Gollum Speak: Making language improvement less stressful by talking about me

Bill is impressed with a new study by Moser et al at Michigan State University, reported by Science Daily, entitled Third-person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI. In fact, he finds himself talking about himself thinking about it in the 3rd person constantly . . . He has even given it a name: Gollum Speak. If you are not a fan of Tolkien, you might want to go here, to get a sense of what that sounds like! One implication of the study is that you can use Gollum-like grammar to control emotion--without interfering with "cognitive" functioning. (Really?) The longer term effects of becoming gradually more "Gollum-like" by talking like that are not examined, however.

Bill's local psychotherapist informs him that some form of that technique, making the patient temporarily distance themselves either verbally or visually is a long established trick in the field. Works well sometimes but should NOT be just tossed out as an option for those not supervised or not  up on how to "talk themselves out of it", too. In other words, do NOT try that at home!

On the other hand, Gollum Speak used with language learners may have possibilities. It is, in effect, after all not all that far from role play and drama work, taking on not just the language of the character but the "voice" or perspective as well. Even in working metacognitively with learners on their progress or problems, being detached and "objective" has it merits--although that type of talk can easily devolve into deeper "Gollum": neurotic, uncontrolled self-reflection and . . . doubt. 

Bill has tried a bit of that already and will do it again with a class in a couple of days. His current read on the use of Gollum in the classroom is that students so far have found it hysterically funny--and grammatically a great game-- but were also apparently able to talk with a little more ease about themselves, just as Moser et al would predict. See just how "Gollum-able" you and your students are!

He looks forward to his follow up report--and yours!

KIT

Michigan State University. (2017, July 26). Talking to yourself in the third person can help you control emotions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 7, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170726102906.htm

Just do it! . . . exactly as you are told! (Corporeal discipline in WAG and HICP)

Clip art: Clker

Here is a fascinating paper by Barker-Ruchti and Tinnin at the University of Basel looking at the place and effects of discipline in women's athletic gymnastics. (If your "Foucault" is not up to speed, spare yourself the read!) What it foregrounds is the set of sport and societal forces that demand absolute body-conformity in that or any other high level athletic performance. The nature of that disciplining of the body, and the attendant "mind and attention control" is very much of interest in haptic-integrated instruction as well. As sports and diet trainers all know so well, often developing a consistent physical exercise regimen (See earlier "40 day" post.) produces good "mental" discipline as well.

The EHIEP set of protocols forms such a framework. They must be done consistently, carefully following the prescribed patterns and homework assignment . . . work. (Typically about 3 hours per week.) In other words, the corporeal nature of the pedagogical system itself assists learners in being more disciplined in general with their practice and study. Just another case of the corporeal "tail" attempting to WAG the DOG-matic,  hyper-cognitive Western mind.

TPR (Tempered, Pre-fontal cortex Regulation) Pronunciation

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I'm often asked how HICP/EHIEP relates to Total Physical Response teaching methods. In some sense, one is a mirror image of the other. TPR, very effective in what it does well, focuses for the most part on learners connecting up movement to words and concepts--in that order. HICP, on the other hand, foregrounds movement, ideally creating an experience for the learner where all dimensions of the word are integrated simultaneously, but pedagogically, beginning with movement and then "attaching" sounds, letters and meanings.

The best way to understand what we try to achieve, however, relates to the previous post on juggling and pronunciation. What juggling creates, in part, is a temporary state where some of the conscious executive and planning functions of the brain are at least distracted or taken partially offline (The point of Nike's famous "Just do it!"logo.) Many of those functions are located in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. By tempering the need to control, monitor and regulate emotional receptivity in the awareness of the learner, we can often capture enough focussed attention to get a sound change registered and more likely to be remembered and recalled later. If you do haptic work, you are hereby commanded to use more TPR!

Advantages of 2-handed haptic anchoring in pronunciation work

A few excerpts from a sports websiteblog that could as well be describng beautifully the felt sense and effectiveness of haptic anchoring w/both hands involved:

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Clker

. . . all of your upper torso will be behind the [stroke]
. . . two-handed . . . is more forgiving.
. . . two-handed . . . frequently known for hitting . . . incredible angles.
. . . two-handed . . . is easier to “groove” (hit consistently) and keep grooved than a one-handed
 . . . Without the extra controlling presence of the non-dominant arm, there is much greater potential for unwanted motion both horizontally and vertically.
. . . two-handed . . . from each side are identical, the learning that occurs on one side will serve to reinforce the learning that takes place with the other stroke.
. . . two-handed . . . are more powerful and are hit with a greater degree of control and touch.
. . . The less you attempt to do, the less there is that can go wrong
. . . when using two hands from both sides, I’m breathless by the end .
. . . What have you got to lose?

Game, set, match!

Collaborative haptic-integrated instruction

As explored in earlier posts, for any number of reasons, HICP work has been restricted to engaging but culturally "tasteful" touching of one's own hands, deltoids (or clavicle) and quadriceps. The "collaborative music controller" developed at Stanford, would, in principle, function like the "haptic mirror neurons" in the brain, guiding and synchronizing the hand of the other.

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Imagine the possibilities: being able to quickly train learners in the correct pedagogical movement patterns (virtually) without touching them. As it is now, if a learner is having difficulty picking up a pattern, given the right setting and relationship with that learner, I might occasionally physically guide a hand or arm momentarily--but do not recommend that as a regular classroom practice. If necessary, brandishing a pointless, "guiding" pencil will usually be sufficient.

Were EHIEP  to be imported into a virtual reality system, much of the basic training could probably be done using similar haptic-mirroring technology. By that point it would also be far easier to persuade the "haptically challenged" to "mirror-ly" get with it as well . . .