Metanoic English pronunciation training for the brain!

If you are not familiar with Daniel Amen MD's system and new book, Change your brain everyday, you may want to check it out. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and am started on the 366 day program. I can't vouch for all the other stuff that they sell on the website, but this book is very interesting from a Metanoic (transformational) perspective. The idea is, having at least a tourist's understanding of brain function, to trick yourself into taking positive, incremental steps--all of which require . . . disciplined, regular action with general basis in neuroscience. Then, in a sense, disciple and success breed more disciple and success. Will report back in a month or two after I have worked through three or four dozen of the daily 5-minute reads and follow on tasks. 

In the meantime, speaking of disciplined, potentially metanoic learning, here is a great one (in my humble opinion!) 

Spring 2024 Online KINETIK English Fluency and Pronunciation Course, a course for those who don't have time for a course but could be disciplined enough to work pretty much on your own for three months with a little help . . .  

This 11 week course, offered through Trinity Western University MATESOL Program, is designed for non-native English speakers who

• May not be able to attend a scheduled pronunciation or public speaking course
• May have pronunciation problems that are difficult to change or lack confidence in speaking in English at work or school.

Each lesson and related homework 

• Is a combination of public speaking and pronunciation work.
• Contains individualized training on vocabulary and pronunciation most useful for each student.
• Includes training in oral reading techniques which are effective for ongoing self-study and improvement.

Course dates: January 22nd ~ April 5th

Class format

A. View30-minute recorded lesson on Monday or Tuesday
B. Do 30 minutes of homework each day.
C. Meet with instructor on Zoom for 1-hour follow up class on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. (PST). (The session is recorded so it can also be viewed on Saturday or Sunday, if necessary.)

*Initial Zoom interview required before enrolling for the course.

Instructors: William Acton and Eileen McWilliams of the Trinity Western University MATESOL

To enroll, contact: William.acton@twu.ca

For additional information on EFPC: www.actonhaptic.com/efpc

Certificate is awarded upon successful course completion.

Materials provided. - Course fee: $500 CAD

Unemotional, improvement in conscientiousness in school (and homework and pronunciation) !!!

Here is a pair of studies just too good to believe which suggest that you can train subjects (students?) to become more conscientious without much if any conscious buy in, but (SURPRISE) to train somebody to greater emotional stability takes genuine commitment on their part. Part of the "trick" apparently is to do the conscientiousness training very carefully and incrementally (and unemotionally?) so that subjects don't catch on and react negatively. 

A quick summary of the studies by Hudson of Southern Methodist University, as further summarized by our friends at Sciencedaily.com. In the first study, college students were, in essence, asked which personality trait they'd like to improve, conscientiousness or emotional stability. They were then randomly assigned to one type of treatment without being informed as to why. The "conscientiousness" training included tasks such as being better organized. 

Regardless of the students initial selection those who were trained in conscientiousness reported improvement. In a second study, students were asked the same question but some were, instead, purposely assigned to "greater emotional stability," even though that was not their choice. Believe it or not, that intervention did not work for some reason . . . 

Now setting aside the "silly" second study, that you can train students to better emotional stability without their active commitment, the idea that getting students to improve in terms of conscientiousness without their active buy in is, of course, worth considering. Highly successful instructional systems all accomplish that. 

The question is how do you "unemotionally" but effectively and consistently promote conscientiousness, especially more autonomous engagement from that perspective, even when that is not initially a conscious priority for leaners? How does your course presentation and instructional system make that work? How does culture play into that type of discipline? Let us know!

In haptic pronunciation teaching, and especially the v6.0 KINETIK Method, effective homework is critical, at least a total of two hours weekly, to achieve substantial improvement. That is accomplished, in part, by first foregrounding disciple as a key feature of the system in the course introduction and then by proscribing almost minute-by-minute, 20-minute practice routines to be done daily, best case. Be delighted to tell you much more about that, in fact: www.actonhaptic.com/KINETIK

 

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Resistance to effective (pronunciation) teaching

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And another reason why good drill "works!"

If there is a bottom line to (at least haptic pronunciation) teaching, it is this: students (and to some extent, teachers) must practice regularly.  Countless studies,  in a wide range of disciplines, at least in north American culture, come to the same conclusion:  we must establish intrinsic motivation.  Eventually, somehow students have to come to the point where they really want or need to do it!  But how do you get there?

(Caveat trigger emptor warning: This post contains references to bodily functions of “older adults”!)

Whenever I have questions about motivation, I just go to the source: fitness trainers.  If you need to get in great shape, and have the cash, hire one.  You’ll get there much faster, and may wind up with intrinsic motivation to keep going. I say “may” because those trainers also have a vested interest in keeping you coming back for more. So, in general, they may not be too good at letting you go,  but, if you study their method, you can learn a lot. About a year ago I did that in prepping for a 10k.

A new study by Kekäläinen, Kokko, Tammelin, Sipilä and Walker. of University of Jyväskylä adds a neat piece to the puzzle. The title of the ScienceDaily summary summarizes the study well: Resistance training and exercise-motivation go hand-in-hand: Resistance training improves exercise motivation and contributes to making exercise planning among older adults. 

If you don’t lift weights, start tomorrow.

In essence, resistance training (weightlifting) as opposed to aerobic training (e.g., walking or dancing) added significantly more to motivation and meta-cognition (planning and persistence). And why should that be? I have a theory . . . . Once you get into weightlifting, it’s all about following the formula. Requires little or no motivation to at least figure out what to do, to quote Nike: (you) just do it! Before long, you can feel and see the difference. Relatively quick positive feedback and reinforcement gets you hooked in roughly 30 days or so. What the research shows, in effect, is that discipline and persistence in one area feeds over into another — but, in this case, only in one direction: matter over mind!

I’m not saying that about 60 years of weightlifting has made me a more disciplined person, but it should have! What that does explain is my fascination with the work of Lessac, and his dictum of “train the body first" and how that has guided my thinking in terms of pronunciation teaching. Gesture-based haptic pronunciation teaching is very much a form of resistance training (as is just good old-fashioned pronunciation drilling when done well!) in that it focuses on directing sound production from the body out, as it were. Some of it, in fact, is also quite physically demanding when conducted properly! And most importantly, it is relatively easy to get students to do homework regularly and (for them) to use the gestural patterns spontaneously in class for correction and modeling.  (See more on that process in upcoming blogpost.)

In other words, some selective "mindlessness" centered on physical training, not all that different from aspects of "mindFULness" today, can play an important role in developing disciplined persistence and better time management or priorities. 

If you have been "resisting" learning about haptic pronunciation teaching, now is the time to join us in the webinars next weekend. For reservations and more information: info@actonhaptic.com

Source:
University of Jyväskylä. (2018, August 16). Resistance training and exercise-motivation go hand-in-hand: Resistance training improves exercise motivation and contributes to making exercise planning among older adults. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 11, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180816101937.htm

Use it or lose it or feel good about it: myths, habits and pronunciation

Clipart by

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*Tigger warning: Research on rats generalized to people who appear to be losing it!

Two fascinating studies which challenge two "sacred cows" of behavior change and skill development (especially as related to pronunciation teaching!)

(A) Use it or lose it (forever)!
(B) Habit change requires some positive reinforcement (or good feelings)
 
Study A, by Schwartz of University of Massachusetts, short version: Found that you don't lose it (muscle memory), not really; it can be reawakened faster than learning it first time.
     Details: Studies with "rodents and insects" establish that (from the Neurosciencenews summary) " . . . nuclei are not lost from atrophying muscle fibers, and even remain after muscle death has been initiated . . .This suggests that once a nucleus has been acquired by a muscle fiber, it belongs to the muscle syncytium — probably for life."
     Implications for (pronunciation) teaching: If learners can pronounce a sound right sometimes, even if only in oral reading carefully, they can be guided into using it spontaneously . . . believe it or not! The muscle "memory" for the action is nearly permanent; you just have to get back to it. There are a myriad of ways to do that, regular, disciplined practice being one!

Study B by Ludvig of Warwick University and colleagues, short version: Found that establishing a good habit depends more on how often you do the action rather than any inherent satisfaction you might get from it.
     Details: Another study with (digital) rodents, established that (from the Neurosciencenews summary) " . . . habits themselves are a product of our previous actions, but in certain situations those habits can be supplanted by our desire to get the best outcome.”
      Implications for (pronunciation) teaching: Regular drill and practice, done rationally and with strong "felt sense" (focused awareness on what it feels like to say the targeted words or processes.), develops effective habits and improvement, NOT whether or not it feels good prior to when the habits are firmly established. In other words, trust the method or instructor, at least temporarily, until sitting down (or standing up in haptic work) is nearly automatic, something you are just committed to.

How long does it take to establish a habit? Generally about a month in fitness training (See James Clear!), maybe a little less in pronunciation work, but not much . . . trust me.

Learners need to be motivated to practice, in part by being informed about and understanding this and related research--and practicing what you assign them--all the way to progress and the satisfaction and warm feeling that comes with it. 

Citations:

Frontiers (2019, January 25). Muscle Memory Discovery Ends ‘Use It or Lose It’ Dogma. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved January 25, 2019 from http://neurosciencenews.com/muscle-memory-dogma-10637/

University of Warwick (2019, January 28). Train the Brain to Form Good Habits Through Repetition. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved January 28, 2019 from http://neurosciencenews.com/repetition-habit-training-10652/

*On this blog, "Tigger warning" refers to "paper tigers", such as the Tigger of Winnie the Pooh!

The feeling before it happens: Anticipated touch and executive function--in (haptic) pronunciation teaching

Tigger warning*: This post is (about) touching!

Another in our continuing, but much "anticipated", series of reasons why haptic pronunciation teaching works or not, based on studies that at first glance (or just before) may appear to be totally unrelated to pronunciation work.

Fascinating piece of research by Weiss, Meltzoff, and Marshall of  University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, and Temple University entitled, Neural measures of anticipatory bodily attention in children: Relations with executive function", summarized by ScienceDaily.com. In that study they looked at what goes on in the (child's) brain prior to an anticipated touch of something. What they observed (from the ScienceDaily.com summary) is that: 

"Inside the brain, the act of anticipating is an exercise in focus, a neural preparation that conveys important visual, auditory or tactile information about what's to come  . . . in children's brains when they anticipate a touch to the hand, [this process] . . . relates this brain activity to the executive functions the child demonstrates on other mental tasks. [in other words] The ability to anticipate, researchers found, also indicates an ability to focus."

Why is that important? It suggests that those areas of the brain responsible for "executive" functions, such as attention, focus and planning, engage much earlier in the process of perception than is generally understood. For the child or adult who does not have the general, multi-sensory ability to focus effectively, the consequences can be far reaching.

In haptic pronunciation work, for example, we have encountered what appeared to be a whole range of random effects that can occur in the visual, auditory, tactile and conceptual worlds of the learner that may interfere with paying quality attention to pronunciation and memory. In some sense we have had it backwards.

What the study implies is that executive function mediates all sensory experience as we must efficiently anticipate what is to come--to the extent that any individual "simply" may or may not be able to attend long enough or deeply enough to "get" enough of the target of instruction. The brain is set up to avoid unnecessary surprise at all costs. The better and more accurate the anticipation, of course, the better.

If the conclusions of the study are on the right track, that the "problem" is as much or more in executive function, then how can that (executive functioning) be enhanced systematically, as opposed to just attempting to limit random "input" and distraction surrounding the learner? We'll return to that question in subsequent blog posts but  one obvious answer is through development of highly disciplined practice regimens and careful, principled planning.

Sound rather like something of a return to more method- or instructor-centered instruction, as opposed to this passing era of overemphasis on learner autonomy and personal responsibility for managing learning? That's right. One of the great "cop outs" of contemporary instruction has been to pass off blame for failure on the learner, her genes and her motivation. That will soon be over, thankfully.

I can't wait . . .



Citation:
University of Washington. (2018, December 12). Attention, please! Anticipation of touch takes focus, executive skills. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 21, 2018 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181212093302.htm.

*Used on this blog to alert readers to the fact that the post contains reference to feelings and possibly "paper tigers" (cf., Tigger of Winnie the Pooh)

Killing Pronunciation 10: Clear habits of successful (pronunciation) teaching and change

Next installment in our "Killing pronunciation" series: Bad habits or how to overcome them. (If you are not in the habit of following the blog or have missed any of them, go here!)

I'm doing a new graduate course in the spring where I'll be interviewing experienced "master teachers" in second language work. Some questions they'll all get:

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• How important or effective is homework?
• Do you assign it? 
• Do your students do it?'
• If so, how do you get them to?

Pronunciation homework is one of my favorite topics, in part because it is near critical to real success in haptic pronunciation teaching. There have been a series of blog posts, research studies and conference presentations on that, too. The issue that always arises is: How can I change my own habits, let alone those of my students? Whose fault is it that they don't study outside of class or learn much from what they do work on? Can that be improved?

I have a "Clear" answer for you: Check out this new 2-hour video interview of James Clear by Rich Roll, two of my go-to sources on the inner game of change. It is occasioned by Clear's new book, Atomic Habits, reviewed the NY Times, which I just finished reading. Could be a game changer for you . . .

I'd recommend doing this in at least two, one-hour bites and then getting the book so you can follow Clear's simple but elegant game plan. He is a very straight shooter, one whose blog I have been following for some time. If you have too much psychology or not quite enough, this is highly recommended, especially in how you think about the connection between your teaching objectives and what part student follow up and uptake should involve.

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going" (Jim Ryan)

Killing pronunciation 3: Grit

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To the "gritty" student, there can be nothing more frustrating than pointless, unproductive pronunciation homework--or even worse, none at all.

If you are a follower of this blog, you know I am a big fan of James Clear. If you need to change something--most anything--and you still don't need a coach or therapist to help get you there, his website is worth a visit. His latest post on "building mental toughness" linked to an earlier piece: Grit: a complete guide on being mentally tough. (Embedded in that post is a TED talk by Duckworth, on "grit" which you should also watch if you haven't already.)

Grit is defined in a number of ways but, basically, it means having the strength of character to persevere to ones goals. 

Grit is a key variable in success in pronunciation, I'm sure, although I have been unable to find a good study to verify that. My own experience with accent reduction clients is that to fix their accent  they need just two thing: grit and money (and time, of course.)

Where that especially comes into play is in homework--my current area of research in preparation for a panel at the 2017 TESOL Convention later this month. If you have a student who has real grit, in terms of pronunciation homework, can you provide him or her with sufficient direction as to what to work on and practice outside of class? I have been asking that question repeatedly of late and the overwhelming response from instructors is . . . No!

In fact some instructors have replied that monitored and required practice outside of class, such as drill and repetition and oral reading is probably not worth the effort. And even if it is, "how am I to know whether it was done well or productively?"

There you have it. One of Clear's key principles, based on current research, is that in developing grit the learner must NOT rely on motivation but on habit, on discipline. But for a student to do that, there must be clear guidance and assignments.

How do your homework assignments and guidance to your students on how to improve their pronunciation stack up with that criteria? Probably not all that well, right? This is big, actually. We are just coming out of a period where focus on motivation and meta-cognition (thought and planning about pronunciation change) have been enormously influential.

One of Clear's other principles in developing it is to: Build grit with small physical wins. There are any number of ways to do that, of course, but it takes a consistent, coherent method at least. In pronunciation work, that is or should be a "gimme!"

EHIEP is based on the idea that embodied (gesture-based) homework/practice is key. The success of the system relies on establishing cognitive schema (haptic cognition) such that subsequent in class or incidental learning or correction of pronunciation will happen efficiently, as the learn relates back to the model or rule learned earlier. (That is one of the most important findings in research on incidental correction in class of pronunciation.) In general, homework is carefully prescribed to help create such schema and students need to "homework" at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes to facilitate that, preferably every day.

It takes "true grit" to do that -- and manage it. If that is not part of your current method and "growth mindset" (Dweck, 2016), "Clear" up your current pedagogical habits and grit back to us!

Pronunciation teaching depressing? In a phonological phunk? Try some Tai Chi!

Clipart: Clker

This is a fun article from the UK Independent (not exactly @ the top of the list of my favorite sources of research studies . . . ) on the potential effect of Tai Chi on depression. The claims for the benefits of Tai Chi are extensive, from bigger brains, to longer life . . . to antidepressant. One of the EHIEP protocols, in fact, is termed the "Tai Chi fluency protocol," inspired by watching amazingly flexible and "tranquil-looking" seniors do Tai Chi every morning out in front of my apartment in Japan. In addition to bilateral brain engagement (basically making both hands touch on every pedagogical movement pattern), each of the protocols has at least one other distinct meta-function:

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• Warm up Protocol - Expanding the visual and physical field of operation
• Body Flexibility Protocol - Muscle flexibility of the face, shoulders and hips
• Vowel Resonance Protocol - Focus vowel centers (between the eyes, voice box and upper chest)
• Matrix Anchoring Protocol - Precision of node positions (points where hands touch)
• Vowel/Word stress Protocol - Establish relative conceptual, spatial and haptic "distances" between vowels
• Sensuous Syllable Butterfly Protocol - In addition to bilateral grounding (bringing the learner back into the room, etc.), establish the felt sense of English rhythm groups--up to 7 syllables
• Touch-i-nami (intonation) Protocol - Anchor basic intonation contours and expressiveness
• Tai Chi Fluency Protocol - Fluency and expansion of general pitch range
• Rhythmic Feet FIght Club - Compact conversational phrases and anchor pause structure
• Baton Integration Protocol - Integrate most of the above . . . 

If one of those won't "move" you and your class out of a temporary "phonological funk," nothing will!

TIme for pronunciation change

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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? 

Motivating pronunciation change: keeping it going 2

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In an earlier post, Motivating pronunciation change: keeping it going, I looked at the relative value of discipline and fixed exercise development systems. The review of a just released study in the linked article adds an interesting refinement to our understanding how to achieve better exercise persistence--in our case, just ensuring that learners stay committed to the program and work outside of class. What the research found was that up front it was critical that learners are presented with a wide range of options and are generally not moved too quickly into the "grind" of repetition and form-based exercise. Once they begin to experience a little buy in and success, however, they readily accept a more and more limited set of regular fitness-building exercises, as guided by their coach or trainer. There are any number of possible psychological and physiological explanations for that effect, but the bottom line is that the progression to strong, disciplined routine needs to be gradual and experientially grounded--not simply adhered to because of persuasive motivational pep talks to "tough it out" for a while. (Although I do like the textural metaphor there!) That is a potentially fascinating insight into setting up the process so that pronunciation work "Stick!-s!" 

Motivating pronunciation change; keeping it going

John Rohn, the great motivational speaker, also is a great one-liner. A couple of his famous quips:

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” and “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”

Discipline and habit are two terms or concepts that, for any number of reasons, have fallen out of fashion, at least in the contemporary, popular culture and educational philosophy of the West. In the East that hasn't happened yet, but there are signs that it is happening there was well--as media and technology flourish by promoting the need for neither. Motivation, discipline and habits that work. In pronunciation work we appreciate the need for all three but so often the program or instructor provide plenty of the former but precious little of the latter two. The problem is that we have "evolved" (or devolved) to a place where only highly individualized goals and practice are seen as theoretically acceptable or pedagogically permitted.

Assisting learners in fashioning their own development and practice regimen, even one-to-one can be at best very time consuming. It is far too easy (or the only realistic choice in classroom instruction) to just lay out a few options for learners and let them figure out how to work with them--if they have the discipline and are in the habit managing the rest of their lives effectively. There must be a better way at hand, where students as a group are trained in the relevant disciplines and habits together . . . where in about 4 hours of haptic-video-guided practice and 8 hours of haptic-video-guided homework, most any student can develop the self-directed tools required--and the instructor has the means at hand to deal with the important pronunciation issues in class. There is . . . 

Eliminating the "FATuous" from pronunciation teaching: the Jenny Craig approach

Good behavior change and integration systems all share certain basic features. If you have ever been on a serious diet, you know that most are simply useless. (New research seems to suggest that many actually make matters much worse in the long term.) Once you slip off the formula, you are "cooked." The systems that do "work" are those that effectively integrate lifestyle changes that persist once you are off "life support."

The Jenny Craig method, one of the oldest and most successful, has a well-tested "theory" or model. Its basic principles:
(1) Sensitizing the client to portion size--what amounts feel like in the hands,
(2) Establishing physical exercise regimen,
(3) Training in time (and priorities) management, scheduling in essentials,
(4) Providing (virtually) all food to the client initially--both taking away the "problem" of selecting/thinking about what to eat, and modelling effective nutritional meals and snacks, and
(5) Gradually establishing a new "thin" identity that embodies and integrates 1-3 as "permanently" as possible.

See the nice parallel there to EHIEP work--or any effective language instruction program? Pronunciation teaching advice in methods texts typically assumes that the "sweet, addictive, engaging, enlightening, and mind-blowing" classroom experience is where it is at. Not so. Simply the expectations created without clear strategies for accomplishing them run the gamut from frustrating to "FATuous," to put it mildly. For most--given the limited amount of time now recommended for pronunciation instruction, unless you have trained students in better managing their pronunciation work outside of the classroom, the chances of efficient integration happening are often "slim to none . .. "  

Time management and disciplined pronunciation practice

Clip art: Clker

Following up on the previous post on discipline, linked is a nice, concise guide to time management for systems administrators. (Well . . . this is also a pitch for Limoncelli's book!) It is,  basically, the framework I use both for myself and students. Note the order of the tips provided:

(a) Create an interruption schield,
(b) turn chaos into routine,
(c) record all requests (put them on paper, not just in your head),
(d) create daily, prioritized task list, and
(e) document what you hate doing.

Consistent, successful pronunciation improvement for most students requires all five but the last is especially important. That ensures that the difficult and messy problems of life or articulation get addressed, not avoided--and don't continually intrude to distract during pronunciation work. "Documenting" and assigning a priority and due date to them has the almost magical effect of at least buying you time! Practice time outside of class should, ideally, be scheduled in class especially for the constitutionally undisciplined who require external controls to stay in the game (roughly 70% according to research.) Haven't got time to schedule a jog or pronunciation work in class? You're running on borrowed time . . . 

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

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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.

12-step learner pronunciation goals, process objectives, benchmarks and haptic anchors

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Let's say a learner has a GOAL of being able to produce an acceptable "th" sound. A HICP-based model that would give the learner a relatively clear "line of march" might look something the following. (Note: I have linked above one of the most well-known "12 step" processes. I was tempted to unpack the rich analogy, theology and all, between that and this process, but I'll leave it for another post!) Here is the HICP 12 step learning model for fixing such a segmental problem, based, in part, on the types of staged treatment plans used by speech pathologists. (HICP seeks to bring to pronunciation teaching several of the key techniques from that discipline--adapted to the classroom, rather than the individual client.) It helps to focus the learner on what needs to be done and frames the tasks so that progress can be identified. Also, of course, feedback and "homework" can be reasonably concrete. For an upper beginner, this might be a two or three-week project. (PO~= process objective; BMK = benchmark)

1. PO~ Recognize current version and target sound (aural discrimination).
2. PO~ Achieve new articulation (target sound), in this case both voiced and voiceless.
3. PO~ Practice haptic-anchored new articulation.
4. PO~ Achieve appropriate version of target sound in main word-contexts (initial, medial, final.)
5. PO~ Practice haptic-anchored sound in contexts.
6. PO~ Create target word list.
7. PO~ Practice haptic-anchored word list as necessary.
8. PO~ Create target phrase list.
9. PO~ Practice haptic-anchored target phrase list as necessary.
10. BMK I - Recognize instances (the felt sense) of "current" versions (mispronunciations) in spontaneous speech after the fact.
11. BMK II - Recognize instances of target version usage in spontaneous speech after the fact.
12. Goal achieved: Integration of target sound successfully in most contexts.

That protocol is generally appropriate for changing pronunciation at beginning and intermediate levels. Heavily fossilized pronunciation, however, often requires something closer to the "other" 12 step approach!