Bill Acton's Embodiment Blog: whole body

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Explaining the EHIEP 'haptic' system to students and colleagues

As promised, here is an updated, basic set of "elevator talking points" for introducing Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation (EHIEP):

It's a new "haptic video" system used in ESL and EFL for teaching English pronunciation, based on extensive research in several fields and has been thoroughly classroom tested.
It is designed for instructors with little or no training in pronunciation teaching. For less experienced instructors, all basic instruction can be done by the instructor on the video. (Teachers and students can learn together.)
EHIEP uses rhythm, movement and touch along with the "aerobic-like" videos. Students move along with the model on the video as they speak and practice.
"Haptic-integrated" means using movement, and especially touch, to improve a student's ability to learn a new sound, remember it and recall it later. Haptic techniques are especially good for helping students more quickly learn to use what they have studied in class.
Any teacher can use it, can "outsource" initial pronunciation training and then follow up later using those techniques in tutoring or typical speaking and listening lessons.
It is based on a standard, simplified, “essential” set of pronunciation objectives.
It is relatively inexpensive and easy to use. It requires only a good dictionary and a laptop, LDC projector or iPhone-like handheld device.
It is composed of:

10, 20~30-minute teaching modules (best done one per week)
12, optional 5-minute consonant teaching mini-modules
3 optional 15-minute homework mini-modules with each of the 8 modules. (Total of 24 mini-modules)

It is designed to work in classes of up to 50 students of any proficiency level, teenage and older. Here is a link to a video of an introduction I did for a class taught by a friend recently. One of the key objectives of the course is vocabulary so I emphasize that somewhat. Not exactly professional grade video or production, but you'll get the idea!
Excerpts from some of the more recent videos have been linked in previous blogposts. The entire system will be available online in late Spring 2013 and introduced through workshops in various countries and at the TESOL Convention in Dallas (along with the organizational meeting of HICPR at the convention.) The "hard media" set of videos will be available about that time as well.
In the interim, if you are interested in field testing a module in your class, get "in touch!." (wracton@gmail.com.)

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Haptic-integrated pronunciation . . . and "Ro-butts?"

Clipart: Clker

(Caveat Emptor: There is probably a serious point in the following but it may not be all that obvious!) The character in the EHIEP logo off to the right, what we affectionately refer to as "EHIEP-bot," embodies a few key features of the system, including controlled, precise movements, the sounds of language in the visual field--and attitude! But up until now there was no plausible analogy or connection between the robot personna and the efficacy of touch in learning. Now there may be. Japanese inventor, Takahashi, has figured out how (or at least where) to do haptic anchoring with robots: on the gluteus maximus! I suppose, were it not for certain cultural constraints--or lack of them for example, here in a Youtube of a German folk dance move -- that might work on us non-robots in doing pronunciation, particularly rhythm, as well. Instead of using the visual field, looking forward, we might focus on pronunciation in retrospect! Actually, doing two of the more rhythm-oriented protocols when seated, the critical butts-in-chairs variable in group dynamics and sales-- does seem to help anchor or "nail down" the pattern being attended to, especially with the right Latin beat in the background. Wow. A whole new area of research and exploration here? This is supposed to be a "whole brain and whole body approach," after all! Ah . . . perhaps we'd better sit on that for the time being!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Half-haptic, "Whole Brain" Power Teaching

I am often asked how "Power Teaching" relates to HICP work. The answer is . . . well, sort of. It does involve gesture-synchronized speech and what is certainly whole brain/body engagement. The main differences are that PT makes extensive use of iconic gesture (drawing a picture of something) and involves only accidental haptic (movement plus touch) anchoring.

Actually, there are occasions when I use some (relatively wacky) PT-like routines to get learners warmed to the idea of full body work in the first place. The other more interesting dimension of PT, however, is what is often called the "yes set," that is getting students to agree to follow commands--as "retro" as that may sound. Learning the EHIEP protocols requires students to mirror and follow along with either a video model or a "live" instructor and do it with considerable precision until the basic haptic strategies are mastered, so they can be used in the classroom whenever the need arises.

With apologies to our excessively "Critical" colleagues, sometimes the judicious application of a little pedagogical "power"(teaching) in class is not a bad idea!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Whole person and whole body learning

For decades, the concept of "whole person" involvement in language learning has been a given. The HICP perspective in pronunciation instruction, and that of many body-friendly methodologies in this and related fields, is that the full body, as represented in multiple-modality-based procedures, must be engaged as well.

Image: Egoscue.com

The well-known Egoscue method for body alignment and functionality has for some time provided not only a great way to keep your body loose and aligned, but also an excellent heuristic and metaphor for our work. (The Egoscue website is also linked in the right column of blog.)

Especially for the instructor, conscious control of the body as both a model for students and an a basis for optimal delivery of speech and general interpersonal nonverbal communication as presented in body movement, is an essential skill set. The Egoscue method, through a highly integrated set of exercises, creates a fascinating, integrated body balance and alignment and sense of well being. In that framework, especially awareness of the rhythm of English seems to be greatly enhanced.

Pronunciation work can be a pain in the neck . . . but not if you have done your Egoscue that morning before class!

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What is haptic pronunciation teaching?

Basically, it is using gesture, touch and movement to teach pronunciation of English (or any language). What makes this method unique is that it is based on controlled and systematic use of gesture in doing that. (Often the problem with gesture use in language learning is that it can be "crazy" or random or intimidating or inconsistent, or not well-developed and tied to clear outcomes.)

The earlier "Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation (EHIEP) approach," now KINETIK, does a better job of enhancing presentation, modelling, feedback and correction. The method is simple and easy to follow. Once a 30-minute module is finished, teacher and students have a set of techniques to use in class anytime a pronunciation problem or opportunity comes up!

Haptic Preliminaries

I often begin workshops or papers with the comment that in about 40 years in the field I have had just one idea: that the systematic use of body movement is essential to effective and efficient pronunciation instruction. That has never been more relevant than today, with the general deemphasis on pronunciation and introduction of technology into the field. From both perspectives, the "haptic" perspective approach developed here offers great promise. I can at least promise you a "moving" experience!

What is the KINETIK Method?

KINETIK is the name of the new v6.0 haptic pronunciation teaching system. About six years earlier we were using the acronym, "Haptic Integrated Pronunciation for Other/Extended Circle English Speakers" (HIPOECES)--still there in the url of this blog!

Haptic-integrated clinical pronunciation is:

A different way to learn pronunciation, based in part on Arthur Lessac’s notion of “Training the body first.” It is also based on research in the use of movement and touch in learning and training. It:

Looks somewhat like a combination of aerobics, sign language and Taichi

Provides a basic foundation for continued, self-directed pronunciation learning and classroom instruction

Designed for use by relatively untrained teachers but appropriate for all teachers (and learners) of all levels

Focuses on pronunciation used in conversation (not all words in English)

Is a highly “brain-and-body-friendly” system that promotes efficient learning of integrated tasks in general

Designed to promote integrated classroom pronunciation instruction and enable integration of conscious pronunciation work into spontaneous speaking.

Introduction

This blog was formerly named: HIPoeces (pronounced 'hI-pƏ-cIs), basically an approach to teaching English pronunciation to speakers of "outer and expanding" circle Englishes (including that population commonly termed: non-native speakers) but also compatible with the use of local models other than simply Standard" American" or RP. Using Kachru's "Inner, expanding and outer circles" model to characterize the breadth of Englishes and speakers of those, HIPoeces (now HICP) systems focus on developing haptically-centered pedagogical models and methods which can be adapted for teaching the pronunciation of various Englishes as they are spoken and taught by "owners" of those varieties.

In theory, the underlying principles can be applied to teaching the sound system of any language. Most language instructors intuitively use a great deal of movement and tactile anchoring in the classroom. The essential question is how to use that resource systematically, especially so that those learners who are less "haptic" in nature are also "moved" by the method.

Simply put, the HICP model/method is based on the idea of speaking along with arm and hand movement, not all that different from that used in sign languages. Most movement patterns are taken from either typical classroom pronunciation instruction practice or from related fields, such as psychotherapy or sports.

Most blog posts link to research that relates to the general HICP model, that is studies dealing with the role of gesture, touch, movement, learning modalities, learning in output, use of the visual field in learning, and experiential learning.

DEFINITIONS:

"Haptic" techniques- procedures that involve both movement and touch (Obvious examples include clapping hands, tapping feet, or holding an object and shaking it to the rhythm of a poem.)

"HICP techniques" - procedures that are haptic and also explicitly coordinated with phonological structures and/or discourse prosody (For example, clapping hands on primary stressed syllables in multi-syllable words, or doing a dance step on key words in conversational turns.)

"Haptic integration"- The haptic dimension probably functions as much to anchor visual and auditory material as it does to assist the learner in getting the "felt sense" of the sound or sound process. Lack of integration into spontaneous speech being such a serious potential shortcoming of instruction, haptic engagement seems a promising bridge to more accurate fluency.

"Visual field" - in HICP extensive use is made of the visual field in front of the learner. (For example, a modified version of the IPA vowel chart is anchored haptically in the imagination of the learner, directly in front of the upper body, and used for several purposes throughout the program.)