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Accelerated Learning
by Bobbi DePorter
Many people think of Accelerated Learning as any activity that speeds up the
learning process. Such things as studying in groups and occasional activities may
increase learning, but as valuable as these teaching tools may be, true Accelerated
Learning methodology is much more than that. Accelerated Learning is a
systematic approach to teaching the whole person, containing specific core
elements that, when used together, empower students to learn faster, more
effectively and joyfully. To occasionally turn on a baroque tape or hang a few
posters is to use but a few elements of the whole process. To get the most from
Accelerated Learning you need to know how and when to use each element and
understand the theory behind it.
Developed in the 1970s, Accelerated Learning is based on the work of Dr. Georgi
Lozanov, a professor of psychiatry and psychotherapy from Bulgaria now living in
Austria. His early program, which focused on teaching a foreign language,
included relaxation, visual arts and music. Students learned from one hundred to
one thousand new vocabulary words a day with ninety-eight percent retention or
better. He called his new method "Suggestology," based on the theory that
suggestions can and do affect the outcome of learning.
According to Lozanov, Suggestology is an organized way of augmenting natural
learning. It builds on those methods that allow us to learn most effectively and
efficiently, emulating some of the ways we learned as a young child. Suggestology
recaptures that natural learning process and accelerates the understanding and
retention of content.