この度、2020年（令和2年）度 第34回日本音声学会全国大会のシンポジウムで共同発表させていただく機会を得ることができました。私は第4発表の一部を担当します。私の役割は、ラボ教育センターのユニークな実践（第4発表の第3発表者担当）報告と、それに影響を受けたActonoメソッド（第4発表の第1発表者）の発表の間をつなぐことです。
以下、ご興味のある方のために、掲載します。
2020年9月26日（土）
15:40-17:40
第34回日本音声学会全国大会
公開シンポジウム (Zoom Webinar)
「英語発音に慣れ親しむための触覚・運動学・音声学教育」
Presenter 4: “Application of haptic research to instruction
in phonetics and classroom pronunciation teaching”
William Acton (Trinity Western University)・
柳瀬陽介 (京都大学)・渡邊浩之 (ラボ教育センター)
http://www.psj.gr.jp/jpn/annual-convention/34th_2020
以下は、当日発表で使うスライドのPDF版です。
以下は、要項に書いた私の原稿です。
3. Embodied and Embedded: Beyond the vocal organ (Yosuke Yanase)
3.1. Articulation is embodied in the integrated mind and body
The LABO activities show that articulation is more than a matter of the vocal organs per se. Vocal utterances are embodied in the entire flow of the body and mind. As Takeuchi, a renowned theater artist emphasizes, people speak up spontaneously only when their whole body vibrates and the mind activates accordingly. Of course, a teacher can force students to open their mouths. However, that sort of coerced pronunciation is only mechanical and does not entail mental activities that should be associated with the words they produce. As neuroscientists point out (Damasio, 2010; Barrett, 2017), emotions (etymologically, the movements (‘-motion’) that appear outward (‘ex-’)) are the source of human behaviors, including verbal utterances. Any meaningful articulation derives from emotions; it synchronizes with the changes in the rest of the body. Observers of the LABO videos should notice that children do not merely manipulate the vocal organ; kids unconsciously move their entire bodies to express something they feel in their mind. Articulation only follows that inception. Teachers who plan to implement the LABO method should check whether or not their classes let kids' bodies (and hence minds) act spontaneously.
3.2. The whole movement of body and mind is embedded in the community culture
A cheerful child at home may look somewhat introverted in classes and yet be rather aggressive in the schoolyard. People as social animals act differently in response to their human environment. All communities, including classroom ones, have their distinct cultures, and they affect their members' bodies and minds. LABO communities cherish a democratic culture that promotes autonomy and collaboration at the same time. Their “tutors,” equivalent to classroom teachers in conventional schools, do not attempt to establish pre-established authorities as senior experts. Elder kids, who have acquired the culture that their tutor embraces, also respect younger kids for their thoughts and actions. LABO kids are not inhibited when they discuss or perform together, unlike other children in school settings. This culture is probably rather uncommon in Japanese contexts.
3.3. More than a mechanical matter
To sum up, one should be aware that meaningful articulation is embodied in the liberated body and mind, which is further embedded in the culture that promotes self-determination and cooperation.
The surprising fact that LABO kids acquire somewhat authentic articulation with a natural sense of rhythm and intonation without explicit instruction may probably make sense only when we pay attention to the embodiment and embeddedness of their minds. For many phoneticians, it may not matter much how pronunciation instructors smile and react to students in classrooms. Articulatory phonetics, after all, is about the mechanics of the vocal organ. However, I argue that these cultural manners are critical because they release the tension of students’ bodies and minds, resulting in meaningful articulation that remains in them for the rest of their lives.
References
Barrett, L. F. (2017) How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, Picador.
Damasio, A. (2010) Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, Pantheon.
Afterthoughts on the Symposium Presentation in the 34th General Meeting of the Phonetic Society of Japan
