Upcoming KINETIK Courses, beginning September, 2022!

As promised, two or three great KINETIK courses now scheduled: 

(For students, adults, lower intermediate and above) Embodied English Fluency and Pronunciation Course: 10 weeks, beginning 9/19, offered through Trinity Western University (for more details, see earlier blogpost)

• Objectives:
• Good uptake - attention to and memory for course content, meaning, emotion, concepts and vocabulary
• Improved clarity - greater emphasis, expressiveness, fluency and intelligibility
• Greater confidence in speaking and ability to "use what you know already!"

• Weekly schedule
• 30 - minute training (recorded), available Thursdays
• 60 - minute, (recorded or live), homework feedback Zoom class, the following week on Wednesdays (6 p.m. PST)
• Homework: 30 minutes per day, minimum 4 days per week
• Cost: $500 CAD, materials provided
• Preliminary Zoom interview required (contact: william.acton@twu.ca)
• Can also be customized for individual classes or schools.

Instructor Training Certificate Course (KMICC): 12 weeks, beginning 9/22, offered through ActonHaptic.com (for more details, see course description)

• Objectives
• Basics of haptic pronunciation teaching
• Techniques for enhancing memory for course content
• Enhanced (instructor's) classroom speaking model and pedagogical presence 
• Weekly schedule
• 30-minute training (recorded, available Monday)
• ~90 minutes of homework
• 75-minute live seminar on Zoom (arranged according to participants' schedules, usually on Saturday, PST)
• $600 USD, materials provided
• Certificate provided upon successful completion
• Full-refund (no questions asked) up to Week 4
• Preliminary Zoom interview required (contact: wracton@gmail.com)

In all humility, these are terrific courses. If you are an instructor considering having your students take EFPC, contact me and I'll be happy to discuss the course with you. Both courses can be offered for just one school, beginning in January 2023. 

Talking (and analyzing) Pragmatics with Students: Meta-pragmatics and Embodied Prosody!

Great news! Just approved! That is the title of our upcoming half-day, 4-hour Pre-convention Institute at that the 2023 TESOL Convention in Portland (probably) March 20, 2023. Here is the current program summary:

This PCI focuses on "dialogic” meta-pragmatic analysis, where instructor and students together, analyze pragmatic aspects of conversations that students have just participated in. That is done by first producing rich, conversational interaction which is then analyzed and embodied to be remembered using, in part, haptic pronunciation teaching prosodic techniques.

Here is original proposal that Angelina Van Dyke and myself submitted that unpacks more of what it is about:

There is no shortage of "talk" about pragmatics in research and pedagogy. This PCI explores ways of working “meta-pragmatically” in the classroom with students, examining pragmatic features of discourse. That is done utilizing several techniques that produce rich, conversational interaction which is then analyzed and embodied to be used later.

In terms of methodology of teaching pragmatics, currently most involves (a) explaining what pragmatics, basically awareness and performance in context-appropriate conversational interaction, (b) exploring examples of interaction with model pragmatic features, or classroom practices such as roleplay, and identifying effective strategies and (c) reflecting on classroom exercises or personal experiences in various ways, (Hennessy, Calcagni, Leung & Mercer, 2021).

What is often missing are two elements: an effective framework for setting up student-produced conversational narrative (for context and analysis) and strategies for helping learners remember what they have worked with. In part in response to that key “bridging” gap or function between classroom pedagogy and spontaneous speaking, an especially adapted version of “cooperative attending skills training” (CAST) (Acton and Cope, 1999) is used to produce “pragmatically-rich,” short conversations with potential for metapragmatic analysis by instructor and students. Additionally, complementing the meta-pragmatic dialogic analyses, in order to enhance memory and clarity of expression, entails embodiment of new, alternative or corrected forms and expressions, using movement, tone and touch techniques (MT3s) based on the KINETIK Method of haptic pronunciation teaching. (Acton et al., 2013).

The PCI uses as a point of departure a recent study, "Spontaneous classroom conversational analysis supporting development L2 pragmatic competence" (Van Dyke & Acton, 2022). A key feature of the classroom discourse examined in that research was "dialogic” meta-pragmatic analysis, where instructor and students together, analyze, post hoc, aspects of conversations that students have just participated in.

Join us!!!

References:
Acton, W. & Cope, C. (1999). Cooperative attending skills training for ESL students, in JALT Applied Materials volume, Kluge, D. and S. McGuire (Eds.), Cooperative language teaching in Japan, pp. 50-66.
Burri, M., Baker, A., & Acton, W. (2019). Proposing a haptic approach to facilitating L2 learners' pragmatic competence. Humanising Language Teaching, 3. Available at http://hltmag.ng3.devwebsite.co.uk/june19/proposing-a-haptic-approach
Hennessy, S., Calcagni, E., Leung, A. & Mercer, N. (2021) An analysis of the forms of teacher-student dialogue that are most productive for learning, Language and Education, DOI: 10.1080/09500782.2021.1956943
Van Dyke, A. & Acton, W. (2022). Spontaneous classroom engagement facilitating development of L2 pragmatic competence: A naturalistic study. Pedagogical Linguistics 3(1) 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1075/pl.20011.van

Giving the nod to good pronunciation teaching: the "Coconut Cheeseburger" effect

Many in the field "look down on" using gesture and body movement extensively in pronunciation teaching; some of it is deserved, of course. But a new study adds an interesting new twist: upper torso "nodding" (at least in English), often observable when a native speaker is speaking rhythmically or stressing words in speech. (Note: This is a bit of stretch--literally, of the neck--but hang with me. My "discovery" of the upper torso nod early on was simply a game changer.)

In a study by Fumiaki Sato of Toyohashi Institute of Technology and colleagues (Summarized by Neurosciencenews.com) titled, Backward and forward neck tilt affects perceptual bias when interpreting ambiguous figures, subjects were shown three-dimensional cubes in their visual field where they had to either look up to focus on it, or look down to identify which of two or three others they were looking at. Basically, when nodding their head down slightly they were able to identify the cube more quickly than if they were looking up at it. (Moving to the left or right did not evoke an analogous difference in perception.) Fascinating study . . .  The researchers' discussion focuses on the role of that postural adjustment in affecting perception, without speculating further as to the implications of that finding. Allow me!

In 1987, on my way to a convention, I observed two strikingly different upper torso nods associated with the words, Coconut Cheeseburger. (For the full story, see the blog post on it from 2015.) One person, trying to explain why his friend had mistakenly received a 'coconut cheeseburger,' was claiming that what had been said was "coconut cheeseburger," used one torso nod, culminating on 'cheese.' The other person, argued that what she had actually said was, "Coke and a cheeseburger," using two torso nods, one on 'coke' and one on 'cheeseburger." You see the problem. Said with one torso nod--given that there was a sandwich of that description at time in the Florida Keys--the misunderstanding is  . . .well . .  understandable. 

In haptic pronunciation teaching--and perhaps all teaching in some sense in English, that basic pendulum-like motion of the body rhythm in speaking is fundamental, reflecting the muscles of the upper and lower chest, and diaphragm, coming together to expel air up and out through the vocal cords. At the "bottom" of each nod is where there should be, according to the research, at least some greater clarity and focus. If you "think" about, that downward motion of upper torso can have meaning in interpersonal communication from several perspectives. 

Some it, of course, is just visual marking of stress assignment, similar to the "baton" gesture. It can also, however, signify other concepts externally, such resignation or confidence or, depending on the speed of the gesture, varying degrees of engagement or energy involved. Regular, uncluttered rhythmic torso nods can imply semantic coherence in the speaker, that what is being said is thoroughly integrated at that point in time. Any highly accomplished public speaker generally has near total control and expressive use of upper torso "nodding" as well. 

In haptic work, almost every one of the three dozen or so designed gestures may be accompanied by an upper torso nod, depending on whether the stretch of speech is being articulated in "pieces" for some pedagogical purpose or fluently, approaching natural speech. In effect, the torso, not the head and arms is where the "action" is. How's yours?

See what I mean? If not, set up a video camera off to your left or right as you teach. Note when your speech is generally synced with your upper torso nods, and when it is not. If it is, well . . . take a bow! Then join us at www.actonhaptic.com!

And, of course, keep in touch!

Bill

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10985-4

Looking, sounding and feeling confident in front of your (English language teaching) class!

Something of a radical idea . . . You can substantially improve your "Classroom English teaching presence" by talking pretty much to yourself . . . without much talking with anybody else in the process. For some, unfortunately, that is their only option. Have a course for them.

Well . .  more technically: Enhanced (virtual and physical) English-teaching classroom presence (EECP) --for anybody who needs it! Another of the new v6.0 KINETIK Pro-D courses! This one is designed especially for those non-native English-speaking instructors who have not been fortunate enough to do a training program where they had the opportunity to develop their "classroom English" skill set under supervision, as in a good internship or practicum. It is all done on Zoom or a comparable platform:

• Can be either 10 or 20 weeks in length, with one or two meetings per week.
• Cost varies, just based on number of participants. For example, the 10-week course for a class of 10, meeting once per week, would be about $500 USD per student; for 25 students, $200 USD each--and anything in between, even 50, at $100 each.
• Works best if all the instructors are teaching in the same school, or at least with the same type of students. 

As with all KINETIK courses, it makes use of content from the instructor's current (or favorite) course and:

• Develops improved general speech rhythm and clarity (including pronunciation)
• Features innovative "embodied oral reading" and "embodied. spontaneous oral recasting" as a basic homework/practice format. (using the student/instructor's own course content.) 
• Identifies and helps moderate both visual and speaking mannerisms that can be effectively "upgraded"-- particularly in the "Zoom Room!"
• Provides a powerful, embodied set of strategies for enhancing memory for content and expressiveness (primarily haptic in nature, using gesture and touch), most of which are directly applicable to any classroom or student population. 

Courses can be offered through a school or you can sign up independently. New classes commence when there is a group of at least 10 students--in compatible time zones!!! 

Look good? Contact us for more info, go to www.actonhaptic/eecp or wracton@gmail.com.

Embodied (and great) learning of pronunciation: Exploring Arthur Lessac!

Once in a while, we should go back to the source, what inspired us to be in this field, just to understand better where are at the moment. Two months ago, I recommended to you a new book, Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning, edited by Macrine, S. & Fugate, J., which represents some extraordinary progress is getting the body systematically back into instruction. Lessac had it figured out over 75 years ago. 

His work is not widely known outside of the fields of speech and drama, in part, because it is so "body-centered," requiring students to learn to explore themselves, their place in the world--and their voice through something similar to what we now know as "mindfulness" but also in persona of an actor to inhabit any number of other agents . . . or even musical instruments and animals, let alone metaphor upon metaphor. In other words, in theater, he had found a path back to fully engaged--and joyful use of the body and voice. 

What is so evident in Macrine & Fugate (2022) is that embodiment is key, but how you get there may vary widely . . . and neuroscience has explored a myriad ways in which that can happen effectively, many of them seem straight out of Lessac's work. 

From my perspective, in terms of a complete system, an accompanied, experiential guide to embodied "learning (through constant) exploration" (as he would characterize it), his two classics, Body Wisdom, and The Use and Training of the Human Voice, are almost without peer. 

Of course, to follow Lessac through the system, or through the courses available through the Lessac Institute, takes time, maybe six months or so before you get there, where you and your body have become wonderfully "reintegrated," as you were when you were a child. To the post-modern mind, from the "outside," it appears as though you have simply given yourself over to the whims of body, but in fact, what as happened is you and your body are just communicating together as a team. 

But to get there, generally requires going back to square one, exploring the experience of speaking and moving again, setting aside temporarily the layer upon layer of words and experience that determine what we are allowed to sense and understand. To Lessac, it was all about "exploration," being perpetually in that state of discovery with the body as the "territory," and the mind as being the map being constantly created out of experience-- not the reverse. 

In other words, to quote Lessac, train the body first. KINETIK does that. Join us this fall. (www.actonhaptic.com) or email me directly: wracton@gmail.com for custom programs, etc. 

It's good to be back. More on the KINETIK project, "KINETIK (embodied speaking and teaching) Method" soon!