Bottom-up pronunciation teaching: "Touchinami"

Clip art: Clker

Here is a 1997 article by Chela-Flores that was influential in forming my understanding of the place of rhythm in pronunciation instruction. Essentially, the position was that pronunciation instruction should be based on rhythm groups, with all other elements seen as fitting within and taught within that structure. Lessons are rhythm-centered; the felt sense of a word has a clear rhythmic identity, etc.

Now, take that concept and add on top of each rhythm group an "intonation group" as characterized nicely by Celik--and a "haptic-anchor" as developed here on this blog--and you have what, in EHIEP  work, we call a "touch-i-nami (from Japanese: touch wave)," a basic pedagogical tool: a rhythm group with a chunk of intonation "on top," well-grounded haptically in memory. Bottoms up!