Bill Acton's Embodiment Blog: conversational rhythm

Showing posts with label conversational rhythm. Show all posts

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Haptic "INTRA-diction!" in Pronunciation Teaching

Credit: Henrichsen, BYU

Our new, favourite new word: INTRA-diction! (You may have noticed that we, hapticians, occasionally have to come up with new terms to accurately characterize what we do (e.g., haptician.)) Hopefully, it will be the focus of a new haptic workshop that we are proposing for TESOL 2015 in Toronto, next March: "On the spot, impromptu haptic pronunciation modelling, feedback and correction." (See earlier blogpost on the range of topics that we are considering for proposals at upcoming conferences.) Here is a great example from Henrichsen at BYU. (It is not, strictly speaking, haptic--the learner does not have something to squeeze in his right hand--but it does beautifully illustrate the concept, using what we call the "Conversational Rhythm Fight Club" PMP.

"INTRA-diction" defined:

On the spot, unplanned, brief attention to pronunciation (typically taking less than a minute) during a lesson in any skill area, involving modelling, feedback and correction. That will usually involve providing the learner with a more appropriate model using a "pedagogical movement pattern" (a gesture that terminates in touch on a stressed syllable) and (probably) doing the word, phrase or sentence out loud, together with the learner 2 or 3 times.

It brings together five ideas:

a. Introspection

b. Interdiction

c. Intra-personal

d. Inter-personal

e. Haptic anchoring

Try that.

Monday, October 29, 2012

The music of haptic pronunciation teaching

Clip art: Clker

The research on the impact of music on exercise is extensive. (The empirical evidence as to how music may influence general verbal learning, at least in laboratory studies, is not as clear cut, however.) A nice downloadable summary article by Foster, Pocari and Anders on the ACE.org website cites one well known researcher in the field as follows:

Clip art: Clker

"Over the past 20 years of research, Karageorghis (London’s Brunel University School of Sport and Education) has identified three primary things about music that could possibly influence exercise performance: 1) the tendency to move in time with synchronous sounds (e.g., tapping your toe in time with music or the beat of a drum); 2) the tendency of music to increase arousal (e.g., the desire to move rather than to sit); and 3) the tendency for music to distract the exerciser from discomfort that might be related to exercise."

In developing the EHIEP system over the years I have used music from various perspectives. Recent research I have reviewed, such as that noted above, has convinced me to go back to a more systematic use of both background and movement-synchronized tracks with most of the training. One problem has been either creating or finding commercially available tracks that fit both the mood and time structure of the instruction. Now have that figured out. Am creating new (garage band-like) tracks to accompany all videos. In some cases, you can still use pop, country or rock songs, or at least the performance track without lyrics. By popular demand--and just to give you a sense of the "mood" of the practice videos, here a few links that "work": Warm up, Matrix anchoring, Vowels (review only), TaiChi fluency, and Conversational Rhythm Fight Club.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Need a little more "punch" in your pronunciation teaching?

One of the techniques taught in the EHIEP system involves a sparring action, much like a boxer shadow boxing. It has been alluded to in previous blogs, from various perspectives. Its basic function is to help learners experience and develop more compact, conversational speaking style. Of all the techniques it is unquestionably the "fastest acting" in affecting rate of speech and general "packaging" of rhythm groups. It not only results in more "processing" time on either end of each group of syllables, but, more importantly, it seems to engage the entire body in the process and felt sense of English rhythm. A study by researchers at Imperial College London and University College London of how karate masters produce such powerful "punches" may also suggest something of why the "Rhythm Fight Club" (Linked is the pair-training version) works as it does. What fMRI analysis of the structure of the "masters" brains when they were in "punch" mode revealed was this:

"The karate black belts were able to repeatedly coordinate their punching action with a level of coordination that novices can't produce. We think that ability might be related to fine tuning of neural connections in the cerebellum, allowing them to synchronise their arm and trunk movements very accurately."

This gives new meaning to the concept of "mastering" a grammatical or phonological pattern. Trust me. This IS worth fighting over!

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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.)