Bill Acton's Embodiment Blog: HICP competence

Showing posts with label HICP competence. Show all posts

Sunday, June 24, 2012

TIme for pronunciation change

Clipart: Clker

Following up on a few recent posts dealing with what goes on outside of class, today we'll look briefly at a set of principles of time management for clinical research professionals that provides a nice model for students. (If you, too, could use a little more productive time, this piece could be helpful as well.) In any teaching context the use of some kind of systematic pronunciation diary or log that includes a time management or practice scheduling function can be very effective. I have for decades used both: (a) Students plan their practice sessions that will take place before the next class--before they walk out the door (sometimes requiring my approval as well!), and (b) they also keep regular notes on how the practices went and related reflections on relevant "pronunciation events" (for them personally and their specific goals) that occur either in or out of class. Here is the recommended "clinical researcher's" framework, with my annotations:

Use only one prioritized list — planner system, notebook, or calendar — for home as well as work. And make at least parts of that available for instructor review or consultation.
Update the list at the end of the day, rather than the morning . . . including reflections and "data."
Consider the penalty, impact, and payoff of . . . a task. This can be a radical proposal for many learners, having to take full responsibility for the actions and time.
Review you goals and action plans each day prior to compiling your list . . . in the morning after coffee, breakfast and doing your basic pronunciation work.
Before you start a task that is not on your list, ask yourself, “Will what I am about to do move me closer to my objectives?” That, of course, assumes that the objectives are clearly articulated and achievable!

Give yourself time to relax, meditate, or “goof-off.” (I, personally, also recommend regular aerobic exercise for my students as well.) Even if that only means sufficient sleep, research has validated repeatedly the place of critical "down time" for the brain in efficient learning. (In the EHIEP system, practice is scheduled on alternative days, not daily, although a morning warm up is highly recommended.)

Got time to do some of that with your students?

Thursday, May 17, 2012

EHIEP Protocols: What are they and why "protocol" anyway?

Clip art: Clker

Got an email recently asking me that question. A good place to begin is the medical definition: protocol [pro´to-kol]

1. an explicit, detailed plan of an experiment. I love that one!

2. the original notes made on an autopsy, an experiment, or a case of disease. Sort of like this blog!

3. a detailed written set of instructions to guide the care of a patient or to assist the practitioner in the performance of a procedure.That is a great fit to an EHIEP protocol!

Update: There are now currently 9 basic and 6 optional protocols in development, each providing one or more techniques for classroom instruction or independent study. Each of the main protocols involves a 30-minute haptic-video lesson (composed of 4 video clips) and 3, 15 minute haptic-video homework assignment videos:

(Optional) EHIEP system introduction
Warm Up Protocol (WUP)
(Optional) Body Flex Protocol (BFP)
Matrix (visual field) Anchoring Protocol (MAP)
(2 basic; 2 optional) Vowel and Word Stress Protocols (VWSP)
(Optional) Vowel Resonance Protocol (VRP)
Rhythm Group Butterfly Protocol (RGBP)
(2) Intonation Touch-i-nami Protocols (ITP)
TaiChi Fluency Protocol (TFP)
Rhythmic Feet Fight Club Protocol (RFFCP)
(Optional) Baton Integration Protocol (BIP)

There are also 8, 5-minute Consonant "Protocolettes" (th, r, l/n, f/v, w, y, s/z, sh/zh) haptic-videos.
Each complete protocol includes 7 short video clips: (a) Demonstration, (b) Training, (c) Rhythmic practice, (d) Classroom procedure, (e) Homework 1, (f) Homework 2, and (g) Home work 3.
Each protocol includes Instructor guidelines and Student workbook. The complete system will be available later this year. The videos will probably be downloadable from iTunes or a similar web source. The system is designed for the relatively untrained instructor, equipped with only video player appropriate for the class size of some kind. The demonstration clips and some of the consonant protocolettes will be available here (for free!) soon. Keep in touch.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Bilingual teenage brain stems listening comprehension!

Clip art: Clker

Here is a Science Digest summary of a fascinating study on the advantages of being bilingual just published. (This is one of those pieces that I could go off a dozen directions on and really have fun with--but I'll try to "stick to the facts," regardless!) In essence, it was discovered that the brain stems of bilingual subjects were significantly better at sound/pitch discrimination than monolinguals in one context: when the sound was strongly masked with static or white noise. The researcher notes some pretty amazing implications of that: "The bilingual's enhanced experience with sound results in an auditory system that is highly efficient, flexible and focused in its automatic sound processing, especially in challenging or novel listening conditions," and " . . . evidence for system-wide neural plasticity in auditory experts that facilitates a tight coupling of sensory and cognitive functions." [italics, mine] Wow. The study does not explicitly establish that "tight coupling," although in terms of general understanding of the function of the "reptilian" brain stem (in addition to managing emotional response), that case can be made rather easily. But teenagers "paying attention?" Really? This may suggest one way around some of the "critical period" problem in pronunciation or accent development: enhanced (full mind-body) attention training. Now let me think . . . how could that be done? Keep in touch.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Pronunciation "corps" competence!

Photo credit: Customworkoutvideos.com

The problem with graduate students, when one enjoys an occasion good pun or double entendre, is that they can almost at any moment do the same, often even "one-up-man-shipping" you! The other day I was challenged to define the "corps competence" of HICP work (the illusion being to the basic meaning of 'corps' being 'body'.) Although this is still a work in progress, as usual, I found a potentially good analogy: core exercise frameworks in physical training. Linked is the Sports Medicine About website, which also links to every kind of core strengthening exercise imaginable, lists the three main "benefits" of core training: (a) relieves back pain, (b) improves athletic performance, and (c) improves posture. Translating that to our work, those categories read as something like: (a) fluidity (fluency), (b) integrated, energetic speaking performance, and (c) body awareness and directed movement. One of the key concepts in core training, whether in athletics or pronunciation work, is integrated functionality, that is understanding the system as a whole and attending to key components in a systematic and ordered way. (To get a set of abs like those pictured to the right requires a great deal more that just crunches and holding your breath!) The "problem" for us, of course, is that on the one hand, integrating pronunciation throughout the curriculum is a very "deconstructive" act, distributing procedures and objectives almost at random. On the other hand, as we have learned in haptic-integrated work, a certain amount of very systematic, skill and body-based training--separate from regular class, integrated skills activities (probably about 8 hours in total, spread out over the course of around 8 weeks)--is essential to provide an optimal set of "integrate-able" pronunciation techniques for instructor and students to use in class. The parallel to physical training is apt (or "ab-t"!): efficient, integrated pronunciation teaching requires genuine "corp-oration," getting and keeping both corps and core skills in shape . . .

Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)

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.)