Sunday, July 28, 2013

Dealing with problem pronunciation? Gesticulate!

Clip art;
Clker
This from a Science Daily summary of new research by Miller and O'Neil of San Francisco State University on the role of gesture in problem solving variability in young children. The basic finding was that the more "gesticular" were better at solving problems. Furthermore: 

"There is a growing body of research that suggests gesturing may play a significant role in the processes that people use to solve a problem or achieve a goal. These processes include holding information in memory, keeping the brain from choosing a course too quickly and being flexible in adding new or different information to handle a task."

So, how does that relate to haptic pronunciation teaching? 

  • Holding information in memory (by means of haptic anchoring, using movement and touch on stressed syllables and words)
  • Keeping the brain from choosing a course too quickly (managing attention, haptically, with gesture and touch, at least 3 seconds at a time!)
  • Being flexible in adding new or different information to handle a task (enabling learners to work with multiple modalities in pronunciation work simultaneously, i.e., auditory, visual, kinaesthetic, tactile, etc. )

And you have a problem with that? Good!

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