EAPIIC Lesson One Wednesday Feedback Session!!!

 Tonight, 8~9 p.m. EST, join us for the EAPIIC (English Accent, Pronunciation, and Identity Improvement Course) Lesson One Feedback session! Here is the link!

Basically, we review Lesson One, do Q&A and then preview Lesson Two. Tonight and next week are free. From Lesson Three on you need to be enrolled in the course to attend. ($250 USD). 

See you tonight!!!

Bill

wracton@gmail.com
(423) 660-7400
www.williamacton.legalshieldassociate.com
www.actonhaptic.com

Moving and touching, EAPIIC course begins next week, 6/18!

 Here is the Link to the course announcement!

English Accent, Pronunciation and Identity Improvement Course (EAPIIC) is  . . . unique!  Guaranteed, this will be the most "embodied" pronunciation course you have taken. The two new features are use of AI for homework and integration of accent and identity.

As the description says, the course is free. the 30-minute lesson is uploaded on Youtube every Thursday, with daily assigned homework. If you want feedback on your pronunciation or your teaching, you can sign up for that, too, at a minimal fee. 

See me next week! (If you sign on, I'll see you, too!)

Bill, Haptician-in-Chief

wracton@gmail.com

(423) 660-7400

Summer 2026 Haptic English Accent, Pronunciation and Identity Improvement Course!

 June 18th ~August 26th!

In about three months make ecellent progress in improving English accent or pronunciation and be trained in how to keep on improving after the 10-week course.

• The recorded, 30-minute weekly training lessons are free, available on Thursdays on Youtube
• There is a 30-minute daily homework practice assignment with each lesson.
• The next week on Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST there is a live Zoom feedback session on that lesson for students who are enrolled in the course (for $250 USD)
• During the feedback sessions students are guided in using AI to manage their homework practice and progress.
• The feedback sessions are recorded, so you can always access them later if necessary.
• To really benefit from the course, you should (1) have a minimum IELTS of 4.5, (2) do the homework, and (3) enroll for the Wednesday feedback sessions.

The instructor, Bill Acton, has been teaching pronunciation for about 50 years. His method is "haptic," that is it uses a great deal of gesture and touch to make learning easier and more enjoyable. This course also makes extensive use of AI and identity protection training.

(This is also a good course for an instructor who wants an introduction to haptic pronunciation teaching. You can sit in for the same course fee, plus we have a weekly instructor meeting!) 

Please pass on to anybody who could use this course!!!

For more information or to sign up: wracton@gmail.com

EAPIC Lesson 1: Rhythm and FALL/RISE Sign-offs

 English Accent and Pronunciation Improvement Course (EAPIC)

Haptic - using gesture and touch

KINETIK – using the whole body to learn

Link to the Introduction video!

***

Link to Lesson 1 Training video

Lesson 1 – Rhythm and FALL/RISE Sign-offs

• MT5 (movement, tone, touch and tempo) Technique
• MT5 video uploaded every Week on Youtube.
• (Optional) Zoom class meeting on Wednesday at 8 EST.

Homework: 

Do at least the 20-minute practice every morning for 5 days. 

Warm up (3x each)

1. Neck stretch (left side, right side, back, front)

2. Upper chest and shoulders (elbows touch) 

3. Nasal resonance (Ying! Yang! Young!) 

4. Back (‘Oh’ cone) and chest (Ooo-Wah!) 

Syllable Butterfly Training

Strong tap on the stressed syllable on right shoulder: X

Light tap on unstressed syllables on left forearm: o

 

Cool. X

That’s cool. oX

Really cool. ooX

That’s really cool. oooX

Awesome Xo

That’s awesome. oXo

Really awesome. ooXo

That’s really awesome. oooXo

Super cool. Xoo

That’s super cool. oXoo

Really super cool. ooXoo

That’s really super cool. oooXoo

Super awesome. Xooo

That’s super awesome. oXooo

Really super awesome. ooXooo

That’s really super awesome oooXooo

FALL/RISE Sign-offs: 

FALLing tone (  \ ) Usually at the end of a statement or certainty. Nice to meet you. \

RISEing tone ( / ) Usually at the end of a question or uncertainty. Are you coming? /

 

Lesson I – Embodied Oral Reading (EOR)

(Syllable Butterfly + FALL/Rise Sign-offs)

1A:  I THINK | we've GOT it | figured OUT.    

           •X                     •X•                    • •X    \

   B: Oh. Can you TELL me | what it IS? 

         X       •   •        X   •              • •X   /

2A: Your MUFfler | I THINK | has a small HOLE in it.    

           •    X•                 •X              • • •      X      • •    \

   B: Oh NO!  Does it NEED | to be rePLACED right now?   

          • X             • •     X            • •      • X                 •    •   /

3A: Yes, it DOES. It ISN’T going to | last much LONger     

        X      •  X         •   X •      •   •            • •           X•.  \

   B: Huh. How MUCH | will it COST?         

          X            • X            •  •       X   \

4A: A-BOUT | a hundred | and fifty DOLlars.        

          •X           •     X•          •     • •       X•    \

   B: Really. That's too BAD. Is there a less exPENsive way?       

          X•               ••     X                   • • • • •.  X    •        •   /

5A: You could MAYbe | rePAIR it, yourSELF.

             •   •     X•               •X     •         • X    \

   B: How LONG | exACTly | will that LAST?

             •  X                 •X•                • •     X   \

6A: If it works at ALL . . . MAYbe | for a couple of MONTHS?

               • • •   •   X             X•            • •     • •       •   X    /

   B: I'll DO that. SEE you | in a MONTH or two!

          •  X   •        X   •            • •     X         • •    \

Homework: 

1. Take notes!!!

2. Practice every day, in the morning, standing, with good gesture, using pleasing (beautiful) voice and volume. (Warm up, training and EOR)

    Friday: Do the training! Take notes!

    Saturday: Do warm up training and EOR) Take notes!

    Sunday: Take the day off! Take notes!

    Monday: Do warm up, traing and EOR. In your notes write down words or phrases you may have difficulty pronouncing well enough!

    Tuesday: Do warm up, EOR and find a dialogue or story about as long as an EOR and practice using the Butterfly MT5 with it. Take notes, lots of them!!!

    Wednesday: Do warm up, EOR, your text, take notes and come to the Feedback session (this one is frree!) 

    Thursday: Do new training video. 

3.  Check out: https://elsaspeak.com/en/ (vowels and consonants)

4.  Check out:https://speechling.com/ (general speech fluency)

5. Check out: www.williamacton.legalshieldassociate.com (for the optional identity protection app that I'll introduce during Week 3.)

Email me: wracton@gmail.com with questions or to enroll for EAPIC course feedback sessions: ($250 USD)

EAPIC Lesson 1 Feedback Meet at 8 p.m. EST tonight!

The live EAPIC Google Meets session is from 8 to 9 EST tonight. It is a follow up to last week's Lesson One video. (View that here!) The lesson Two training video will be uploaded tomorrow. 

Each week on Wednesday there is a live feedback session for students who are enrolled in the course. Tonight's session is free, See you tonight. 

English Accent and Pronunciation Improvement Course (EAPIC) Introduction

Here is the link to the video (Youtube)

(Note: The video quality of the text on the screen is a little fuzzy, but it is the same as what is below! Also, my voice with the cold is a little fuzzy, too! ) 

Better accent or pronunciation

Better expressiveness in speaking

More confidence in speaking

Good method for continuing to improve - Study at home, by yourself!

Works for anybody with a CLB or IELTS 5 and up

• 10 weeks, online (plus Introduction)

• (Free) 20~30-minute training video uploaded to YouTube every Thursday

• 15~30 minutes of homework every day!

• (Optional) live homework follow up meeting on Zoom Wednesday at 8-9 p.m. EST. 15-minute Zoom interview required to enroll ($250 USD additional fee)

Weekly syllabus:
1. Basic rhythm 1 (pronunciation grammar) 
2. Fluency 1 (body rhythm)
3. Consonants 1 (common problems, such as 'th' and 'r/l')
4. Vowels 1 (short)
5. Vowels 2 (long)
6. Consonants 2 (students’ “favorite” problems)
7. Melody 1 (little pieces, phrases)
8. Melody 2 (longer pieces, sentences)
9. Fluency 2 (Public speaking and classroom stye)
10. Rhythm 2 (Conversation style)

Typical weekly schedule: 

   Thursday: Do the video along with me (20+ minutes) and keep notes!

   Friday: Do the warm up, training, embodied oral reading (EOR) and keep notes!

   Saturday: Do the warm up, training, EOR and keep notes!
              Notes: Other words or phrases you have difficulty pronouncing well

   Sunday: Take the day off with me!

   Monday: Do the warm up, EOR, practice your target words (with MT5s) and keep notes!

   Tuesday: Do the warm up, EOR,  a new one-page story you have found with MT5s, 

                   practice your target words and keep notes!

   Wednesday: Come to the live feedback 60-minute class on Zoom (or practice by yourself!) 

       Here is what goes on in the feedback session: 
                       a. Go over the EOR
                       b. Check students' individual MT5s for accuracy
                       c. Questions from and help with target words of students
                       d. Preview of the next week's lesson

So . . . How does this course work? 

Gesture and touch make pronunciation easier to learn and remember

Using your whole body (embodied) makes is easier to pay full attention

Rhythm and gesture together help keep learning both relaxed and energetic

Embodied oral reading is great for bringing what you study into conversation

Practicing the EOR every day trains your mind and body to move and speak more like English speakers do. 

Use what you know . . . 

Email me: wracton@gmail.com for more information or to enroll (via Paypal or Venmo). To enroll requires brief Zoom chat (just to make sure the course is for you!) 

For a more in depth discussion of the basis of the EAPIC course, go to: https://www.actonhaptic.com/eapic

The Summer 2026 EAPIC course is being revised to include identity protection. Students will also be using IDentityshield system. For a preview of IDentityshield go to: IDentityshield introduction, or  www.williamacton.legalshieldassociate.com 

Homework for next week 

A. Tell me a little about yourself and why you think this course would be helpful for you.

B. Give me some idea of your weekly schedule, how much time you have to practice!

C. Tell me about your experience with music, playing an instrument, etc., or just enjoying it!

D. Tell me if you'd like to join the Wednesday Zoom feedback class. (If so, I'll set up a Zoom interview just with you as soon as possible. If I do, what would be a good time for you?)

Keep in touch!

Bill

Bill Acton's Haptic EAPIC course, featuring Perplexity AI, beginning on February 5th!

 The Spring 2026 “Haptic” English Accent and Pronunciation Improvement Course (EAPIC) starts next week on February 5th. This term, participants will use Perplexity AI to tailor their homework and practice activities—creating a truly individualized learning experience. 

The course training videos and materials are free on Vimeo.com and here on the blog, as usual; enrolment required to participate in the weekly feedback sessions.and receive supplementary materials. 

For full course details, go here!

Bill

Feel free also, to contact me directly! wracton@gmail.com

l

Reminder: English Accent and Pronunication Improvement course (EAPIC) Wednesday Nite L4 Feedback session.

 The session starts at 8 EST on Google Meets. Lesson 4 focuses on single vowels in English and basics of (remembering) word stress. Even if you have not been attending the course, feel free to drop by and see what it is about. Tonight is the last free feedback session.

Link to the feedback session.

See you in an hour!

Bill

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! 

English accent and pronunciation improvement course LITE (EAPIC!)

Course begins with recorded introduction on February 6th!

In about two months make good progress in improving your English accent or pronunciation and be trained in how to keep on improving after the course. This is an 8-week, shorter more compact version of the regular English Accent and Pronunciation Course. (See the description of the full 12-week course here.) 

• The recorded, 30-minute weekly training lessons are free, available on Thursdays on Youtube.
• The next week on Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST there is a live  Zoom feedback session on that lesson for students who are enrolled in the course (for $200 USD.)
• The feedback sessions are recorded, so you can always access them later if you are enrolled. 
• At least be sure to watch the free Thursday training videos!!!

To really benefit from the course, you should do all the assigned homework for enrolled students, about 30 minutes per day. This is also a good course for an instructor who wants an introduction to haptic pronunciation teaching. 

The course officially begins Thursday February 6th, but you can join it anytime and still get caught up!  To enrol, just pay the $200 for the weekly Zoom feedback lessons and the homework assignments.

 All lessons are recorded and available later in day after the lesson. 

 For more information or to sign up, contact me, william.acton@twu.ca.

Keep in touch!

Bill

Bill Acton has been teaching accent and pronunciation improvement for about 50 years! This course, Version 7.0 of KINETIK system, contains many new techniques based on research in pronunciation teaching and neuroscience. Bill is now living in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

(New) Acton Haptic Accent Enhancement for International Professionals

For the last 5 or 6 years I have been working with a "new" accent enhancement system, based on haptic pronunciation teaching face-to-face, on campus, with select international graduate students and professionals. With COVID, beginning early this spring, I began working on a new online version of that individualized course. It is all one-on-one (or possibly one-on-two) with weekly, 45-minute sessions on Zoom or SKYPE. 

I have been doing accent work since about 1975 or so. The first paper was published on it in 1984. (If you'd like a free copy of that, let me know and I'll send you one.) Our 2013 article gives you a pretty good picture of what it is about. Would love to work with you if you have the "wiring" and time. If interested, check out the AHAE program page. (It is still a work in progress but it will give you a pretty good idea of what it is about.) 

Bill

Easy pronunciation change? You'd better believe it!

One of the most striking findings of research on teacher cognition about pronunciation teaching is that, especially those newer to field often believe it to be REALLY hard, difficult and intimidating (e.g., Burri 2017). There is less (much less) research on why that should be the case--or on how that can be best moderated, or prevented to any extent. We are talking here primarily about expectations.

As usual, my "go to" source for understanding how to affect pronunciation change is . . . sport. Pronunciation change is a physical business, one that from my perspective is best approached from that perspective, at least initially. But here is a case where the right "metacognitive set" can be enormously important, such as in the case of a new study by Mothes, Leukel, Seelig and Fuchs titled, "Do placebo expectations influence perceived exertion during physical exercise?" summarized by ScienceDaily.com.

On the surface of it, the research confirmed the common sense notion that expectations can dramatically influence performance. One feature of the study, for example, was that wearing great looking compression tights, and believing that they "work" makes exercise less strenuous or at least one's perception of effort. Being an enthusiastic wearing of that athletic placebo, I have been all in and a believer for years . . .

But how can this make pronunciation teaching and change easier?  Easy. What students pick up from you about pronunciation change impacts more than just their perception of how difficult it is. In other words, it is at least as much the fault of the method and the instructor's personal, professional presence as it is the learner's ability and L1 meddling. To paraphrase the great Pogo observation: We have met the enemy (of pronunciation change) and it is . . . us!

I'd recommend that you begin with some kind of compression top that gets the right message across, of course . . . probably not something like the message conveyed in the following from the forward to Orion, 1989 (quoted in Acton, 1992):

"Acquiring good pronunciation is the most difficult part of learning a new language. As you improve your articulation you have to learn to listen and imitate all over again. As with any activity you wish to do well, you have to practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more . Remember that you cannot accomplish good pronunciation overnight; improvement takes time. Some students may find it more difficult than others and will need more time than others to improve ( pp. xxiii-iv)."

It is "easier" from a haptic perspective, depending on the extent to which you Train the body first! (Lessac, 1967) in pronunciation teaching and project the right message both verbally and non-verbally. The key element here is the physical basis of change, not just pronunciation itself, the significance of the research to in our work. Conceptually, it is important that that distinction is kept in mind (and body)!

So, what do your class expectations for ongoing pronunciation improvement feel like? How do you create and sustain that? I'm expecting some great comments/insights to follow here!

You'd better believe it!

Sources
Hendrik Mothes, Christian Leukel, Harald Seelig, Reinhard Fuchs. Do placebo expectations influence perceived exertion during physical exercise? PLOS ONE, 2017; 12 (6): e0180434 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180434

University of Freiburg. (2017, June 30). Sport feels less strenuous if you believe it's doing you good. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 4, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170630105031.htm

The "wrong" way to get pronunciation teaching right!

Clker.com

If you don't get the James Clear newsletter already, go sign up for it, or at least read his latest piece on "inversion": Inversion: The Crucial Thinking Skill Nobody Ever Taught You.  Inversion, or "envisioning the negative things that could happen in life" is not a popular strategy today for any number reasons. People who dwell on the downside may not be all that welcome in any social or professional context, but, as Clear demonstrates, used appropriately such "thinking out of the box" processes such as "If we wanted to kill the company or the program, how might we do that?" often reveal unique and innovative solutions. He gives a number of famous examples. 

I recently experimented with that heuristic on my own model, method and business plan with some striking results and . . . revelations. I had earlier worked with an executive coach for about 6 months  and "inversion" would have been absolutely anathema to that process: Think positive; visualize positive goals and outcomes; consider effective strategies and moves going forward. But what if I, instead, had focused in on the consequences of NOT staying  goal-oriented and upbeat? Actually, I might be further along than I am now . . .

Just for a fun thought experiment, try out questions such as these on your own program, course, system or method:

How could I . . .  

• Provide useless or pointless advice on self correction or self-instruction of pronunciation?
• Disconnect student's from their bodies in pronunciation work?
• Undermine students' development of intelligibility or accuracy?
• Help students develop a deep distrust and aversion to an English or English dialect spoken by any other group? 
• Establish impossible targets of perfection for learners?
• Create enough emotional tension or distraction in the room to seriously interfere with students "uptaking" pronunciation instruction?
• Make sure that students don't do pronunciation homework? 
• Arrange student groups to discourage constructive collaborative work? 
• Use correction to badger, berate or bully students? 
• Seriously mess with learners' identities in teaching pronunciation? 
• Make pronunciation instruction as boring as possible? 
• Make students think their pronunciation is better than it is? 
• Successfully ignore attention to pronunciation entirely? 
• Talk more about pronunciation than actually do anything with it? 
• Be an awful model for my students?
• Teach pronunciation without any training in it?
• Teach pronunciation without using phonetic symbols? 
• Encourage students to go to some "Miracle Accent Reduction" website instead of working with me?. 
• Make students think their accent is bad or could not use a little enhancement

 Based on that exercise, I have made some important changes in how v5.0 of the haptic pronunciation system will look when it rolls out. Now I just have to work through what will happen if that doesn't work, of course!

 Please feel free to add to the list in the comment section!

KIT

Bill

The Empir(esists and Millenials) strike back: Micro-learning in pronunciation teaching and elsewhere!

Clker.com

Talk about a flash from the past . . . If there are any survivors from the Behaviorist/Audio-lingual teaching era still with us, this report may just make their day.

Micro training/teaching/learning is back, but in some ways new and improved, I think. We've known for sometime now that the optimal attention span length for today's "video-media-phytes" is shrinking, down to somewhere around 3 or 4 minutes. Our overall attention span as a culture has been shrinking rapidly in the last 3 decades, in fact. But if that is the case, what do we do with the other 47 minutes of the 50 minute class? Micro-learning, or the shift from courses to resources, to the rescue.

Here is a nice definition and suggestions for using micro-learning from Steve Penfield at eLearningindustry.com:

"Microlearning is sometimes defined as simply providing learners with tiny bites of learning material, rather than longer-form modules or courses. These tiny bites could be interactive videos, podcasts, quizzes, and more. But it’s their length that is key. We’re talking two to three minutes max. And learners should have some choice about what they use and when." 

 He then provides 5 tips to keep in mind when micro-ing it:

• Start with challenges
• Create a scale
• Use sources and rules to personalize the learning curve
• Reward learners for their progress
• Include milestones to highlight progress

And 3 key questions:

• How can we create pathways that are personalized for our learners?
• In what ways can we work in spaced practice?
• In what ways can we use live data to motivate and encourage learners, while making the learning experience more social for them?

Several important notions there, other than your basic behaviorist recipe: (a) milestones of progress, (b) spaced (systematic) practice, (c) more engaging social learning and practice experience, and (d) use of "live" data. Any of those will add substantially to the effectiveness of your teaching, in general, but they are especially relevant to pronunciation work. Please let us know how you utilize any of those effectively in your method. Subsequent blog posts will focus especially on (b) and (c).

EHIEP Haptic Pronunciation Workshops

Here is the basic announcement format of the courses we are beginning to offer this year in various venues. (If you'd like one in your neighbourhood, let us know.) Later this year, we'll have the online version ready as well. Keep in touch. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a 10-week, noncredit course to help nonnative speakers of English improve their pronunciation and accent. The course meets Tuesday afternoons, from 3 to 4:15, beginning January 29^th.  

Preference is given to graduate students, but any student or staff member of any level of English proficiency is invited to attend the course. Class size is limited to 24. 

If you are interested in joining the class, a brief telephone interview is required. Required textbook: Oxford Basic Dictionary of American English.

The course fee of $90 includes a student workbook and 9 basic video files.  Ideally, students should have access to a computer or smart phone for practice but that is not absolutely necessary.

·      The topics of the 10 classes are:

o   Introduction to the course

o   Warm up and dictionary orientation

o   Vowels and consonants I

o   Vowels and consonants II

o   Stressed words and phrases

o   Intonation and melody of speaking

o   Speaking fluently

o   Conversational speaking style

o   Expressiveness and pronunciation self-improvement plan

o   Public speaking style

Each week students

o   Discuss their homework at the beginning

o   Are introduced to the pronunciation topic

o   Practice the exercises with a video model and their instructor

o   Practice the pronunciation topic in a everyday conversation

o   Practice a list of words that use the pronunciation topic and are valuable for them, individually.

o   Prepare for homework

§  Students should practice their homework 3 times per week, if possible. (20 minutes each time)

§  Students may purchase optional, downloadable video and audio files for additional practice

Giving pronunciation a bad name?

Clip art: Clker

Clip art: Clker

What you call it does, of course, make a difference, e.g., EHIEP or HICPR! But how's this for a concluding line to an abstract: "This work demonstrates the potency of processing fluency in the information rich context of impression formation." There are, of course, a plethora of potential reasons that a name or term may appeal or stick quickly, other than just "easier to pronounce," the focus of the 2012 study by Laham, Koval and Alter in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. That effect was evident irrespective of " . . .  name length, unusualness, typicality, foreignness, and orthographic regularity." In other words, if subjects (simply) reported that a name was easier to pronounce, for the most part that seemed to be based on ease of articulation and  perhaps a bit of "sound symbolism" thrown in.

The more interesting implication of the study, however, is the claim that ease of articulation translates into ease of processing fluency--and more favorable impressions or ratings for the bearers of the names, whether of a person, place or thing. So how is that for a criterion for vocabulary selection and sequencing? Begin with more positive words that are easier and more pleasurable to pronounce; hold off on the nasty consonant clusters and idiosyncratic intonation contours until later: what can be more easily pronounced will be encoded and recalled . . . better.

 At least it suggests that in the  process of targeting a specific vowel or consonant that, all things being equal, the anchoring and practice should not dwell on words that are overwhelmingly negative or which contain problematic articulation, despite the intrinsic "vividness" and affect "punch" involved. I had a somewhat "cynical"  colleague who taught pronunciation almost exclusively in the context of pollution--and who was always puzzled that his students were not more positive about the improvement in pronunciation that (should have) resulted. Based on this study, I suspect that the something of the combination of the grim topic/presentation and encountering terms such as "environmental" or "toxic" early on may have helped give his class a bad "name" . . .

ESP: "Social rewards" to encourage pronunciation practice and change!

Clip art: Clker

Clip art: Clker

How's this for a conclusion? " . . . a person performs better when they receive a social reward after completing an exercise. There seems to be scientific validity behind the message 'praise to encourage improvement'. Complimenting someone could become an easy and effective strategy to use in the classroom and during rehabilitation."  Really?

As self-evident and "Pavlovian" as that may sound, there is actually an interesting twist in the research by Sugawara, Tanaka, Okazaki, Watanabe and Sadato, entitled, " Social rewards enhance offline improvements in motor skill," as reported by Science Daily. Two key terms there: offline and motor, meaning performance on a keyboard finger dexterity task. Those who were praised after a trial, regardless of their relative performance, tended to do better on the next one; those who weren't, tended not to, at least not as much. (Their earlier research had established the concept that a cash reward had about the same effect--in the same area of the brain.)

The extensive research on the effect of praise for behaviour other than "offline motor" skills is ambiguous as best. Verbal reinforcement, like all instruction, must be thoroughly contextualized and situated. How and when to provide praise, as opposed to "corrective" feedback in pronunciation work, is a skill that develops with experience and constant, informed reflection on classroom practice (such as watching yourself teaching on video regularly!)

To the extent that pronunciation change is "motor-based" the research is certainly relevant. That is, of course, especially the case in "haptic" work, where learners are given feedback initially (almost exclusively) on accuracy of pedagogical movement patterns (which are done simultaneously as the sound, word or phrase is spoken)--not accuracy of articulation of the sound in question. The explicit movement, touch and body resonance focus in EHIEP, for example, provides an analogous framework for such timely "social rewards" . . .  We need to "cash in" on this, so to speak.

 "Embodied social praise" (ESP!) I like that! Looking good!

Digesting pronunciation change: Bob's 9-step

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Clipart: Clker

"It'll take me a while to digest that . . . " That comment from a student after having been given the recommended "haptic-integrated" homework, got me thinking. Digestion is not a bad metaphor for the process of integrating pronunciation change, in fact. As always, when faced with a question like that, we turn to Science Bob for an answer! In teaching, I often use similar heuristics in examining pedagogical processes. (Semiotically speaking, process integration is process integration, regardless of where in our experience it occurs.) When I walked through it, I was surprised how it forced explicit consideration of some transitions  So, strap on your analogical transponder and consider the parallel to Bob's 9-Step:

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1. Teeth " . . . small enough pieces so that it can fit down our throats . . . "[Conceptual, explicit focus on form, generally initiated by the  appearance of a problematic pronunciation target during "regular" speaking or listening instruction] 
2. Saliva " . . . soften . . . in the mouth so that it is easier to swallow . . . break down . . . into simpler forms . . "[Basic presentation of "target" to learner and practice plan introduced in class] 
3. Tongue " . . . works  . . .  to form a "ball" that can be swallowed . . . helps us tell the difference between . . .sour . . . sweet . . . "[Embodiment and sensory, felt sense, haptic-integrated focus, using standard EHIEP protocol] 
4. Esophagus " . . . a transportation tube from the mouth . . .closing a trap door in our throat . . . moves . . .  using muscles not gravity . . . '[Integrated, directed execution and practice of sound, sound-in-word or phrase in class and in homework] 
5. Stomach " . . . moved around . . . .mixed . . .  for . . .  hours. When it is done . . . now . . . called chyme . . ."[Occurring in the next few days: haptic-integrated integration of sound-felt sense-meaning complex in memory] 
6. Liver/gall bladder " . . . breaking down . . . . fat  . . . supply . . . energy later . . . " [Regular, focused practice of sound and sound in words, generally in personal word lists] 
7. Pancreas " . . . adds . . . as the food leaves  . . . breaking down . . . carbohydrates" [Regular, context-based, integrated practice in conversationally relevant language, typically for a week or more] 
8. Small intestine " . . . the real hero . . .  where the real digestion takes place . . .  put to use by the body . . . thousands of tiny fingers called villi . . .  absorb . . . and send them off . . . "[Appearance in conversation in various forms, both in production and reception; noted after the fact] 
9. Large Intestine " . . . Whatever the body cannot put to use . . .  cannot be digested . . .necessary up until now . . . no longer needed . . ."[Change is fully integrated in conversation; pedagogical heuristics fade out and are discarded] 

Planned pronunciation change: "BITI" models

Getting from classroom to conversation with "corrected" pronunciation of a word or process is the focus of HICP. Should you need a mathematical model of the main variables involved, the "Theory of planned behavior," first articulated by Ajzen, puts it this way:

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Now I'm not entirely clear on all the variables there ('BI' = behavioral intention, what the desired performance should be)--you can go to Wikipedia and unpack the entire formula, yourself--but, were we to apply it to pronunciation change, one of the more important variables would certainly be 'p' (perceived power of control). And by that I don't mean that we simply provide students with a list of suggestions for as many possible integration strategies as possible and then send them home to figure out a plan as optional homework--and then find some native speaker to practice them on. Granted, you can rather easily create a temporary "perceived power of control" in learners with attractive exhortations and visual/cognitive schemas, but the sense of control ultimately must come from the "felt sense" of successful integration. One of the great discoveries of Alexander before the turn of the 20th century was that change in speech behavior can often be best accomplished by body-based interventions outside of social engagement. In our terms, homework done in relative isolation becomes the bridge to enhanced social functioning. Before I post my new one, how would you characterize the (implicit or explicit) steps, phases or benchmarks in your BITI (behavioral intention to target-level intelligibility) model? Even a little BITI is better than none . . . 

Intelligible pronunciation for dummies

To understand why some relatively intelligible interlanguage pronunciation can be so resistant to change, spend a week training to be a ventriloquist. What you learn quickly, is that with practice--a visually striking dummy, basic distraction techniques and a little extra aspiration--you can get away with some amazing substitutions, such as:

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a. Instead of 'b', blow out a strong blast of air, aiming at 'v'.
b. For 'f', substitute a strongly aspirated 'h'.
c. For 'm', leave lips open but inhale sharply.
d. Avoid works with 'p'--or drop the first letter if it is a 'p'.
e. For 'w', wiggle the tongue and articulate the word at the back of the throat.
f. 'Y' is the ventriloquist's shibboleth. Once you have that one, you are in the club. Do it, too, with a violent blast of air, rather than much tongue movement.
g. For 'th', most anything works, depending on the accent you are affecting.
i. Vowels are a piece of cake, as long as you don't need to sound too intelligent.
Our students, of course, aren't dummies--but they sometimes do need to be persuaded to improve for no apparent reason . . . like . . .  "watch my lips and repeat after me!"