The "face" of HICP teaching

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Several earlier posts have looked at the question of the relative emotional loading of various points or quadrants in the visual field. (See the recent vowel color and intonation posts, for example.) This 1992 study of the effect of corresponding left or right brain lesions by Fedio of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke suggested another interesting perspective on why that might be: the right hemisphere area (connected to the left eye) is primarily responsible for determining and monitoring emotional state. The left hemisphere area, by contrast, is tasked with dealing with "the rest" of the incoming and outgoing data, so to speak.

That would explain, in part, why the right visual field (for most right handers) tends to be more emotionally reactive and visually "vivid." In effect, perception in the right visual field is less "filtered," according to the study. Consequently,  in your dominant eye you may typically "feel" a color or sound or image or experience  more intensely. (Observed Experiential Integration Therapy, which HICP owes much to, is based, to some extent on that notion of hemispheric specialization as well.)

In HICP, the model words and phrases used in the basic exercises (or protocols) and pedagogical movement patterns are designed to fit as much as possible within that general left/right specialization. Although I don't have a good icon that represents that perspective,  the drama mask with the black frowning face on the left and right the smiling face on the right is close. (Ideally the right face should be a lighter, bright colored; the left, a heavier, dark color.) Honest . . . that "two-faced" framework works . . . 

Affective haptics

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In the earlier post on the upcoming 2012 Haptics Symposium, I mentioned the Workshop on Affective Haptics. Here is the note from the summary of the workshop:

"Affective Haptics is the emerging area of research which focuses on the design of devices and systems that can elicit, enhance, or influence the emotional state of a human by means of sense of touch. Human emotions can be easily evoked by different cues, and the sense of touch is one of the most emotionally charged channels. Affective Haptics is a wide interdisciplinary area, strongly related to such fields as multi‐modal interfaces, affective computing, neuroscience, psychology, mediated communications, telepresence, robotics, etc."

HICP work draws from most of those areas, even the last. Note the EHIEP logo, which draws something of its character from the robot-like control of the upper body required for mosts protocols. Keep in touch. 

Conducting "tense" intonation work

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Always nice to discover a piece of research that seems to confirm the validity of something you have been doing. The linked research explored the perceived vocal tension associated with certain gestures used by choral conductors, specifically,

(a) palm up
(b) palm down
(c) pointing gesture
(d) flat gliding motion to the side
(e) a clenched fist.

The pedagogical movement patterns of the hands across the visual field representing intonation contours include all those gestures except the last (which is used in one of the rhythm-oriented PMPs.)  In fact, most of what we now use for intonation PMPs (there are basically 5 or 6 of them) came from observations I did about 15 years ago on the gestures used by pronunciation teachers during intonation lessons. What was most striking in the 2004 Fuelberth study was that the relative tension generated by those conducting gestures seemed to correlate well with their functions in HICP as either focus conveying (a stressed syllable of varying intensity) or a lead up to (or follow off from) a stressed element.  We do, of course, also refer to "tense" and "lax" vowels in some phonetic systems.

It is a case where a little "tension" works well in anchoring the felt sense of both discourse prominence and expressiveness. All together now . . . 

2012 Haptics Symposium in Vancouver, March 4-7, 2012

I'll be submitting a proposal to do a demonstration (with a couple of you at least) at the 2012 Haptics Symposium. It looks like a great program, especially the workshop on Affective Haptics. I am also doing a talk at the University of Victoria on the evening of the 5th but hope to be there the rest of the time. Planning on some kind of initial get together in Vancouver to officially kick off the "Haptic-integrated Clinical Pronunciation Research" group,  as well. Join us!

Walkabout talk: The TalkaboutWalkabout

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While in Japan, while teaching speaking classes of 50+, I developed an effective (primarily kinaesthetic) technique called the "TalkaboutWalkabout," inspired by the movie, Crocodile Dundee. (It has been cited in several methods texts.) Basically, students prepared a couple of good 3-minute stories that they could tell to fellow students using an attending skills format (See earlier posts.) as homework. In the two-hour class the next day, after some initial warm up, students walked around the perimeter of the room continuously for the next 90 minutes or outside in a larger fixed loop around campus, telling their stories and listening to the story of another student--switching partners every 8 minutes (about 10 times). In effect, each student told each of two stories four times and heard eight others.

Back then I was not working with explicit haptic anchoring but it was remarkable how the pace of the walking came to regulate the rhythm of speaking, and how relaxed and fluent the conversations became. By the end, students were invariably struck by how "good" they felt about speaking English. The "felt sense" of the walkabout that they had "discovered" became our model or metaphor for how good discussions should "feel" as well.

There are, of course, any number of possible explanations for why that technique may work, several have been introduced here earlier, including jogging, but this quote from a holistic medicine website, connecting up to the function of the (somewhat mythical) Australian walkabout of Dundee,  presents an interesting perspective on some of what is involved: " . . . a journey of healing and rediscovering the link between mind, body, and spirit." The effect in your class might not be quite that heavy duty or "anchored," but I can guarantee that it will at least provide a great deal to "talk about!" 

Stressful pronunciation teaching ok? You must be dreaming . . .

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I have worked with several "fossilized" individuals over the years who experienced what they referred to as being "traumatized" by what might loosely be called "pronunciation instruction." Perhaps it was a teacher or fellow student or associate who ridiculed the student's accent, or something analogous. I have always been intrigued by the fact that such experiences affect some but not others. Likewise, some students are able to "take away" and integrate material presented under the most stressful of conditions.

2011 research by van der Helm, Yao, Dutt, Rao, Saletin, and Walker of University of California-Berkeley, summarized by Science Daily, which studied the function of dreams in diffusing the emotional loading of traumatic events, suggests something of why that may be the case. One of the findings was that "normal" REM sleep greatly facilitates that integration and diffusion. (In the case of certain PTSD victims, a blood pressure medication actually restored some REM enabling function.) Without it, things go very differently.

Not that learners be placed in dream states to change pronunciation (although I have tried a bit of that), but that integrating pronunciation effectively requires being able to create optimal REM-like, stress-resolving attention. That is the (achievable) dream of HICP work as well. 

Pronunciation discrimination: Say it right now . . . hear it later (and vice versa)

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There have been a few studies which suggest that pronunciation training improves aural discrimination and aural comprehension, including this one from 2001 by Ghorban and others. Most research in the last three decades in this area, for a number of reasons,  has focused on the opposite effect, that of comprehension on pronunciation or intelligibility.

One of the primary goals of HICP work is to prepare learners to be more effective "kinaesthetic" listeners who can continue improving their pronunciation beyond the classroom, essentially by being able to quickly capture the felt sense of models that they hear--and play it back haptically using the basic protocols--so that they can also either "record" it in memory or discard it.

That kinaesthetic monitoring and listening are generally seen as the final benchmarks of EHIEP training. At will, learners can "feel" phrases or sentences in their bodies, whether listening to themselves or someone else. Kinaesthetic monitoring generally does not interfere with conversation, allowing one to detect errors in performance and deal with them later, rather than right at that instant. Kinaesthetic listening works the same way, like an independent flash drive, that allows later recall and redo. Got a good feel for what we're saying here? If so, it'll sound even better later. 

Correcting pronunciation: from mime to meme

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One of the best analogies for the felt sense of using haptic techniques in correcting pronunciation is pantomime, or miming. Some of the best video examples on Youtube are those of "robot dance." Unfortunately, I have yet to find a good one that does not have X-rated comments appended to it . . . So we'll have to settle for the text-based document from the drama club at UA-Monticello. It describes several of the basic mime moves that are used in training. Three or four of them focus on "box" structures that actually quite close to both the felt sense and the pedagogical movement patterns of HICP. The "meme" side of the process, to quote Wikipedia, " . . . acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena."

Following on the earlier post, by both instructor and student having developed a good felt sense of the sounds represented through PMPs, the feedback is "transmitted" more efficiently. What exactly do you meme in class? Could it use some correction? Try starting with mime . . .  Better seen; better heard. 

Doing is believing

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This study from Lee and Noppeney of the Max Planck Institute, summarized by Science Daily, demonstrated that if you can do something (in this case, play piano) you have a better chance of being able to see if it is done correctly or with correct timing.

And how does this apply to HICP work?  Relatively simple . . .  By practicing HICP pedagogical movement patterns (e.g., saying a vowel-sound, for example, one completes a movement across the visual field, ending in a touch of the other hand), the learner becomes better able to "uptake" guidance or visual corrective input from the instructor or other students in the form of PMPs as well. Most HICP error correction, as well as initial presentation, is done haptically, providing a clean, visual model and the requiring haptic "repetition" or mirroring of the the adjusted form. Or to paraphrase the old saw: Monkey do; monkey see-- and integrate it more efficiently into spontaneous speaking. 

Oral interpretation of literature for (haptic anchoring and) fluency

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In Lessac's 12-step system in The Use and Training of the Human Voice dramatic oral interpretation/ practice is a key benchmark, a critical bridge to fluency in everyday life or on stage. He uses passages from several genres (novels, drama, poetry, songs, etc.) As opposed to the generally lifeless, uninspiring dialogues found in student pronunciation textbooks, "real" literature expresses emotion--and life--in any number of "memorable" ways.

Likewise, by the time the learner is equipped to prepare a good piece of language using the EHIEP protocols in the order prescribed in the method (Prominence/stress, vowels, consonants, focus groups,  intonation, conversational rhythm, and fluency)--typically within about six weeks, the transition to and integration in spontaneous speech should be well underway. This article by Todd and Goodson summarizes how a similar process, based on the long tradition of "Readers Theatre," works with middle school students. It'll work with anybody . . . just requires a little dramatic, embodied extrapolation!

(Haptic) instruction in "super-sized" speaking/pronunciation classes

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The EHIEP system is designed for use in classes of all sizes, but especially for large classes taught by relatively inexperienced instructors. It involves extensive oral performance/engagement. Spend some time reviewing the literature on how to teach in such contexts and what you find is (as in the English Club) a good description of the problems, practice strategies and activities. What is not there is guidance on how to initially present sounds and sound processes and how to provide feedback/correction.

This is analogous to what we see in pronunciation teaching research: (apparently) any method (assuming methods are allowed) in a storm (and big classes can be that!) is generally ok. In terms of oral production-focus (vs comprehension-based) techniques, the typical set of procedures suggested are (A) demonstration, (B) explanation  and (C) choral repetition. That's it, if that. (If you want to contribute some further recommendations, feel fee to add comments.)  Beginning with A, B and C is a start, to be sure, But if things are not going well by C, what's next? More of all three, especially C?

With HICP as a basis you can (literally) see what and  how every student in a class of 100 (or more) is doing. The principle is this: With good initial haptic-anchoring training (easily done in large groups), if a learner moves correctly, more appropriate pronunciation will almost inevitably follow. Likewise, corrections focus primarily on the pedagogical movement pattern, not how the sound "sounds." Teaching with (big) class?  To quote Lessac yet again . . . Train the body first!

The color and felt sense of English vowels

The "Color Vowel Chart," apparently based on Finger (1985), is a clever mnemonic framework for giving students a memorable key-word and color for vowel sounds. Those CVC color choices are based on the vowel in the color word, etc.

The matrix below, by contrast, shows the EHIEP color schema, based on a number of studies of vowel phonaesthetic qualities, or felt sense, and related neurophysiological properties of the visual field. (See several earlier posts.) In essence, front and higher vowels are lighter; lower and back vowels are darker. The EHIEP vowels are displayed as a mirror image of the standard IPA vowel chart (which the Color Vowel Chart represents in standard format.)

Notice some of the interesting correspondences/contrasts between the two systems:
(a) The colors green and black are in the same positions,
(b) The "central" vowels are very similar in character, although not similarly aligned, and
(c) The diphthongs have some parallels. In CVC, "oy" is turquoise; in EHIEP it is blue to white. In CVC, "aw" is brown; in EHIEP, brown to green. In CVC, "ay" is white; in EHIEP, brown to white.
(d) In both CVC and EHIEP high vowels are lighter than low vowels.
(e) The CVC vowel color for "e" (red) is close to the EHIEP color (mid-front) of orange.
(f) The CVC vowel in "silver" would be white in EHIEP.
(g) The CVC for "blue" would be green or green to purple in EHIEP.

Light Green	Soft Yellow	Bright Yellow
Dark Green	Gray	Orange
Dark Blue	Purple	Red

For what it is, the CVC works well, but just imagine the impact were it to be a bit more neuro-physiologically tuned in and haptically anchored. Why . . . it'd be "off the charts!"

Breaking Dawn I and vampire haptic "collisions!"

In case you haven't seen it yet, the first few minutes of BDI have a virtual plethora of gestures ending in touch tied to stressed words in phrases or sentences. I had a hard time following the fascinating, emotionally riveting dialogue, while taking notes! (Understandably, eh!)

Following up on the comments to the previous post, those are NOT examples of what HICP refers to as "haptic anchoring" or how the term "haptic" is used in various fields today. They do involve all the essential elements (movement, stressed syllables, touch, discourse focus, etc.) except one critical, technical feature: fixed, designed points in the visual field where the haptic "collision" occurs.

In an informal sense, the haptic event does certainly help to emphasize or fix in memory the meaning of at point in the narrative, but as noted earlier, the experience is being encoded into memory with all sorts of other visual and emotional information that may or may not be helpful in trying to recall how it was pronounced later. (For an interesting, concise business-like summary of nonverbal communication/body language, see this piece by Alan Chapman.) So if you find yourself getting thoroughly carried away during BDI, it is technically not the haptic anchoring . . .

Choral repetition + haptic anchoring: Doing more with less!

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I have described the work of Olle Kjellin previously. Reports on his "extreme" choral repetition-based pronunciation teaching method by Kjellin and his followers are persuasive in demonstrating that getting students to repeat a phrase up to 100 times " . . . generate[s] a kind of statistical "feel" for the phonological, syntactical, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of the phrase, i.e. to really "learn" it."

 I don't doubt for a minute that that anchors the "feel" or felt sense described--assuming that you can get learners to stay with you in the process. The question is, however, if our target is "just" pronunciation change, with well-executed haptic anchoring can we cut back some on the number of reps? (For some examples of HICP-type "haptic anchoring," see the first comment below.) Although Kjellin has not published hard evidence on the long term effects of "mega-rep" work--other than alluding to having witnesses consistent results throughout his 30 years in the field,

I'll accept his claims on similar grounds to those made here for the efficacy of HICP work: the extensive research on haptic-based learning in several fields, and our experience with EHIEP protocols over the last decade or so (and, of course, my 30+ years in the field, as well!) So, about how many "haptic-choral-repetitions" are necessary? If learners are in "full-body-attention mode," as described in earlier posts, only a few in class and a few more in homework practice sessions should be sufficient to enable some integration into spontaneous speech. Trust me. I've seen it work repeatedly, "hundreds" of times, in fact.

Teaching (haptically) the English mid-back-central-stressed vowel and friend

Here is a video that shows how to get a near-perfect stressed, mid-back-central vowel in English, a sharp blow to the solar plexus--a version of a technique I have used for years. Instead of a karate kick from a colleague, tighten your abs, relax your face and substitute your right, clenched fist--and just let what vowel comes out, come out! The solar plexus and its chakra has a lot going for it. (The chakra has two alternative colors, black and yellow; we use a dark green.)

In basic EHIEP we do not focus on schwa (or unstressed vowels, in general), but only on the stressed form, although the basic sound is considered the "same" from the learner's perspective. Like in the previous post on haptic linking, with good balance between rhythm and stress intensity, unstressed elements are not as problematic and often gravitate over time to a more appropriate sound form anyway. (If you MUST know, there is a haptic technique for schwa, too, of course, but words can't do it justice . . . and it is classified for the time being! ) Try that. Never fails to be a "hit."

The rhythm of (haptic) English linking (training)

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Here is a 9-minute video of the "standard" approach to teaching English linking by McIntyre--done very well--from the 2003 Clearly Speaking project, headed by Burns and Claire.

Opinion in the field is split as to just how much time should be spent between working on comprehension of linking, as opposed to active training in producing linked speech. On fixed phrases such as "black'n white," etc., teaching production makes sense. Requiring students to practice linking on sentences such as: "They_ate_every_orange_in_Norman's _bucket!"--a common practice in "elocution" training--as a model for them of what good speaking should resemble, is recommended by few that I am aware of. (The 1982 student book still used in some programs, Whaddayasay?, does suggest that, in fact.)

The EHIEP approach, on the contrary, assumes that students have at least been introduced to linking in listening comprehension work, much as done by McIntyre. The effective haptic anchoring of rhythm and rhythm groups in practice and conversation should do three things: (1) encourage the natural phonological process of linking when rhythm and stress are appropriately balanced, (2) create a strong contrast between stress and unstressed elements that de-emphasizes backgrounded material, and (3) promote overall intelligibility so that "missing" linking is not as noticeable. "Whadayagonnadoweh?"

Pronunciation homework--in a flash (card system)!

EHIEP homework, ideally done at least three times between module presentations (either in class or by video), typically involves five components: (a) Warm up, (b) Review of previous protocols, (c) Learning of new protocol/technique, (d) Practice of new protocol with model conversation, and (e) Practice with word list. For the last component, word list practice, there are a few online flashcard systems that work satisfactorily. The Flashcard Exchange (cost: "free" or $12.99 for lifetime full-feature license) for use with laptop or desktop, is a popular application which connects up well to the iPhone apps,  including one I like (cost: "free" or $3.99 for full features), Flashcards Deluxe--although there are others that are adequate as well. That one, as do most of the online systems and some of the laptop versions--most importantly--integrates both video and audio effectively, and provides various scoring, storage and importing options. In both cases, the flash cards are easy to create and manage for either instructor or learner. The "answer" side of the flash card will typically contain: (a) Indication of stress syllable, (b) vowel numbers--in lieu of phonetic transcription, (c) audio of pronunciation, (d) high value phrase or sentence using the word, and (e) optional note on the pedagogical movement pattern used, if necessary. Try a flashcard system: successful learners consistently "flip" over it . . .

HICP/EHIEP PMP rubric

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Here is an (11 parameter) rubric for use in assessment of both student and instructor HICP work. The categories reflect a reasonably complete set of the skills and and features of pedagogical movement patterns (PMP) involved in basic EHIEP instruction. Typically, the rubric would be applied at the end of a session either by an observer or instructor, or for self-assessment of instructors in training. (To use the rubric in the eForm requires joining the Rcampus website--a good source of ready made iRubrics' e-rubrics and tools to make your own with, in fact.)

Haptic technology for pronunciation teaching "on hand!"

Hat tip to Matt McLean for pointing me to these two URLs on the development of Omnitouch/
Kinect technology. As you can see in this YouTube video, embodying some of the EHIEP techniques is technically feasible now. In fact, even without the computer interface, the basic embodiment strategy of touching a spot on the other hand or arm or wherever is, from a HICP perspective, probably as effective in anchoring as the visual interface used there itself.

Actually, even if you just project the image on the wall or the desk and use that target as the visual field, it would still create a potentially workable, basic haptic anchoring template. It would not be as effective or portable or engaging as what we have already--using just the visual field of the learner and bilateral haptic anchoring--but it would certainly be a touch better than anything else available today!

The David Alan Stern system: A step up! (and a step down!)

I have been meaning to acknowledge the work of David Alan Stern for some time now. For several years, beginning about 25 years ago, I used aspects of his system in accent reduction work quite successfully. Were I still doing that kind of work, I'd probably still be using some of his more recent dialect materials. His novel kinaesthetic/somatic approach involves many of the same principles as HICP--without the haptic emphasis. On his FAQ page are two fascinating questions which are linked to audio recordings of his answers:

"Why muscularity and resonance before pronunciation?"

"Why melody and rhythm changes before pronunciation work?"

Muscularity (range of movement and flexibility), resonance (throughout the vocal apparatus), melody (intonation) and rhythm before pronunciation? What he means by "pronunciation" is basically sounds practiced in context, once the essential preliminaries have been taught. In EHIEP we essentially work on those four "up front" also (haptically, rather than just kinaesthetically) in almost the same order,  just reversing rhythm and intonation.  Stern's signature technique, "step up and/or down" (literally) in learning intonation contours and some expressive elements, consistently produced excellent results. Although Stern's method is not as generally "adaptable" (or as efficient in anchoring) as EHIEP it is still very good stuff--a STEP UP from most!