Spring 2026 English Accent and Pronunciation Improvement Course (EAPIC)!

The EAPIC is a10-week online course for non-native adult English speakers who want to improve their accent and pronunciation, especially those who are disciplined and prefer independent study. It is a very active "haptic" course, using lots of movement, gesture and touch! It has been offered three times a year since 2015. 

View short introductory video!

Beginning February 9, 2026

• Much better accent or pronunciation
• Much better expressiveness in speaking
• More confidence in speaking
• Training for continuing to improve
• Works for anybody with a CLB or IELTS o5 and up

• 10 weeks, online
• (Free) 20-minute training video uploaded every Thursday
• 15-30 minutes of homework recommended every day!
• (Optional) live individualized homework follow up meeting Wednesdays 8-9 p.m. EST ($225 USD). Zoom interview required to sign up. 

Weekly syllabus:

1. Basic rhythm 1(pronunciation grammar) 
2. Fluency 1 (basic rhythm)
3. Consonants 1 (common problems)
4. Vowels 1 (short)
5. Vowels 2 (long)
6. Consonants 2 (students’ “favorites”)
7. Melody 1 (little pieces of speaking)
8. Melody 2 (longer pieces of speaking)
9. Fluency 2 (conversation rhythm)
10. Rhythm 2 (public speaking)

For more information or to enroll: wracton@gmail.com

Bill Acton's CV

Bill Acton's website

Bill Acton's business website

(Embodied) Post-grad IELTS Speaking (6.0 or 5.0) to get work in Canada? Bon chance!

Have you seen this? 

Among other actions taken to cut back on the number of international students coming to Canada, there are new langauge proficiency rules going into effect effective in November to get post graduate work  permits (PGWP): 

CORRECTION: AN EARLIER VERSION REPORTED THAT GRADS NEED AN IELTS SCORE OF 6 ON ALL BANDS. THAT IS INCORRECT. THE "OFFICIAL' ANNOUNCEMENT INDICATES THAT ONLY AN "AVERAGE" SCORE OF 6 IS  REQUIRED, MUCH LESS PROBLEMATIC!

University Graduates: IELTS 6  (CLB 7)
College Graduates: IELTs 5  (CLB 5)

That will not directly impact the number of international students coming to Canada (those substantial cuts were put into effect earlier this year) but it will impact graduates getting work in Canada after they graduate. Now IELTS 6.0 Speaking may not sound all that difficult (from IELTS,com) at first,

"The test taker has an effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriate usage and misunderstandings.They can use and understand reasonably complex language, particularly in familiar situations."

But just ask anybody teaching in higher ed (in the US as well) and they'll tell you that concern with English proficiency is a relative minor "front end" problem only for them. Once students are in, a virtual panoply of support functions kick in, including testing that does not require much if any real written or oral dexterity, along with Chat-GPT et al. 

Although I have not seen the study, there is no question, based in part on admissions standards, that speaking and writing English are two skills that for many easily degrade for 4 years or so once they get it. I don't teach undergrads but my students who do, report that regularly, the loos of productive skills, especially evident in junior and senior level content couses that used to evaluate oral and written form as well as content. 

Here is the kicker, pronunciation (italics, mine)

The candidate uses a range of pronunciation features but the control is not consistent throughout the test. There might be mispronunciation of words or sounds which reduces the clarity. However, the meaning of what is being said is generally clear throughout the test.

The day of reconning may be at hand for the near abandonment of pronunciation teaching in the discipline, eh! So, universities may eventually be on the hot seat here to stop graduating all those sub-IELTS 6.0 speakers. 

Probably not, HOWEVR, WITH THE 6.0 AVERAGE SCORE REQUIRED, NOT A 6.0 ON ALL BANDS. 

Regarding 6.0 pronunciation in speaking on the IELTS, however, I really like this from "AllearsEnglish,com":

"Pronunciation: This is the easiest place to improve your score. Someone who gets a 5 talks like a robot with no feeling in their voice and all of their words sound exactly the same. To get a 6 you need to put some feeling in your voice. Practice varying your tone of voice in your English conversation practice and you’ll be ready to do in the test."

As utterly goofy as that sounds, I think they have a point, They question is. . . how? They obviously have to practice active speaking . . outloud. In a sense their competence/performnce gaps can be very problematic. What is needed, in many cases, is an approach that is more "body-centered," much like what is done in good public speaking courses. Have been working with learners like this for decades who are capable of carrying on a conversaion or speaking in public . . . but they just haven't had to.

That approach involves extensive (embodied) oral reading, structured self-analysis of recorded spontaneous speaking samples as homework, emphasis on rhythm, stress and intonation--and an occasional consonant or two if really problematic. Embodied here refers to systematic management of movement, gesture and touch in practice, in private, with key carry over to spontaneous speaking, especially when under pressure, like on the IELTS. "It works" by anchoring both the sound or words being spoken more effectively and the emotion or affect, especially the confidence and posturing that is rather easily the focus of the embodied oral reading.

You are asking, how can I sign up for that. Glad you asked! The next one begins on October 3rd! Still time to register. Even if you just have time for half that course, it'll help. "I'll else" wouldn't tell you so, eh!

Email me directly for more info that: wracton@gmail.com 

Bill

Talk (to) Yourself into Improved English Fluency! (an almost DO-IT-YOURSELF course!)

Clker.com

And how do you do that? In part, using embodied oral reading to develop English fluency and confidence. The efficacy and methodology for the various applications for oral reading is well established. (For an excellent review of oral reading research and methodology, see Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp and Jenkins, 2001) )

What haptic pronunciation teaching has brought to the party beginning in about 2007 has been the systematic use of the body and body movement in pronunciation teaching. What that means, in effect, is that every word in the selected oral reading is "choreographed" with some degree of conscious engagement of the upper body, generally focusing on rhythm of English but also, in principle, any phonological feature of any language. 

The concept of improving your speaking fluency in private, at least certain features of it, without talking with or working with another person or instructor, is today an almost radical position, as opposed to the prevailing social-constructivist, communicative view of ideal (probably group-based) context and input. Although it is difficult to establish empirically, of course, in reality the preponderance of ALL language learning happens as learners do "homework", either internal "self talk" or explicitly out loud speaking . . .  in private. 

That successful L2 learners can improve their fluency away from public engagement is pretty much a given. (By fluency here I am limiting the discussion to the learner's ability to speaking  rhythmically and confidently--and more rapidly, using language elements that they are capable of articulating, often very haltingly or not at all.)

The model of that methodology adopted by haptic pronunciation on this blog and elsewhere has been based on that of Lessac, presented in his book, The use and training of the human voice. Although the approach was developed essentially for native speakers and many actors or public speakers in process, the principles and system are beautifully compatible with confidence and fluency development for nonnative speakers as well. In that system, learners are first reoriented to the basic movement and somatic energy in their bodies, very much like contemporary "mindfulness" therapies, for example. 

What was extraordinary back then--and even now--was the design where the entire 12-step process could be done by one person, alone, just using the book, following the plan. (One can, of course, today take courses in the Lessac method internationally, but the central premise holds: for speech fluency, as defined earlier, there is a great deal one can do on their own, such that it carries over very well into spontaneous speaking engagement.)

That, in essence, is how the KINETIK, haptic-based course works. Unfortunately, the October-December, Acton Haptic English Fluency Training (HFT) course offered through Trinity Western University is closed!!! However, there is still plenty of time, however, to set up a customized course with your organization for next spring, or plan to enroll for the upcomng January~March course. (for further information on either option, email me: wracton@gmail.com

A few excerpts from the HFT course description: 

HFT Embodied Oral Reading is done out loud, in private, using stories that are accompanied by special gestures which use language and vocabulary that students are already familiar with, what they can understand, but perhaps may not be able to talk about fluently.

The 9-week course is designed especially for non-native English-speaking adults who do not have the opportunity for much, if any English, face-to-face conversation in their daily lives but who want to keep improving, nonetheless. (and who have an IELTS reading ability of about 4.0 or above.) HFT provides the student with a set of skills so that they can continue improving after the course, working with other readings of interest to them. It is recommended, for example, for students who are not studying spoken/conversational English currently.

It is based on extensive research (and decades of teaching experience) in oral reading methodology and the well-known "Lectio Divina" tradition in meditation practice, using extensive oral reading as homework—not in a class. The key neuroscience-based innovation of HFT is the precise use of gestures and touch in the visual field, synchronized with speech, creating optimal conditions for attention, learning, retention and recall.

Course work is done individually, with four or five, 30-minute homework assignments and a live 75-minute zoom feedback meeting weekly, usually on Friday evening. (which is also recorded for later access, if necessary.)

Next course: January ~ March, 2024

·Cost for individuals: $350 USD, materials included, but for a school, for example, (maximum of 100 students) the cost per student can be as low as $25 USD.

A teacher training course in Haptic Pronunciation Teaching is also available (See www.actonhaptic/KINETIK

To enroll or for more info, go to www.actonhaptic/hft or contact Bill Acton at wracton@gmail.com

Full citation: 

Fuchs, L., Fuchs, D., Hosp, M. & Jenkins, J. 2021. Oral Reading Fluency as an Indicator of Reading Competence: A Theoretical, Empirical, and Historical Analysis DOI: 10.4324/9781410608246-3, in (Eds) Kamee'enui, E. & Simmons, D. 2002. The Role of Fluency in Reading Competence, Assessment, and instruction: Fluency at the intersection of Accuracy and Speed: A Special Issue of scientific Studies of Reading, New York: Rutledge, pp. 239-256

Let's talk (and analyze) pragmatics . . . with students!

There is no shortage of "talk" about pragmatics in research and pedagogy. In terms of methodology of teaching, most of it boils down to (a) explaining to students what pragmatics is, basically awareness and performance in context-appropriate conversational interaction, (b) either listening to examples or some kind of classroom practice such as roleplay, identification of good response language techniques and (c) after the fact reflection of various kinds on B, (Hennessy, Calcagni, Leung & Mercer, 2021).

In an earlier post, I reported on a TESOL 2022 presentation that I did with Angelina VanDyke, "Spontaneous classroom conversational analysis supporting development L2 pragmatic competence." (Published in Educational Pragmatics.)  A key feature of the classroom discourse in that study was "dialogic meta-pragmatic analysis," where instructor and students together, analyze, post hoc (after the fact), aspects of conversations that students have just participated in. 

The second phase of analysis focuses on evidence of student uptake of the instruction in pragmatics related to coursework they had just completed and features of the instructor's spontaneous feedback, supporting that development. We have submitted a manuscript based on that analysis which, if you are interested, we'll be happy to share in the interim. Only one condition on that . . . in return, you "dialogue" with us on it! 

Now I'm sure you are asking "Where is the usual connection to haptic pronunciation teaching and the KINETIK method?" The answer is in the anchoring and embodiment in memory of new or corrected forms and expressions that students go on to practice in context and as homework. For more on that, see upcoming blogpost unpacking that and announcing an exiting, new all-day workshop concept we will be offering focusing on "pragmatics and prosody!" 

Source: 

Hennessy, S., and  Calcagni, E., Leung, A., & Mercer, N. (2021). An analysis of the forms of teacher-student dialogue that are most productive for learning, Language and Education, DOI: 10.1080/09500782.2021.1956943

Clker.com

KINETIK English Fluency and Pronunciation Course (5/26~8/9)!

The course is being offered to the public for the first time by the Trinity Western University MATESOL (LIVE on Zoom or by viewing the class video later.) It has a somewhat unorthodox time format: 

• Instructor: Bill Acton
• May 26 – August 9, 2022 (12 weeks), 3-4 hours per week
• Thursday: 7 – 8 p.m. PST 
• And Wednesday, the following week: 7 - 8 p.m. PST
•  Homework: 15-20 minutes per day, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Specifics: 
This course is for those who want to improve their speaking fluency and pronunciation of English. It is especially helpful for students who have IELTS level of 4.5+ and do not have time or opportunity to practice speaking English outside of class, themselves, but have reasonably good listening skills.

The KINETIK teaching method includes neuroscience-based haptic techniques (using special gestures and touch) to improve memory for new vocabulary, pronunciation and and confidence in speaking.

In addition to one hour of class each week and one hour of homework review every week on Zoom, for best results students should practice their homework exercises at least 15-30 minutes per day, 4~5 days a week. Book and practice video recordings are provided.

A brief, preliminary interview on Zoom is required to be admitted into the course. If interested, contact Professor Bill Acton (William.acton@twu.ca) in the MATESOL Department at Trinity Western University. Classes are recorded. If a class is missed, it can be watched later. Certificate is awarded for 80% attendance.

Course fee: $500 CAD ($400 USD) Group discounts available. 

Also: The 4-week version of the instructor certificate course is also available this summer, on campus, in Langley, BC, July 18th ~ August 12th. One hour of class, 4 days a week and approximately 6 additional hours  per week of preparation and practice. Cost: $800, all materials included. (A zoom hybrid of the course may be available as well.) Contact me, if interested: william.acton@twu.ca. 

Keep in touch!

Bill

From conversational analysis (in class!) to L2 pragmatic competence at TESOL 2022!

The full  title of our TESOL 2022 presentation: Spontaneous classroom conversational analysis supporting development L2 pragmatic competence. 

Here is the abstract! (Presentation is on Thursday at 3:30 in room 334.)

This paper reports on research into ways in which an instructor in an EAP Speaking skills course helped facilitate development of pragmatic awareness and competence. The study focused on spontaneous, conversational analysis of student personal anecdotes done in small groups. Results revealed a range of potentially productive strategies and techniques. 

Angelina VanDyke and Bill Acton

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.

Full-body and voice burn out prevention workshop for language teachers!

Clker.com

If you will be at BCTEAL regional conference on 11/16, please join Angelina Van Dyke and me for the "Full-body and voice burn out prevention warm up". (If not, it will be recorded and available off the blog shortly thereafter.) In all modesty, this will be a great session, not just because I'm in it, but Angelina, an accomplished concert and recording artist and voice teacher, has just finished an advanced diploma in voice science and will be sharing some amazing new techniques for "saving your pipes" as we say!

Here is the abstract from the program:

Feeling sluggish, stressed or caffeine deprived? This session, created by voice and pronunciation specialists for the language teacher (and students), should help. The carefully scaffolded, “restorative” exercises activate and focus body and vocal tract in less than 10 minutes. No meditation, medication or mendacity required.

My part of the party, body activation and preservation, takes about 15 minutes. Here is the list of the quick exercises involved: (Note: In some cases the name of the technique is more creative than descriptive, but you get the idea!)

1.     Mandibular massage

2.     Jaw shaker

3.     Neck slow header

4.     Trapezes circles

5.     Rotator cup “rolls”

6.     Hand/Forearm/Finger stretcher

7.     Shoulder and upper body boogie
7.5. Temple wings!

8.     Lateral leanings

9.      Glute Glutin’ 

10.   Core Belly Dance roll up (or plank or Dead Bug)
1.   Hip rotation girations

12.  Progressive lunge (with chair)

13.  Quads lifts (with chair)

14.   Hamstring swing (with chair)

15.   Adductor/abductor swing (with chair)

16.  Progressive mini-squats (with chair)

17.   Upper and lower Achilles tune ups (with chair)

18.   Calf and shin rock (with chair)

19.   Cursive ankle alphabet (with chair)

20.   Visual field scan and full-arm fluency (on the compass)

21.   Hyper lipper (8 vowel tour)

22.   Back and arms hyper stretch (3x) to vocal cone

23.   Chest and mouth hyper stretch (3x) from maximum pucker!

With the video you should be able to do both parts of the workshop any morning you need to get tuned up for the day. See you there or later!

.

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

(Really) great body-enhanced pronunciation teaching

If you are interested in using gesture more effectively in your teaching, a new 2016 study by Nguyen, A micro-analysis of embodiments and speech in the pronunciation instruction of one ESL teacher, is well worth reading. The study is, by design, wisely focused more on what the instructor does with her voice and body during instruction, not on student learning, uptake or in-class engagement.

The literature review establishes reasonably well the connection between the gesture described in the study and enhanced student learning of language and pronunciation. I can almost not imagine a better model of integrated gestural use in pronunciation teaching . . . The instructor is a superb performer, as are many who love teaching pronunciation. (Full disclosure: From the photos in the article I recognize the instructor, a master teacher with decades of experience in the field teaching speaking and pronunciation.)

From decades of work with gesture, myself, one of the most consistent predictors of effective use of gesture in teaching is how comfortable the instructor feels with "dancing" in front of the students and getting them to move along with her. The research on body image and identity and embodiment are unequivocal on that: to move others, literally and figuratively, you must be comfortable with your own body and its representation in public.

Knowing this instructor I do not need to see the video data to understand how her personal presence could command learner attention and (sympathetic, non-conscious) body movement, or her ability to establish and maintain rapport in the classroom. Likewise, I have not the slightest doubt that the students' experience and learning in that milieu are excellent, if not extraordinary.

The report is a fascinating read, illustrating use of various gestures and techniques, including body synchronization with rhythm and stress, and beat gesture associated with stress patterning. If you can "move" like that model, you got it. When it comes to this kind of instruction, however, the "klutzes" are clearly in the majority, probably for a number of reasons.

The one popular technique described, using stretching of rubber bands to identify stressed or lengthened vowels is often effective--for at least presenting the concept. It is marginally haptic, in fact, using both movement and some tactile anchoring in the process (the feeling of the rubber band pressing differentially on the inside of the thumbs.) In teacher training I sometimes use that technique to visually illustrate what happens to stressed vowels or those occurring before voiced consonants, in general. There is no study that I am aware of, however, that demonstrates carry over of "rubber banding" to changes in spontaneous speech or even better memory for the specific stressed syllables in the words presented in class. I'd be surprised to find one in fact.

In part the reason for that, again well established in research on touch, is that the brain is not very good at remembering degrees of pressure of touch. Likewise, clapping hands on all syllables of a word or tapping on a desk but a bit harder on the stressed syllable should not, in principle, be all that effective. That observation was, in fact, one of the early motivations for developing the haptic pronunciation teaching system.  By contrast, isolated touch, usually at a different locations on the body, seems to work much better to create differentiated memory for stress assignment. (All haptic techniques are based on that assumption.)

I, myself, taught like the model in the research for decades, basically using primarily visual-kinesthetic modeling and some student body engagement to teach pronunciation. The problem was trying to train new teachers on how to do that effectively. For a while I tried turning trainees into (somewhat) flamboyant performers like myself. I gave up on that project about 15 years ago and began figuring out how to use gesture effectively even if you, yourself, are not all that comfortable with doing it, a functional . . . klutz.

The key to effective gesture work is ultimately that the learner's body must be brought to move both in response to the instructor's presentation and in independent practice, perhaps as homework.(Lessac's dictum: Train the body first!)  Great performers accomplish that naturally, at least in presenting the concepts. The haptic video teaching system is there for those who are near totally averse to drawing attention to their body up front, but, in general, managed gesture is very doable. There are a number of (competing) systems today that do that. See the new haptic pronunciation teaching certificate, if interested in the most "moving and touching" approach.

Citation:
Nguyen, Mai-Han. (2016). A micro-analysis of embodiments and speech in the pronunciation instruction of one ESL teacher. Issues in Applied Linguistics. appling_ial_24274. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/993425h1

Haptic Pronunciation Teaching and Applied Phonology Course, August 1st~26th in Vancouver, BC!

If you are in the Vancouver area in August, join us at Trinity Western University for the Ling 611 Applied Phonology course (3 graduate credits), part of the MATESOL or just the Haptic Pronunciation Teaching component of that course. (Housing available.)

Ling 611 meets on campus 9~12:00, Tuesday through Friday. August 2nd ~ 18th. Monday's are "reading days". Fridays, students in teams submit a brief research report on the week's work. During the 4th week of the course, students do an individual research paper in consultation with the instructors and take final certification test in haptic pronunciation teaching. 

HaPT-E Certification Course

General syllabus:

• Week 1 - Learning and teaching pronunciation
• Week 2 - Teaching listening and pronunciation
• Week 3 - Teaching speaking and pronunciation

The  topics of the 3 hours of each morning are roughly as follows:

• Hour 1 - Haptic pronunciation teaching
• Hour 2 - Phonetic analysis of learner data
• Hour 3 - Theory and methodology

Options: (If interested, contact me at TWU: william.acton@twu.ca)

• Take the graduate course for credit (about $2400) or as an auditor (less than half price). You have to apply for that and have some prerequisite background in either case. 
• Do just the Haptic Pronunciation part. That means 12 hours of class, plus about 12 hours of  homework, which includes 2 tests. If you pass the tests, you get a certificate in HPT. (Cost of that will be about $500, which includes materials and certificate. You'll also be free to sit in on the other two hours of Ling 611 if you have time.) Limited number of places available for that option. 

Keep in touch!

Bill

Emphatic prosody: Oral reading rides again! (in language teaching)

Clipart: Clker.com

Two friends have related to me how they conclude interviews. One (a) asks applicants "Napoleon's final question" (that he would supposedly pose to potential officers for his army): "Are you lucky?" and (b) has them do a brief, but challenging oral reading. 'A' provides most of what the first needs to know about their character. 'B', the other says, is the best indicator of their potential as a radio broadcaster--or as language teacher. I occasionally use both, especially in considering candidates for (haptic) pronunciation teaching.

One of the "standard" practices of the radio broadcasters (and, of course, actors) on their way to expertise (which some claim takes around 10,000 hours), I'm told, is to consistently practice what is to be read on air or performed, out loud. Have done a number of posts over the years on "read aloud" techniques in general reading instruction with children and language teaching, including the Lectio Divina tradition. Research continues to affirm the importance of oral work in developing both reading fluency and comprehension.

Recently "discovered" a very helpful paper 2010 paper by Erekson, coming out of research in reading, entitled, Prosody and Interpretation, where he examines the distinction between syntactic (functioning at the phrasal level) prosody and emphatic prosody used for interpretation (at the discourse level.) One of the interesting connections that Erekson examines is that between standard indices of reading fluency and expressiveness, specifically control of emphatic prosody. In other words, getting students to read expressively has myriad benefits. Research from a number of perspectives supports that general position on the use of "expressive oral reading" (Patel and McNab, 2011); "reading aloud with kids"  (De Lay, 2012); "automated assessment of fluency" (Mostow and Duong, 2009); "fluency and subvocalization" (Ferguson, Nielson and Anderson, 2014).

The key distinction here is expressiveness at the structural as opposed to discourse level.  It is one thing to get learners to imitate prosody from an annotated script (like we do in haptic work--see below) and quite another to get them to mirror expressiveness in a drama, whether reading from a script without structural cues, as in Reader's Theatre, or impromptu.

Oral reading figures (or figured) prominently in many teaching methods.  The EHIEP (Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation) system, provides contextualized practice in the form of short dialogues where learners use pedagogical movement patterns (PMPs), gestural patterns to accompany each phrase which culminate with hands touching on designated stressed syllables. That is the most important feature of assigned pronunciation homework. Although that is, of course, primarily structural prosody  (in the Lectio Divina tradition) we see consistent evidence that oral performance leads to enhanced interpretative expressiveness.

I suspect that we are going to see a strong return to systematic oral reading in language teaching as interest in pragmatic and discourse competence increases. So, if expressiveness is such an important key to not only fluency but interpretation in general, then how can you do a better job of fostering that in students?

Ready?

Read out loud, expressively: "Read out loud expressively and extensively!" 

Are you out of your brain? More evidence why warm ups work in (pronunciation) teaching

Clipart by:

Clker.com

Always good to get a bit more empirical confirmation of our common sense and practice in teaching. As any experienced pronunciation or speech instructor will tell you, kicking off a lesson with a brief warm up that shifts attention to the resonance or awareness of the voice--or the body in general--is essential for effective and efficient intervention.

In a study by Hajo and Obodaru of Rice University, summarized by Science Daily (See full citation below), subjects were first given training that focused their sense of self as "residing" more in either their "brains" or their "hearts." (One interesting finding in the study was that those "American" subjects tended to see themselves as more "brain-centred", as opposed to those from what is vaguely described as an "Indian" culture, who tended to be more "heart-centered.") The observation was made that the former also tended to be more self-centred or independent; the latter, more relationally-dependent.

They then worked through a second task that asked them to indicate how much they would, in principle, contribute to a charity focused on Alzheimer's disease, as opposed to one aimed at helping to prevent heart attacks. You guessed it. The "brain" group went more with the former; the "heart" group, with the latter.

In the summary it was not clear exactly how the researchers guided the attention of the subjects in either direction, toward mind, as opposed to body, awareness. That can be done in any number of ways. (For example, the popular Mindfulness training, ironically, uses extensive body awareness to help clear the mind. Perhaps, "Mind-less-ness" training would be a more accurate label!)

So what does that suggest to those of us in many disciplines who work with changing speech? Simple, in some sense. Haptic pronunciation teaching was inspired early on by Lessac's dictum of Train the body first! Here we see more evidence as to why that point of departure, a body-based warm up of some kind, is often critical in getting learners to then attend long enough and intensely enough to anchor (establish) new movements, sounds and sensations.

If that doesn't immediately "make sense" to you, it is obviously time you "took it to heart!"

Full citation:
Rice University. "Do you see 'the self' in your brain or your heart? Decision-making differs." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 May 2015. .

Touching teaching of expressiveness!

Photo credit:
discover-victoria-island.com

On February 21st, at the 2015 BCTEAL - Island Conference, Professor Aihua Liu of Harbin Institute of Technology, a visiting professor here at Trinity Western University, and myself, will be doing a workshop entitled, "A touching and moving approach to teaching expressiveness."

Here is the program abstract: 

In this practical, “hands on” workshop, a haptic-integrated (using movement and touch) classroom-tested system for teaching conversational intonation and expressiveness will be demonstrated and practiced by participants. The 8 basic techniques include 5 for intonation and 3 others for adding on changes in pitch, pace, volume and discourse foregrounding.

And the detailed summary:

Teaching English intonation can be challenging for any language teacher, due in part to the unique uses of intonation patterns at the discourse level.  Although pronunciation textbooks for students generally present basic intonation patterns with practice activities, that is, of course, only the beginning. It is one thing to be able to imitate or use a simple rising intonation contour on a type of yes/no question or a falling pattern on a simple statement, but it is still quite a leap to expressing a wider range of emotion in speaking.

The haptic model presented has students initially speak along with a model or instructor when working on a new or unusual stretch of expressive speech. Rather than just speaking the sentences, however, learners gesture along with the model to enhance their ability to not just produce but recall more accurately the “extra” features of pitch, pace, volume and discourse focus (or foregrounding).

The workshop is based on principles of “Essential haptic-integrated English Pronunciation,” developed by Acton and colleagues. Participants are provided with guidelines for using the framework in classes with teenage and adult learners and given access to video models on the web of the techniques presented.

Join us, if you can!