HICPR: October 2010

Friday, October 29, 2010

Gesture and learning

Interesting study examining the contribution of gesture to learning and recalling language.

Spacing and visual recognition

The strategic use of visual space is fundamental to HIPoeces systems. In some ways quite analogous to the phonesthetic qualities vowels (See earlier post), the visual schema represented by the adapted International Phonetic Alphabet vowel chart used here, assumes that different areas of the visual field are more sensitive to different colors or hues. In HIPoeces work, the vowel chart from the students' perspective is a mirror image of the standard IPA layout. The front vowels are on the right; back vowels, on left. There are a number of reasons for that, but, in essence, it is because that positioning in the visual field maps on very well to some models of the overall functioning of the different areas in the visual field. Put very roughly, using color, the right visual field (in this system) is more "yellow"; the left, more blue; the center, more green. The top of the visual field is lighter; the bottom, darker, creating hues. That general distribution of sensory differentiation is at least metaphorically consistent with any number of human conceptual systems that are referenced through a two dimensional visual schema. (Much more on that general, fascinating question--later!)

Gesture and better speaking

Speech-synchronized gesture has long been recognized as central to both coherence and focus or emphasis. HIPoeces provides systematic, continuous use of "gesture-synchronized speech," in effect allowing the body to drive the voice, rather than the contrary.

Touch and recognition

Most HIPoeces work involves touch where learners move their arms/hands through space in front of the upper body, completing the stroke with touch. In addition to the research study link above, the McMaster University Tactile Research Laboratory is good source for basic understanding of how touch works.

Learning by speaking output

There has been a very decided, relatively recent bias against pushed output, "forcing" learners into verbal output prematurely--or even requiring a "silent period" in the process.

Hand "motivation"

There is extensive research concerning the relative emotional intensity of left vs right hand. In HIPoeces, that asymmetry is assumed and exploited pedagogically. The handedness and eye dominance effects vary greatly with individuals, but some general principles are evident.

Words and gesture functioning

Gestural, or haptic, anchoring is central to establishing word-level stress patterns and collocations in the system.

New perspective on motor learning

Connecting up the essential motor learning of pronunciation work with the cognitive and metacognitive research agendas of research currently continues to be problematic, at best. But the connection between motor learning and speech perception is important to work in this area.

Tactile learning study

The use of touch is probably the most innovative aspect of the HIPoeces approach.

Gesture and speech

The collocation of gesture and a number of aspects of speech and speaking have been clear for sometime. Research and practice in ESL/EFL has, with few exceptions, not acknowledged that important nexus.

Phonesthetics of products & vowels

The positioning of the vowel "chart" in the visual space in front of the learner has important neurophysiological implications.

Touch-related research article

In the overall system, the use of sign-language-like movements takes on a more integrated and "instrumental" function.

There is also, of course, the MIT Haptic Lab

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What is haptic pronunciation teaching?

Basically, it is using gesture, touch and movement to teach pronunciation of English (or any language). What makes this method unique is that it is based on controlled and systematic use of gesture in doing that. (Often the problem with gesture use in language learning is that it can be "crazy" or random or intimidating or inconsistent, or not well-developed and tied to clear outcomes.)

The earlier "Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation (EHIEP) approach," now KINETIK, does a better job of enhancing presentation, modelling, feedback and correction. The method is simple and easy to follow. Once a 30-minute module is finished, teacher and students have a set of techniques to use in class anytime a pronunciation problem or opportunity comes up!

Haptic Preliminaries

I often begin workshops or papers with the comment that in about 40 years in the field I have had just one idea: that the systematic use of body movement is essential to effective and efficient pronunciation instruction. That has never been more relevant than today, with the general deemphasis on pronunciation and introduction of technology into the field. From both perspectives, the "haptic" perspective approach developed here offers great promise. I can at least promise you a "moving" experience!

What is the KINETIK Method?

KINETIK is the name of the new v6.0 haptic pronunciation teaching system. About six years earlier we were using the acronym, "Haptic Integrated Pronunciation for Other/Extended Circle English Speakers" (HIPOECES)--still there in the url of this blog!

Haptic-integrated clinical pronunciation is:

A different way to learn pronunciation, based in part on Arthur Lessac’s notion of “Training the body first.” It is also based on research in the use of movement and touch in learning and training. It:

Looks somewhat like a combination of aerobics, sign language and Taichi

Provides a basic foundation for continued, self-directed pronunciation learning and classroom instruction

Designed for use by relatively untrained teachers but appropriate for all teachers (and learners) of all levels

Focuses on pronunciation used in conversation (not all words in English)

Is a highly “brain-and-body-friendly” system that promotes efficient learning of integrated tasks in general

Designed to promote integrated classroom pronunciation instruction and enable integration of conscious pronunciation work into spontaneous speaking.

Introduction

This blog was formerly named: HIPoeces (pronounced 'hI-pƏ-cIs), basically an approach to teaching English pronunciation to speakers of "outer and expanding" circle Englishes (including that population commonly termed: non-native speakers) but also compatible with the use of local models other than simply Standard" American" or RP. Using Kachru's "Inner, expanding and outer circles" model to characterize the breadth of Englishes and speakers of those, HIPoeces (now HICP) systems focus on developing haptically-centered pedagogical models and methods which can be adapted for teaching the pronunciation of various Englishes as they are spoken and taught by "owners" of those varieties.

In theory, the underlying principles can be applied to teaching the sound system of any language. Most language instructors intuitively use a great deal of movement and tactile anchoring in the classroom. The essential question is how to use that resource systematically, especially so that those learners who are less "haptic" in nature are also "moved" by the method.

Simply put, the HICP model/method is based on the idea of speaking along with arm and hand movement, not all that different from that used in sign languages. Most movement patterns are taken from either typical classroom pronunciation instruction practice or from related fields, such as psychotherapy or sports.

Most blog posts link to research that relates to the general HICP model, that is studies dealing with the role of gesture, touch, movement, learning modalities, learning in output, use of the visual field in learning, and experiential learning.

DEFINITIONS:

"Haptic" techniques- procedures that involve both movement and touch (Obvious examples include clapping hands, tapping feet, or holding an object and shaking it to the rhythm of a poem.)

"HICP techniques" - procedures that are haptic and also explicitly coordinated with phonological structures and/or discourse prosody (For example, clapping hands on primary stressed syllables in multi-syllable words, or doing a dance step on key words in conversational turns.)

"Haptic integration"- The haptic dimension probably functions as much to anchor visual and auditory material as it does to assist the learner in getting the "felt sense" of the sound or sound process. Lack of integration into spontaneous speech being such a serious potential shortcoming of instruction, haptic engagement seems a promising bridge to more accurate fluency.

"Visual field" - in HICP extensive use is made of the visual field in front of the learner. (For example, a modified version of the IPA vowel chart is anchored haptically in the imagination of the learner, directly in front of the upper body, and used for several purposes throughout the program.)