Mesmerizing teaching (and pronunciation teachers)

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The topics of  attention salience and unconscious learning have come up any number of times over the course of the history of the blog, beginning with one of my favorites on that subject back in 2011 on Milton Erickson. In part because of the power of media today and the "discoveries" by neuroscience that we do, indeed, learn on many levels, some out of our immediate awareness, there is renewed interest in the topics--even from Starbucks!

A fascinating new book (to me at least) by Ogden, Credulity: A Cultural History of US Mesmerism, summarized by Neuroscience News, explores the history of  "Mesmerism" and a bit about its contemporary manifestations.(QED. . . . if you were not aware that it is still with us!) Ogden is most interested in understanding the abiding attraction of purposeful manipulation or management of unconscious communication, attention and learning. One fascinating observation, from the Neuroscience News summary is:

" . . . that one person’s power of suggestion over another enables the possibility of creating a kind of collaborative or improvisational performance, even unintentionally without people setting it up on purpose."

Get that?  ". . . collaborative or improvisational performance . . . created "unintentionally" Are you aware that you promote that or do any of that in your classroom? If you are, great; if not, great, but is that not also an interesting characterization of the basis of interaction in the language teaching classroom, especially where the focus is modeling, corrective feedback and metacognitive work in pragmatics and usage? In other words, suggestion is at the very heart of instructor-student engagement in some dimensions of the pedagogical process. Unconscious learning and relational affinities were for some time contained in Chomsky's infamous "black box," but are now the subject of extensive research in neuroscience and elsewhere.

And there are, of course, any number of factors that may affect what goes on "below decks" as it were. Turns out there is  (not surprisingly) even a well-established gender dimension or bias to unconscious learning as well.Ya think? A 2015 study by Ziori and Dienes, summarized by Frontiers in Psychology.org, highlights a critical feature of that cognitive process keyed or confounded by the variable of "attentional salience."

In that study, "Facial beauty affects implicit and explicit learning of men and women differently", the conscious and unconscious learning of men was significantly downgraded when the task involved analyzing language associated with the picture of a beautiful woman. Women, on the other hand, actually did BETTER in that phase of the study. The beautiful face did  not distract them in the least, it seemed, in fact to further concentrate their cognitive processing of the linguistic puzzle.

Now exactly why that is the case the researchers only speculate. For example, it may be that men are programmed to tend to see a beautiful woman more initially as "physically of interest", whereas women may see or sense first a competitor, which actually sharpens their processing of the problem at hand.  It was very evident, however, that what is termed "incentive salience" had a strong impact or at least siphoned off cognitive processing resources  . . . for the boys.

There are many dimensions of what we do in instruction that are loaded with "incentive salience", fun or stimulating stuff that we suppose will in essence attract attention or stimulate learners to at least wake up so we can do something productive. Pronunciation instruction is filled with such gimmicks and populated by a disproportionate number of former cheer leaders and "dramatic persona." The combination of unconscious connectivity and "beautiful" techniques may actually work against us.

In haptic work we figured out about a decade ago that not only how you look but what you wear can impact effectiveness of mirroring of instructor gesture in class. The fact that I am old and bald may account for the fact that students find me easier to follow than some of my younger associates? Take heart, my friends, the assumed evolutionary advantage of "beautiful people" may not only be waning, but actually be working against them in the pronunciation classroom at least! 

I like the way you move there! (Why haptic pronunciation teaching is so attractive!)

Do you like your students? Really? If you do, can they tell? If you don't, do they know? Do you like
teaching pronunciation? Does it show?

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If your answer to any of those 6 questions is "I don't know . . . ,"  A meta-analytic investigation of the relation between interpersonal attraction and enacted behavior, by Montoya, Matthew; Kershaw and Prosser, summarized by Neurosciencenews.com, may be of interest. What they did is look at a bunch of studies, done on "hundreds" of cultures, trying to find universally recognized human behaviors that signal attraction (e.g., I like you!) Those nonverbal behaviors that (they claim) are universal are: 

• Smiling
• Eye contact
• Proximity (getting close in space)
• Laughter

Now, of course, how those behaviors are actually conveyed in different cultures may be quite different, but it is a fascinating claim. The summary goes on: 

"Other behaviors showed no evidence of being related to liking, including when someone flips their hair, lifts their eyebrows, uses gestures, tilts their head, primps their clothes, maintains open body posture or leans in." (Some of those at least intuitively seem to be related to attraction, at least in North American or Northern European cultures.)

One of the other, most striking findings (to me, at least) is that mimicking (or mirroring) and head nods were only associated with attraction in English. In other words, if your nonverbal messaging or expectations of students in the classroom relies to any extent on mirroring (of you or of your mirroring of them) or head nodding--and for the native English speaking instructor it certainly will to some degree--there can be a very real affective mismatch. 

Any native English speaker who has taught in Japan, for instance, can easily have their perception of audience engagement scrambled initially, when those in the audience sit (apparently) very still, with less body movement or mirroring, and nod heads for reasons other than just understanding or attraction. 

The intriguing implication of that research, in terms of haptic pronunciation teaching and training, is that both head nods and mirroring figure in very prominently in the teaching methodology, in effect making it perhaps even more "English-centric" than we had imagined. In most instances of modeling or correction of pronunciation, for example, a student "invited" to synchronize his or her upper body movement with the instructor or other students, as they repeat the targeted word, phrase or clause together. Likewise, upper torso movement in English and in the haptic system accompanies or drives head nodding, often referred to as upper torso nods, in fact.

In other words, the basic pedagogical process of haptic pronunciation work is, itself, "attractive," involving nonverbal "synchronization" of head and body in ways that enable acquisition of at least English. The only other language that we have done some work in to date is Spanish, but its "body language" is, of course, closely related to English. 

Even if you are not entirely "attracted" to haptic yet, this research certainly lends more support for the use of mirroring in English language instruction, especially pronunciation. (Nod if you agree!)



Source:
“A meta-analytic investigation of the relation between interpersonal attraction and enacted behavior” by Montoya, R. Matthew; Kershaw, Christine; & Prosser, Julie L. in Psychological Bulleting. Published May 8 2018. doi:10.1037/bul0000148

The shibboleth of great pronunciation teaching: Body sync!

If there is a sine qua non of contemporary pronunciation teaching, in addition to the great story of the first recorded pronunciation test in history that we often use in teacher training, it is the use of mirroring (moving along with a spoken model on audio or video). If you are not familiar with the practice of mirroring, here are a few links to get you started by Meyers (PDF), Meyers (video) and Jones.

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There are decades of practice and several studies showing that it works, seems to help improve suprasegmentals, attitudes and listening comprehension--among other things. There has always been a question, however, as to how and why. A new study by Morillon and Baillet of McGill University reported by ScienceDaily.com not only suggests what is going on but also (I think) points to how to better work with a range of techniques related to mirroring in the classroom.

The study looked at the relationship between motor and speech perception centers of the brain. What it revealed was that by getting subjects to move (some part) of their bodies to the rhythm of what they were listening to, their ability to predict what sound would come next was enhanced substantially. Quoting from the ScienceDaily summary:

"One striking aspect of this discovery is that timed brain motor signaling anticipated the incoming tones of the target melody, even when participants remained completely still. Hand tapping to the beat of interest further improved performance, confirming the important role of motor activity in the accuracy of auditory perception."

The researchers go on to note that a good analogy is the experience of being in a very noisy cocktail party and trying focus in on the speech rhythm of someone you are listening to better understand what they are saying. (As one whose hearing is not what it used to be, due in part to just age and tinnitus, that strategy is one I'm sure I employ frequently.) You can do that, I assume, by either watching the body or facial movement or just syncing to rhythm of what you can hear.

As both Meyer and Jones note, with the development of visual/auditory technology and the availability to appropriate models on the web or in commercial materials, the feasibility of any student having the opportunity and tools to work with mirroring today has improved dramatically. Synchronized body movement is the basis of haptic pronunciation teaching. We have not done any systematic study of the subsequent impact of that training and practice on speech perception, but students often report that silently mirroring a video model helps them understand better. (Well, actually, we tell them that will happen!)

If you are new to mirrored body syncing in pronunciation teaching or in listening comprehension work, you should  try it, or at least dance along with us for a bit.

Source:
McGill University. (2017, October 5). Predicting when a sound will occur relies on the brain's motor system: Research shows how the brain's motor signals sharpen our ability to decipher complex sound flows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 6, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171005141732.htm

Haptic dance, Aikido and the future of language (and pronunciation) teaching

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For an intriguing glance at what future language (or pronunciation) teaching may "look" like, check out the following "haptic dances" by media artist, Landau: Exploratory Dance 1.1, and Motor Imagery Dance. Computer-mediated mirroring will be key; not just culturally appropriate body movement and gestures, for example, but gesture-synchronized speech as well (not unlike what we see in haptic pronunciation teaching, not surprisingly!)

Another piece or theoretical model of what that process will involve is evident in this article in Gesture focusing on the full-body, dialogic "dance" between opponents in Aikido,"The coordination of moves in Aikido interaction." Lefebvre's 2016 framework was developed examining the interplay involved, created with the goal of being able to better characterize the way entire bodies communicate with each other, the intricate synchrony of moves and counters that characterizes all "conversation".

Aikido embodies the moves of your opponent, in part by almost subliminally synchronizing the body to the motion coming at you. Bouts are "won" often by simply redirecting or escorting one's opponent to the floor or out of the ring. (That was, by the way, my wife's basic approach to dealing with first graders: You cannot possibly just block them or stop them, but you can almost always deftly redirect their energy and motion more to your purposes!)

What those two systems in part provide us with is the beginnings of a framework by which to design methodologies that (literally) embody language models, including technology that "manages" articulation as well. There have been for quite some time haptic systems that assist patients with various articulatory conditions, guiding the vocal apparatus in producing more "normal" speech patterns.

Embodied, computer-mediated language learning, something analogous to the Aikido experience, will provide learners with a way to (safely and completely) give themselves over to the "dance" as they are guided to speak and move with models, and ultimately be able to adopt and use the energies, words and moves of the L2, themselves--faster and more efficiently.

This is one dance you'll not want to miss! In the meantime, of course, you might prepare by doing some Aikido--and Haptic Pronunciation Teaching!

Full citations:
Daniel Landau - http://www.daniel-landau.com/about
Lefebvre, A. The coordination of moves in Aikido interaction. Gesture 5(2) 123-155.

Can't see how to say it right? (Self-reflective, visual-soma-kinaesthetic correction of mispronunciation)

So you try to demonstrate with your face and mouth how a learner should be pronouncing a vowel, for example--and it simply does not work. In fact, the mispronunciation may just get worse. New research by Cook of City University London, Johnston of University College London, and Heyes of the University of Oxford (Summarized by Science Daily) may suggest why: visual feedback of the difference between one's facial gesture and that of a model can be effective in promoting accommodation; simple proprioceptic feedback (i.e., trying to connect up the correct model with the movements of the muscles in your face, without seeing what you are doing simultaneously) generally does not work very well. Amen, eh.

I have had students whose brains are wired so that they can make that translation easily, but they are the exception. The solution? Sometimes a mirror works "mirror-cles;" some new software systems (noted in earlier blogs) actually does come up with a computer simulation that attempts to show the learner what is going on wrong inside the mouth and what should be instead--with apparently very modest, but expensive results.

Clip art: Clker

Clip art: Clker

The EHIEP approach is to early on anchor the positioning and movement of the jaw and tongue to pedagogical movement patterns of the arms and hands. From that perspective, it is relatively easy, at least on vowels, stress and intonation (and some consonants) to provide the learner with both visual, auditory and proprioceptic feedback simultaneously, showing both the appropriate model and how the learner's version deviates. (In fact, in some correction routines, it is better to anchor the incorrect articulation first, before going to the "correct" one.) In effect, "(Only if) Monkey see (him or her mis-speak), (can) Monkey do (anything about it!)"

The "music" of pronunciation teaching: Just "duet!"

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Clip art: Clker

It would be difficult to find anyone who does not support the use of music in language teaching, for any number of reasons. For the most part the rationales are common sense and intuitive--and backed by generations of validating classroom and extra-classroom experience. But here is a study by Lindenberger and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute (reported by Science Daily) that goes the other direction, examining the synchronous brain activity that is evident in "making music together," in this case two guitarists playing a duet, connected up to fMRI technology (including the usual bathing caps with dozens of wires attached!)

There are similar studies of "duets" of conversationalists, lovers, mothers and infants and others, which show coordination or mirroring of minds and brains. Likewise, studies of empathy show analogous "sync-ing" in between participants. (In EHIEP work, there is extensive mirroring, complementary background music and use of music in supporting rhythmic practice.) Can you imagine a more effective occasion for anchoring of new or changed pronunciation than when instructor and learner are locked in (neurophysiologically and pedagogically appropriate) synchronized dance from across the room--making music together? That is music to more than the ears--and not a bad place to begin in understanding when instruction enables uptake and when it doesn't. Take note . . . and your mp3 player. 

Play it again, HIRREM! (A musical tone approach to balanced pronunciation learning?)

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With apologies to Humprey Bogart, one of the basic "learning" assumptions in most training systems is that some degree of balance between relevant areas of the brain, whether left~right, top~bottom or front~back (or all of those) is optimal. How that is to be achieved is the question, of course. As blogged earlier on several occasions, brain research (e.g., as in neurotherapy) is now beginning to offer alternatives or at least compliments to cognitive and physical exercises or disciplines: brain frequency "adjustment."

In a new study by Tegler and colleagues at Wake Forest University (summarized by Science Daily), musical tones were mirrored back to the brains of subjects to achieve a more balanced overall brain frequency profile--which appeared to successfully lessen insomnia, at least for a month or so. Tegler does note that " . . . the changes observed with HIRREM, could be due to a placebo effect. In addition, because HIRREM therapy involves social interaction and relaxation, there may be other non-specific mechanisms for improvement, in addition to the tonal mirroring."

Now granted, this specific technology may not directly impact a learner's ability to learn new or repaired sounds--or even "HIRREM" better, but it is clearly on the right track. (Nothing to lose sleep over if you can't spring for the 30k to get you a " . . . high-resolution, relational, resonance-based, electroencephalic mirroring or, as it's commercially known, Brainwave Optimization™ . . . " set up!) But multiple-modality and balanced "all-brain" engagement is the key to pronunciation change. It's coming. Keep in touch. 

Do-it-Yourself! haptic-integrated pronunciation teaching

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Clip art: Clker

Haptic work is, by definition . . . touching! As explored in several previous posts, there are a wide range of conditions under which haptic anchoring of movement, visual images and sound may or may not be effective in instruction. (According to new research, by Patterson and colleagues at the University of Liecester, summarized by Science Daily, there may even be a bias in favor of those of us over the age of 65 in responding to the typical "fuzziness" of haptic cinema!)

One of the most striking discoveries in our work has been the realization that some of the EHIEP pedagogical movement patterns can be taught well face-to-face but others may be better introduced by a video model, especially vowels, vowel "compaction" and intonation. That video model can be the instructor, him or herself, or someone else--such as in the EHIEP system of videos and student workbooks that I am developing, of course! Why that should be is complex but understood (See this blogpost by Grant on http://filmanalytical.blogspot.ca/)

In essence, it is emotionally and interpersonally very powerful. In some contexts, either because of the personality of the instructor or the class, video is a better option for perhaps half of the PMPs. One reason for that is the impact of eye contact on mirroring in a classroom setting. In essence, vivid "moving" visual feedback from students, whether negative  or positive can dramatically undermine an instructor's ability to teach PMPs. Once they are introduced, however, classroom use of a PMP to anchor vowels, stress, rhythm, intonation or pitch/volume/pace seems to be less susceptible to disruption.

Bottom line: It takes training to do pronunciation work of any kind effectively or efficiently. Either you get trained or have somebody else do it for you, either in your program or through technology. Haptic video and its post-production technology is very promising. I am tempted to use a term like "CAPT Video," Computer-Assisted-Pronunciation-Teaching with Video, were there not already a near-relevant song by that name .  .  .  

Sound mirroring of pronunciation: Trick or treat?

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Clip art: Clker

In keeping with the spirit of the season, how about this title of a summary from Science Magazine Why creepy people give us chills! of research by Leander and colleagues at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Because mirroring of pedagogical movement patterns (PMPs) is central to EHIEP training, insight into what influences learner response (i) when they are mirroring video models or (ii) where they mirror a "live" instructor--or (iii) where they, themselves, are mirrored during correction of pronunciation--is very important.

Quoting Finkel of Northwestern University, "The study . . . effectively combines several hot research topics, from behavioral mimicry to embodied cognition, the idea that humans can feel their emotions in very physical ways." One key (not surprising) finding was that, " . . . people who fail to appropriately imitate the mannerisms of others during social interactions can actually make their peers feel colder—" Without going into the details of the experiment, in one condition, subjects actually DID report feeling colder, literally!

Now not that any instructor doing haptic-integrated work even could be un-empathetic, the subtle impact of mirroring (effective or ineffective) has been the subject of several earlier posts. One of the principles that has emerged --as strange as it may sound--is that having students mirror a video in initial training is generally preferable. (That can be a simple video created by the instructor, his or herself--or later one that we'll be making publicly available.) Likewise, subsequent use of mirroring of PMPs in correction must be done appropriately as well. It is a cool (but not creepy), good trick that almost always treats the problem efficiently! 

Mimic movement and pronunciation? Not always your cup of coffee!

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Clip art: Clker

That's right. Observed a great example of that recently at a conference. According to research by Ondobaka, de Lange, Wiemers, and Bekkering of University of Nijmegen, and Newman-Norlund of the University of South Carolina, summarized by Science Daily, it only works if your students have the same goals that you do: "If you and I both want to drink coffee, it would be good for me to synchronize my movement with yours  . . . but if you're going for a walk and I need coffee, it wouldn't make sense to be coupled on this movement level." Hmm. I can see where not being "coupled" might not facilitate a walk, but how about the impact of the same effect in pronunciation instruction, especially kinaesthetic or haptic-integrated work?

Previous blogposts have looked at a range of factors that may affect effectiveness of mirroring of pedagogical movement patterns, from personality, cognitive preferences and clutter in the visual field, to lack of achievable objectives. Orienting learners (and instructors) to why they should consistently "dance along with" the EHIEP  model on the video--or even the usual practice of mirroring videotaped conversations for fluency, is critical.

As one participant at our workshop commented, "This stuff is paradigm shifting!" (A common response, of course!)  Another participant, however, one who came in late and missed hearing the theory and "goals" of the workshop and left early, had a very different take. Later he told me apologetically--in part by his clearly unambiguous, uncoupled paralanguage over coffee--that it made "absolutely no sense, whatsoever" to him without "getting it all," up front. Q.E.D. (quod erat (non) demonstrandum), so to speak!

Better online? Video modelling for line dancing and pronunciation

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Clip art: Clker

Video modelling is used extensively in many education and training contexts. The previous post sketched out reasons for using a video model to teach EHIEP techniques, rather than doing it yourself, "in person." (Even a video model of yourself on the screen is generally  better than you "live!" You can also, of course, get training videos from the "EHIEP Store" when it opens in Spring 2013!) For a number of reasons, the use of that procedure is also highly effective with autism. (See this summary by Twyman on "Autism Community" blog of a recent dissertation,  "The Use of Video Prompting on the Acquisition, Maintenance, and Generalization of a Line Dance by Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders," by Gies at Ohio State University. In that study, the basic protocol was structured as follows:

a. View video segment   AND   b. Attempt to imitate
c. Error correction   AND   d. Reinforcement
e. Maintenance checks   AND   f. Generalization checks

Those phases could as well describe an EHIEP training protocol and follow up. (a) and (b) represent the initial introduction and training of a technique on video. (c) and (d) happen when a target sound is either presented or corrected in class. (e) is generally done as homework; (f) represents the (inevitable) recognition of change by either instructor or student. Notice "b" -- attempt to imitate. That is for many about all it takes, not mastery of the pedagogical movement patterns or the target sound initially. Don't take my word for it.  Ask Brad Paisley. 

Hearts and hand grenades: Why students must like you using movement in pronunciation teaching!

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Clip art: Clker

Now here is a very interesting, relevant study. According to Aziz-Zadeh and colleagues at USC, (Summarized by Science Daily, of course!) if your students like you, they will be more likely to mirror your movements more accurately--and enjoy doing it. Not only will they be able to "lock on" better, they will perceive your actions to be relatively faster than were they to like you "less." There have been studies demonstrating the impact of attitude toward the speaker on perception of message, etc. for decades, but this one demonstrates how that happens, how it affects the observer's response.

This "I like the way you move, there!" effect is, in part, behind the use of video as the "lead instructor" in EHIEP work. Learners are initially oriented to and trained in the protocols (sets of procedures that teach one or more techniques that can be used in the classroom or for independent study) in short, aerobic-training-like videos. (Currently, I am the model, but we will replace me before long!)  Getting to that strategy took over a decade of experience with training ESL/EFL teachers in how to do selected techniques themselves in front of the class. What we discovered was that most trainees could learn to do the techniques easily but the results when they took them back to the classroom were mixed, at best. Once the entire system was in place we could begin to see why a particular strategy did or did not work.

One thing became obvious: the relationship between the instrutor and learner was crucial, from several  perspectives. Having someone mirror your movements is, in many respects--as reported in previous blog posts--analogous to requiring better rapport and empathy, obviously something many students may not buy into! Ironically, why a technique didn't seem to work could be due to lack of "liking" or excessive "liking." Either one. Going in the opposite direction from the USC research, if you are "too close" to a student or students in front of you not only can it cause you to look at them too often but it can also easily disrupt your ability to execute and monitor the pedagogical movement patterns in play.

The solution: have a video model do the critical initial training--and then the instructor and students can use the PMP as necessary in presenting, correcting, monitoring and recalling a sound or word or phrase with a "repaired" sound in it. You're gonna like EHIEP (or the instructional videos your create yourself, even of yourself)--so will your students. 

Accurate mirroring in (haptic-integrated) pronunciation teaching

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Clip art: Clker

Mirroring, having learners move along with a model, is a common technique in pronunciation teaching, especially at more advanced levels such as this by Goodwin at UCLA. There are any number of applications of the concept, for various purposes. In EHIEP work, mirroring figures in prominently from the beginning. As noted in previous posts, some highly visual learners find imprecise modelling by the speaker being mirrored to be very disconcerting. For example, one pedagogical movement pattern (PMP) involves moving the left hand across the visual field in an ascending motion as a rising intonation contour is spoken. For sometime we have been looking at the possibility of using avatars that would perform perfectly precise PMPs in new versions of the haptic videos to compensate for the fact that a human model (namely me on the current videos) cannot possibly be consistent enough to satisfy the few most radically visual learners. Research by Thomaz at Georgia State University seems to suggest that the only way to do that with robotic models--would be to build in "human-like" variability of motion into the repetitions of PMPs in training. In other words, the slight differences in the track of the gestural patterns is essential to creating a sufficiently engaging model to effectively keep subjects' attention. Rats. Better go back to figuring out both how to be more "humanly" precise in modelling PMPs and developing techniques that will assist the "visually-challenged" in loosening up a bit. Figuring out exactly what acceptable deviations from ideal PMPs are is, in principle, doable, of course. Just a matter of studio time and field testing. Keep in touch. 

Conducting pronunciation instruction . . . kinematically

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Photo courtesy of TherapyToronto 

Ever wondered how orchestra conductors are able to get really great music out of their orchestras? Now we know. The secret is apparently in the baton! In a 2012 study by Luciano Fadiga of the University of Ferrara and colleagues, as summarized on the TherapyTornto blog, (or in the original study, here) it was found that " . . . the performance was considered higher quality when the movements of the conductor and musicians were more closely correlated . . . "specifically related to the strength of the coordination between the violinists' bows and the baton of the conductor. Use a "baton" much in your teaching? Not the baton pictured off to the left but a "baton," as defined in nonverbal research, a baton-like gesture on a word that increases emphasis or loudness. You probably do it all the time, if not holding a pencil then just with your hand "beating" out the stressed syllable of a word in the air--or on the desk. One of the most effective EHIEP pedagogical movement patterns, in fact, uses an actual baton or something similar, such as a chopstick or big pencil. In one application of the technique, students move their "batons" along with their instructors, embodying a couple dozen rhythm patterns and intonation contours, along with anchoring stressed syllables. Later, students use the baton to assist them in studying and anchoring bits of language of varying sizes and intensities. What the research suggests is that the baton practice, itself, with learners closely mirroring instructor baton movements may enhance both the expressiveness of the language being targeted and the relationship between leader and followers. Must "conduct" some research on that, myself!

Aping good pronunciation teachers

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Clip art: Clker

(I could also have titled the post "EHIEPing . . . !) Have often been asked about the impact of having learners mirror the pedagogical movement patterns (PMP) of instructors. For example, in doing a correction of the stressed vowel of a repaired word or the rhythm or intonation patterns of a phrase or clause, we generally ask the learner to do the PMP along with us as we both articulate the word, simultaneously. Although learners can learn the PMPs from the haptic videos, instructors can do the training themselves, which involves having learners "dance" along with them for periods of about 3 minutes at a time. (See earlier posts on the meaning of "3-minute" physical routines in learning, in general.) In psychotherapy, the importance of mirroring, both by client and therapist is well understood and practiced very systematically. What Yale psychologist, Santos, confirmed in the case of Capuchin monkeys was that "people warm up to us when we unconsciously mimic them." Apparently what that implies is that your students may not love you anymore if they are EHIEPing your PMPs but you will have no choice but to give them better grades. What a concept! It works in both directions. As Santos notes, the effective communicator mirrors the verbal and nonverbal communication of the other unconsciously anyway (as does his or her mirror neurons as well, of course!) So, EHIEP your students and they'll ape you in return. 

Learning pronunciation by mirroring instructor modeling

The value of mirroring nonverbal behavior is well established in several fields, including counseling psychology and  pronunciation instruction. In EHIEP instruction, students are introduced to 8 sets of pedagogical movement patterns across the visual field that are later used in classroom instruction. Although it is important that their initial experience with the gestural patterns accompanied by articulation of sounds or sound patterns is focused and multiple-modality engaged, it is not critical that they are able to do any of the patterns on their own, without direction of either a video or their instructor. In fact, given what we now know about the potency and behavior of mirror neurons (reported in several earlier posts, such as this one,) it seems less critical that there is some overt response. (There IS some sense to the "comprehensible input hypothesis, after all!)  In fact, an interesting model of that process is the one proposed by NLP practitioners, as in this piece characterizing the five stages of modeling in NLP: "The first phase is identifying an appropriate exemplar as the model of excellence. In phase two the modeller takes an unconscious uptake of patterns demonstrated by the model (this phase ties in with the findings on mirror neurons) avoiding conscious understanding at this stage. Phase three is an evaluative phase based on feedback gained from demonstrating the modelled patterns in the appropriate context." It is often sufficient that students just "get" to phase two, where they have internalized the pattern and can respond to it when later it is employed in instruction for anchoring or recall. At that point the student will only be asked to "move along with" the instructor repeating the sound or word being attended to, but it is probably sufficient just to have attended well enough so that his or her mirror neurons had picked up ("uptaken") and "recorded" or made note of the pedagogical movement pattern earlier. In other words, once well anchored, change just needs consistent practice outside of class and occasional, high value, context-rich, mirrored "re-modeling" in class. Looking good!

Putting a new face on pronunciation instruction

If you need a good analogy or "hapticananalogy," as we say . . . consider cosmetics. Applying make up is about as haptic as human experience gets. Linked is an interesting study of consumers in Taiwan. In the analysis, a set of parameters emerged that points to what may be a new rubric of some kind for EHIEP work. Here they are: (I have slightly rearranged them so that the ones applicable are listed first.)

• Life style: active, enthusiastic and practical . . . traditional, impulsive and cautious. 
• Product values: self-satisfaction, excitement, sense of accomplishment, fun and enjoyment . . . self-respect, warm relations with others, sense of belonging, security and reverence. 

The last five product values should almost certainly be enhanced by our work or any good instruction but are not as "rubric-able" as the others! (Or they are "ru-'bric-u-tous"?) In early EHIEP instruction, learners do homework in front of a mirror. This is, indeed, a very good looking system!

Moved to mirror: pre-HICP-suasion

Getting some learners (and instructors) to engage in kinaesthetic and haptic classroom exercises (mirroring the PMP of the instructor or video model) can be a challenge. Over the years I have gotten better at introducing the systematic use of pedagogical movement patterns to those new to the idea--but occasionally I encounter serious resistance from  a student or conference workshop participant.

2010 Research by Ondobaka of Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands,  de Lange, Wiemers, and Bekkering of Radboud and Newman-Norlund of the University of South Carolina, summarized by Science Daily highlights why that may happen: "people only feel the urge to mimic each other when they have the same goal." It is not enough to just try and convince them to relax and be receptive to what is ahead when mirroring is involved, they must have bought into a more focused, shared objective or rationale for what it will accomplish.

That came as quite a revelation to me at one point. I had been over-relying on the physical experience, without much explicit justification, to persuade. Too often that did not work sufficiently for all the audience to actively participate in the haptic exercises for the duration of the session. In a later post I will post a script and accompanying video piece that embodies all the key arguments for HICP work up front, for use in the classroom. Not persuaded yet? It will only take a "mirror," moving explanation, I'm sure.

A rhinoceros in jello: the pronunciation warm up as venue for assessment of learner ability and progress

Clip art: Clker

a post from a "Poemrepairworkshop" blog which makes a point worth exploring briefly: the idea that in the process of leading a pronunciation warm up you can (literally) evaluate the readiness of individual learners for the work ahead. (The post ends with a recommendation to warm up as a rhino in jelly--which I like very much--which suggests to me something important about where the field is right now as well!)

I have assumed that the warm up is a very rich source of data for years, myself, but have never systematically developed a protocol to use it from that perspective. Just observing the range of body mirroring and openness to stretching the voice and personality in the opening minutes of a class is often a highly reliable indicator of what is to come or possible that day for all involved--myself included.  The current 4-minute EHIEP warm up could certainly be used for that purpose. I'll work on that a bit and report back. In the meantime .  .  .  just watch how you warm up!

Pedagogical movement patterns and emotional avatars

Clip art: Clker

Imagine having Neytiri from the movie Avatar show up to sub for you in your HICP class on the day that the lesson plan calls for intonation and discourse markers of emotion work. Sound pretty far out? Maybe not. In the 2002 University of Berkeley dissertation by Barrientos, a model is developed for providing avatars with a relatively simple but adequate (for avatars) gesture + emotion repertoire. In fact, I am beginning to think that avatars could probably do a better job of teaching some pedagogical movement patterns than could a live instructor at the head of the class, for several reasons.

First: consistent, precision of movement pattern, both in terms of size, position in the visual field and speed. Second: With slight facial adjustment and vocal expression, the avatar can present most basic emotions with the pattern with words--free of personal agenda, high-fashion outfit of the day or other distraction, allowing learner to focus on and either repeat or mirror the PMP and the emotion conveyed--not the gesticulating bozo up front. (There is a great deal of research in the psychotherapeutic literature on the interaction between therapist and client in face-to-face "instruction.")

Even when doing EHIEP work "live," ourselves, we have learned through review of haptic and psychotherapeutic research and classroom experience that the key to efficient HICP instruction is to assume a slightly robotic "persona" at times. (Note the EHIEP-bot logo in the upper right hand corner of the blog.) Any extraneous visual distraction can (literally) kill haptic anchoring. So watch yourself! (Preferably on video many times.) Your students are . . .