How do you "get" the rhythm of a new language? Can you?

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This is something of a follow up to a 3/10/24 blog post (All you need is rhythm . . . ).Turns out, not surprisingly, that natural "rhythmic sense" may give you an advantage in at least acquiring the pronunciation of a language . . . at least Norwegian! Interesting finding in a new study, Replication of population-level differences in auditory-motor synchronization ability in a Norwegian-speaking population, by Sjuls, Vulchanova & Assaneo of Norwegian University of Science and Technology (summarized in Neuroscience News as: Can rhythm sense predict language skills?).

The research found "pronounced" differences in the subjects of the study in terms of how quickly they could lock on to (or sync their body with) the rhythm of speech samples. Earlier research by the same team had established the general correlation between rhythmic sense and pronunciation accuracy. This study extends those findings considerably, implying that language learning more broadly considered may hang on perception of rhythm. The nexus of connections of rhythmic processing in the brain and grammatical structure has long been recognized and investigated. 

Of course, to quote my favorite Bertrand Russell quip: a difference that doesn't make a difference . . . doesn't make a difference, the critical thresholds on the rhythm perception continuum were not investigated but the existence of such barriers or facilitation points seems obvious. Any experienced language instructor who works with speaking in almost any context "knows" learners who fit both ends of the scale. The question is: what can be done for the naturally "rhythmically challenged?" 

A number of studies have demonstrated the benefit of early focus on the rhythm in acquiring an L2, but the direct connection to the underlying process involved has never been clear. In other words, the implications are that working with rhythm just for rhythm's sake for the FUN of it--not directly tied to the structure of the text in the lesson or specific words or lexical constructions  . . . may still be highly beneficial. So get out your guitar, raps and books of poetry . . .  just for the embodied experience of "getting" the rhythm of the L2. (You knew that!) You now have Neuroscience's permission! Go for it!(and you come join us who do embodied rhythm the haptic pronunciation teaching way, of course!) 

Source: Sjuls, G.S., Vulchanova, M.D. & Assaneo, M.F. Replication of population-level differences in auditory-motor synchronization ability in a Norwegian-speaking population. Commun Psychol 1, 47 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-023-00049-2

What to do for falling student confidence!

One of the joys of teaching is all those times when you stumble on a wonderful technique . . . almost by accident, when the lesson that you designed goes way beyond your objectives for it. The research literature is filled with reports of classroom procedures that inspire/develop confidence, (cf. Cadiz-Gabejan, 2021 . . . but not this one in this field.

For you to be able to do this technique with your students tomorrow, I need to give you little primers on haptic pronunciation teaching (HPT) and Observed Experiential Integration (OEI) therapy.

HPT, basically, uses gesture and touch to enhance memory and expressiveness by generally having a gesture terminate on a stressed syllable where the hands touch. The gesture can have several functions such as rhythmic or intonation patterns, or specific vowels or consonants. (For examples of some of the Movement, tone and touch techniques, goto: www.actonhaptic.com/HaPT.)

One of the techniques, used to create the deep falling tone at the end of a conversational turn, for example, has the learner move one hand from in front of the eyes down to about the level of the solar plexus, with the eyes following. The voice also falls as low as possible, in some creating the "creaky" voice quality. One of the students, in working with the practice dialogs "discovered" that she felt more and more confident by using that move . . . beyond the exercises. Her general demeanor and speaking "presence" made that evident as well from that point on. 

I had seen a somewhat analogous technique used about 20 years ago in observing psychologists working with Observed Experiential Integration (OEI) therapy, where the patient basically followed the hand movement of the clinician across the visual field, terminating about the same place, sometimes along with the clinician's voice, sometimes their own, but the effect was the same: a sense of calm and confidence. That location in the visual field, down and to the right, seemed to act as an anchor for a sense of at least temporarily closing down, calm or resting. 

Many systems use similar anchoring for a myriad of purposes. In this case, we were working with a basic sentence-final falling tone--that just keeps falling until it "hits bottom." Have been using it for the last two years in various ways, such as short passages or conversational gambits, with pretty striking results Here is a short video clip from the KINETIK training video series.  Give it a try and let me know how it works in your class (as I'm CONFIDENT that it will!) 

v7.0 will be available sometime later this spring or early summer. 

Keep in touch!

Bill