-cal purposes, forms of directed imagery specificallydesigned to produce areas of surprise, to elicit uncon-scious data and perceptions in the contexts of particulartopics, school subjects and skills. This procedure hasproven highly productive, but only recently has itbecome apparent that the further reaches of this phe-nomenon, the ongoing visual imagery commentary whosecontents are wholly free of limiting direction by theconscious, may also be usefully applied in the pedago-gical context (Wenger, 1987).

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New Pedagogical Techniques Which Use UndirectedVisual Imagery

I. Creating an Assimilative Structure for New Infor-mation Beginning in 1986, after determining that thesubject was able to readily perceive consciously his orher own ongoing visual mental imagery commentary, thiswriter began to counsel individuals to use this wheneverthey experience or anticipate dif f iculty in al,similating atext, a homework assignment, a formal paper, or a lecture:

1. The subject is asked or the individual may ask him/herself to see the visual image which somehow willcontain the key understanding around which mostof that text or assignment or lecture content willrevolve.

2. The instruction to the subject is worded somewhatlike this, "Even now, your mind's eye has prepareda picture which is waiting for you to look at,which contains in some unexpected way the keyunderstanding (of this book, assignment, lecture,whatever). Everything in this (book or whatever)revolves around this key understanding. Close youreyes and look at that image now to see what thatkey is."

3. The subject then describes aloud or in writing orsketches, the image s/he sees, then goes on to thenext task.

4. In virtually every instance, even where the subjecthas had no previous contact with the text andseemingly no reasonable basis f or contact with itssubject matter, the subject has reported an immediate transf ormation from experience of dif ficultyand unintelligibility to transparent ease and richlymeaningful intelligibility of the text or task content.

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5. It may be argued that to place into the mind anycognitive hook or structure, upon which to sortand hang the contents of text or task as they areencountered, may produce somewhat similar results.

That is definitely in need of further investigation,but thus far the degree of apparent transformationappears greater than that explanation may accountfor. Nor have we yet tested for results withtotally unintelligible papers (we trust the reader willnot consider this present paper one such!)

The obvious next stage of investigation,- whichshould be undertaken systematically at an institution,should be to select texts, papers and taped presenta-tions with varying degrees of apparent difficulty relativeto the selected ability levels of the experimental andcontrol subjects. Develop a battery of test questionsto assess the degree and quality of comprehension ofthese materials, comparing from group to group in theexperiment.

The control group would be without instructions,simply run through the materials and tested f or com-prehension afterward. One experimental group wouldbe given training and experience in undirected visual

mental imagery, but would not be instructed to use thisimagery in pursuing the text materials. Hypothesisthat these subjects, due to "pole-bridging" ef fects,building up communications within the brain, will showsome improvement in perf ormance when compared withthe controls, but perform considerably less well thanthe f ully experimental group.

A second experimental group will be given someother arbitrarily chosen image or idea to serve as acognitive hook or assimilative structure to keep in mindwhile pursuing the materials. The hypothesis is that any

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a

WNW

idea or image serving as a cognitive hook and sorter isbetter than none in assimilating new information forcomprahension. But it should be far less so than theimages generated in context by the unconscious regionsof the visual response systems of the brain. We pre-dict some gains in rates of comprehension, but consid-erably less than with the fully experimental group.

The third, fully experimental group, f irst will betrained to perceive ongoing undirected imagery, and thenwill be instructed as per the above protocol. Wehypothesize that images generated in context by uncon-scious regions of the visual response systems of thebrain will be especially useful in sorting and retaining atuseful levels the information pursued from the context

We predict that the ability of the unconscious com-ponent of the brain's visual system to sensitively detectand project the essence of intellectually demanding dis-course, and the use of this phenomenon to accelerateand enrich the acquisition of conscious understandingswill be substantially supported. The rate of comprehen-sion by this fully experimental group should far outstripthat of all other groups.

The fully experimental group, trained and practiced inexperience of "Image Streaming" (orienting to and thenconcurrently describing in sensory detail aloud theseundirected visual mental images), then instructed to findan undirected key image when pursuing such textmaterials, should show prof ound gains in rates of com-prehension over other groups, and in so doing demon-strate this procedure as a potentially very major peda-gogical technique for accelerated and enhanced learning.

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II. Using Such Imagery in the Integration of Knowl-edge

In a previous paper (Wenger, 1987c), we arguedthat most schooled subject matter has been taught "inboxes,'' so separated from context to context that moststudents are unable to generalize in their learning fromthe particular context in which they learned it, and areunable to either recall or transfer much of what theyhave been taught beyond that initial limited specificclassroom context. This loss by most students occursto such an extent that education itself has often beendescribed as "what you have left after you've forgotteneverything you've been taught" This loss represents aprodigious waste of time, ef fort and resource on thepart of all who are 'involved with it, especially if thereare viable alternatives available which would assurelong-term retention and transfer of the contents oflearning (Wenger, 1987c).

One of the attractions of Suggestopedy is itsapparent tendency toward high rates of long termrecallability of inf ormation learned by that method.Beyond Suggestopedy, Jerome Bruner (1966), Oliver L.

Reiser (1958), Mortiiner Adler and others have made arespected case for the proposition that to integrateknowledge in the curriculum, focusing the student'sawareness on a recognizable structure of principles ornatural "laws" common to many dif f erent contexts, willindeed produce high rates of recall of learning and oftransfer from initial contexts to manifold general useful-ness, and will further enrich immensely the level ofmeaningfulness of all experience subsequently encoun-tered by students thus prepared.

This writer went on to propose a curriculum proce-dure, an initial cognitive "hook" or assimilative structure

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,

to aid this procedure, and some interactive methodswhich would make it easy for educators to induce theirstudents to develop such in'..egrations even whereteachers and schools have no such intellectual integra-tions of their own to work from (Wenger, 1987 a, b, c&

Only since April 1987 did this writer discover theobvious, that if students are prepared beforehand in

perception of their own spontaneous imagery commen-tary to question this reflexive image faculty, they canthen easily and rapidly generate the structural integra-tions and understandings f or their own structure ofknowledge.

In the paper just cited, we argued for a curriculumstructure wherein schools would conduct courses twoat a time, say mornings for one and afternoons for theother over several weeks to be concluded by an "Inte-gration Day" where students would be guided by inter-active and well-focused procedures to integrate every-thing they have just learned with previous material.

Such a procedure would further reinf orce the learn-ing just acquired and make it more transf erable. It

would also revive much of previous learning to usefullevels. It would render more meaningful all subsequentexperience and learning of the student, especially if a

succession of three or more such paired courses wasfollowed by such an Integration Day.

However worthwhile the prospective results of suchan arrangement may be, pursuit of this as an experimentor as a curriculum procedure is beyond the apparentmeans of most individual teachers. Most schools haveexhibited some disinclination toward even minor changes,

much less such a major rearrangement of courses and

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curricula. Yet the apparent benefits and basis for sucha procedure seem to render it very worthwhile if at allpossible to pursue. Further, such a schedule could eas-ily be made into a special summer school program.

The breakthrough, though, in this regard of buildingan integration of knowledge within students, comesfrom use of the ongoing spontaneous undirected visualimaging faculty present in every student. This break-through renders it f easible f or any teacher to easilygenerate a meaningfully integrated structure of knowl-edge in every student, even without the further advan-tages of the proposed pairing of courses and theirconcluding Integration Days.

Within the limits and confines of any conventionallysituated course, the teacher may ask the spontaneousimaging faculty of each student to produce pictures asin these examples:

1. "In what important way does the principle or struc-ture of complex homeostasis show in what we'vejust learned about the American Revolution?" Thestudent may not "know" the answer but his imagingf acuity nonetheless shows him a picture. Describ-ing the picture leads to discovery of its meaning,and s/he generates a meaningful answer to thequestion.

2. "What key principle from molecular biology willbest organize for us a useful understanding of thecontents of this algebra class?"

3. What key principles show us physics and chemistryto be one field, not two, and which makes imme-diate sense out of everything we've learned here?"

4. "What key element do we still need to account forin this synthesis?"

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Answers to these questions will sometimes appearliteral, but more often symbolic. Students interpret theirown symbols and relate them to the question context,thus greatly enriching their neurological contact withthat question context as well as generating an under-standing.

As they do this, they will enrich all their past presentand future learning and experience.

A basic way for the teacher to present such ques-tions is to ask each student to attend to the asking ofit with eyes open, then close their eyes to see theimage their own faculty has prepared in answer to thatquestion. Then they should draw or describe that imageanswer, and then begin exploring the ways in which thatimage appears to answer that question ef fectively.Note that even if the image did not in fact relate to thequestion asked, this procedure would serve as a deviceto get the flow of both ideas and interaction going.Experimenters are invited to ascertain for themselveswhether there are unique relevancies which further theprocess above and beyond this flow-initiating Pf fe ct.

Even better results in the early phases of the pro-cess will obtain if students are paired to describe toeach other their perceptions as they go, in as rich a

detail as possible. For any phase of the process seenas difficult, you may want groups of 3 to 5 studentsto improve the chances that one can respond to initiateand model the flow for the rest For later phases,groups of 4 to 6 may be used to cross-fertilize mind-sets and understandings, and to build toward some for-mal report to the whole class. Simple procedures forguiding such interactive work are detailed .in an earlierissue of this Journal, and spelled out and modelled byexample in a simple book for teachers (Wenger, 1984b& 1987e).

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While it would be still better to produce such inte-gration through the recommended procedure of pairedcourses f ollowed by Integration Days, it now appearsthat individual teachers within the confines of conven-tionally structured courses can nonetheless accomplishmuch in the way of productive integration with theirstudents. Through such integration, much previous, cur-rent and future learning will become useful and mean-ingful. We herewith submit this integrative procedureas a potentially major pedagogical technique for accel-erating and enriching learning.

In summary we have def ined one of possibly manystrategies, alternative to or combinable with the Sugges-topedic strategy for using the second, deeper thanconscious, "plane of awareness" f or pedagogically pro-ductive purposes. Initial techniques identified from thisalternative strategy are easier to apply than is Sugges-topedy, and apparently bear upon a wide range of edu-cational aims. We urge formal institutional experimenta-tion to determine the supportability of some veryinteresting hypotheses regarding brain and mind function,and the act of learning. We predict the results of suchexperiments will demonstrate the considerable potentialof this visual thinking strategy f or generating prof oundlybenef icial pedagogical techniques.

* * *

References

Adler, M. (1974). The -rganization and "Propedia"segment of The Encyclopedia Brittanica. London &Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc., William Ben-nett, Publishers.

Bruner, J.S. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction.Cambridge, Mass: Belknap, Harvard University Press.

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Reiser, O.L. (1958). The Integration of Human Knowl-edge. Boston: Porter-Sargent.

Wenger W. (1981). Adventures through the looking-lobe: Working with undirected visual images. Jour-nal of the Society for Accelerative Learning andTeaching, 6 (3), 172-183.

Wenger, W. (1981). Creative creativity: Some strat-egies for developing specific areas of the brain andfor working both sides together. Journal of Cre-ative Behavior, 1521.

Wenger, W. (1987). A Method for Personal Growthand Development. East Aurora, New York: UnitedEducational Services.

Wenger, W. (1985). Teacher's I Learner's Guide toBeyond O.K. Gaithersburg, Md: Psychegenic Press.

Wenger, W. (1984). A proposal to measure theef fects of image-streaming upon intelligence, per-formance and proficiency. Journal of the Societyfor Accelerative Learning and Teaching, 9 (1).

Wenger, W. (1987). Beyond Teaching and Learning.East Aurora, New York: United Educational Services.

Wenger, W. (1987). The other end of Bruner's spiral:A proposed educative procedure for easy integrationof knowledge. Gaithersburg, MD: Project Renais-sance.

Wenger W. (1987). Toward a General Theory of Sys-tems: One Man's Window on our Universe. Gaith-ersburg, MD: Library of the Republic of the Sci-ences.

Wenger, W. (1987).Today And toAurora, New York:

Wenger, W. (1984).niques. Journal

How to be a Better Teacher,Reduce Your Workload. EastUnited Educational Services.

Classroom management tech-of the Society for Accelerative

Learning and Teaching, 9 (4), 277-286.

*** *** *** ***

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Dual plan techniques de conscience autre que celui deLozanov pour l'accélération et l'enrichissement de l'edu-cation et l'enseignement

Lozanov a démontré que pour donner a la f ois l'espritde conscience et d'inconscience les mémes données, detelle sorte a ce que les réponses d'un "plan de con-science" ne s'opposent pas a celles d'un autre "plan deconscience" a une valeur thérapeutiqua ainsi qu'un avan-tage pédagogique. La description de Lozanov pour lanature et le role du "second plan de conscience" esttout a fait consistante virtuellement avec toutes lesautres conclusions dan les dif férentes branches derecherches psychologiques au sujet de "l'esprit incons-cient".

Cet écrivain propose la pensée visuelle comme autrestrategic pour engager d'une fag on utile les riches sen-sitivités, renseignements et perceptions, gaudés uncon-sciencieusement et apparament indisponibles pour l'élèvedan ce second "dual plan". Cette pensée visuelle attirepeu de phénomenes notables qui nous paraissent a tous.L'écrivain définit des techniques spécifiques, a la foisdans les méthodes d'enseignement et pour teste la tole-rence d'un nombre d'hypotheses relatives qui paraissent'etre de consequence:: considerables au humaines.

Doppelflachige Bewuritseintechniken anders als Loza-nov für schnelles und bereichendes Lernen und Lehren

Lozanov hat gezeigt, deli es therapeutischen und auchpadagogischen Vorteil habe, wenn man sowohl dembewuaten als such dem unbewuaten Gehirn die gleichenDaten gibt, so clail die Antworten "Bewufltseinsflache"der einen "BewuBtseinsfläche" mit denen der anderenBewuatseinsflache" nicht in Konflikt geraten. Lozanovs

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Beschreibung der Natur und der Rolle der "zweitenFläche des Bewulltseins" stimmt überwiegend mit denErgebenissen andere psychologishcen Forschungen überdas UnterbewuBtsen Uberein. Dieser Autor schlagt vis-uelles Denken als einen andere Strategie vor, urn diereichen Sensibilitaten, Inf ormationen und Wahrnehmungen,die unbewuat und scheinbar dem Lernenden unerreichbarin der zweiten "Dualflache" gehalten werden, zu engan-gieren. Dieses visuelle Denken schaltet kaumwahrgenommene Phenomane ein, welche bei uns alienerscheinen. Der autor erklart bestimmte Arten der Aus-führung, welche beides, Lehrmethoden sowie Probe derGlaubhaftigkeit einiger verwandten Hypothesen, welchescheinbar von bedeutender padagogischer und mensch-licher Konsequenz sind.

Técnicas de Conocimiento del Plano Doble, aparte de lasde Lozanov, para Acelerar y Enriquecer Ensefianza y

Aprendizaje

Lozanov demostr6 que dando los mismos datos ala mente consciente como a la mente inconsciente, paraque las respuestas de un "plano de consciencia" no ten-gan conflicto con las del otro "piano de consciencia",tiene tanto valor terapeutico como benef icio psicológico.La descripción de Lozanov sobre la naturaleza y el papeldel "Segundo piano de consciencia" es consistente conpricticamente todos los demas descubrimientos en las

varies ramas de investigación psicológica con relación a"la mente inconsciente". El escritor propone pensamien-to visual como otra estrategia para utilizer las ricassensibilidades, informaci6n y percepciones, mantenidasinconscientemente y aparentemente inaccesibles al

aprendiz en el segundo "plano doble". Tal pensamientovisual ejerce fenómenos que son poco notables peroque aparecen en todos nosotros. El escritor def ine

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técnicas especif icas, tanto métodos de ensefianza comode examinar el sostenimiento de hipótesis relacionadasque parecen tener consecuencias pedagógicas y humanas considerables.

..., _ .216

BOOK REVIEW

A Teacher's Guide to Whole Brained Learning: TheVision and the Practice, by Peter W. Majoy, 114 pp.,1987. Brain Waves, Box 503, Fitzwilliam, NH 03447.603-239-6058. $25.00 or $35.00 with tape.Reviewed by John Senatore.

Pondering the table of contents, is this book foryou?

IntroductionOpening the 7 Brain DoorwaysStyle StretchingBrain SynchronicityTriune DevelopmentHolophoric Brain DimensionLove & ChallengeThe Unconscious & Right Brain LearningChapter ResourcesMore Whole Brained ActivitiesA fterwordBibliography

It is an excellent starting point if you are new towhole-brain learning, are motivated through professionalgrowth to be a great teacher, are comparing resourcesand sources, are considering networking, want toexplore and experiment, or want to examine anothermodel.

Integrating most, if not all, that Majoy presents is hismetaphor of "7 Brain Doorways:" The Intellectual Psy-chic Door, The Analytical Door, The Automatic Door,The Heart Door, The Movement Door, The Clerical Door,The Purposeful Door. He links these doorways (learningstyles) to parts of the brain emphasizing that all door-ways overlap and "Unless a teacher dances before an

217

already open door(s), learning will be more dif ficult andin some cases impossible."

Majoy wants company, application of research andmethods that work, great teachers, dif ferences thatmake a diff erence in schools and increased sensitivityto the fact that "Each individual student has a brain-mindthat is both universal and particular." Each section ofthis spiral-bound, copied text presents condensedinf ormation, a model activity to open the 7 Doors and asummary. Key function's that open doorways: Imagery,draw, design, list, meditate, elicit emotions, dramatizeempathically, review, answer "Why are we doing this?",become what you would understand, write, interpret,present Essential in these model activities is movement(miming, dancing, acting).

I liked the section on Imagery. Majoy urges thosewho want to begin whole-brain learning to start withimagery, the route to whole-brain education. "Internalimagery iS not only visual," Majoy insists. "There .aremany imagery states." His learner-interaction activitywith the TV delighted me. His section on The Heart-Door: The Right Hemispheric Limbic Brain echoes LeoBuscaglia, yet dif fers: "It is here that society primesitself f or reflective thought and action. Are they moti-vated by a state of fear or a state of love. (Sic) Bothstates of motivation can produce thought and action, butonly love can underline thought that ic liberating of thewhole person." I also liked his ..hapter Resources,More Whole Brain Learning Activities (in biology, math,language arts). Reading his bibliography, I comparedbackgrounds, influences and noted sources andresources Majoy does not use or possib/ know.

Majoy makes his text earnest, often poetic, sincere,enthusiastic; he cries repeatedly for study and adoption

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of the materials to produce curricular changes. He

states the information in this guide is powerful stuff;"This guide is not a research report...[it] does reflectreal classroom experience of almost 20 years...has been

used on an everyday basis by me...[so that] what I did

as a teacher was immensely rewarding."

For me, now, the text was difficult to stay with ona sustained basis; repeated spelling, punctuation andsyntax errors distracted and irritated me, as did single-spaced, crowded pages. This text is best studied andincorporated in existing teaching-learning systems one-piece-at-a-time. Usable, effective, stimulating materialshere for the seeker, the motivated.

Images are powerful We desire and require visions.

Majoy's vision of whole-brain learning is more exhorta-tion than compelling images for me. His vision includesgreat teachers who offer "the pupils the recovery oftheir lost chances to seize the life of their imaginationand make it command the vacancy of the world." He

invents the word "Holophors" (holography + metaphor)to remind us "holophores" that we can make richerconnections and richer understandings with the wholebrain.

I welcome Majoy's grasp; I applaud his study andapplications; his reach leaves much for the reader tostudy, internalize, work to adapt and adopt in specificareas. I recommend this text for examination, refer-ence, discussion, especially for those persons who wanthelp "in their freely chosen transformation," for "Theteaching profession needs people who are open, curi-ous, wondering and imaginative..." And risk-takers, whis-tle-blowers, people with the courage to be whole-brained. Hdlophores, here's another launching pad!

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)"

Book Review

Accelerated Learning by Colin Rose. Dell Publishing Co.,Inc., 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, New York,10017. Dell Trade Paperback: 1987. Reviewed byJohn Senatore.

This book presents the background to the develop-ment of Accelerated Learning, the evidence, anddescribes the method step by step", so that "You willbe able to try the technique and prove it for yourself."Thus I submit Rose's book may be the popularizing,everything-you-wanted-to-know-initially book aboutAccelerated Learning.

Chapter 1 deals with the research that re-def inesprinciples of learning for "Your Incredible Brain." Chap-ters 2, 3, and 4 discuss "The Basis of Memory,""Improving Your Memory," and "Memory Aids," since"There can be no learning without memory." "ThePower of Suggestion," Chapter 5, inspects the intercon-nectedness of imagination and suggestion, dif ferentiatesbetween suggestion and hypnosis, and emphasizes usesand misuses of the presumption that "The subconsciousmind cannot dif f erentiate between what is real and whatit believes is real."

"The Genesis of Accelerated Learning," Chapter 6,reviews Lozanov and the Lozanov Method and ends withquestions that troubled Rose that he answers in subse-quent chapters: "What is the Role of Music?" (Chapter7); "If it works, why aren't more people using it?"(Chapter 8: The Evidence); "Tell Me... does our educa-tional system really teach us to doubt our true ability?"and eleven other questions (Chapter 9). Chapter 10,"The State of the Art," shows that none of Lozanov'sprinciples have been contradicted, but there are pointersto developments and improvements: Among these are

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specific applications of dominant-sensory-systems asresearched in Neurolinguistic Programming and BerniceMcCarthy's 4-Mat System f or identifying types oflearners.

"Putting It All Together," (Chapter 11), reminds usthat the book was four years in the writing while theauthor maintained a psychologist's point-of-view "forfresh thinking that every breakthrough must have." Rosesummarizes twenty-seven things he learned. "First,Relaxr reviews this new principle of learning, andpresents breathing and body exercises for relaxation.Using a language course as an example, Rose usesChapter 13, "An Accelerated Learning course" so that"you can create your own course for your own learningneeds." His headlines reveal the steps and direct us. e.g.,"Step Four--Make a 'Mental Movie' of the Text." Chap-ter 11, "Accelerated Learning for Your Children," dealswith preschool, that period before children may havehad their latent abilities "schooled out"; again, headlineslike "Prepare a Mental Map" serve as clear aids. "HowCan You Be Involved?", (Chapter 15), cites ways andpromotes Accelerated Learning Systems (N.A.), Inc.,

Southport, Ct. "Notes for Teachers" (Chapter 16) sum-marizes all well. Appendix A features the Report ofthe Paradise Unified School Project (California). Appen-dix B features prerecorded language courses: Conclud-ing this appendix are contrasting lists that serve well.Appendix C, "Some Current Accelerated Learning

Projects," lists Rose's attempt to "audit" AcceleratedLeaming (progress and applications). Illustrated diarts,mental-maps, at the end of each chapter integrate andintroduce.

Rose's primer does not contain news for personswho have done their homework and kept up-to-date; itstands as a reminder, reference, example. For people

wanting to know about Accelerated Learning----yes, handthem this book, recommend it

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Book Review

Teaching for the Two-sided Mind by Linda Verlee Wil-liams. A Touchstone Book (published by Simon & Schus-ter, Inc., (1986) and by Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1983.Reviewed by John Senatore.

Did you know of this book? I didn't, and I recom-mend it for your "basic books" shelf when your focusis teaching-learning, education.

Written as "an ef fort to bridge the gap betweenresearch and application," the book presents currentresearch on the functioning of hemispheres, exploresthe implications of that research for education, providespractical teaching techniques f or connecting and devel-oping the right hemisphere because they are less well-known. Williams wrote it for teachers, student-teach-ers; it is useful for parents, older students and anyonewho wants more learning strategies.

In nine clear, readable, practical chapters, Williamsachieves her intentions: 1: Learning with the WholeBrain; 2: Scientific Theory and Educational Practice; 3:

How Do You Think?; 4: Metaphor; 5: Visual Thinking; 6:Fantasy; 7: MultisPP-sory Learning; 8: Direct Experience;9: How to Start Reports of actual applications and spe-cific means for application make this book usable,

valuable. Her bibliography offers a "few excellentresources" in ten areas, including "Music-Suggestology."Refreshing for me is the author's admission of limita-tions and preferences that introduce the Bibliography.

For some, this book will appear clearly pedagogical,not the emotionally involving exhortation, confession,invitation to do diff erently; for other persons, this bookwill be what they've been looking for as the source fordoing differently.

223 ') )

I recommend starting anywhere in the book thatseizes your attention. Chapter 9 grabbed me when I

read "The first thing to realize is that you've alreadystarted," and "The next thing to realize is that if youreally want to make more conscious use of these tech-niques in the book, it will require ef fort over time."Consider her "A Few Rules": Go at your own pace. Dowhat you enjoy. Give yourself every chance f or suc-cess And what are the stages in starting? Planning f orChange, Starting Now, Intangibles, Rediscovering YourSubject, Working Together, and Support Groups.

In her Conclusion, Williams reminds us that "Childrencome to school as integrated people...intensely curious.They are s.:ientists, artists, musicians, historians, dancersand runr.Jrs, tellers of stories and mathematicians. Thechalle%e we face as teachers is to use the wealth theybring to us. They come with a two-sided mind." Thisbook provides teachers with ways to develop bothtypes of thinking, information-processing patterns, sothat children "have access to the fullest possible rangeof mental abilities.:

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Tables of Content. Volume 12, JSALT

Journal of the Society for Accelerative Learning andTeachingVolume 12, Number 1&2 Spring, 1987

The ef fects of Superlearning on Retention/Hypermnesiaof rare English words in college students.

Lynn D. Anderson & Gary Render 3

SALT in Africa: Unity in diversity through communication.Frikkie van Kraayenburg 17

An accelerated learning magnet school: Attractingteachers and administrators.

Stephanie Merritt 39

Vital components for ef fective teacher training.Twyla S. Moschel 49

Eurythmy: Art of movement in the Waldorf schools.Earl J. Ogletree 65

Teaching adult learners using accelerated learning.Elaine Voci-Reed 85

Music as mnemonic device in second language learning.

Linda Dejin Xia and Loren Alexander 95

Book ReviewThe Magic Feather: The Truth about Special Education,by Lori and Bill Granger.

Reviewed by Earl J. Ogietree 107

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- 'ir

Journal of the Society for Accelerative Learning andTeachingVolume 12, Number 3&4 Fall, 1987

Music and accelerative learning: Some historic and cur-rent applications. Patrick S. Brislan 115

Students attitudes towards the use of music and mind-calming in their high school language class.

Uschi Felix 141

Relaxation and imagination imagery.Connie R. Hull, Gary F. Render and Charles E.

Moon 169

Japanese language and SALT.Hideo Seki 181

Dual-plane awareness techniques other than Lozanov'sfor accelerating and enriching teaching and learning

Win Wenger 34-5

Book Reviews

A Teacher's Guide to Whole Brained Learning, by PeterW. Majoy. Reviewed by John Senatore 217

Accelerated Learning, by Colin Rose.Reviewed by John Senatore 220

Teaching for the Two-sided Mind, by Linda VerleeWilliams. Reviewed by John Senatore 223

Tables of Contents, Volume 12 225Author Index, Volume 12 227Topic Index, Volume 12 228

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Author Index

JSALT, 1987, Volume 12

Anderson, L.D., 3Bris lan, RS., 115Felix, U, 141

C R, 169Merritt, S., 39Moon, C.E, 169Moschel, T.S., 49Ogletree, E.J., 65, 107Render, G., 3, 169Seki, H, 181Senatore. J., 217,220,223Van Kraayenburg, F., 17VociReed, E., 85Wenger, W.,195

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Topic Index

JSALT, 1987, Volume 12

accelerated learning magnet school, 39adult learners, 85applications of music, 115art of movement, 65attracting teachers & administrators, 39attitudes toward music, 141autonomic nervous system and music, 115awareness techniques f or SALT,195Book reviewsAccelerated Learning, 220Magic Feather, 107Teacher's Guide to Whole Brained Learning, 217Teaching for the Two-sided Mind, 223

components for teacher training, 49double-plane oriented education, 181dual-plane awareness techniques,195ef fective teacher training, 49English teaching in black schools, 17historic applications, 115hypermnesia & Superlearning, 3imagery, relaxation & imagination, 169imagination imagery, 169Japanese language & SALT, 181language discrimination & music, 115magnet school & SALT, 39mind-calming and attitudes, 141movement and art, 65music and,accelerative learning, 115attitudes, 141

rare English words & Superlearning, 3relaxation & imagination imagery, 169retention & Superlearning, 3

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SALT &adult learners, 85Africa, 17black South African schools, 17awareness techniques,195Japanese language, 181teaching English, 17

skin temperature & relaxation, 169student attitudes & music, 141student-centered learning, 85Super learning & retention, 3Survey of Mental Imagery, 169teacher usage of techniques, 49unity through communication, 17visual information in memory, 181visual thinking strategy,195vital components of training, 49Waldorf schools & art, movement, 65

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