Bill Acton

Background

About Bill Acton

Roughly 50 years in the making, the new KINETIK Method English Fluency and Pronunciation courses (for instructors and students) are now Below I sketch out some of the "journey" getting here, beginning really in 1980 when I did about a year of substitute teaching in Special Ed and ESL. I chose "KINETIK" for the new theme and logo to reflect,". relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces and energy associated therewith"(hat tip to Merriam-Webster there!) That final 'k' is an attempted portmanteau between 'kinetic and phonetic.' KINETIK brings together the body and pronunciation in a way that actually uses haptic pronunciation teaching systems (HaPT), developed since about 2005, with use of body and gesture to enhance memory and course content. So, in effect, is really pretty close to "content-based" pronunciation teaching. If you are serious about embodiment in learning and optimal use of yours or your students in English language teaching, you should join me and the other hapticians. Both teacher training and student courses that can be adapted to almost anybody are ready to go. Feel free to contact me directly at wracton@gmail.com, too- For the last 50 years or so, as I begin presentations, I have often remarked that I have had just one good idea: that systematic use of gesture and body movement is important for efficient pronunciation teaching. In 2004 I was introduced to research associated with Observed Experiential Integration, a psychotherapy especially effective in dealing with PTSD, that provided a way to begin systematic integration of movement in instruction. In the process, I discovered the mass of research on the haptic (movement + touch) modality and all the amazing technology that has emerged from it, such as prosthetics-and the iPhone! In 2005 I piloted the first course using what we called "Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation"(EHIEP). In 2007 we began importing that model into a video format, what we now term Acton Haptic English Pronunciation (AHP). Since 2010 I have been unpacking that idea and the research supporting it on the HICPR blog: Beginning in 2018, v5.0 was available in teacher development and student courses, also presented in weekly webinars, “hapticanars”! v7.0 of The KINETIK Method went live in January 2023. For fall 2024