Gesticulate your way to better pronunciation teaching?

If you have never seen Howard Keel do "Gesticulate" from the 1953 musical, Kismet--especially if you are an aspiring "Haptician"-- it is a must. I'm going to kick off an upcoming half-day Haptic Pronunciation Teaching workshop September 30 at the BC TEAL Interior Regional Conference at Thompson Rivers University, here in British Columbia with it!

In haptic pronunciation teaching the focus is first on hand position and movement across the visual field, not on what the arm, head, voice and torso are doing. The idea is that the hand in some sense becomes the "conductor" of what the rest of  the body is doing. It is, of course, far more than just "gesticulating" but Keel's performance does certainly make the point!

Enjoy! And if you are in the Kamloops area at the end of September, please join us!

Grasping new pronunciation

In the remarkable study by Symes of Plymouth University and colleagues reported in Science Daily, it was demonstrated that " . . . using a grabbing action with our hands can help our processing of visual information." In essence, by performing that hand movement, in preparation for touching a fruit of various sizes, features of a picture were more quickly recognized--assuming that the hand position reflected the shape of the object to be viewed.

The EHIEP vowel protocol uses a set of analogous gestures that simulate the felt sense, including duration of the vowel to be anchored (spoken as the hands touch). As one hand approaches the other it assumes a different configuration, depending on the type of vowel to be articulated. The visual image that is associated with the anchor may be written, appearing in the visual field, or visualized--as a dictionary entry or phonetic transcription of a word.

Whether or not the same "grabbing" principle applies to auditory or somatic images is not mentioned in the research report, but from what we know of the relation between haptic, auditory and visual, one would assume that the effect would be even more "pronounced" with auditory input. Regardless, it points to but another possible explanation for the "gripping" nature of EHIEP!

Conducting "tense" intonation work

Clip art: Clker

Always nice to discover a piece of research that seems to confirm the validity of something you have been doing. The linked research explored the perceived vocal tension associated with certain gestures used by choral conductors, specifically,

(a) palm up
(b) palm down
(c) pointing gesture
(d) flat gliding motion to the side
(e) a clenched fist.

The pedagogical movement patterns of the hands across the visual field representing intonation contours include all those gestures except the last (which is used in one of the rhythm-oriented PMPs.)  In fact, most of what we now use for intonation PMPs (there are basically 5 or 6 of them) came from observations I did about 15 years ago on the gestures used by pronunciation teachers during intonation lessons. What was most striking in the 2004 Fuelberth study was that the relative tension generated by those conducting gestures seemed to correlate well with their functions in HICP as either focus conveying (a stressed syllable of varying intensity) or a lead up to (or follow off from) a stressed element.  We do, of course, also refer to "tense" and "lax" vowels in some phonetic systems.

It is a case where a little "tension" works well in anchoring the felt sense of both discourse prominence and expressiveness. All together now . . . 

Preparing hands (and body) for haptic anchoring and ballet

Clip art: Clker

Here is a 1937 newspaper article describing an absolutely amazing exercise reportedly used by Russian ballerinas in developing hands that are " . . . graceful in repose, direct and free in movement . . . ", an almost ideal "felt sense" for haptic integration work.  After you have practiced it yourself daily for about a week, begin having learners do this deceptively simple routine occasionally, especially if the class is tense or not focused, before haptic anchoring (where hands touch in various ways on stressed syllables or words.) Follow the directions carefully and repeat exactly as prescribed. The efficient, systemic effect on the body is striking, the best I'm aware of . . . hands down (gracefully in repose, of course!)

The felt sense of writing (speaking, listening and reading) with the body

Clip art: Clker

I think I missed a great workshop by Sondra Perl on writing with the body. In previous posts I have commented on the felt sense of haptic-integrated pronunciation work and the "full-body" or kinesthetic listening comprehension that gradually develops. If you can write "with" the body, you can obviously read with the body, as well. In part, that means that the writer or reader is intentionally trying to access and validate less conscious memories or perceptions of sensations of various kinds and integrate them in more effectively with conscious processing of the task at hand. (That is the essence of the concept of "felt sense" and the central concept of HICR/EHIEP instruction.)

There are many exercise, training and performance systems that use similar concepts and language.  Were I to attempt to identify the most pervasive problem with contemporary pronunciation instruction today, it would have to be either dis-integrated/decontextualized methods or lack of systematic "body" engagement. One or the other . ..  think I'll go with the body!

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:

Clip art:
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!

Haptic Cow!

clip art: Clker

I am asked repeatedly, how to apply haptic thinking and technology to more detailed articulatory work with vowels and consonants, much like what a professional speech therapist does. We may have the answer here in an extraordinary invention by Baillie. The "haptic cow," of course, has been designed for training in veterinary medicine. Trainees can (virtually and haptically) put their hand "inside" the cow to develop a required skill set that feels just like the real thing, such as delivering a calf.

Imagine our L2 learner doing the same sort of thing--except from a different perspective and virtual point of entry, of course! Being able to explore the inside of a "living," drooling, pronouncing  mouth with both hands as it does diphthong after glorious diphthong . . . "How now, brown cow?"

V-Braille meets Kinect in Hapticland

Image credit: www. pmos.org.uk

To get an idea of what a haptic-based, computer-mediated, near virtual reality system for pronunciation teaching might work and look like, imagine a Kinect interface with a V-Braille set up, where you wear gloves that have sensors covering the end of your middle fingers (like a thimble) and quarter-size sensors on both the palm and back of each hand. As has been explored in earlier posts, using the HICP/EHIEP framework, learning new pronunciation should be so easy and efficient that you could learn it "with your eyes closed"--and probably should!

Why the Mikado image? Listening to it right now. What better model of integration (of fun and politics?) 

Aesthetic (haptic) touch

Clip art: Clker

For many, the idea of attending to touch is considerably outside of their conceptual box and comfort zone. Linked above is a nice piece from a sculptor, Rosalyn Driscoll, that helps to inform our understanding of the way in which the creative use of touch can be experienced. One dimension of her art is that the audience actually touches the pieces or projects and in that manner comes to interpret and appreciate it. The felt sense of that process--and HICP work, I might add-- ought to to be an attitude or mindset of curiosity, sensitivity and appreciation. When it is, being able to later recall and integrate what was in focus is much more than just a nice "aesthetic touch"--it is the essence of sound learning. Our students as well ought to be "touched" by our EHIEP instruction and theirs.