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INTERNATIONAL
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OF EDUCATIONAL ENGINEERING
746
No.8
Oct. 2Q04
No.1729-5971(2004)08-0746-06
Learner Anxiety: "Suggestive Music" for English
Conversation Classes
Robert J. Dickey
(School o/Foreign Languages & Tourism. Gyeongju University, Gyeongju Cit); S. Korea 780-712)
Abstract: A semester long collaborative action research study assessing learner improvement in English
listening skills through Suggestopedia-like background music in university General English conversation
courses in Korea reveals through both qualitative and quantitative assessments that while little growth in
listening skill may be realized through these classes, the use of recorded music may provide some
advantage without impacting other choices in instructional method.
Key words: anxiety; suggestopedia; lozanov; listening; TOEIC; general English classes; conversation
years were taught through standardized syllabi and books.
1 The setting
Teachers were allowed to deviate from the text. but the
Gyeongju University is a fairly typical four-year university
in South Korea, with a student population of
pooled by a team of the NSE faculty based on materials
approximately 5,000 undergraduates, located in a mid-
presented in the textbook
2nd year interview exam questions were developed and
sized city approximately 300 kilometers from the nation's
capital. As with most universities in Korea, English has
become a required course of study for all students. All
students must successfully complete four semesters of
"General Studies English."
The flrst year course has a
focus on grammar and vocabulary, and for those students
Second year, second semester General Studies English
Conversation classes taught by four North American
instructors are the basis of this investigation. Classes are
officially open to students from any major, but usually
outside the School of Foreign Language and Tourism, is
over 90% of students in a general studies classroom are
from one or two designated departments, certain class
taught by local part-time instructors. All second year
courses are taught by "native speaker of English" (NSE)
sections are recommended for particular departments in
order to coordinate standardized course offerings within
faculty members. Typically 32-40 students meet in an
those departments. Most of the students included in this
discussion were from the schools of Tourism. Public
unheated, non-airconditioned classroom, and a large
number of students are unmotivated to learn after five to
six years of English grammar and vocabulary insmlction
Administration & Law, and Foreign Languages &
Tourism. The students entering these schools typically
at the middle and high school levels. All classes in both
had higher English language skills compared
to
most
Introduction to the author: Dr. Robert J. Dickey (Mr.) is an Assistant Professor at Gyeongju University'S School or'
Foreign Language and Tourism in South Korea. Originally from the United States, he has been teaching English (and
other subjects) in Korea since 1994. Dr. Dickey holds advanced degrees in public administration and law, and obtained
the (RSA) CTEFLA from International House, Hastings, England, he is currently a graduate student in the University of
Southern Mississippi Master of Arts in Teaching Languages program. He has been actively involved in Korea TESOL
since 1996; serving as national president for the term 2001-2002 as well as in vanou:> other offices. His teaching and
research interests include professional ethics, use. of "!ow-technologi' in language instruction, cross-cultural
understanding, pronunciation, and content-based learning.
The author would like to thank his teaching and data collection collaborators in this project. Mr. Sean M. Reed, .\lr.
Alexander E. Vos, and Mr. Michael Humphreys, withou't whose participation, thoughtfulness, and suggestions this
research project could not have been completed .
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1729-5971 (2004)08-0746-06
Robert J. Dickey: Lea.'ner Anxiety: "Suggestive Music" for English Conversation ClaSses 747
other freshmen at this university, most of whom were
unable to gain entrance into more prestigious universities
in larger cities. Still, these are mixed-ability classes:
those with higher skills and interests in English sit
alongside those who understand little and would rather
not be in the classroom at all.
2 The problem
Gardner's (1989) model of foreign language learner
anxiety, reporting that "foreign language anxiety is a
situation-specific form of anxiety deriving from previous
experiences of poor performance in the language," while
Chung et a1. note that other forms of anxiety may also be
present (174-175).
There is a widely held belief by NSE teachers in across
The effects of anxiety (tension, fear, nervousness, and
Asia that general studies English conversation courses
"stress") in the learning process have been widely
are a waste of the students' time, that little is learned.
acknowledged in education circles (a literature survey
Mosback (1997), in an overview of English learning, has
suggested that learning English in a 3-5 hour per week
documeming this basic assertion is outside the scope of
most all language teacher conferences, and see Arnold,
class in the EFL university setting makes "no significant
difference to the students' level of English;" in fact
1999; Horwitz, Honvitz, and Cope,1986; Howitz and
Young, 1991; MacIntyre and Gardner, 1989; Shin, 2003).
Mosback notes a decline in tests scores (316, emphasis
in original). Mosback (1997, 318) states "as we had long
The literature often describes learner anxiety as an
"affective filter" that, when "raised," negatively impacts
intuitively felt ... 'back up' courses in service English are
this brief article, but one may find ample evidence at
largely a waste of resources."
the ability to learn. (Stephen Krashen is widely viewed
as an early Jeading figure in these discussions, see his
Korean society, like many other Asian natio:ls', is highly
early works, e.g., 1982.) The loom of grades provides an
attentive to TOEIC scores, and as speaking ability is not
inherent level of tension to any classroom, more so for
assessed on that exam, nor on the standardized university
"difficult courses" such as foreign languages. There is
entrance test (KSAT, or su-neung), conversational courses
little question that the presence of non-bilingual
are frequently little valued. On the other hand, there are
expatriate teachers in a graded university course, when
also teachers who argue that listening skills directly
students have perhaps never spoken with a foreign
correlate to speaking ability, and choose to teach using
national, raises the stress level still higher for many
techniques such as dictation drills, despite the fact that few
learners. Yet as Horwitz and Young (1991, p.17:)
documented studies confirm that approach. Another
observe, "we are only beginning to understand language
anxiety and its functioning in the development and
perspective, one I endorse, is that listening is not less than
performance of second languages" and "exactly how
is an important element of any conversation skills course.
half of conversation, and therefore listening comprehension
anxiety impedes language learning has not been
Of course, listening is relatively "easier"
resolved."
standardized exams than speaking, though such tests may
not accurately assess actual competency.
to
assess in
All of these
Anxiety is a growing area of research in Asia. Shin
issues troubled me, as it did several of my colleagues. The
(2003) indicates that teachers from six different Asian
question remained, how could we improve our students'
countries largely share perspectives on learner's language
learning?
anxiety, and attempt to deal with these in two ways:
creating a comfortable classroom environment (socially,
though games, songs, jokes, etc,), and modifying
instructional procedures (using open ended questions,
group work, different expectations for different learner)
Dealing with anxiety in learners
of English
The ELT literature from the 1970s and 1980s is filled
with "humanist" approaches to language teaching, often
(76). Those teachers who felt the need to maintain
with a basis in psychology or sociology. Rather than a
authoritarian roles still believed they could accommodate
behaviorist approach such as that which underpins the
Audio-Lingual Method, these humanist approaches
looked to improving learning through learners' emotional
comfort. Community Language Learning, the Silent
Way, and Suggestopedia are a few cases in point. There
learner anxiety through modifications as mentioned
(Shin, 2003, 79). Chung et a1. (2003) remind that there
are more issues in anxiety than merely a general sense of
discomfort, they cite with approval MacIntyre and
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ENGINEERING
748
No.8
Oct. 2004
are a number of texts offering very readable SUf'ileys of
complimentary components, many of which are not
many of these approaches, including Larsen-Freeman
feasible in a typical university classroom.
(1986), Richards & Rodgers (1986), Stevick (1980), and
most famous aspects of Suggestopedia are the music, the
Stevick (1998). Considering the teaching environment:
comfortable room (lighting, colors, flowers, art) and chairs,
institutional facilities, various levels of
and fantastic success stories of vocabulary learnt and the
learner interest and ability; and my own philosophy of
pleasure of doing so. Arguably of greater importance than
class
Perhaps the
teaching and learning, many of these instructional
any of these, students are screened for motivation and
designs were simply not feasible in whole or part.
appropriacy prior to admittance to a Suggestopedic \:ourse.
I
decided to trial an easily implemented aspect of Georgi
Perhaps also of relevance, Suggestopedic
Lozanov's Suggestopedia (see Lozanov, 1978, or any of
are typically offered to "true beginners" in thal target
the many print and web discussions on Suggestopedia).
language.
courses
There is no widely held "primer" on Suggestopedia: all of
One of the most obvious elements of Suggestopedia that
Lozanov's past works (sale and co-authored) are both out
might be employed in the factory-like barren concrete
of print and repudiated by the authors; his design has gone
university classroom is music. Many language teachers
through several changes (Bancroft, 1999; and Felix, n.d.);
have access to audio cassette or CD players in their
descriptions written by
ッエNセ・イウ@
have been criticized by
classroom for listening activities, thus adding music does
Lozanov and his staff for inaccuracies; and the system has
not require technology/infrastructure upgrade to these
since again been redesigned and renamed, now known as
classrooms. As the specifics of the music have changed
"Desuggestive Learning" (Lozanov, 1999). The work of
Lozanov has been revised by others as well, in designs
during the four models or designs by Lozanov (Bancroft,
1999; Felix, n.d.; Ostrander and Schroeder, 1979), it
known as "Accelerated Learning", "Super-Learning" and
seemed that the common element of classicallpre-
"Suggestive Accelerated Learning Technique" among
Classical music would in itself suffice as a treatment.
others (ibid).
Such an approach was widely reported in the mass media
of the 19905, best known as "The .'Ylozart effect" (see
Due to lack of available literature sources prior to the
Campbell, 2001) and popularized tor pregnant mothers,
commencement of this study, the research method was
infants, and small children in such media as "Baby
drawn from the overviews of Suggestopedia offered by
Mozart" and "Baby Bach" videos and audio recordings
Larsen-Freeman (1986), Richards and Rodgers (1986),
(Baby Einstein company, 1998a, 1998b).
Stevick (1980), and Stevick (1998). The broader literature
survey done during and after this course does not contra-
4 The method
indicate the method chosen, although there are several
The hypothesis for this collaborative action research
variations on the theme of music, even among the various
project became "Would a 'musically suggestive'
works by Lozanov himself.
environment, within the confines of a typical university
classroom, facilitate improved listening durng the class,
Stevick (1980) summarized the underlying assumptions
leading to improved communicative skills'w
of the Suggcstopedic method in a succinct manner:
native
of English (NSE)
Several
agreed to
join in the study, we all expressed uncertainty as to the
(1) That learning involves the unconscious functions of the
effectiveness of Suggestopedia in whole or in part, which
leamer, as well as the conscious functions; and (2) that
seemed a healthy skepticism.
people can leam much faster than they usually do, but (3)
that learning is held back by (a) the norms and limitations
Four NSE instructors administered an abbreviated
which society has taught us, and by (b) lack of harmonious,
version of a commercial TOEIC practice test to nine
relaxed working together of all parts of the leamer, and by
General Studies English Conversation classes during the
(c) consequent failure to make use of powers which lie idle
second and third week of the semester. Questions 21-50
in most people most of the time.
(p. 230)
The Suggestopedic method involves a number of .
were used (listen to a brief conversation, select one of
three spoken responses). The same test was administered
during the 13 th and 14th weeks to the seven classes that
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No.1729-5971(2004)08"'()746-06
Robert 1. Dickey: Leamer Anxiety: "Suggestive Music" for English Conversation Classes 749
were included in the study, as one instructor was unable
to participate in the full study. In the intervening time, in
the "treatment" classes music was regularly played at
low volume prior to the beginning of instruction, during
breaks, and occasionally during student working periods.
The "control group" classes received no music. In every
other respect, instructors attempted to teach these
courses in the same manner as all other courses they
taught \\'ithin the General Studies English Conversation
program (though there was no attempt by instructors to
match each other's teachi,ng practices).
Each of the three instructors taught one "treatment"
dass" and one or two "control group" classes, and all
except myself also taught other General Studies English
Conversation classes where the pre- and post-tests were
not administered.
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For most of the treatment class sessions, the music
selected was from a "Classical Guitars" recording, this
seiection is consistent with the Baroque form of music
most commonly identified with the Suggestopedic
method. One instructor chose to replace the classical
music for several weeks with an "Early years Beatles"
recording, he reported that the change in music
apparently made no difference in student attitudes
towards music in the class.
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Although the sophomore General Studies English
Conversation course does not explicitly focus on
listening, most of the textbook's exercises and our
classroom activities were specifically oriented to
listening comprehension or conversational (listening +
speaking) skills development. The other reasons for
selecting a portion ofthe TOEIC test were related to ease
of administration and validity: few other tests are
available that have similar minimal demand in test
implementation, and test validity issues include the fact
that students were willing and eager to give their best
efforts on practice TOEIC tests that did not affect their
grades. Tests were anonymous, using date of birth to
match pre-tests to post-tests. Such a matching system
allowed us to examine both cumulative class averages
and student-specific nonns.
The reason for the music and the tests was explained to
the students as "for us teachers to test our teaching." As
there were no other alterations to our teaching beyond
"background music," students seemed to accept this as
nothing far out of the routine.
5 The results
The semester-long nature of this study made mid-course
changes impossible, unlike many "action research"
projects with their cyclical Plan!Action/EvaluatelReplan/Action ... design (see Dickey, 2001). Findings were
not available until after the semester had been
completed. Our aim had been, from the origin of the
study, to analyze for potential changes in the next year's
. curriculum as well as within our personal teaching styles
regardless of syllabus.
One problematic outcome was the existence of a decline
group, a class whose posttest scores were lower than
their pretest (but see Mosback's comment quoted above).
Only students who took both pretest and posttest were
included in the statistical analysisthis decision was based
on the fact that during the second and third weeks of
classes students are still permitted to transfer between
classes. In this small popUlation of 109 testtakers (not
including the decline group nor those who took only one
of the two tests), the pretest/posttest score grm.vth of
individual learners within any single class varied widely,
nor were single classes very consistent with others of
similar type. Instructor comments, however, necessarily
reflected their experience with all learners, as none
attempted to monitor which students had taken the first
test, and no student was required to take either the pretest or posttest, it was entirely optional.
Students seemed pleased with the musical interludes,
though after a few class meetings they no longer seemed
to notice. Even if played during pairwork or small group
exercises, music seemed to not affect their outvvard
behavior. A few students hummed along before class
began, certain of the melodies were heard along campus
hallways.
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From the ps),cholinguistic standpoint, all seemed well.
On the other hand, the rate of test score improvement
from pretest to posttest was not at all consistent with
the success stories of Suggestopedia. Collectively, the
music treatment groups saw a net increase of 0.097, and
the control groups improved by 0.077 (after removal of
the decline group). Improvement, as shown in these
figures, however, was small. Such slow growth in
language skills is the reality that language learners and .
their teachers face everyday. We' can ャゥョ、・イウセ@
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ENGINEERING
750
better with the following example: a student who scored
16 out of 25 in the pretest would likely score 17 or 18
on the posttest 10 weeks later.
This report is not based on intensive statistical analysis,
but it would be appropriate to note that such analysis was
conducted. Also of interest to some researchers may be
the issue of "interinstructor variability." Three schools
provided most of the students within six of the seven
classes analysed: each provided both a control group and
a treatment group, and no instructor taught more than .
one section with one school (as all class sections for each
designated school were held at the same time). Analysis
done at the school level and instructor level was not
revealing.
It seems, as Mosback (1997) observes, that students do
not develop as much or as fast as we would hope. We
saw only 8.6% improvement in test scores for all
students over 11 weeks of instruction, and this only after
a (controlgroup) class with a net decline in scores had
been removed from consideration.
6 Future action
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As with any action research, we may question whether
the investigation was thorough enough or \vide·ranging
enough to respond to concems of reliability and validity.
Teachers did not "teach to the test," as this was central to '
the investigation: would
listening skills (not the
main focus of the course) improve if we affected the
classroom environment? The instructors did not attempt
to modify the treatment beyond the choice of music
noted above, and we didn't discuss the project
extensively between ourselves prior to preparing "after
action" summations of our classroom activities which
these were prepared after the posttests had been
administered, but prior to test scoring.
Susan Barduhn (personal communication) commented
after a conference presentation on of the statistical
No.8
Oct. 2004
findings of this study "That's not Suggestopedia." To
which I agreed. I recognize that Lozanov claims that
Suggestopedia is an "all or nothing" type of approach,
that loss of only a few elements undermines the full
process. Since environmental changes such as class
scheduling, carpeting, upholstered chairs, room color,
fresh flowers, and noise control are beyond the control of
most university teachers, along with class sizes and
frequency/duration of class sessions, and more
importantly, the desire of ail learners to be active
participants, we never hoped for the dramatic language
skills improvements claimed in the Suggestopedic
approach. Nor were any of these instructors trained in
"Suggestology," Lozanov's psychologybased framework
for his methodology. Instead, this investigation was
based on the realities facing an ordinary language
teacher in Asia.
What I have concluded is that if a teacher is carrying an
audiocassette or CD player into a classroom anyway,
adding "suggestive music" adds little to the teaching
burden. Furthermore, as an added advantage, it seemed
to help reduce my noninstructional "teacher talking
time" during quiet moments in the classroom. Music d:d
not reduce the amount of instruction
the background music could have been a greater
distraction to some students than the more customary
institutional and outdoor sounds of a Korean university
classroom. Recognizing the possibility that music may
assist in the learning process through a lowering of the
affective filter, such contributing to an improvement ill
listening skills, I have concluded that I should take music
into all my classes. Meanwhile I continue my action
research into other possibilities. [A followup study,
Dickey 2003, presented at the PanKorea English
Teacher's Association conference in Busan in September
2003 documents the use of Suggestopedia's artwork on
the walls, plus light/color and aroma therapies: contact
the author for a copy of the proceedings article.]
References
1 Arnold, J. (Ed.). Affect in language ャ・。イョゥァ{セヲ@
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1999.
2 Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B., & Cope J.A. Foreign lang'../age classroom anxiety[J]. Modern Language Journal, 1986,70, 125132.
3 Horwitz, E.K.., & Young, D. Language anx;iety: From theory and research to classroom implications[J]. Upper Saddle River, NJ
(USA): Prentice Hall. 1991.
4 MacIntyre, P.D., & Gardner, R.C. Anxiety and second language learning: toward a theoretical clarification[J]. Language Learning,
1989,39: 251275.
5 Shin, SJ. The teacher's perspectives on students' language anxiety[J]. English Language and Literature Teaching, 2003, 9(1): 67.82.
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No. 17295971 (2004)08074606
Robert 1. Dickey: Learner Anxiety: "Suggestive Music" for English Conversation Classes 751
6 Krashen, S. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition[MJ. New York: Pergamon. 1982.
7 Chung, HS., Thomson, R., Bowman, M., Swafford, G., & ThorkeIson, T. Listening comprehension and anxiety in Korean EFL classes:
A comparison ojmain idea comprehension and detail comprehension practice[J]. Korean Jotnnal ofApplied Linguistics, 2003, 19(1): 173187.
8 Mosback, G.P. Service courses in ESL aI university level-How effective (JJ'f? tJuy?[J]. English Language Teaching Journal, 1997,34(4): 313318.
9 LarsenFreeman, D. Techniques and principles in language teaching[MJ. New York: Oxford University Press.1986.
10 Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. Approaches and methods in language teaching[M). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1986.
11 Stevick, E. Teaching languages: A way and ways[MJ. Cambridge, MA (USA): Newbury House. 1980.
12 Stevick, E. Working with teaching methods: What's at stake?[M). Pacific Grove, CA: Heinle & Heinle. 1998.
13 Lozanov, G. Suggesrologr and Outlines oJSuggestopedy (M. Hall-Pozharlieva & K. Pashmakova, Trans.)[M). New York: Gordon and
Breach. (Original work published 1971.), 1978.
14 Bancroft, W.J. Suggestopedia and language acquisition: Variations on a theme[M). New York: Gordon and Breach. 1999.
15 Felix,U.(n.d.). Suggestopedia. Available: http://wwwpersonal.monash.edu.au/ufelix/thesis22.htm and http://wwwpersonal.monash.edu.aulufelixlthesis23.htm
16 Lozanov, G. Letter from Dr. Lozanov [to the membership of the International Alliance for LearnL.'1g). Available as a web archive:
http://\veb.archive.orglweb/19991 006194 713/http://www.fidalgo.netlindigo/letter.htm. 1999.
17 Ostrander, S., and Schroeder, L. Superlearning[M]. New York: Delta. 1979.
18 Campbell, D. T1!eMozart effect[M]. New York: Quill. 2001.
19 Baby Einstein Company. Baby Mozart (video). Burbank, Calif (USA). 1998a.
20 Baby Einstein Company. Baby Bach (video). Burbank, Calif (USA). 1998b.
21 Dickey, R. Perspectives on action research. PAC Journal 1, 175183. Available: http://www.pacteach.org/jrnlv1/, 2001.
22 Dickey, R. Learner Anxiety and the Korean classroom environment[R). Presentation before the PanKorea English Teachers
Association September 20,2003, Busan, Korea. 2003.
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my concern is mainly laid on idiolectal feature i
blank verse. I have deliberately given the lio '
this essay to the most favorite wor .
writing blank verse, his 02tfing feature of using
tic scansion, there are quite a number of
nglish words ending in r or-er, like 'fever',
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various effects a y e unique phonemic patterning and
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in blank verse.
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'sum up, Tintern Abbey incorporates Wordsworth's
poetic ideas into poetic structures typical of the poet and
, turns out to be the blank verse triumph of the poet.
common to all his works. As far as space is
References
1 Abrams, M. H. ed. The Nort
. London: Oxford University Press, INC, 1875.
3 Leech, Geoffrey
TO'
Linguistic Guide to English Poetry[MJ. London: Longman Group Lt ,
. ected Lyrical Poems oj Wordsworth[M]. Changsha: Hunan Literature and Arts Pr
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