(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.

It takes (tennis) balls to teach (Haptic) Pronunciation!

For five years or so we have been using tennis balls for one of our haptic pronunciation teaching protocols (techniques). A couple of months ago, while looking online to renew our recycled tennis ball supply, I stumbled onto a website that had this intriguing set of (haptic) "qualities" for tennis balls that might equally apply to our work, with analogical-metaphorical lenses on, of course. Among them:  

"Soft, thick felt, designed for beginners, consistent, delivers a great gaming experience, very responsive, highly visible, can handle a beating while not playing too fast or bouncing too high . . . "

Within a few days, I made the decision to try using recycled "PronHaptic (tennis) Balls" in almost  ALL of our initial presentations of haptic pronunciation teaching techniques. The preliminary  results from the classroom have been stunning.

Basically, it works this way. The ball is held in the right hand or the hand that is touched (or squeezed) on the stressed syllable or a word or phrase (as the other hand moves from across the visual field to land on that spot). It appears to strongly increase concentration and energy expended on the stressed syllable and give the instructor a new, more visual perspective on monitoring what students are doing and how they are doing it. Holding the tennis ball, students generally speak louder, more confidently and move more consistently.

There are probably any number of reasons for those effects, including consigning touch to a hand on a ball rather than a hand on another hand, or a shoulder, or a forearm or the abs. We'll figure that out. My guess is that the uniquely "haptic", felt-sense qualities of the tennis balls contribute greatly to holding attention and linking the sound to the syllable. (That is, in essence, what our haptic modality does for us!)

We have tried many other kinds of balls, including stress balls, baseballs, golf balls, sponge balls, oranges, etc., but none seem to have the consistent impact of yellow (not white or red) tennis balls. Used ones are fine as long as they are reasonably clean and have adequate colour left.

In meantime, if you haven't already, get some recycled tennis balls and have students use the protocol linked above (The Rhythm Fight Club--substituting a yellow tennis ball for the cute chickadee, of course) with new pronunciation or vocabulary or idioms.

Game. Set. Match.

Seeing before believing: key to (haptic) pronunciation teaching

We call it "haptic pronunciation teaching." That is actually shorthand for something like:
simultaneous haptic-integration of visual-auditory-kinesthetic-tactile modalities in anchoring pronunciation

Almost every functional system for teaching pronunciation includes graphics or videos of some kind, even if it just a black and while line drawing of the mouth. Some substitute extensive written or verbal explanation for visual models. Our basic approach has been to use touch to link the senses, but often without too much concern for the precise order in which learner attention is directed through the various sources of information on the sound.

A fascinating new study on sensory sequencing in dance instruction by Blitz from Bielefeld University reported in Science Daily (see complete reference below) suggests that our real time sequencing in training in the use of pedagogical movement patterns (gesture, plus touch) is probably much more critical than we have assumed. That is especially relevant to how we (hapticians) maintain attention in the process. In other words, in the classroom, in what order do we introduce and train learners to the parameters of sounds and sound processes? That is, of course, equally relevant to all teaching!

NOTE: Please accept for the moment the parallel between dance instruction and our haptic work, that is training learners to experience, through gesture/touch and placement in the visual field, L2 or L1 sounds associated with targeted words. Also, allow me to side step the question of whether dancers are, by nature probably a bit "hyper-kinesthetic!"  

The study discovered that first viewing a dance sequence without verbal explanation or instruction--and then hearing or reading instructions after that was significantly more effective than the converse in long term memory for the sequence. Both visual and "cognitive" sources were present but the order was the critical variable. The subjects were apparently free to repeat both the visual and verbal inputs a limited number of times, but not to "mix" the ordering of them.

In other words, insight into what had been experienced was far more effective than was verbal cognitive schema in setting up and productively exploiting the visual experience or model to come. For us, the pedagogical implications are relatively clear, something like: (1) Observation (video clip) then (2) brief verbal explanation, then (3) experiential training in doing the gestural pattern, then (4) practice, along with (5) focused explanation of the context of the targeted sound.

How might that perspective impact your (pronunciation) teaching?

AMPISys, Inc.

See what I mean?






Full reference: Bielefeld University. "Best sensory experience for learning a dance sequence." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 November 2014. .

20 contexts for haptic pronunciation teaching

I am often asked in what contexts or classrooms haptic pronunciation teaching works. Assuming enthusiastic, full-body buy-in by the instructor and student, here is a new list of contexts and

Credit: Anna Shaw

classrooms where features of the AHEPS - haptic pronunciation system are being or have been used so far.

Keep in touch!

(info@actonhaptic.com)

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!

Meta-pronunciation: Just do it!

Nice post by Wilson and Conyers on Edutopia blog looking at teaching metacognitive skills to kids. (Some of the links off the post are good as well.) So how does that relate to haptic pronunciation teaching (HPT)? Pretty directly as a matter of fact. They give 5 general principles:

1. "Explicitly teach students about this essential learning skill by defining the term metacognition." (Basically, managing or "driving" your brain in their terms!)
HPT principle: Learn to control attention during haptic work and manage homework and practice effectively. (See previous posts on "mindfulness.")

2. "Ask students to describe the benefits and supply examples of driving their brains well."
HPT principle: Explicitly work with students on their strategies for "brain control" during pronunciation work and other subjects and follow up with some kind of written, reflective journaling to assist them in using their time efficiently.

3. "Whenever possible, let students choose what they want to read and topics they want to learn more about."
HPT principle: Students must quickly begin finding more words and phrases on which to practice, as well as writing them down consistently during class work.

4. "Look for opportunities to discuss and apply metacognition across core subjects . . ."
HPT principle: The HPT strategies, called pedagogical movement patterns, should be used in all classes for correction, modelling and feedback.

5. "Model metacognition by talking through problems."

AHEPS v2.0

HPT principle: One key feature of HPT is that the new or changed sound pattern must be anchored immediately to an exemplar, a word or phrase:
(a) That word or phrase should be annotated at least by identifying the vowel number on the stressed syllable,
(b) probably while looking at the graphic representation of the word (as it is written in type-form.) In some cases,
(c) the phonetic representation should accompany that. Finally,
(d) instructor and student together should practice the exemplar together (ideally 3 times) with rich vocal resonance out loud, accompanied by a pedagogical movement pattern (one of 10 or 12 in the system.)

Prompt (haptic) pronunciation prompting: Why does that work?

This post is an edited repost of a piece I posted on a list-serve recently, "The dark side of real-time, spontaneous pronunciation correction & feedback." Haptic anchoring of pronunciation change, where we have learners move and speak along with us, would probably be technically termed a type of "prompting" (Lyster and Saito, 2010). The question posed in the post is: How can you know when or why feedback works, based on research studies where what students knew or had been taught before the feedback event is not adequately specified? (In AH-EPS haptic pronunciation work, which emphasizes in-class spontaneous feedback, that connection is fundamental.) 

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Have been working through the various studies and meta-analyses of corrective feedback in pronunciation teaching, (e.g., Lyster and Saito, 2010) looking for one feature: What did the students know about the feature in focus before the intervention and when did they learn about it? In other words, if learners have been introduced to the vowels system in some way, we probably will assume that in class correction or feedback on a specific vowel (or even out of class self correction) has a better chance of working. 

 

In all of the studies I have reviewed so far that investigate the range of feedback mechanisms, both in lab settings and in classrooms, I can find almost nothing that adequately characterizes the assumed cognitive schemata or understanding of the learners relative to that phonological feature prior to receiving some kind of feedback. It is occasionally referenced in passing, for example, that students, “had been introduced to X earlier, etc.,” but never in any systematic analysis.  The irony of contemporary theory giving such credence, prima facie, to “behaviours” without reference to what learners may be bringing to the party, must be enough to make the ghosts of Skinner, Lado and friends smile.

Haptic pronunciation work is based on prior, systematic introduction of specific features of the sound system before classroom intervention.  (Some of that is very much “Gilbertesque” in nature.) 

Do you know of an accessible study of classroom correction/feedback where the description of the formal pedagogical approach in place prior to the classroom “event” (or just what students are assumed to have known about the target) is sufficiently detailed and explicit so that the connection between formal (or even informal) presentation/knowledge – intervention--and effect or change is at least traceable? 

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I didn't think so . . .  

Up standing (haptic) pronunciation teaching!

Early on we realized that at least for orientation and training where the primary goal of instruction is improved oral production of English, having adult or young adult students standing up for haptic pronunciation work is at least better, probably essential in most cases. If the focus is vocabulary development or when working with children, explicit training in the pedagogical movement patterns may not be critical. (See earlier posts on "kinesthetic/kinaesthetic listening," for example.)

Once the pedagogical movement patterns are introduced, whether using the AH-EPS haptic videos or done by the instructor "in person," using them for subsequent modelling, feedback and correction can be very effective.

Clip art:
Clker

A new study by Knight and Baer of Washington University,  as reported in Science Daily,* adds support to such "up standing" practice. In essence, during a problem solving task, teams of subjects were assigned to teams such that they, " . . . worked in rooms that either had chairs arranged around a table or with no chairs at all." Not surprisingly--from our perspective at least-- " . . . team members were less protective of their ideas; this reduced territoriality and led to more information sharing . . . (they) also seemed more efficient and purposeful."

A good opportunity to experience the "vertical" side of haptic pronunciation teaching, of course, would be the upcoming August workshop!

*I have had several inquires as to why I cite Science Daily summaries, rather than the research publication itself. Three reasons: First, many of the studies are inaccessible if you are not at an institution that subscribes to the journal. I will not ask a reader to simply trust my interpretation of research at face value without being able to get to it independently. Second, many newly published articles cost at least the equivalent of 7 Starbucks Vente Carmel Frappuccinos--where I draw the line. Third, the SD summaries are not always deadly accurate but are generally very readable, often entertaining and understandable to the non-technical reader. As always, Science Daily, caveat emptor!

New pronunciation teaching videos by Adrian Underhill!

Credit: Youtube.com

Macmillan has just released the first of Adrian Underhill's new pronunciation teaching video series. Here is the announcement from his blog, AdrianPronChart.wordpress.com. Adrian has always been one very tuned in to the visual/physical side of pronunciation teaching. His Pronunciation Chart is excellent. Aspects of that framework were instrumental in the design of the Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation (EHIEP) framework.

The complete video series, planned to be 35, 3-minute videos should be a good complement to the Acton Haptic English Pronunciation System (AH-EPS) haptic video program. Knowing Underhill, it will, I'm sure, provide a thorough and entertaining presentation for both teachers and learners. (Once a little more of it is available, I'll review it in depth and link it to our work.)

What he typically does well is provide understanding of key elements of (British) pronunciation for learners and instructors, a wide range of applicable techniques--especially kinaesthetic--and practice opportunities/guidelines following from that. If that is what you are looking for, you probably cannot find a better video-based source. (If you are still more dead-tree-bound, Gilbert's work is my recommendation as a good place to begin.)

By contrast, for a number of reasons, AH-EPS:

• Does not do as much explicit explanation and metacognitive management
• Is haptic-based rather than kinaesthetic
• Presents a more restricted set of formal features to work with
• Uses a vowel chart that is the mirror image of the AdrianPronChart
• Focuses on doing some limited teaching for the instructor, in class
• Sets up impromptu, spontaneous modelling and correction of pronunciation
• Is designed primarily for instructors with little or no background in pronunciation teaching

A most welcome addition. Check it out.

Haptic "INTRA-diction!" in Pronunciation Teaching

Credit: Henrichsen, BYU

Our new, favourite new word: INTRA-diction! (You may have noticed that we, hapticians, occasionally have to come up with new terms to accurately characterize what we do (e.g., haptician.)) Hopefully, it will be the focus of a new haptic workshop that we are proposing for TESOL 2015 in Toronto, next March: "On the spot, impromptu haptic pronunciation modelling, feedback and correction." (See earlier blogpost on the range of topics that we are considering for proposals at upcoming conferences.) Here is a great example from Henrichsen at BYU. (It is not, strictly speaking, haptic--the learner does not have something to squeeze in his right hand--but it does beautifully illustrate the concept, using what we call the "Conversational Rhythm Fight Club" PMP.

"INTRA-diction" defined: 

On the spot, unplanned, brief attention to pronunciation (typically taking less than a minute)  during a lesson in any skill area, involving modelling, feedback and correction. That will usually involve providing the learner with a more appropriate model using a "pedagogical movement pattern" (a gesture that terminates in touch on a stressed syllable) and (probably) doing the word, phrase or sentence out loud, together with the learner 2 or 3 times. 

It brings together five ideas:

a. Introspection

b. Interdiction

c. Intra-personal

d. Inter-personal

e. Haptic anchoring

Try that. 

TESOL 2014: Why didn't they mention THIS?

As evident in the previous post, it was a good conference for Hapticians and friends. If you work at it and go to a conference with focus, that'll always be the case. A few more post-Portland thoughts:

• The 50/50 rule held. Half of the presentations you attend are good. Half of those involve something that you can take back to your school or classroom. (The other half you can still learn from!)
• Of the roughly 2 dozen refereed presentations related to speaking, listening and pronunciation, a little more than half a dozen provided practical training and techniques. Three of those were haptic. (There were another couple dozen or so unrefereed publishers' sessions pitching books, software and materials.) The others were research-based.
• The three haptic presentations (General workshop, intonation workshop and "fight club" demonstration) were not only packed, but fun. We have do much more of that.
• The reaction to our haptic work was better than in the past, in part because we are getting better at presenting it. We are better now at scaffolding in the "body" training so that few in the audience cannot keep up. (Has taken us a long time to get that right.)
• Haptic work is highly relational. At a conference, when you are trying to connect with your audience, that is great. In the classroom, using the haptic video system (AH-EPS) may be a better strategy, depending on your level of training in pronunciation teaching and the nature of the crowd in front of you. (See several earlier posts on that!)



Clip art;
Clker

• The word, haptic, is finally getting out. That has been our primary objective for the last two years. It is apparently spreading a little better "horizontally" than "vertically" . . . After our workshop, one of the participants came up to me very much excited about what she had just experienced. She begins by commenting that the day before she had been to two workshops on pronunciation by "experts" in the field. Then (using emphatic gesture) she says:

 "Why didn't they mention THIS!!!"

Good question.

Great moments in pronunciation teaching - "Undercover" haptic burqa work!

Photo credit: socialphy.com

I'm sure that at least some of you have encountered this potential problem. You walk into a room to do some pronunciation work and discover that a significant number of the students are wearing a burqa. That happened to me recently doing 2-hour workshops on basics of haptic pronunciation teaching. The "students" were experienced or in-training teachers. I have often commented that Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation (EHIEP) can be especially effective in large classes where you cannot see the lips or even the faces of students clearly. The gestures themselves, in essence, grab hold of the vocal apparatus and guide the learner's facial muscles, jaw, diaphragm and vocal cords in approximating the target sounds. This was a good field test of that idea.

In that 2-hour workshop format, I did a general orientation to a haptic (gesture + touch) approach to English pronunciation, including: (a) a warm up, (b) lax vowels, (c) tense vowels, (d) tense vowels w/off glides and diphthongs, (e) basic English rhythm, and (f) basic English intonation. For all 6 of those topics, the pedagogical movement patterns (PMP) related to sounds or sound patterns are done with arms and hands touching such that the contrast between any two sounds or sound patterns is both physically and visually very distinct.

All burqas involved snug wrist bands that kept the lower arms of the student covered, even when reaching above the head. The visual effect of several covered students following the PMPs during the session, the synchronized, flowing black burqas was stunning. The degree of abandon in moving with the exercises evidenced by some of them was very much unexpected.

In retrospect, it really shouldn't have been. From both inside and outside the burqa, the attention to motion and touch, not just rich, resonant articulation of the sounds, seemed to be greatly enhanced. For whatever reason, they seemed to readily and enthusiastically "get" or (to use our favourite haptic metaphor) "grasp" what the system was about and its potential application to modelling. anchoring vocabulary and correcting student pronunciation.

Obviously have do more research on what is behind the "haptic burqa" effect!

Correct pronunciation by talking about it: Think or swim . . .

Photo credit: Seaglobe.com

Ever notice how students often will not notice well enough to "get it"  when you point out a pronunciation issue for them and skillfully provide them with a preferred form on the spot?

A recent study of noticing by Hanna, Mullainathan and Scwartzstein (2012) suggests something of why from a different perspective. When their subjects, seaweed farmers, were presented with data that was potentially very valuable for them in improving their work and problem solving, they didn't "uptake" much either--unless the relevance of the key elements was also explicitly linked back to why they were critical or relevant.

In other words, the new data had to be immediately linked (somehow) to acknowledged and perceived (or felt) relevance, what we (following Gendlin, 1972) refer to as "felt sense." In pronunciation teaching with adults, that at least means "getting back in touch with" earlier explicit explanation and guided practice. The problem is often, without sufficient physical experience and practice of the sound change in the first place or in the referring "teachable moment," there is little chance for most that merely pointing out or covertly throwing in correct models is going to work.

And taking valuable class time in the middle of a content-based discussion, for example, to go into an impromptu explanation right there as to why that particular sound issue is important to intelligibility for some subset of learners will probably not be productive either. So what should you do?

What does work, in our experience, in EHIEP/AHEPS, is haptic anchoring (gesture + touch on stressed words or syllables), that is much more strongly body-based initial experience of the sound or word. Having intensely experienced the physical properties of the sound early on, learners then have better access to that anchor when it is activated in a meaningful context. (The basic trick involved in hypnotic suggestion.) The primary contribution of haptic engagement in pronunciation learning or any learning system is integrating the senses, providing the link back to the experience and sound later.

That way, in spontaneous conversation or classroom talk, after a problematic word or stress pattern occurs, with a quick "haptic-anchored noticing" as the word is repeated by the instructor, often w/out even saying the word out loud, the connection is made. The same principle holds if the instructor, aware of a feature that a student or students are working on, haptically anchors some element as he or she produces it in doing an explanation or providing a comment: the visual gesture accompanying the spoken word is often enough for students to "feel" and register that token.

How well that works consistently is, of course, an empirical question, one that can and will be researched in time. In the meantime, take it from the seaweed farmers. The only way to experience this level of somatic, whole-body, experiential learning . . . is to jump in the (haptic teaching) water .  .  . and notice what happens. As we say, "Think or swim . . . take your pick!

Keep in touch.

Pre- and Post-haptic English Pronunciation Teaching

Get ready . . . AH-EPS does NOT (by design) do everything! What it does it does exceedingly well, however. It focuses on integrated teaching and change, real time interaction between instructor and student: how to talk and anchor change in class, live.

In some cases and classes it may need to be complemented or expanded upon. ("Compliments," it always has lots of!)  Here are my three recommendations, what you should have either on your bookshelf or bookmarked:

Well Said by Linda Grant
     For more detailed explanation and academic application, especially for more advanced students, use Grant.
Clear Speech and Clear Speech from the Start by Judy Gilbert
     For colourful visual models, related listening comprehension training and communicative pair work, use Gilbert.
Accent Coach and its mobile app by Ron Thomson
     For more focused, personalized drill and effective repetition after haptic vowel work, use Thomson.

AH-EPS haptic video work (in 30-minute weekly lessons with optional homework) presents the English sound system as a whole and teaches students a set of gesture-based procedures that they and their instructor can use every day in modelling and correcting pronunciation.  (There are additional video lessons with each module for students to practice on their own, if their instructor does attend to pronunciation in regular speaking and listening instruction.)

It is generally adaptable to any proficiency level, any age learner or amount of instructor experience in pronunciation teaching. If, however, you only have time or money to go with one system,  I'd still recommend this for starters:

Flipping over Haptic (video) Pronunciation Teaching!

Nice piece (originally published in Bilingual Basics, August 2013) in TESOL Connections this month entitled, "Three reasons to flip your classroom," by Marshall. A few previous posts have looked at the case for "flipping," that is using video to present concepts and then following up with various forms of in class collaboration and engagement. This is the first that I have seen that specifically addresses "flip" methodology in working with English language learners.

The AH-EPS "method" uses something of the same format:

Clip art:
Clker.com

• a 30-minute haptic video 
• where students "dance along with the model on the screen" 
• as they are introduced to some element of English pronunciation 
• and given a strategy/technique 
• which instructor and student then use later in general classroom instruction 
• to introduce, model, correct or provide feedback
• on pronunciation of sounds, words, phrases or longer pieces of spoken language

If you are not already a "haptician," it may be time to consider flipping . . . Go to the new Acton Haptic website to get started!

Keep in touch!

(Hapic) Teachable moments in pronunciation teaching

One of the FAQs on the new Acton Haptic website is worth considering for a moment:
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Q: OK, what is really different about AH-EPS from other methods?
Simple: Haptic-based, in-class pronunciation change and teaching strategies (what we actually say to each other in trying to help) for instructors and students! AH-EPS focuses first on how to communicate better with learners face to face about their pronunciation. Using gesture+touch in any class, at any time, in such personal but professional conversation, is very effective at providing good models, assisting with correction and promoting integration of change into spontaneous speaking.

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One FAQ in pronunciation teaching research in general today is: How can we help learners better integrate new or changed sounds into their spontaneous speaking? 

There is actually a better question: How can we (as instructors) better integrate attention to new or changed sounds into our own spontaneous interaction and speaking in the classroom? 

Credit: Presentermedia.com

There are numerous studies of classroom discourse focusing on grammar and vocabulary correction, feedback and modelling, but none that I am aware of on spontaneous interventions on pronunciation by instructors in the classroom, in real time. (Research on formative, spontaneous interaction is, of course, the focus of research in many disciplines, such as counselling psychology.) 

If you do do spontaneous pronunciation feedback and correction in your "regular" classroom work, record some of it and report back. Perhaps we should make that the basic qualification for anybody wanting to join IAHICPR. (Check out the note on the website on how to!)

Why "Out of body" haptic pronunciation teaching!

This post is a bit long, but also long overdue. Short answer: "Haptic Video Bill," is at least better than you are!

Clip art: Clker

As we get ready to launch AH-EPS v2.0 (Acton Haptic English Pronunciation System), I was reminded of one of the most important FAQs: Why use video (of me in v2.0!) to train students to do the pedagogical movement patterns initially, rather than do it yourself, in front of the class?

If there are a couple of generally unspoken reasons why instructors may resist converting to haptic (or more kinaesthetic) pronunciation teaching, it may be these: either the assumption that (a) "I can do it better than video!"; or (b) "I just do not like drawing attention to my body when I'm teaching--or anytime." I used to think it was more (Western) cultural. See nice 1997 summary of research on body image by Fox that establishes that as a more universal phenomenon.

As we have seen in decades of experience with using kinaesthetic techniques in this field, the latter is unquestionably the case, even with just requiring a discrete tapping out of rhythm or word stress on the desk. For some, that simply demands too much coordination, brain integration--or risk taking. All I have to do is ask one question of a trainee: Do you like to dance? From that I can predict at least how quickly, he or she will "get" kinaesthetic and haptic work. Finding a successful (technology-based) approach to that obstacle has been key to the effectiveness of the AH-EPS project.

In a highly publicized 2011 study of 'Out of body experience," it was observed that, although we all may experience such momentary sensations, those who have serious, recurrent episodes have particular difficulty in adopting " . . . the perspective of a figure shown on the computer screen." (That is performing the movement or posture mirror image to the model on the screen.)

One early discovery in AH-EPS work was that the video model had to be presented in mirror image, so that when the model moved to the learner's right, for example, the learner would move in the same direction, simultaneously. Doing that, alone, modelling the gestures in person in class, at least in training is--to put it mildly-- very "cognitively complex!" I now rarely, if ever, attempt to train students in person, face to face; I am SO much better on haptic video! (With apologies to Brad Paisley!)

The research and clinical reports on why that should the case in "body training" and body-based therapeutic systems is extensive. (If interested, be glad to share that with you. It is pretty well unpacked in the v2.0 AH-EPS Instructor's Guide.)

AMPISys, Inc. 

Once students are "trained by the video," however, a process taking perhaps 15 minutes, an instructor or peer can easily then use the pattern for anchoring presentation or correction. For example, the training for the vowel system includes 15 vowels of English.

A correction of a mispronunciation, on the other hand,  involves using the pedagogical movement pattern (PMP) for just one vowel typically--a quick "interdiction," as we call it, lasting maybe a minute, at most. In that case, the PMP is performed as the model is spoken or as the learner practices the new or enhanced pronunciation of the word or phrase, 3 or 4 times.

That was . . . quick!

Keep in touch!

When is AH-EPS haptic pronunciation teaching best?

Quick answer: Most of the time haptic video-based AH-EPS (Acton Haptic English Pronunciation System)  is better than EHIEP live, at least in initial instruction! In all modesty, for what AH-EPS does, it is pretty much unbeatable, too.  This is a follow up to the earlier post on when EHIEP is best.

How is it possible that students learning PMPs (pedagogical movement patterns--synchronized with speaking the vowels, consonants, rhythm groups, stress patterns, intonation contours and tone groups) could be better done by using a video (of me!) than learning "live" from an instructor?

Clip art: Clker

There is actually a considerable amount of research and decades of experience in several fields that identifies when video may be more appropriate and effective. Be happy to unpack that later in
comments to this post, in fact. Here are the ETPs (elevator talking points) for when/why AH-EPS is better.

• AH-EPS can do a substantial amount of the initial, basic pronunciation instruction for the inexperienced teacher, which can then be followed up in regular classroom instruction, modelling and correcting. 
• Haptic pronunciation teaching, and haptic work in general, is highly susceptible to visual and auditory distraction. The haptic video framework (movement and touch performed along with the video modelling) maintains attention well. 
• For many instructors--myself included--leading the class in initial PMP training can quite "cognitively and affectively" complex. Trying do the precise movements leading the class and visually monitoring student performance at the same time is challenging, at best. When you are really tired, nearly impossible, especially if you are even slightly ambidextrous. (See earlier posts on that!) 
• Most importantly, it is essential that the PMPs be performed with precision by the model, so that hand and arm placement is done consistently across the visual field. If not, some highly visual students will not be able to "nail down" or anchor where the touch occurs at or near the end of the gesture. 
• And finally, we have about eight years of experience and field testing using the PMPs in many different instructional settings. 

AH-EPS v2.0 will be launched shortly.

For more info: actonhaptic@gmail.com

Keep in touch.

Better online? Video modelling for line dancing and pronunciation

Clip art: Clker

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. 

Pronunciation coaching

Clip art: Clker

Clip art: Clker

Coaching is big. In many ways, the model of the pronunciation-integrating teaching (PIT) is that of a coach, as defined by the International Coaching Federation: "Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential." To get a better sense of what coaching is really about, especially as it relates to physical training, I went to one of my favorite coaches, Tom Landry legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys. EHIEP work tends to be more "coaching" related than more traditional instructor roles. Here are a few quotes from Coach Landry, with the obvious EHIEP application of the principle involved:  

• "A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be." Providing realistic assessment, along with achievable goals that learners can grasp, is critical. 
• "Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan." Exercise persistence depends primarily on a plan that produces consistent evidence of incremental progress.
• "I don't believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game." Developing confidence in class and in homework practice, outside of authentic conversation, is both achievable and essential. 
• "The secret to winning is constant, consistent management." Management of the pedagogical  process, attention within the visual field and expression of emotion is, indeed, the secret. 

And also from Coach Landry, "Right after the game, say as little as possible." Same principle applies before and during as well. I'll leave it at that . . .