Back to the future of (haptic) pronunciation teaching: beginning June 23rd!

The 2025 summer English Accent and Pronuncition Improvement Course (EAPIC) begins next month on the 26th. (The Spring course materials and videos are still available here.) I asked Perplexity about it, since it will figure in very prominently in all lessons of the new course:

"The English Accent and Pronunciation Improvement Course (EAPIC), built on Acton’s haptic pronunciation teaching, is notably effective for English learners of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds due to its unique integration of movement, touch, and embodied practice. Unlike traditional pronunciation methods that rely heavily on auditory and visual cues, haptic pronunciation teaching (HaPT) systematically incorporates gesture and touch, creating a multisensory learning experience that enhances memory, recall, and confidence in spoken English.

This approach draws inspiration from voice training, embodied oral reading, and kinesthetic learning, allowing learners to physically anchor sounds and patterns in their bodies. Such “haptic anchoring” supports deeper integration of new pronunciation habits, much like muscle memory in sports or music training.The method is adaptable, making it accessible to learners regardless of age, native language, or prior phonetic knowledge. Regular, structured practice—both in and out of class—ensures that improvements are not only rapid but also sustainable, while the engaging, movement-based activities boost motivation and make learning enjoyable.

Ultimately, Acton’s haptic method empowers learners to internalize English pronunciation in a way that is memorable, meaningful, and effective across diverse learner profiles."

Could not have said it better myself . . . (In fact most of those terms and phrases are extracted directly from the blog and publications I have been involved with!) The embodied oral reading of the course will be all AI generated--by the students themselves--to provide the optimal context and personal connection between the genre, vocabulary and proficiency level of the learner and the practice materials. 

The weekly, 30-minute course training videos are free, on Youtube and Vimeo. Enrolment in the 60-minute live feedback sessions is optional ($250 USD). 

Join us next month! 

Greatest Hapticanar Ever! Tomorrow!

 Well . . . first one, actually! Just a little over 24 hours before the  Introductory free Hapticanar. No need to register in advance for this one, just go to the Acton Haptic website, and click the button! You can also view the new KINETIC Method video while you are there. 

The weekly free Hapticanars (Haptic Webinar) go live every Tuesday at 6 p.m. (PST). 

The format of the Hapticanar is generally:

• 6-6:30 - Training workshop on one or two haptic pronunciation teaching techniques
• 6:30 - Q&A until 7 or when we are done, whichever comes first!

If you can't make it, email me at wracton@gmail.com and I'll put you on the list to have access to the recording later this week. 

Killing Pronunciation 15: Feelings . . . nothing more than feelings?

Finally (what seems to me) a fascinating glimpse, or at least different perspective, into why for many
language learners it can be so difficult to remember how sounds are pronounced in their second language. Fascinating study, by Fandakova, Johnson, and Ghetti of UC-Davis: Distinct neural mechanisms underlie subjective and objective recollection and guide memory-based decision making (summarized by ScienceDaily as "Making decisions based on how we feel about memories, not accuracy.") Now I'm  not sure that SD summary is entirely accurate, but it is close . . . 

Exploring the brain circuits involved in recalling past events, in essence what emerged was the "fact" that one circuit is more responsible for something resembling data, e.g., who, what, where, when; the other, with the emotion or "feeling" associated with the event. What the research demonstrated was that recall was overwhelmingly triggered through the affective/subjective wiring, not the objective circuit(s). In other words, in some very general sense our access to memory is substantially more emotion-based, not visual/objective data-oriented. 

So, other than the fact that there may be some potential gender bias there . . . how does that relate to learning the sound system of a language effectively? Ask yourself: How do you and your students feel about learning pronunciation? Does that answer the question? For many it does. If affect or feeling is that critical to good recall, then pronunciation learned may be especially vulnerable to being inaccessible in varying degrees. 

Now the "feeling" of  pronunciation could come from at least three primary sources: the affective climate of the class where it is studied; the relative engagement or appeal of the instruction to the individual, itself or satisfaction entailed or-- the somatic, physical sensations of what it is mechanically to perform or articulate the sound. 

I, myself, was trained in pronunciation teaching by one amazing speech therapist and early leaders in the field of TESOL. What I learned, which most pronunciation teaching does not take seriously enough or does not really focus on at all is how to help the learner get the richest possible somatic experience (mostly tactile and kinaesthetic) as to how the sound or pattern feels when it is articulated. Part of that, of course, is the metalanguage used in talking about it and to some extent, the procedures and practice routines, themselves. 

In other words, without a good sense of "the feeling of how it happens" (Damasio, 1999), often it just doesn't happen or at least is not anchored adequately to be remembered or recalled efficiently. There are any number of methods or systems for establishing that critical link between the sound and the feeling of the sound, not just its conceptual, visual, auditory and orthographic features. Of course, we FEEL that haptic pronunciation teaching, founded on gesture and touch, has "got that," and more. If your pronunciation work just doesn't feel right . . . get into touch . . . with us, or your local speech therapist! 

Sources: (Cited in ScienceDaily summary)

University of California - Davis. (2021, March 10). Making decisions based on how we feel about memories, not accuracy. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 14, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210310150347.htm
Yana Fandakova, Elliott G Johnson, Simona Ghetti. Distinct neural mechanisms underlie subjective and objective recollection and guide memory-based decision making. eLife, 2021; 10 

Synchronization of brain hemispheres for (pronounced) better auditory processing

For well over a century, synchronization of brain hemipheres has been thought to be somehow integral  to efficient or focused learning in many disciplines. Basically, and overgeneralizing, in processing language sound, the left hemisphere, linked to the right ear, initially handles vowels and consonants and syllables; the right, intonation and rhythm. It seemed to follow that enhancing synchronization should enhance that processing, especially the integration of both sources and meaning. 

Fascinating, forthcoming study by Preisig and colleagues at the University of Zurich, summarized in Neurosciencenews.com as "Synchronization of Brain Hemispheres Changes What We Hear" (to appear in PNAS) that examines the role of gamma ray modulation in brain hemisphere synchronization. What the research demonstrated, in part, was that as synchronization was modulated (by gamma wave variance) auditory processing was correspondingly downgraded or enhanced. For example, techniques such as stimulating dream recall with gamma wave stimulation, seem to operate in similar ways.  

That concept, synchronization and integration, has become something of the gold standard in many forms of therapy and optimalization of performance systems. From a non-invasive perspective, that is ways that do not involve stimulating the brain with electrical current or implanted devices, embodiment practices such as yoga, mindfulness--and many types of physical and athletic engagement, have been shown to influence or enhance brain hemisphere synchronization and integration. 

What "moves" do you do in teaching that involve hemispheric synchronization that may enhance your students listening comprehension or help them be more "mindful" of your teaching?  

In haptic pronunciation teaching, HaPT, there are several "bilateral" pedagogical practices, such as:

• Alternating hands/arms exercises
• Touching the other hand, arm, shoulder or opposing side of the body
  
• Practicing a movement/gestural pattern both left to right and right to left
• Doing gestural patterns that repeatedly cross the visual field, back and forth
• Intentional positioning of different haptic tasks in different areas of the visual field of students in the classroom. 
• Most activities involve continuous body engagement, using gesture and body movement. 

You haven't heard of haptic pronunciation teaching? Go to our website, www.actonhaptic.com, and try out a few of our best "moves!" While you are there, check out the new Acton Haptic Pronunciation system. It will be available soon! 

Keep in touch! 

Moving learners to be more positive and work together in (pronunciation) teaching: person or process?

One typical reason often given for not teaching pronunciation has to be something like: I don't feel comfortable having to be so outgoing and interpersonally "invasive" in messing with students' speech. Granted, many (if not near all) of the strongest proponents of pronunciation teaching, mea culpa, tend to be pretty far down the "extrovert" rabbit hole. In more traditional approaches to teaching you almost had to be to drive drill and other mindless practices with enthusiasm, motivation students to stay with it.  Being around someone who is excessively positive and extroverted can also get real annoying, eh!

Turns out, according to a non-significant study by Qui and Ho of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, that all that extroverted talk and language may not really be contributing much to the process--a proposition that I, being an extrovert, endorse whole heartedly, enthusiastically! (but see below.) Based on a meta-analysis of about three dozen studies of extrovert behavior, they almost discovered that extroverts tend to use more "positive emotion words" and "social process words" than the rest of you. Taken from the Neuroscience News summary: 

"Positive emotion words are defined by psychologists – using text analysis tools – as words that describe a pleasant emotional state, such as ‘love’, ‘happy’, or ‘blessed’, or that indicate positivity or optimism, such as ‘beautiful’ or ‘nice’. Social process words include words containing personal pronouns except ‘I’, and words showing social intentions, such as ‘meet’, ‘share’ and ‘talk’."

Then, their conclusion: "Our results suggest that positive emotion words and social process words are linguistic correlates of extroversion, but they are small in magnitude." 

Really? By "small in magnitude" they mean their findings did not reach an r of 0.05 (0.069 and 0.077.) Normally, I don't report "near misses" like that, but since I like the conclusion, let us run with it a bit. What it "tells" me, is that what many see as the secret to setting up the most effective learning "atmosphere" in class, the use of "pedagogically correct" language that is generally positive, "grouply" discourse, does not depend on being personally . . . extroverted. So what does motivate (move) your students? You, your pedagogy or both? And how does that interaction really function in class? 

We discovered early on that uncontrolled enthusiasm, as great as it is for getting everybody on board, is near toxic in working with gesture, easily letting things get out "hand" or of control or focus--and very likely pronunciation, in general. In part, the reason for that being that the learner's attention can go almost anywhere in the visual field around them, affecting what is remembered from the session, compromising attention to sound, for example. Research (and common sense) has long established that both positive excitement and negative stress can wear you out equally, take you off your game. 

It's certainly about moving . . . moving learners to learn efficiently, metaphorically and physically. Try this: Evaluate your next three or four in-class or on Zoom lessons just in terms of relative quantity and quality of body movement, by both you and the class--a fundamental principle of haptic pronunciation teaching. 

One great way to do that is to record the session and then review it with the sound off. (If you are interested, let me know in the comments section and I'll share with you a rubric for that that we have developed for teacher training.) That will seriously impact/enhance your awareness and work on screen. Guaranteed. 

Achieving intentional, appropriate kinaesthetic engagement is critical in teaching with systematic gesture, as in HaPT. And it can't help but make you and students look and sound better as well! 

------

Bottom line: Being an extrovert should NOT be especially advantageous in pronunciation teaching, properly understood . . . like in the new (EXCITING!) iteration of haptic pronunciation teaching (HaPT.) I'm sure you saw that coming! Acton Haptic Pronunciation: Content Complement System (AHP:CCS) official roll out date is now 2/15/21. Check out previous blogpost for more info on that. ,

Original source:
“A meta-analysis of linguistic markers of extraversion: Positive emotion and social process words” by Jiayu Chen Lin Qiu, Moon-Ho Ringo Ho. Journal of Research in Personality

New "NewBees'" Haptic Pronunciation course!

Want to teach pronunciation but have no training and no time in class to do it even if you knew how? 

We have a great new course for you: Acton Haptic Pronunciation: Content Complement System (AHP-CCS). 

It has been created so that you can use haptic pronunciation techniques (gesture controlled by touch) to:

• Improve memory for content you are teaching (in speaking, listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary, stories, concepts, etc.)
• Improve expressiveness, emphasis, and intelligibility
• Improve impact of modeling, feedback and correction
• Improve class engagement on Zoom
• Provide a way to work with pronunciation (on the spot) in any type of class

Specifics: 

• (Ideally) You study with another person who teaches the same type of student 
• 12 week course/4 modules/12 lessons. 
• The first ones begin on 3/25 and others can start anytime after when there are minimum of two students who want to do the course. 
• 60 minutes of practice on your own per week 
• 30 minutes of homework (on your own or with your friend) per week
• a 45 minute Zoom session each week, the two you, (Usually on Saturday) working with a  "Haptician" who also has experience teaching students of that age and level 
• Haptician: Trained by Bill Acton in the Haptic Pronunciation Teaching (HaPT)

• Cost: 
• 1 person ($1600 CAD each) - not recommended, but possible. 
• 2 people together ($800 CAD each or $ per 200 module) - best plan, especially if you are friends! 
• 3 people together ($600 CAD each or $150 per module) - OK if you are working together!  
• 4 people together ($400 CAD each or $100 per module) 
• (Locals.com subscription, $5 CAD monthly, also required to take an AHP-CCS course)

Designed for those 

• with little or no previous training in phonetics or pronunciation teaching
• who are teaching content classes or language classes
• teaching students of any age or proficiency
• have a colleague or friend that they can do the class with (if not, maybe we can find one for you!) 
• who have two or three hours a week for the course
• who would like to be part of a community of people who love teaching pronunciation and other things!
• on a tight budget!

More details: 

• Weekly Zoom sessions focus on how to use the pedagogical movement patterns (PMPs) of the lesson in your class
•  Both you and your friend should ideally be teaching or have taught the same kind of students if at all possible
• Certificate awarded after completion of the last Module!
• All materials furnished
• Basic training materials are designed to be used with students of any age and proficiency level, in class or out of class. 

Courses begin on 3/25/2021

For more information: Contact info@actonhaptic.com and go to actonhaptic@Locals.com

Killing Pronunciation 14: One tip at a time (or better still . . . "pho-nunciation")

Nice new book just out by Mark Hancock, 50 tips for teaching pronunciation. Currently it is only available in hardcopy, but you can preview it off that link, the latest addition to Scott Thornbury's "Tips" series. Other than the fact that it has the "wrong" vowel system (British), it is very cool. 

It is, however, also a perfect candidate for the 14th in our "Killing" series. In that spirit, it might also be characterized, to paraphrase the 'death by a thousand cuts' notion as: Death (of pronunciation teaching) by a thousand tips.

 Hancock's book is a pretty comprehensive, self-guided short course in itself in teaching pronunciation. (I have it as recommended in my graduate applied phonology course.) The title is misleading, however. It is not just a random set of techniques; it is a relatively systematic set of principles, "tips," if you will. It is actually, read front to back, a pronunciation teaching method. 

It represents the state of the art in the field today: Go big or go home . . . either you invest a considerable amount of time in training to bring pronunciation teaching into your classroom, so you can integrate it in or teach a free standing class, or you avoid it entirely or use a few relatively ineffective techniques here and there and call it a day. In truth, there is very little middle ground left, especially with curriculum priorities in most teaching institutions, especially K-12, that allow precious little space, if any, for attention to pronunciation.  

So . . . Hancock's book is on the right track: it adds up to a method. (Since we are supposed to be all "post-method" now, Hancock probably didn't dare mention that, but I can, of course!) And the reason I do, is that Haptic Pronunciation Teaching (HaPT) is also a coherent method, one best learned from front to back, but the differences are:

• Although you can "do" our course, yourself, and take it to the classroom, you don't have to. You can just stream the lessons to your students and let me do the initial teaching and you do the follow up. 
• 50 Tips is designed so that you can do it on your own. The HaPT system almost has to be learned "in community." Actually, you go through the course with two or three other newbees, guided by an experienced "Haptician," somebody who is certified in HaPT and is available to help out and "test" you at each benchmark. 
• 50 Tips is great for coming up with quick, mini-lessons, integrating in pronunciation here and there and getting a basic background in pronunciation teaching. HaPT can be used the same (old fashioned way) but it is really aimed at using pronunciation (or what we call "phonunciation") to enhance memory for regular course content, expressiveness, emphasis and (surprise!) pronunciation intelligibility. 
• The new HaPT method, coming out next month,  Acton Haptic Pronunciation: Content Complement System (CCS, for short), focuses on "phonunciation," not pronunciation. You can use it any time you are working with content, a story, a dialogue, a word list, a song, a set of instructions. Basically, you embed HaPT techniques (gestures anchored by touch) in almost anything to enhance it and make it more memorable. 
• CCS has been created for those with no background in pronunciation teaching and (typically) no time during the week to do it effectively. 
• Keep in touch for more announcements. It will roll out first here and then actually go live on Locals. Go join up now and be part of the Acton Haptic Pronunciation Community when it happens! 
• 

The "Marshmallow effect" in (haptic pronunciation) teaching

Following up on the previous blogpost on "distracting from distractions," here is a "delicious" study by Heyman, of University of California San Diego, and colleagues, summarized by Science Daily that attempts to refine the classic "Marshmallow effect," studies where children are bribed with marshmallows to see how long they will wait to eat them. Basically, they are told if they can just hold off a bit, they'll get more marshmallows. Those that do turn out to be more successful later in life, maybe more disciplined, etc. 

In this study the added variable was that the 3 and 4 year olds in different groups were told (a) their teacher would find out how much time they waited, (b) their friends would find out, or (c) in the control group, no such instruction were provided. As you can guess, the first two groups waited longer; the first, more than twice as long as the second. (The researchers' conclusions as to what is actually motivating the kids--they say " . . .  findings suggest that the desire to impress others is strong and can motivate human behavior starting at a very young age." Well maybe, in the case of (b), but in (a), given that the research was done in China . . . could there be other cultural factors involved, such as fear of teacher reaction or discipline? Maybe . . . 

In haptic pronunciation teaching, but in many different teaching contexts, instructors pay very close attention to time on task work by students both in and out of class. A basic HaPT protocol is that students have to report weekly in some detail on their out of class practice, including how much time on assigned task and various levels of evaluation of how "it" went. Here, too, however, there is the same "Marshmallow" question . . . Those that do consistently report seem to do much better; those that don't, don't. But there is no obvious way to assign simple cause and effect there. Maybe it is just that the disciplined do better, including at providing good reports on time allocation, etc. 

I have been unable to find a decent piece of research that parallels what we do in the "ActonHaptic" version of HaPT with time management and reporting. (If you know of one, please pass that on!) But, the general effect always seems to be more focused, less distracted work/study. I do something similar in my some of my grad courses, in fact, where at least the monitoring effect, that they have to report to me regularly always seems to "work." I do have data from final course evaluations that confirms that consistently. 

So . . . try applying that idea to your course. As you do, take careful notes on how much time you spend on what, and when, and how it seemed to work. Then report back to me . . . or else!

Source: 

Association for Psychological Science. (2020, September 10). Children will wait to impress others -- another twist on the classic marshmallow test. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 26, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910110826.htm

(New) v5.0 Haptic Pronunciation Teaching as "Metanique": any text, story, class or time

If you are new to haptic pronunciation, here is a quick history. (If not, drop down to after the bullets!) To understand the importance of this new development, Haptic as Metanique, a little background is helpful:

• 1970's - I was trained in pronunciation teaching, especially from a speech pathology, highly tactile and kinesthetic perspective
• 1980s - Extensive work in accent enhancement involving both kinesthetic and psychological models
• 1990s - Large class teaching of pronunciation in Japan and research on uses of gesture in ;pronunciation teaching
• 2000 ~ 2020 - Development of haptic pronunciation teaching, inspired in part by work in psychotherapy for PTSD, especially use of the visual field and touch.
• 2020 - v5.0 Haptic pronunciation teaching as "metanique" (a system of procedures where attention to pronunciation can be mapped on to any meaning or narrative-based classroom teaching text or technique. 

Haptic (Pronunciation Teaching as) Metanique is, in effect, a series of complementary overlays to any L2 instruction that can be applied in any class any time that any learners (all ages and contexts) are engaged in meaningful texts or interpersonal communication practice. 

We use the Butterfly above as our symbol of metanique, in general, a gesture complex that, in a sense, floats above or lands on any word, phrase, clause of sentence, embodying it. The Butterfly pedagogical movement pattern has been central to the haptic system from the outset. (See a demonstration of early butterfly and other PMPs.) and others from v1.0. Here is an example of how  metaniques, in this case the Butterfly and the intonation PMP, Touchinamis, might be applied to presentation of a model dialogue to embody lexical items (words), the rhythm patterning or the intonation contours:

X is Y /and Z, / but A, / who is from B, / is very much C, / to be sure. 

ooO        oO       oO              oooO                 ooooO                 ooO  (using Butterfly)

--/           -/          -/ \               ---/ \                  ----\                     --/ \   (using Touchinamis)

The concept is that anything that is the focus of instruction, where it is embedded in a vivid context or narrative, where some complementary attention to form would fit in relatively seamlessly without disrupting comprehension or production, can be "metaniqued!"

For more on metaniquing and v5.0, join us at the upcoming webinar in November (or possibly the webinar upcoming on 10/2 -- if you hurry and register at info@actonhaptic,com!

Fixing your eyes on better pronunciation--or before it!

ClipArt by

Early on in the development of haptic pronunciation teaching, we began by borrowing a number of techniques from Observed Experiential Integration therapy, developed by Rick Bradshaw and colleagues about 20 years ago. OEI has proved to be particularly effective in the treatment of PTSD.  In OEI one of the basic techniques is the use of eye tracking, that is therapists carefully control the eye movements of patients, in some cases stopping at places in the visual field to "massage" points through various loops and depth of field tracking.

Clker.com

We discovered that attempting to control students' eye movement, having them follow with their eyes the track of the gestures across the visual field being used to anchor sounds during pronunciation work, that although memory for sounds seemed better, the holding of attention for such extended lengths of time could be really counterproductive. In some cases, students even became slightly dizzy or disoriented after only a few minutes. (And, in retrospect, we were WAY out of our league . . . )

Consequently, attention shifted to visual focus on only the terminal point in the gestural movement where the stressed syllable of the word or phrase was located, where the hands touched. We have been using that protocol for about a decade.

Now comes a fascinating study by Badde et al., "Oculomotor freezing reflects tactile temporal expectation and aids tactile perception" summarized by ScienceDaily.com, that helps refine our understanding of the relationship between eye movement and touch in focusing attention. In essence, what the research demonstrated was that by stopping or holding eye movement just prior to a when subject was to touch a targeted object, the intensity of the tactile sensation was significantly enhanced. Or, the converse: random eye movement prior to touch tended to diffuse or undermine the impact of touch. That helps explain something . . .

The rationale for haptic pronunciation teaching is, essentially, that the strategic use of touch both successfully manages gesture and focuses much more effectively the placement of stressed syllables in words accompanying the gesture in gesture synchronized speech. In almost all cases, the eyes focus in on the hand about to be touched--just prior to what we term the: TAG (touch-activated ganglia) where touch literally "brings together" or assembles the sound, body movement, vocal resonance and iwth graphic visual schema and meaning of the word or phoneme, itself.

In other words, the momentary freezing of eye movement an instant before the touch event should greatly intensify the resulting impact and later recall produced by the pedagogical strategy. We knew it worked, just didn't really understand why. Now we do.

Put your current pronunciation system on hold for bit . . . and get (at least a bit) haptic!

Original source:
Stephanie Badde, Caroline F. Myers, Shlomit Yuval-Greenberg, Marisa Carrasco. Oculomotor freezing reflects tactile temporal expectation and aids tactile perception. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17160-1

Haptic pronunciation teaching (un)masked!

A student just asked the question: How can I teach pronunciation in a mask? Where he is, already back in the classroom, he and most of his students are wearing masks. It can be difficult enough when you can't see your students' faces, let alone when they can't see yours! The end of pronunciation teaching as we know it? No, not at all. Here's how . . .

In 2014, I was in the Middle East doing teacher training workshops. I was scheduled to do one at a women's college. NEVER occurred to me that the (150) students might be wearing burqas . . . which almost all of them were, covered, head to foot. One of the most successful and well received sessions I have ever done. (See the blogpost on that for more detail as to how it happened and my thoughts as to why it seemed to go so well!) 

With the exception of most consonants and a few features of vowels, most everything else of real importance in pronunciation work can be done in a mask . . . haptically. By that I mean, taught "from scratch," except where the learner has relatively little idea of where things in the vocal track have to go and touch to come up with a vowel or consonant sound.

Suprasegmentals (rhythm, stress and intonation) done in masks is a piece of cake, in fact, maybe even preferable in some cases. If you haven't already, go to www.actonhaptic.com and watch the demo videos. Even for vowels, you can do correction and feedback in a mask effectively, as long as the learner has the basic physical routine stored "in there" somewhere that can be recalled.

Clker.com

Doing a new demonstration shortly of more ideas on effective "masked" pronunciation as part of the upcoming webinars. July 24th and 25th. Contact info@actonhaptic.com for reservations.

Getting a feel for pronunciation: What our pupils can tell us!

Clker.com

What do you do with your eyes when you are struggling to understand something that you are listening to? (Quick: Write that down.) Now some of that, of course, depends on your personal wiring, but this new study “Asymmetrical characteristics of emotional responses to pictures and sounds: Evidence from pupillometry” by Nakakoga, Higashi, Muramatsu, Nakauchi, and Minami of Toyohashi University of Technology, as reported in neuroscience.com, sheds some new "light" on how the emotions may exert influence on our ongoing perception and learning. Using eye tracking and emotion measuring technology, a striking pattern emerges.

From the summary (boldface, mine):
"It suggests that visual perception elicits emotions in all attentional states, whereas auditory perception elicits emotions only when attention is paid to sounds, thus showing the differences in the relationships between attentional states and emotions in response to visual and auditory stimuli."

So, what does that imply for the pronunciation teacher? Several things, including the importance of what is going on in the visual field of learners when they are attempting to learn or change sounds. It has been long established that the process of learning pronunciation is especially susceptible to emotion. It can be an extraordinarily stressful experience for some learners. Even when there are no obvious stressors present, techniques such as relaxation or warm ups have been shown to facilitate learning of various aspects of pronunciation.

Consequently, any emotional trigger in the visual field of the learner can have either "pronounced" positive or negative impact, regardless of what the instructor is attempting to direct the learners' attention to. If, on the other hand, learners' attention is focused narrowly on auditory input and the emotional impact, you have a better chance of managing emotional impact FOR GOOD if you can successfully manage or restrict what is going on in the visual field of the learner that could be counterproductive emotionally (Think: Hypnosis 101. . . or a good warm up . . . or a mesmerizing lecture!)

That doesn’t mean we teach pronunciation with our eyes closed . . . when  it comes to the potential impact of the visual field on our work. Quite the contrary! How does the “front” of the room (or the scenes on screen) feel to your pupils? Can you enhance that? 

To learn more about one good (haptic) way to do that, join us at the next webinars!

Original Research: Open access
 “Asymmetrical characteristics of emotional responses to pictures and sounds: Evidence from pupillometry”.by Nakakoga, S., Higashi, H., Muramatsu, J., Nakauchi, S.,  and Minami, T.
PLOS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230775

The sound of gesture: Ending of gesture use in language (and pronunciation) teaching

Quick reminder:  Only one week to sign up for the next haptic pronunciation teaching webinars! 

Sometimes getting a rise (ing pitch) out of students is the answer . . . This is one of those studies that you read where a number of miscellaneous pieces of a puzzle momentarily seem to come together for you. The research, by Pouw and colleagues at the Donders Institute. “Acoustic information about upper limb movement in voicing”, summarized by Neurosciencenews.com, is, well . . . useful.

In essence, what they "found" was that at or around the terminal point of a gesture, where the movement stops, the pitch of the voice goes up slightly (for a number of physiological reasons). Subjects, with eyes closed, could still in many cases identify the gesture being used, based on parameters of the pitch change that accompanied the nonsense words. The summary is what is fun and actually helpful, however.

From the summary:

"These findings go against the assumption that gestures basically only serve to depict or point out something. “It contributes to the understanding that there is a closer relationship between spoken language and gestures. Hand gestures may have been created to support the voice, to emphasize words, for example.”

Although the way the conclusion is framed might suggest that the researchers may have missed roughly three decades of extensive research on the function of gesture, from theoretical and pedagogical perspectives, it certainly works for me--and all of us who work with haptic pronunciation teaching. That describes, at least in part, what we do: "  . . . Hand gestures . . . created to support the voice, to emphasize words, for example.” Now we have even more science to back us up! (Go take a look at the demonstration videos on www.actonhaptic.com, if you haven't before.) 

What can I say? I'll just stop right there. Anything more would just be but an empty gesture . . .

Source:
“Acoustic information about upper limb movement in voicing”. by Wim Pouw, Alexandra Paxton, Steven J. Harrison, and James A. Dixon. PNAS doi:10.1073/pnas.2004163117

Next Advanced Hapticinar (haptic pronunciation teaching webinar)!

The next advanced webinar will be on August 8th, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. (PST).  Familiarity with haptic pronunciation teaching (HaPT) is  required, but you can do the basic Hapticanar the preceding weekend!

Cost: $25USD (limit: 30 participants)

Preliminary topics include:

• Haptic discourse orientation
• How to integrate pronunciation haptically
• Primary and secondary sentence stress
• Secondary and unstressed vowels
• Final voiced consonants
• Linking
• New super warm up!
• Transitioning from L1 to L2 pronunciation (beginning by teaching the haptic representation of the L1)
• Haptic pronunciation homework
• Special requests (submitted prior to the hapticinar - When you sign up, if you have some other problem you'd like addressed, let me know!)

Certification of participation provided. 

Enrolment is open until 8/1. If interested, email us at: info@actonhaptic.com

Grasping (and reaching for) pronunciation together improves memory!

There are countless studies demonstrating how under certain conditions repeating a word out loud enhances memory for it (e.g., Sciencedaily.com/Boucher, 2016), including a couple of earlier blogpost summaries here and here also associating that process with use of  movement, touch and gesture.

A new study by Rizzi, Coban and Tan of University of Basel. Excitatory rubral cells encode the acquisition of novel complex motor tasks. summarized by Sciencedaily.com, exploring the connection between fine motor engagement such as reaching for and grasping objects and enhanced brain plasticity (learning) adds another fascinating piece to that puzzle. (It is almost worth reading the original article just to have the term, "excitatory rubral cells," part of your active vocabulary . . . )

Why is this of such interest to haptic pronunciation teaching (HaPT)--literally, and language teaching in general, figuratively? At least three reasons. HaPT involves:
1. Synchronized movement between student and instructor or student and student.
2. Repetition of words, phrases or clauses in coordination w/#1
3. Use of gesture anchored by touch on stressed vowels in the words, phrases or clauses of #2, where one hand either grasps or taps the other hand in various ways. (To see demonstrations of some of those combinations, go check them out here.)

The study itself is perhaps something of a reach . . . in that Tan et al. are studying the effect in mouse brains, looking at the impact of fine motor learning on increased plasticity. (If those neuroscientists think the parallel between rodent brain plasticity and ours is worthy of research and publication, who am I to disagree?) See if you can "grasp" the concept from the ScienceDaily summary:

"The red nucleus, which, over the years, has received little attention in brain research, plays an important role in fine motor coordination. Here the brain learns new fine motor skills for grasping and stores what it has learned."

What this study adds for us is, to quote the authors, the potential impact of novel complex motor tasks on plasticity--in other words learning new patterning and relationships. In the HaPT-English system today there are over 300 novel complex motor tasks, that is combinations of gestures+touch associated with unique positions in visual field or on the upper body. They are "novel" in the sense that gesture complexes have been designed to be as distinct as possible from gestures associated with natural languages and cultural systems.

In fact, over the years probably 50 or 60 potential "pedagogical movement patterns" (PMPs) have been proposed and dropped due to possible parallel signalling of other meanings and significance to one culture or another. In that sense then the sound-motor-touch complexes, or PMPs should be both novel to the learner and physically and interpersonally engaging.

This same principle applies to use of gesture in teaching and learning as well, of course. Consistent use of movement and gesture in instruction appears to promote more general brain plasticity than often assumed. So, even if you consider systematic body work useful just to keep things "loose" and flexible, you may have had it right all along.

Start a new movement today!

Clker.com

BPTRRCE! (Better pronunciation through rubral red cell excitation!)
And don't forget to join us for the next bi-monthly Webinar, what we call "Hapticanar" on July 17th and 18th! (For reservations, contact:
info@actonhaptic.com)

Original source:
Giorgio Rizzi, Mustafa Coban, Kelly R. Tan. Excitatory rubral cells encode the acquisition of novel complex motor tasks. Nature Communications, 2019; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10223-y

Killing pronunciation 6: Eliminating distraction (and episodic memory) with gesture!

Clker.com

Have wondered for years why at times even the most ingenious use of gesture itself may not enhance memory for a sound or word. I assumed that it had something to do with what the learner was paying attention to at the time but had never seen any study that seemed to unpack that problem all that well. We know, for example, that visual distraction can effectively all but cancel out the impact of a haptic (movement + gesture) stimulus or haptic-anchored gesture. But why doesn't gesture generally just reinforce whatever is the focus of instruction or repetition? Turns out that it may be our Achilles Heel. Here's a clue.


A fascinating study by Laurent, Ensslin and Mari-Beffa (2015) entitled, An action to an object does not improve its episodic encoding, but removes distraction, illustrates the potentially double-edged nature of gesture. Without getting into the somewhat complex but innovative research design, what they discovered is that gesture accompanying focus on an object did not enhance episodic memory for the object and the context or surroundings but did strongly curtail distraction. evident in the diminished memory for other elements of the event. (Think of episodic memory as basically potential recall of emotional setting plus the 5 "W"s: who, what, where, why and when of a happening.) 

In other words, gesture accompanying a phrase, for example, should at least cut back on distracting features of the moment or context . . . but, other than that, it may not be adding much to the mix. It may be actually working against you.

At first glance, that may appear to at least to some extent undermine use of gesture in teaching. It does, in fact. Haptic pronunciation teaching, which uses gesture anchored by touch on stressed elements, is based on the principle that gesture that is not carefully controlled and focused with touch is "a wash" . . . it may or may not work. Over enthusiastic gesture use, for example, may not only turn off many of the students, compounded by cultural differences, but, in effect, it can be so distracting in itself that the language focus is lost entirely. 

It took me a couple of decades of working with kinesthetic pronunciation teaching techniques to figure that out. That insight came basically in the form of wildly divergent reports and feedback on gesture effectiveness by classroom teachers. Pronunciation teachers are generally by nature more "gesticular", often highly energetic and "moving" speakers. Perhaps you have to be in many contexts just to motivate students and maintain their attention, but it can, indeed, be our Achilles Heel. Is it yours? 

If so, get in touch (either with us or your local yoga, Alexander Technique, Lessac practitioner or Tai Chi shop!)

Source:
Laurent, X.; Ensslin, A. and  Mari-Beffa, P. (2015) An action to an object does not improve its episodic encoding, but removes distraction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 44(1), 244.