Beginning next week! (Haptic) English Accent and Pronunciation Improvement Course

 If you have students, or colleagues  (or yourself!) who 

• have an IELTS speaking score of 5 or above, and 
• still have some accent or pronunciation issues that can still interfere with communicating well, 
• and are to busy to take a regular course with a school,

do this EAPIC course. The description and landing page are here. As you will see, the basic course is free. If you want more personal feedback, that is available, too, for $200 USD. No limit on number of students but it is important to get in from the begining if you can, for about 30-minutes a day, 6 days a week. 

See you there!

Bill

Fall 2025 (KINETIK) English Accent and Pronunciation Course!

KINETIK – using the whole body to learn (especially gesture and touch)

The EAPIC course is an innovative 10-week online program designed for non-native adult English speakers who want to improve their accent and pronunciation, even without everyday conversational practice. Using embodied oral reading and haptic-based methods, students build fluency and confidence through structured private practice. The course suits learners with IELTS 4.0+ reading ability and lower intermediate English listening skills, especially those who are disciplined and prefer independent study. Skills gained in EAPIC empower ongoing improvement beyond the course, supporting personal, academic, and professional English communication needs.

Beginning September 25, 2025

• Much better accent or pronunciation
• Much better expressiveness in speaking
• More confidence in speaking
• Good method for continuing to improve
• Works for anybody with a CLB or IELTS 5 and up

• 10 weeks, online
• (Free) 20-minute training video uploaded every Thursday
• 15-30 minutes of homework every day!
• (Optional) live homework follow up meeting on Wednesday at 8-9 p.m. EST ($200 USD)

Weekly syllabus:

1. Basic rhythm 1(pronunciation grammar) 

2. Fluency 1(body rhythm)

3. Consonants 1 (common problems)

4. Vowels 1 (short)

5. Vowels 2 (long)

6. Consonants 2 (students’ “favorites”)

7. Melody 1 (little pieces)

8. Melody 2 (longer pieces)

9. Fluency 2 (Conversation)

10. Rhythm 2 (Public speaking)

A sample from Lesson 1

Warm up!  

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

2. Upper chest and shoulders stretcher (elbows touch) 

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

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

 Syllable Butterfly Training

Strong tap on the stressed syllable: X

Light tap on unstressed syllables: 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

Lesson I – Embodied Oral Reading (EOR)

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. Practice the warm up, training and Embodied Oral Reading every day in the morning for 15-30 minutes, standing, with good posture and gesture!

2. Practice using pleasing (beautiful) voice, good breathing and confident volume.

3.  Keep a "learning conversation" journal with your favorite AI Bot!

Email me: wracton@gmail.com for more information or to enrol.

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

Upcoming KINETIK Courses, beginning September, 2022!

As promised, two or three great KINETIK courses now scheduled: 

(For students, adults, lower intermediate and above) Embodied English Fluency and Pronunciation Course: 10 weeks, beginning 9/19, offered through Trinity Western University (for more details, see earlier blogpost)

• Objectives:
• Good uptake - attention to and memory for course content, meaning, emotion, concepts and vocabulary
• Improved clarity - greater emphasis, expressiveness, fluency and intelligibility
• Greater confidence in speaking and ability to "use what you know already!"

• Weekly schedule
• 30 - minute training (recorded), available Thursdays
• 60 - minute, (recorded or live), homework feedback Zoom class, the following week on Wednesdays (6 p.m. PST)
• Homework: 30 minutes per day, minimum 4 days per week
• Cost: $500 CAD, materials provided
• Preliminary Zoom interview required (contact: william.acton@twu.ca)
• Can also be customized for individual classes or schools.

Instructor Training Certificate Course (KMICC): 12 weeks, beginning 9/22, offered through ActonHaptic.com (for more details, see course description)

• Objectives
• Basics of haptic pronunciation teaching
• Techniques for enhancing memory for course content
• Enhanced (instructor's) classroom speaking model and pedagogical presence 
• Weekly schedule
• 30-minute training (recorded, available Monday)
• ~90 minutes of homework
• 75-minute live seminar on Zoom (arranged according to participants' schedules, usually on Saturday, PST)
• $600 USD, materials provided
• Certificate provided upon successful completion
• Full-refund (no questions asked) up to Week 4
• Preliminary Zoom interview required (contact: wracton@gmail.com)

In all humility, these are terrific courses. If you are an instructor considering having your students take EFPC, contact me and I'll be happy to discuss the course with you. Both courses can be offered for just one school, beginning in January 2023. 

Confident English Speaking, Fluency and Pronunciation--in 10 weeks!

As announced here on the blog, the new KINETIK English Fluency and Pronunciation Course is on. 

Especially designed for students who do not have much opportunity to practice speaking English outside of class! (But great for everybody else, too, of course!)

Gives you confidence to use what you “know” but may not always be able to access in speaking 

• Applicable for literate adult learners, upper beginner level and above
• Online, on Zoom, 2 hours of "live" class per week and about 2 hours of homework (20 minutes a day is best)
• Weekly live Zoom class: Thursdays, 4~5 p.m. (PST) or recorded
• Weekly live Zoom follow up: Wednesdays, in small groups, by appointment
• Cost: $500USD (or $60 per lesson)
• Use of embodied haptic techniques (using gesture and touch) for improving students’ fluency, memory for course content, vocabulary and intelligibility
• Makes you easier to understand and develops better posture and breathing
• Fixes most important pronunciation problems, or at least gets you well on the way.
• Makes self correction easier
• Includes effective system for continued study after the course
• With some slight modifications is also an excellent professional development system for any instructor, native or nonnative speaking. 

Still time to sign up! February 10th ~ April 24th! Contact me: wracton@gmail.com for required initial  Zoom interview.

New! 2022 Acton Haptic English Fluency and Pronunciation Courses!

As promised, the new (Amazing!) KINETIK Method student and instructor courses are ready to go! 

KINETIK Method: Embodied fluency, content and pronunciation enhancement

Features

• Instructor training certificate courses (12 weeks) 
• Student courses (applicable for literate adult learners, upper beginner level and above--10 weeks)
• Available for individuals or groups
• Online only, on Zoom, 2 hours of "live" class per week and 3~6 hours of homework
• Cost varies, depending on class size, from $200~$1500
• Use of embodied techniques for improving students’ fluency, memory for course content, vocabulary and intelligibility

For the instructor:

• Training in doing effective in-class feedback and correction
• Requires no previous formal training in pronunciation teaching or basic pedagogical phonetics
• Designed for instructors who do not have enough space in their lesson plans for pronunciation and effective homework assignments
• Designed for instructors who value greater engagement of the body in instruction and general body “consciousness and agency.”
• Provides improved personal “pedagogical voice” in classroom and classwork
• A complete method: one adaptable for most learners and contexts

For the student:

• Makes you easier to understand
• Fixes most important pronunciation problems
• Makes correction easier. . . self correction, correction by teachers and peers
• Increases confidence in speaking in conversationi
• Allows you to use what you “know” but may not be able to use in speaking 
• Especially good for students who do not have much opportunity to practice speaking English outside of class
• Includes effective system for continued study after the course

Why rhythm first, using gesture and touch:

• Rhythm is basic to speaking and understanding language!
• Gesture helps us emphasize rhythm and remember language.
• Touch helps us bring our senses together to learn. remember better and control attention and body movement, in general.
• Rhythm is key to integrating changed sound patterns.

Classes are available, beginning February 1st.

For more information: www.actonhaptic.com/KINETIK or email me directly at wracton@gmail.com

 

Killing pronunciation 11: Ortho-phon-a-phobia

Number 11 in the "Killing Pronunciation" series of blogposts.

Clker.com

Ortho-phon-a-phobia or OPP, fear of correcting or correct pronunciation, a term I just coined, was inspired by new research from McComb and Mills of York University on orthorexia nervosa: Orthorexia nervosa: A review of psycho-social risk factors  (To see the previous 10 posts, just enter "Killing Pronunciation" in the blog search field!) The parallel between the two psycho-social "conditions" is, well, near frightening . . . From the summary in Neuroscience News:

"Orthorexia Nervosa, an eating disorder associated with a pathological obsession with healthy eating, has been associated with OCD traits, poor body image, preoccupation with personal appearance and a prior history of eating disorders. Researchers report those who practise vegetarianism or veganism are at an increased risk of developing orthorexia."

Now, granted, I sometimes go pretty far analogically afield in exploring the dynamics of (haptic) pronunciation teaching, but the connection is not as much a stretch as it might at first appear. Two diagnostic questions for you:

• Are you afraid of correcting pronunciation? 
• Are you afraid of talking about "correct" pronunciation? (For fear of sounding pedagogically incorrect in suggesting a specific model of accuracy or dialect to learners?)

If so, then, you got it: OPP. My condolences . . . but there is an antidote! Notice the specific features:

• Obsession with healthy eating (Read: just intelligible pronunciation, instead of aiming at a higher target)
• OCD (Obsessive compulsive disorder) (Read: need to control every nanosecond of class time or tending to view L2 pronunciation as pathology)
• Poor body image (Read: dislike of moving body when speaking or doing gesture/kinaesthetic or haptic techniques--or any number of psycho-social or cultural reasons)
• Preoccupation with personal appearance (Read: neurosis brought on by teachers who worry excessively about relationship of pronunciation to identity, instructor's or learners'--or not quite enough)
• Prior history of eating disorders (read: past experience with really bad or null pronunciation teaching, either as learner or instructor)

I said there is a cure. Have no fear! The meta-analysis suggests a couple basic principles that apply to both orthorexia and orthophonaphobia; (1) treatment must be multidisciplinary and integrated, psycho-social, and (2) the "problem" must be faced incrementally and systematically, with multiple methodologies, not through simple avoidance or replacement. 

What that means is that for effective feedback and correction of pronunciation, teaching the sound system in isolation, as a parallel discourse or channel, should be abandoned; it must be blended, instead, into all class work so that "it" becomes a normal, everyday, appreciated and low stress activity. (For examples of how to do that, see Jones, 2016, listed below.)

Most importantly, however, the idea that you can or should "ignore" or shield students from confronting or dealing with pronunciation errors or being corrected on the spot or models of the L2 that for them may not be realistic to aspire to or aim at (at least in the short term) is just fundamentally wrong.  

Instead, effective instruction requires careful, studied exposure to, not stereotypical rejection of these issues based simply on "desirability" or "achievability" criteria. The effect is to basically inform learners and provide them with controlled practice so they can understand and interact better, not the default of avoidance or uniformed biases . . . 

Integration and inoculation, the cure for orthophonaphobia . . . 

You can either "OPP out" or join those of us in field who do know how to do this and can help you do the same. In addition to taking courses or workshops in pronunciation teaching locally, online or at conferences, for starters, I now recommend two sources: Murphy's books and/or HaPT-Eng courses. 

• Murphy, J. (2013). Teaching Pronunciation (in the English Language Development Series), available from TESOL.org. or elsewhere.

• Murphy, J. (Ed.) (2017). Teaching the Pronunciation of English: Focus on whole courses, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

And, of course, Haptic pronunciation teaching courses or webinars!

If you have no background in teaching or pronunciation teaching, pick up at least Murphy's inexpensive 2013 book. (The 2017 text is a great reference, too. Full disclosure: I have a chapter in that book!) and then join us hapticians for the real antidote!

Sources:

 Jones, T. (Ed.) (2016). Pronunciation in the classroom: the overlooked essential. New York: TESOL

“Orthorexia nervosa: A review of psychosocial risk factors”. McComb, S. and Mills, J.  doi:10.1016/j.appet.2019.05.005

Differences in pronunciation: Better felt than seen or heard?

clker.com

This feels like a "bigger" study, maybe even a new movement! (Speaking of new "movements", be sure to sign on for the February haptic webinars by the end of the month!)

There are any number of studies in various fields exploring the impact of racial, age or ethnic "physical presence" (what you look like) on perception of accent or intelligibility. In effect, what you see is what you "get!" Visual will often override audio, what the learner actually sounds like. Actually, that may be a good thing at times . . .

Haptic pronunciation teaching and similar movement-based methods use visual-signalling techniques, such as gesture, to communicate with learners concerning status of sounds, words and phrases. Exactly how that works has always been a question.

Research by Collegio, Nah, Scotti and Shomstein of George Washington University, summarized by Neurosciencenews.com, “Attention scales according to inferred real-world object size", points to something of the underlying mechanism involved: perception of relative object size. The study compared subjects' reaction or processing time when attempting to identify the relative size of objects (as opposed to the size of the image of the object presented on the screen). What they discovered is that, regardless of the size of the images on the screen, the objects that were in reality larger consistently occupied more processing time or attention.

In other words, the brain accesses a spatial model or template of the object, not just the size of the visual image itself in "deciding" if it is bigger than an adjacent object in the visual field. A key element of that process is the longer processing time tied to the actual size of the object.

 How does this relate to gesture-based pronunciation teaching? In a couple of ways potentially. If students have "simply" seen the gestures provided by instructors (e.g., Chan, 2018) and, for example, in effect have just been commanded to make some kind of adjustment, that is one thing.The gesture is, in essence, a mnemonic, a symbol, similar to a grapheme, a letter. The same applies to such superficial signalling systems such as color, numbers or finger contortions.

If, on the other hand, the learner has been initially trained in using or experiencing the sign, itself, as in sign language, there is a different embodied referent or mapping, one of experienced physical action across space.

In haptic work, adjacent sounds in the conceptual and visual field are first embodied experientially. Students are briefly trained in using three different gesture types, distinctive lengths and speeds, accompanied by three distinctive types of touch. In initial instruction, students do exercises where they experience physically combinations of those different parameters as they say the sounds, etc.

For example, the contrastive, gestural patterns (done as the sound is articulated) for  [I], [i], [i:],and [iy] are progressively longer and more complex: (See linked video models.)
a. Lax vowels, e.g., [I] ("it')- Middle finger of the left hand quickly and lightly taps the palm of the right hand.
b. Tense vowels, e.g., [i] ("happy")- Left hand and right hands touch lightly with finger tips momentarily.
c. Vowel before voiced consonant, e.g., [i:] ("dean") - Left hand pushes right hand, with palms touching, firmly 5 centimeters to the right.
d. Tense vowel, plus off glide, e.g., [iy] ("see") - Finger nails of the left hand drag across the palm of the right hand  and, staying in contact then slide up about 10 centimeters and pause.

The same principle applies to most sets of contrastive structures and processes, such as intonation, rhythm and consonants. See what I mean, why embodied gesture for signalling pronunciation differences is much more effective? If not, go here, do a few haptic pedagogical movement patterns (PMPs) just to get the feel of them and then reconsider!

Affluent pronunciation: not so fast!

Clker.com

Will improving your accent or pronunciation enhance your chances of making more money later? That is a study that has not been done to my knowledge. but just ask anybody other than a prominent pronunciation researcher or methodologist (or one of their students) and the answer is a resounding: Well, of course! I did just that, in fact, an informal poll around the building last week: Yes (22) No (0).

The distinction between "accent" and "pronunciation" instruction is important in the field today. It is essentially this: The goal of pronunciation instruction should be intelligible speech; the speaker is understandable without unduly taxing the ear of the listener. Accent reduction, on the other hand, appears to go beyond this "intelligibility threshold" aiming at more and more native-like pronunciation. There may be any number of reasons to "go near there," of course, including working at an international call center, managerial or executive positions where public speaking persona may still require a certain degree of conformity, such as consular representatives--or, of course, secret agent types!

So, how fast can a learner's accent or pronunciation change and get to a goal or model?

Purely anecdotal evidence from about 40 years of working with accent, suggests that for most students it is a relatively long and incremental process--if attempted at all. There are those of amazing natural ability who almost chameleon-like appear to absorb the second language in all its multifaceted dimensions, accent being just part of the picture, of course. In truth, however, most of those who approach a native-like accent work at it, often for years--or longer. If it is worth doing, for only some, mind you, how do you get there?

One way, of course, could be to go to SpeakMoreClearly and help them become more affluent in getting you there quickly. Or . . . you might, however, want to consider this new research by Hampton, Asadi and Olson at Temple University, Good Things for Those Who Wait: Predictive Modeling Highlights Importance of Delay Discounting for Income Attainment." (Summarized by ScienceDaily.com.)

What their research demonstrated was some validation of the old saw, Good things come to those that wait! In essence, children who were trained to postpone the natural drive for more instant gratification (had more self control), later in life made significantly more money. From the ScienceDaily summary:

"Unsurprisingly, the models indicated that occupation and education were the best predictors of high income, followed by location (as determined by zip code) and gender -- with males earning more than females. Delay discounting was the next most-important factor, being more predictive than age, race, ethnicity or height."

So how does that work for predicting success at obtaining great pronunciation or accent?

(occupation and education) -- (zip code and gender) -- delay discounting. i.e., self control/delayed gratification -- (age, race, ethnicity or height)

That actually might work, as long as you flip the gender (from male in the affluence study to female!) and begin the study at age 12 or so. That would be particularly the case if you factor in DD.  

When it comes to training the body in the gym, the DD principle is a given. Self control and persistence is the only way to get to excellence--and stay there. And what that entails is adopting a commitment to the process, over time, not some abstract goal in the future. In most respects, quick fixes are only temporary, at best. For a great perspective on that, check with my favorite source on such topics, James Clear, here or here!

So, what is your best plan to achieve "a fluent" accent or pronunciation?

clker.com

DD-based practice over time (done as embodied and
haptically as possible, of course!) . . . and you can take that to the bank!

Students' pronunciation bad? It's important but not your fault!

Hot off the presses. Large scale study relating to what teachers think about teaching "pronunciation".

Clker.com

(The blog post was actually inspired by a comment from a neighborhood ESL practitioner recently.) Some conclusions, summarized by Science Daily:

•  . . . it's important that students have strong PRONUNCIATION skills, and they (teachers) have a role to play in fostering them.
• PRONUNCIATION learning supports need to be personalized to meet students' different needs. A formulaic approach may not benefit all students.
• . . . many educators do not have support or know how to allocate time to helping students develop PRONUNCIATION skills
• Professional development and resources for PRONUNCIATION learning should be available to educators who will be responsible for teaching these skills
• Many factors outside the school's control influence students' PRONUNCIATION learning, and it is not clear which interventions have the greatest impact on students. Thus, schools and teachers should not be penalized for factors outside their control.
• (Paraphrasing here) Teachers should not be judged or evaluated based on their students' PRONUNCIATION.

I lied, sort of. Those conclusions come from a large study of emotional intelligence work in public schools in the US. I just substituted in PRONUNCIATION for SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT  OR INTELLIGENCE . . .

But the connection between social and emotional development or intelligence and success in developing adequate pronunciation in an L2 is well established in research in this field. I find the last two bullets intriguing. Evading responsibility for bad student pronunciation seems to be a standard (or at least implicit) objective in many L2 teacher education programs--and for pretty much the reasons indicated above.

Absolved of guilt and responsibility with lowered expectations, anything passing for individual intelligibility is fine. To paraphrase Gandhi's comment on Christianity: Pronunciation teaching has not been tried and found guilty (of messing with learners' identity,  social and emotional development, etc). It has just been found difficult and not tried.

Or an even better analogy is the great scene between John Belushi and Carrie Fischer in "The Blues Brothers"  . . .

I feel better already.

A "pronounced" victory for phonics!

2 questions:

• How many phonics rules do you know explicitly and work with with your students?  
• How fluent (in reading or speaking) are your students expected to become working with you?

  

  Clker.com

The (generally pointless but commercially and academically lucrative) battle between proponents of "phonic" and "whole word" approaches to reading instruction  is (apparently) over, according to new research by "Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London and the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit", summarized by our friends at Science Daily, quoting one of the researchers:

"The results were striking; people who had focused on the meanings of the new words were much less accurate in reading aloud and comprehension than those who had used phonics, and our MRI scans revealed that their brains had to work harder to decipher what they were reading."

 Q.E.D.

Since from the summary we do not get much of an idea as to what the research methodology looked like, we'll just have to trust them--and their conclusions. (I'll access the actual article and report back in a comment to this post, but that is almost irrelevant here.)

What is of real interest is not the link between phonic training and reading comprehension but the connection between training in oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, well established in early literacy instruction for kids. (The current study was with adults learning a new, artificial language but seems to be a good parallel.)

In L2 pronunciation teaching, the relationship between accuracy of individual sounds or words and speaking fluency has not, to my knowledge, been researched--and published. (If you have a good ref on that, please post it for us!)  Part of the reason for that is that intelligibility, rather than accuracy, has become the "gold standard" of instruction in the field, to a large extent creating the understandable lack of interest in "traditional" segmental-focus-based (individual sounds) teaching methods.

The real irony here, if the new research is even close, is that in L2 instruction, downplaying phonetic accuracy and instruction in phonics may ultimately be undermining development of reading (and speaking) fluency. At the very least, the MRI data apparently indicated that the brains of  the adult "whole worders" in the study had to work much harder with word recognition.

Although in haptic work we are certainly not "phonatics" by any means, the method is still based on initial phonetic anchoring and extensive, systematic oral reading practice. If yours isn't, it may be time to get back to basics. To get started, begin by seeing how many phonics rules that you use in teaching you can jot down in less than 1 minute. Anything short of a dozen suggests that your students may be "dys-fluent" as well.

Citation:
University of Royal Holloway London. (2017, April 20). Phonics works: Sounding out words is best way to teach reading, study suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 21, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170420094107.htm

The source article:

Taylor, J. S. H., Davis, M. H., & Rastle, K. (2017, April 20). Comparing and Validating Methods of
Reading Instruction Using Behavioural and Neural Findings in an Artificial Orthography. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000301

Why does haptic pronunciation teaching work?

Good question! Here is an excerpt from the new Haptic Pronunciation Teaching - English (HaPT-E) Instructor notes. (If you'd like to preview the first 2 modules of the course (no charge) and get a free a copy of the Instructor Notes, contact: info@actonhaptic.com)

Essential Haptic Integrated Pronunciation Teaching (EHIEP):

• Provides a principled way to integrate body movement into pronunciation teaching, "embodying" a number of techniques commonly used, some consciously, some less so-- emphasizing the importance of the kinesthetic, “felt sense” of fluent body movement and speech. 
• Is HAPTIC!, using touch to make use of gesture systematic, consistent, focused and (relatively) "safe" and nonthreatening.
• Focuses on intelligibility and fluency, not just accuracy, but can be used for accent reduction, if desired.
• Integrates in basic voice training and public speaking skills --especially vocal resonance training--so that some improvement in vocal production is noticed relatively quickly by learner.
• Uses vowels as the conceptual center of the presentation and practice system, establishing a conceptual and sensory space matrix in which (1) sounds and processes can be learned and adjusted, and (2) production can be consciously regulated better.
• Is structured so that almost anyone, regardless of native language or learning style can learn it or learn to teach using it.
• Hooks learners on the process so that they do their homework! (If done right, it is stimulating and refreshing, especially when done for at least 30 minutes, every other day!) 
• Involves a set of basic, easy to learn exercises and techniques (warm up, vowels, word stress, rhythm and intonation) that are then integrated into classwork as the need arises. Seems especially effective in doing impromptu, incidental correction and modeling of pronunciation in classroom instruction.
• Balances conscious analysis and “noticing” with contextualized drill and controlled practice; balances energizing, motivating activities with controlled, focused procedures.
• Is more output-based system, encouraging earlier “safe” speaking and oral production than does many contemporary methods.
• Is based on research from several fields in addition to pronunciation teaching, including public speaking, drama, music, haptics, sports training, psychology and neuroscience. 
• Has been classroom tested over the last decade by hundreds of teachers. (Several empirical studies are now underway to better establish the effectiveness of the EHIEP method on more empirical, "scientific" grounds!)  

See also the YouTube summaries of the main modules from v3.0 (Not great video quality but reasonably informative.) 

Reconsolidation and accuracy: Drilling down into pronunciation teaching homework

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At a recent conference a presenter was at pains to argue that repetition drill does not accomplish much, if anything in pronunciation teaching. In response I asked to what extent might it make a difference HOW such procedures are conducted. The answer: Probably not--but we have no empirical studies on "variability at that level of instruction that I'm aware of."

Researchers and professionals in any number of fields that work with motor skill development know better. To the extent that L2 pronunciation is a motor skill, two intriguing new studies suggest something of what is involved in effective drill and practice.

The first, by Wymbs, Bastian, and Celnik, "Motor skills are strengthened through (memory) reconsolidation", (Summarized by ScienceDaily) suggests that if you practice a slightly modified version of a skill that you want to master, you actually learn more and faster than if you just keep practicing the exact same thing multiple times in a row.  The second, by Castellanos and colleagues at Drexel University, "Surgical trainees retain information, master skills better when honed beyond proficiency" (also summarized by ScienceDaily) looked at  how "overlearning" figures in to skill development.

Here's the fascinating parallel to pronunciation work. It is almost a given today that the goal of pronunciation instruction should be intelligibility--not accuracy. If students go further personally, good deal, but it is not our responsibility to help them or encourage them in that. Furthermore, "physical" work with pronunciation is generally not seen as being as essential as is metacognitive engagement. In other words, our first priority must be providing as much explanation and insight as possible. With that, a good percentage of learners will pretty much on their own get close to intelligibility. And I think is probably true, in fact.

But the research studies seem to tell us that to even get to "intelligibility" most need to go beyond it--and have to do that with at least varied physical practice. This is a great example of the "Product equals process" fallacy. In other words, how you get to, let's say an acceptable, functional spoken use of the consonant, th, for example, may not be theoretically consistent with the final goal, itself. In other words, "enlightened" drill, as disconnected from authentic interpersonal communication as it can be, is simply essential for most learners, if they are going to finally land on the high side of intelligibility.

One of the principles of the Lessac system is that pronunciation must be "drilled" extensively as homework--but not consciously integrated into spontaneous speaking. When done right, as I have seen literally hundreds of times over the years, the new, improved sounds just begin showing up in conversation. Learners are trained to recognize miscues and changes but not to emotionally react to them; just note them.

I am working on a presentation for the annual BCTEAL Island Regional Conference next week: Do your homework, which I will report on later. Those two studies, along with Lessac, suggest a great deal as to how we should structure and manage effective pronunciation homework.

Citations:
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2016, January 28). Want to learn a new skill? Faster? Change up your practice sessions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 5, 2016 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160128130955.htm

American College of Surgeons. (2015, October 6). Surgical trainees retain information, master skills better when honed beyond proficiency: New study finds that overlearning can be a highly effective surgical training approach that shortens the learning curve. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 9, 2016 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151006144518.htm

Good looking, intelligible English pronunciation: Better seen (than just) heard

One of the less obvious shortcomings of virtually all empirical research in second language pronunciation intelligibility is that is generally done using only audio recordings of learner speech--where the judges cannot see the faces of the subjects. In addition, the more prominent studies were done either in laboratory settings or in specially designed pronunciation modules or courses.

In a fascinating, but common sense 2014 study by Kawase, Hannah and Wang it was found that being able to see the lip configuration of the subjects, as they produced the consonant 'r', for example, had a significant impact on how the perceived intelligibility of the word was rated. (Full citation below.) From a teaching perspective, providing visual support or schema for pronunciation work is a given. Many methods, especially those available on the web, strongly rely on learners mirroring visual models, many of them dynamic and very "colorful." Likewise, many, perhaps most f2f pronunciation teachers are very attentive to using lip configuration, their own or video models, in the classroom.

What is intriguing to me is the contribution of lip configuration and general appearance to f2f intelligibility. There are literally hundreds of studies that have established the impact of facial appearance on perceived speaker credibility and desirability. So why are there none that I can find on perceived intelligibility based on judges viewing of video recordings, as opposed to just audio? In general, the rationale is to isolate speech, not allowing the broader communicative abilities of the subjects to "contaminate" the study. That makes real sense on a theoretical level, bypassing racial and ethnic and "cosmetic" differences, but almost none on a practical, personal level.

There are an infinite number of ways to "fake" a consonant or vowel, coming off quite intelligibly, while at the same time doing something very much different than what a native speaker would do. So why shouldn't there be an established criterion for how mouth and face look as you speak, in addition to how the sounds come out? Turns out that there is, in some sense. In f2f interviews, being influenced by the way the mouth and eyes are "moving" is inescapable.

Should we be attending more to holistic pronunciation, that is what the learner both looks and sounds like as they speak? Indeed. There are a number of methods today that have learners working more from visual models and video self recordings. That is, I believe, the future of pronunciation teaching, with software systems that provide formative feedback on both motion and sound. Some of that is now available in speech pathology and rehabilitation.

There is more to this pronunciation work than what doesn't meet the eye! The key, however, is not just visual or video models, but principled "lip service", focused intervention by the instructor (or software system) to assist the learner in intelligibly "mouthing" the words as well.

This gives new meaning to the idea of "good looking" instruction!

Full citation:
Kawase S, Hannah B, Wang Y. (2014). The influence of visual speech information on the intelligibility of English consonants produced by non-native speakers. J Acoust Soc Am. 2014 Sep;136(3):1352. doi: 10.1121/1.4892770.

Haptic pronunciation teaching basics for non-native English-speaking instructors

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Upcoming haptic workshop at the 2015 Tri-TESOL Conference in October 3rd, 2015 at Highline College, Des Moines, Washington. The perspective of the 90-minute session, "Haptic (English) Pronunciation Teaching Basics for NNESTs" is that:

• Systematic use of body movement and gesture, using haptic anchoring (touch tied to pedagogical movement and gesture) is highly efficient for modelling and feedback in pronunciation work, and that, 
• The approach can be especially effective and advantageous for the NNEST. 

That is accomplished, in part, by providing: 

• A framework for deciding on "local" (typically EFL) pronunciation teaching priorities
• Video models provided by both native-speaking and nonnative English speaking instructors
• Prosodic techniques that do not require excessive segmental (or suprasegmental) accuracy on the part of the instructor to carry out successfully. 

The techniques presented are designed for use in integrated pronunciation work, whenever use of a problematic sound pattern occurs, not just stand-alone pronunciation courses. The workshop, based on “Essential haptic-integrated English pronunciation” (Acton, et al. 2013), presents a set of prioritized procedures which can be integrated into any production-oriented lesson: 

• Vowels and word stress
• Consonants
• Phrasal stress and rhythm 
• Basic intonation, and 
• Conversational fluency

The session is highly experiential and participatory. By the conclusion, participants are able to work with the haptic techniques in their classrooms and are provided with free, web-based models.

Join us!

Citation:

Acton, W., Baker, A., Burri, M., Teaman, B. (2013). Preliminaries to haptic-integrated pronunciation instruction. In J. Levis, K. LeVelle (Eds.). Proceedings of the 4th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, Aug. 2012. (pp. 234-244). Ames, IA: Iowa State University.

Micro-aggression in (pronunciation) teaching

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One of the common responses in research as to why contemporary instructors don't deal much with pronunciation or attempt to correct it is what might be characterized as (fear of) committing a "micro-aggression." New term for you?

In a recent workshop, one of the participants stated his reason for being hesitant about correcting pronunciation (paraphrasing slightly): I'm just afraid that I might hurt their feelings or mess with their identity. He had a good point. How do you avoid that?

The topic of micro-aggression is in the news currently after comments by University of California President, Napolitano, claiming that attention to micro-aggression as an essential way to " . .  . build and nurture a productive academic climate." It is defined, according to the UC Tool: Recognizing Microaggressions and the Messages They Send)  as:

" . . . brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmenral indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, (emphasis, mine) that communicate hostile, de­rogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of colour. Perpetrators of micro-aggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with racial/ethnlc minorities."

Noting that "The context of the relationship is critical," the Tool, nonetheless, lists about two dozen statements and "attitudes" (and interpretations) to be avoided such as these four language-related, examples:

• Asking: "Where are you from or where were you born?” 
• Attempting a compliment: "You speak English very well." 
• Inquiring of a Latino: "Why do you have to be so loud/animated? . . . " 
• Telling an Asian: "We want to know what you think. . . . Speak up more."

There are at least four general types of micro-aggressions, according to the original formulation by Wing, et al. (2007) of Teachers College of Columbia University: (a) micro-assaults, (b) micro-invalidations, (c) micro-insults, and (d) environmental micro-aggressions. 

We could easily add some more potentially micro-aggressive statements of the b, c and d varieties that could "hurt," related to pronunciation instruction: 

"I don't understand what you just said." 

"I have no trouble understanding you." 

"X is a good model for your pronunciation." 

"X isn't a good model for your pronunciation." 

"There is no need for you to sound like Tom or Penelope Cruise." 

"There were several pronunciation problems that came up during the discussion . . . " 

"That's a "th" at the beginning, not "d" . . .  

"Listen to your partner's pronunciation. Write down any mistakes you hear."

"You need to improve your pronunciation a little."

"You have a delightful accent."

"Stick out your tongue . . . "

"That's pronounced X, not Y."

"Repeat that after me, please."

(Nonverbal) Grimace but didn't say anything.

(Nonverbal) Smile, despite unintelligibility. 

All of those could, according to Wing, et al.'s framework,  convey the message that there is something seriously "wrong" with the learner's pronunciation--or identity. How do you insure that the target is only the former, not the latter? Or can you? Or is it better not to take the risk of "micro-agressing in the first place? Look forward to your comments. (No micro- or macro- aggression, please!) 

Full citations:

Sue, D., (2010). Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation, New York: Wiley & Sons.

Wing, S., Capodilupo, A., Toprlno, D., Bucceri,J., Holder, A., Nadlll, K. and Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial Micro-aggressions in Everyday Life: implications for clinical practice, American Psychologist 62:4, 271-286 

Love your English Consonants Repair Workshop!!!

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This is big. I love English consonants, most all of them. I didn't always. My relationship with them changed when I was introduced to Lessac's Use and Training of the Human Voice. In Lessac's system each consonant is identified with a musical instrument of the (classical, Western) orchestra. To "do" the consonant, then, the student "impersonates" the instrument, perhaps even by acting out the

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movement associated with it. (My favourite, by the way is the N-trombone.)

Our haptic approach takes Lessac as a point of departure and adds touch and conscious attention to movement in various ways. Of course, most good consonant work entails some degree of tactile and kinaesthetic awareness. (Speech therapists have an advantage on us in being licensed to actually touch their patients! We use coffee stirs instead!)

May 23rd, 2015 at the BCTEAL Annual Conference at UBC in Vancouver, BC we'll be doing the FIRST Consonant Repair Workshop EVER! We have been trying to get this proposal accepted at a conference for several years now with no success. (I do not give up easily!) The basic comments from reviewers have often been something to the effect of: "Who cares?" "Segmental issues (vowels and consonants) are not that important." "Not a high priority!"

That attitude is changing, as research points out how for some learners from diverse L1's (such as Vietnamese) certain consonant issues can be exceedingly disruptive to intelligibility and need to be addressed early in instruction.

Join us!

Here is the abstract:

This workshop presents haptic-based (movement plus touch) techniques for improving pronunciation of select English consonants. Depending on participant preference, included are: th/th, f/v, l/n, r, s/z, sh/zh, y, w, voiced final consonants and initial consonant aspiration. It is appropriate for relatively inexperienced instructors of middle-school age learners and older.

(New) Haptic Pronunciation Teaching at TESOL 2015 - Introductory Package!

Even if you aren't coming to Toronto next week, you can still "get haptic!" The Haptic Pronunciation Teaching Workshop (Saturday 9:30~11:15, room 206A) at the TESOL Convention in Toronto will introduce several new features of the AHEPS system, including the new "PronHaptic (recycled tennis) Ball" versions of most of the protocols. We've put together a special, limited-time introductory package offer.

Context rehabilitation in (or as a substitute for) pronunciation and accent work

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Part of the system I wrote about in 1984 (Acton 1984) included the almost tongue-in-cheek notion of "context rehabilitation." (See recent, relatively accurate, 2014, outline of that article by Polinedrio and Colon). The idea was to very proactively train students in how to influence the attitudes of their supervisors and co-workers as regards their  improving comprehensibility--while at the same time making substantive, noticeable changes in intelligibility as soon as possible in the program, of course! Some of that came from the early work of Rubin (1975) and others, and work on attending skills, e.g.,  Acton and Cope (1999).  

A recent, very informative review of research on the effectiveness in pronunciation instruction by Thomson and Derwing (2014) concludes with this interesting and revealing comment:  

"In immigrant situations, native speakers of the L2 can be helped to become better listeners as well (Derwing et al. 2002; Kang and Rubin 2012) . . .  Communication is a two-way street, thus L2 speakers’ interlocutors sometimes need support in building confidence that they have the skills to interact with L2 accented individuals." 

Other than the near-comma-splice, love that word "support" in that final statement. It may well be that educational campaigns and law suits to change societal attitudes toward accents will, indeed, in the long run be the most cost-efficient and effective approach to improving intercultural communication--and making much pronunciation instruction less (or ir-)relevant . . .

For a much fuller exploration of that and related themes, get a copy of a great-looking new (VERY EXPENSIVE - $176 CAD in hardcover and I can't find it in paperback yet) book, Social dynamics in second language accent (2014), edited by Levis and Moyer! (My library doesn't have it yet but most of the chapters seem to be obvious continuations of each author's best stuff.) 

Keep in touch. 

Workshop on stressing and de-stressing unstressed vowels: the haptic “thumb-flick” technique

On the 22nd of November at the local BCTEAL regional conference, I'll be doing a new haptic workshop on unstressed vowels, with Aihua Liu of Harbin Institute of Technology and Jean Jeon, a graduate student her at Trinity Western University. You can see an introduction to the technique here.

Summary:

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This participatory, experiential session presents a haptic (gesture + touch) procedure for helping learners produce and better “hear” unstressed vowels in English. In essence, as words are articulated, learners touch hands at specific points in the visual field on stressed vowels and “flick their thumbs” on the unstressed vowels.

Proposal:

Working with unstressed vowels in English is often neglected. The problem is often “solved” by avoiding the issue entirely or by emphasizing suprasegmentals (rhythm, stress and intonation) which, research suggests, do indeed help to determine the prominence of unstressed syllables to some extent. In addition, there may be some limited, indirect attention to unstressed vowels in oral practice of reduced forms, especially in fixed phrases (e.g., “salt ‘n pepper) and idioms.

Research has recently demonstrated that disproportionate attention to suprasegmentals (rhythm, stress and intonation) without a balanced, production-oriented treatment of key segmentals (vowels and consonants) may be very counter-productive, undermining intelligibility substantially. That is especially the case with learners whose L1 is Vietnamese, for example.

This technique helps to address that issue by facilitating more appropriate, controlled focus on the vowel quality in unstressed syllables.  It involves the use of two types of pedagogical gestures, one that adds additional attention to the stressed vowel of the word and a second that helps learners to better approximate the target sound and maintain the basic syllabic structure of the word.

The session is experiential and highly participatory. Participants are provided materials and links to Youtube.com videos demonstrating the technique.

The best, fastest, most moving and touching way to improve English pronunciation! (AHEPS v3.0 Previews)

These videos are still a work in progress but will give you a pretty good idea of what each module of Acton Haptic English Pronunciation System v3.0 - Bees and Butterflies (Serious fun!) is about. (AHEPS is, of course, just about the ONLY moving and touching pronunciation system around!)

AHEPS v3.0 Bees and Butterflies
(Serious fun - really!) 

• M1 Matrix (haptic learning) - Basics of using movement and touch and the visual field in pronunciation teaching (and vocabulary work!)
• M2 Single (short) vowels - and haptic anchoring of word stress
• M3 Double (long) vowels - and "pure" vowels in unstressed syllables
• M4 Syllable Butterfly - rhythm grouping
• M5 Basic Intonation - 5 patterns
• M6 Tai Chi Fluency - speaking fluency and pitch range
• M7 Rhythm Fight Club - increasing speed and confidence
• M8 Advanced intonation - and expressiveness
• M9 Baton Integration - in class technique for integrating pronunciation change
• M10 Linking - Focusing on connections between words 
• M11 Unstressed vowels  

For an overview of v3.0, go HERE!

For preliminary information on purchasing the system go HERE!