HICPR: December 2023

Saturday, December 16, 2023

"Ward off" (at least some) miscommunication in your English conversation teaching

For anybody serious about pronunciation teaching, Nigel Ward's excellent 2019 book, Prosodic patterns of English conversation, is a must. (Full disclosure: I just "rediscovered" the book myself last year, having incorporated aspects of Ward's work for years but had not connected much to his overall framework!) I'm doing a workshop on February 24th at the BCTEAL Regional Conference using Ward's work, "Nine "touching" conversational pronunciation patterns your students should not be without!

The book gets a little technical in places but the pedagogical applications are very clear and immediately applicable. Here are some examples of the "patterns." The first six are from Ward; the other four are relatively "standard" intonation patterns taught by most methods in some form. The haptic application of Ward's prosodic patterns includes accompanying gesture and touch, hence the "touching" term in the workshop title.

Bookends - "That's really very interesting. (Two stressed words with a valley in the middle.)

\ ------- \

Down step - "Dinner's ready!" (Drop down of a minor third)

----- ___

"Creaky voice - "I'm out of here. (Voice falls to near F1 of voice, with "creaky" effect)

Strong clip - "Stop it!" (Strong stress with "clipped" second word)

--- |

Late rise - "I love that TEAM!" (Final rise-fall showing enthusiasm or energy)

"I'm good." - "I'm good." (Quick step up with clipped stressed word; conversation ending)

_--|

Fall (2 types)

I'm coming back next week. (Fall with slight release at the end.)

I'm coming back next week if I have time to. (Fall mid-sentence w/o release)

\ \.

Fall-rise - "Are you serious?" (Pattern suggesting skepticism in this case.)

Rise - "Are you serious?" ( A "simple" question, generally expecting yes/no response.)

What makes Ward's approach somewhat unique is that the context for using "prosodic conversational patterns" is, of course, in conversation, not taught in isolation. Haptic uses that as a point of departure and embodies the patterns as well. Join us at the University of Victoria in February, or check back for the recording in early April!

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Metanoic English pronunciation training for the brain!

If you are not familiar with Daniel Amen MD's system and new book, Change your brain everyday, you may want to check it out. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and am started on the 366 day program. I can't vouch for all the other stuff that they sell on the website, but this book is very interesting from a Metanoic (transformational) perspective. The idea is, having at least a tourist's understanding of brain function, to trick yourself into taking positive, incremental steps--all of which require . . . disciplined, regular action with general basis in neuroscience. Then, in a sense, disciple and success breed more disciple and success. Will report back in a month or two after I have worked through three or four dozen of the daily 5-minute reads and follow on tasks.

In the meantime, speaking of disciplined, potentially metanoic learning, here is a great one (in my humble opinion!)

Spring 2024 Online KINETIK English Fluency and Pronunciation Course, a course for those who don't have time for a course but could be disciplined enough to work pretty much on your own for three months with a little help . . .

This 11 week course, offered through Trinity Western University MATESOL Program, is designed for non-native English speakers who

May not be able to attend a scheduled pronunciation or public speaking course
May have pronunciation problems that are difficult to change or lack confidence in speaking in English at work or school.

Each lesson and related homework

Is a combination of public speaking and pronunciation work.
Contains individualized training on vocabulary and pronunciation most useful for each student.
Includes training in oral reading techniques which are effective for ongoing self-study and improvement.

Course dates: January 22nd ~ April 5th

Class format

A. View30-minute recorded lesson on Monday or Tuesday
B. Do 30 minutes of homework each day.
C. Meet with instructor on Zoom for 1-hour follow up class on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. (PST). (The session is recorded so it can also be viewed on Saturday or Sunday, if necessary.)

*Initial Zoom interview required before enrolling for the course.

Instructors: William Acton and Eileen McWilliams of the Trinity Western University MATESOL

To enroll, contact: William.acton@twu.ca

For additional information on EFPC: www.actonhaptic.com/efpc

Certificate is awarded upon successful course completion.

Materials provided. - Course fee: $500 CAD

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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.)