Hands on work

Although not a research study, this article neatly makes the case for the use of "manipulatives" in content ESL/EFL instruction. As mentioned in the left and right column in various places, there is more to HIPoeces methodology than simply movement and touch as anchors or stimulants to learning. Holding a rubber band and stretching it on stressed vowels in words to anchor the sensation of long vs short vowels is proposed as a useful technique in pronunciation teaching (cf.Gilbert, 2007)--but it does not meet the criteria of the touch occurring ONLY on the stressed or focal element, not the rest of the word. In that case, the sensation of the rubberband is continuous, not discreet. The "nexus" of sound, sight, movement and highly focused touch is here proposed as the "sine qua non" of the system.