Do the words we use count? : neuro-linguist programming

Abstract

The eo-founders of neuro-linguistic programming in the early 1970s are two Americans, John Grinder, a linguist and Richard Bandler, then a student of computer science and mathematics. They began to observe common patterns of behaviour and attitudes of people who excelled in the field of psychotherapy. The discipline is defines as an attitude to life, the aim of which is to help achieve intra-personal and inter-personal brilliance. The 'neuro' part is concerned with how we experience the world through our five senses and represent it in out consciousness. The "linguistic" part is concerned with the way the language we use shapes and reflects our experience of the world. The programming part is concerned with training ourselves to think, speak and act in new and positive ways, in order to realize our full potential as human beings. As a discipline it has begun to find its way into the teaching of EFL and also teacher training over the last number of years (Revell and Norman 1997, 1999).