HICPR: Felt Sense of a HIPoeces Workshop

Monday, March 14, 2011

Felt Sense of a HIPoeces Workshop

Saturday, March 12th, I did a 6 hour workshop with Region 4 in Houston. Participants were a mix of relatively inexperienced instructors and administrators. Focus was on training that would be relevant for instructors w/zero background in pronunciation teaching. What I learned: (a) In working HIP with (larger) groups, distance from the instructor to the students at the back of the room is critical. Maximum distance is probably 40 feet. (b) Instructor modeling must be absolutely unambiguous, that is upper body movement has to be very easy to follow, especially at 40 feet, (c) participants can be brought to a point where they get the "felt sense" of all (8) protocols/techniques--but most will need a video-model to work with in class to take all of the system to their students effectively (What a concept!), and (d) six hours straight of aerobic-like presentation and practice is a workout . . . even for the physically and conceptually "fit!"

6 comments:

AnonymousMarch 16, 2011 at 9:24 AM
Thank you for presenting to us! I feel that these methods will benefit my students. I agree that video would be helpful for teachers to view before class so that they are confident that they are not leaving out some of the movements. Would it be possible to add videos to Youtube of a teacher and small group of students doing each of the activities?
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Bill ActonMarch 19, 2011 at 4:55 PM
great idea! i'll do youtuber soon!
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AnonymousMay 25, 2011 at 8:00 PM
Hello, Bill. This is your Russian student Natalia from that workshop. I agree that it was a really interesting workshop, and I felt very inspired. I started using the vowel clock presenting vocabulary, and the students responded quite well. I came across one sound however that I can't figure out on that clock. How do you show the sound in "First" or "burn"?
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Bill ActonMay 27, 2011 at 8:43 PM
for 2r & 10r, use the "bite the sides of your tongue" technique, and then say the word, brushing the palm of the node hand with the other hand and then continuing back toward your ear. The idea w/r is bring the hand back toward the face, forcing the tongue to "follow" by moving slightly up and back.
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AnonymousJune 7, 2011 at 8:08 PM
I'll do my best. I wish I had a video of it :-). Thank you very much! Natalia
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Bill ActonJune 9, 2011 at 5:28 AM
video will be available later this month on ehiep.blogspot.com!
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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.)