HICPR: October 2014

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The best, fastest, most moving and touching way to improve English pronunciation! (AHEPS v3.0 Previews)

These videos are still a work in progress but will give you a pretty good idea of what each module of Acton Haptic English Pronunciation System v3.0 - Bees and Butterflies (Serious fun!) is about. (AHEPS is, of course, just about the ONLY moving and touching pronunciation system around!)

AHEPS v3.0 Bees and Butterflies
(Serious fun - really!)

M1 Matrix (haptic learning) - Basics of using movement and touch and the visual field in pronunciation teaching (and vocabulary work!)
M2 Single (short) vowels - and haptic anchoring of word stress
M3 Double (long) vowels - and "pure" vowels in unstressed syllables
M4 Syllable Butterfly - rhythm grouping
M5 Basic Intonation - 5 patterns
M6 Tai Chi Fluency - speaking fluency and pitch range
M7 Rhythm Fight Club - increasing speed and confidence
M8 Advanced intonation - and expressiveness
M9 Baton Integration - in class technique for integrating pronunciation change
M10 Linking - Focusing on connections between words
M11 Unstressed vowels

For an overview of v3.0, go HERE!

For preliminary information on purchasing the system go HERE!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Meta-pronunciation: Just do it!

Nice post by Wilson and Conyers on Edutopia blog looking at teaching metacognitive skills to kids. (Some of the links off the post are good as well.) So how does that relate to haptic pronunciation teaching (HPT)? Pretty directly as a matter of fact. They give 5 general principles:

1. "Explicitly teach students about this essential learning skill by defining the term metacognition." (Basically, managing or "driving" your brain in their terms!)
HPT principle: Learn to control attention during haptic work and manage homework and practice effectively. (See previous posts on "mindfulness.")

2. "Ask students to describe the benefits and supply examples of driving their brains well."
HPT principle: Explicitly work with students on their strategies for "brain control" during pronunciation work and other subjects and follow up with some kind of written, reflective journaling to assist them in using their time efficiently.

3. "Whenever possible, let students choose what they want to read and topics they want to learn more about."
HPT principle: Students must quickly begin finding more words and phrases on which to practice, as well as writing them down consistently during class work.

4. "Look for opportunities to discuss and apply metacognition across core subjects . . ."
HPT principle: The HPT strategies, called pedagogical movement patterns, should be used in all classes for correction, modelling and feedback.

5. "Model metacognition by talking through problems."

AHEPS v2.0

HPT principle: One key feature of HPT is that the new or changed sound pattern must be anchored immediately to an exemplar, a word or phrase:
(a) That word or phrase should be annotated at least by identifying the vowel number on the stressed syllable,
(b) probably while looking at the graphic representation of the word (as it is written in type-form.) In some cases,
(c) the phonetic representation should accompany that. Finally,
(d) instructor and student together should practice the exemplar together (ideally 3 times) with rich vocal resonance out loud, accompanied by a pedagogical movement pattern (one of 10 or 12 in the system.)

Friday, October 17, 2014

Haptic pronunciation teaching workshop at TESOL 2015 in Toronto!

For the 8th year in row, a haptic pronunciation teaching workshop has been accepted for presentation at the TESOL conference in Toronto, March 25th ~ 28th, 2015. Below is the program summary and excerpts from the proposal. We'll also have a "gathering of hapticians" at the conference, as usual. Join us!

Program summary

This workshop introduces a set of six haptic (movement + touch)-based techniques for presenting and correcting English L2 pronunciation, applicable for intermediate English language learners and above. Guided by research on kinaesthetic approaches to L2 pronunciation instruction, the presenters train participants to use the instructional techniques in their classrooms.
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Participants learn a multiple-modality system, designed to be used throughout the curriculum—not just in stand-alone pronunciation classes. The workshop is predominantly experiential, where a set of six haptic techniques are introduced and practiced in break-out micro-teaching sessions. The sections of the workshop are:

A. Principles of haptic integration
B. Haptic anchoring vowels and word stress
C. Haptic anchoring phrasal stress and rhythm
D. Haptic anchoring of basic intonation contours
E. Haptic anchoring of general fluency

This haptic-based system for pronunciation instruction was formed under the premise that, while our general understanding of L2 phonological development has increased substantially, most methodologists would concur that preparing a new EFL/ESL instructor adequately for pronunciation work remains a challenge. The reason for this, in part, is that there is currently no easily accessible, comprehensive model that integrates pronunciation instruction in general speaking and listening instruction.

The perspective of this workshop is that systematic use of body movement, especially using haptic anchoring (touch tied to pedagogical movement and gesture) is essential to that synthesis. The techniques presented are designed to be integrated into either general or specific pronunciation instruction whenever use of a problematic sound pattern occurs.

The theoretical basis of this approach is derived principally from four sources: (a) the voice and stage movement work of Lessac (Lesssac,1967), (b) Embodiment theory (Holme, 2012) as applied to TESOL, (c) current neuro-physiological research on the role of movement and touch in learning in general (Minogue & Jones, 2006) and of sound systems in particular (Acton, 2012), and (d) kinaesthetic approaches to L2 pronunciation instruction (e.g., Acton 1984).

By the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to use the haptic pronunciation integration techniques in their classrooms.

AHEPS v3.0 "Bees and Butterflies"
(Serious fun!)
The best, fastest, most moving
and touching way to teach,
learn and correct English pronunciation!

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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.)