Philips AAC Language Learning System / Language Through Pictures

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Philips AAC Language Learning System / Language Through Pictures

Postby Speakeasy » Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:52 pm

Unusual Publisher, Unusual Language Programme
I was tempted to file this report under the “Vintage Language Courses of Lesser Renown” discussion thread; however, the combination of the publisher’s habitual vocation and the unusual nature of their language course caused me to reconsider. I am interested in receiving comments on: (a) the apparent “simulated full-immersion” approach to teaching, and (b) the choice of dialogues, particularly for use in what was purportedly a course designed for the self-instruction of adults.

Philips
Founded in Einhoven, Netherlands, in 1891, Philips (Koninklijke Philips N.V.) was once one of the world’s largest electronics companies. For nearly a century, the company’s operations centered on the design and production of innovative, high-quality products for use in the business and institutional environments and in the home. The company was never known as a publisher of anything other than the technical manuals associated with their products. And, yet …

Philips AAC Language Learning System
A. Self-Instruction Language Laboratory
In the late-1970’s Philips began marketing introductory-to-lower-intermediate language courses under the brand name “Philips AAC Language Learning System”, the abbreviation “AAC” referencing “Audio Active Comparative” (listen, speak and record, listen and compare), a language laboratory principle.
Philips cassette langauge course 0a.PNG
Subsequent Information: It would appear that these courses were part of a much wider programme designed to help customers make the best use of technologies in education. Please refer to the linked article on Dr. Hans-Werner Hunziker, author of the basic text of the Philips language courses. (http://www.learning-systems.ch/multimedia/curr_e.htm)

B. Languages
The Philips’ courses covered at least the following languages: Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Russian. It is possible that other languages were available in the series.

C. Materials
The course components included:
(a) a Philips AAC dual-function audio cassette player, in two separate models, configured for the playing/recording of either (i) regular cassettes, or (ii) mini-cassettes. A headset/microphone accompanied the cassette players.
(b) up to six course packages containing (i) 6 regular cassettes per course level, or 8 mini-cassettes per course level and (ii) three course manuals: a multi-lingual textbook, a picture book, and a student booklet.

D. Course Levels
The courses were offered in up to six levels. The most-frequently-studied languages (English, French, German, Spanish) contained six levels whereas the less-frequently-studied languages contained three/four levels. The scope per level was:
Level 1: Basic vocabulary and language structure, new vocabulary 500 words.
Level 2: Basic vocabulary and language structure, new vocabulary 500 words.
Level 3: Increased conversational fluency, understanding foreign language media, new vocabulary 1000 words.
Level 4: Increased conversational fluency, new vocabulary 900 words.
Level 5: Business and professional communications, new vocabulary 600 words.
Level 6: Business and professional communications, new vocabulary 600 words.
Total new vocabulary over six levels: 4100 words

E. Teaching Methodology
Philips described their approach to self-instruction of foreign languages as an “audio-visual” method (hearing, seeing, speaking) whereby assimilation of the target language would be enhanced through (a) listening to model sentences and comparing them to pictograms to discern the meaning of the recordings, and (b) a specific schedule of speech repetition training. This was not an audio-lingual method which included massive amounts of sentence-pattern drills. Rather, once the initial stages had been completed, the recorded lesson materials in the Philips’ courses were often comparable in length of those of the typical Assimil lesson. A ten-phase regimen, using the same, basic recorded materials, focused on the following activities: listening comprehension, speech repetition training, speaking first, recording one’s own voice, comparative listening, sentence completion, writing, and role playing.

E.1 Visual Cues: Picture Book
The materials included a “picture book”, the illustrations of which were meant to serve as a visual cue to the meanings of the recorded materials. The intent was to associate the recordings with the illustrations and prompt a “natural understanding” of the language (see example below).
Philips cassette langauge course 3.PNG


E.2 Notes on Grammar
The courses were completely devoid of any explanatory notes on the target language’s structure, common or colloquial usage, cultural aspects, et cetera, that frequently accompany home-study language courses. In place of the foregoing, a “grammar table” was included, without explanation, at the end of every lesson (see example below).
Philips cassette langauge course 4.PNG


E.3 Textual Support
The materials included a multi-lingual textbook which served as a simultaneous transcription/translation of the recordings. Although its use is not described in the instructions, I assume that the student was meant to refer to the text as needed. To illustrate the recorded materials, I have included below, the English translation of one of the final lessons of Level Three, drawn from the multi-lingual textbook.
Philips cassette langauge course 6.PNG


E.4 Cassette Players and Audio Recordings
The audio recordings were in the target language only. As could be expected of a high-quality language course, the sound recordings were prepared with the assistance of voice-trained professionals whose speech was well-articulated and delivered at a pace somewhat slower than that of normal conversation between native-speakers.

Of note is that the audio cassettes themselves were “one-sided” in the sense that Side A contained the recordings of the target language whereas Side B was reserved for recording the user’s voice for subsequent comparison with the recorded model.

The publisher notes that an ordinary cassette player could be used in place of the AAC Language Laboratory; however, the student would be unable to record his own voice on the accompanying tapes for subsequent comparison with the recorded model.

The power supply for the Philips cassette players depended on the market for which they were designated. So then, should anyone purchase a used player that from the United Kingdom or Australia, for use in North America, as I did, they are reminded that the power supply would most likely be 240V whereas the power supply in North America would most likely be 120V; thus, in such cases, an appropriate adapter should be used.

F. Simulated Full-Immersion?
I am left with the impression that the Philips AAC Language Learning System, through the use of compact language-laboratory materials, was meant to simulate a full-immersion, self-instruction programme whereby the student was to assimilate the target language through the repetition of audio recordings which, in turn, were referenced to visual cues. Although the function of the multi-lingual textbook was not specifically mentioned in the approach to learning, rather obviously, it served as an indispensable transcription/translation of the audio recordings.

Assessment
The materials of the Philips AAC Language Learning System were of a very high quality, equal to those of Linguaphone of the period. It should be noted that, during the same time frame, Linguaphone, too, offered packaged courses which included a dual-function mini language laboratory. It is quite obvious that authors of the programme put a great deal of effort into designing the materials. Upon completion of Level Three of this programme, the basic structure of the language and a vocabulary of some 2,000 words would have been presented. My estimate is that completion of Level Three would have brought the student to somewhere around the CEFR A2 level. I would assume that the subsequent three levels along with the addition of 2,100 new vocabulary items, for a total of 4,100 words, would have been sufficient to bringing the student to the CEFR B1 level. Nevertheless, …

Given that these courses were presumably designed for the self-instruction of adults working in business and government, it came as a great surprise to me that the Level One dialogues resembled those that one might present to a child in the lower levels of elementary school. How many adults would expect to be presented with a series of 38 lessons (requiring an estimated 45 hours for full assimilation) about dogs, children, teeter totters, toy rifles, and dad being cross? In the next-to-last lesson of Level Three (cassette no.18), we are treated to the following dialogue: “Yesterday, we were allowed to watch a Punch and Judy show. We all clapped when Punch hit the devil. When the devil started to hit Punch, I couldn’t hold myself back. I picked up my toy rifle and hit hit the devil over the head.” How many adults would find this level of discourse engaging … or even useful?

The approach to teaching, which seems to have designed to simulate a full-immersion environment, in so far as this can be done with self-instruction materials, came as something of a surprise to me. Rather than present the target language through the conventional approach of recorded dialogues accompanied by minimal explanations of the language’s structure, it seems that the authors deliberately went about creating a system by which the students were meant to “discover” the language. Although Philips expressed confidence in their approach, I have doubts as to its efficacy and efficiency.

There are a few features about the Philips courses which lead me to suspect that the intended market was not the general public as was is often the case for most of the commonly-known, self-instruction language courses for the period. Rather, it is possible that intended audience were professionals working in business or government and this might help explain their rarity on the websites of the large online booksellers. The quality of the materials suggests to me that the price for a complete set would have equaled or even exceeded the price for a comparable Linguaphone course, a factor which might have had a limiting effect on sales. Then again, perhaps “the word got out” about the level of dialogues and this may have killed any prospect of the programme enjoying commercial success.

Comments?
Has anyone had any experience with the Philips AAC Language Learning System? What are your thoughts on the efficacy and efficiency of the apparent “simulated full-immersion” method in an independent-learning environment? Would the “grammar tables” have been sufficient support for learning, say, Russian? How do you think the average adult would have reacted to the dialogues up to Level Three (e.g., Punch and Judy)? Any other comments?

EDITED:
Tinkering and formatting.
Insertion of "Subsequent Information" concerning the origins of these courses.
Addition of "Language Through Pictures" to the title of this thread.
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Last edited by Speakeasy on Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:34 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System

Postby lavengro » Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:46 pm

Thanks for this Speakeasy and your other posts on language learning materials from the past, super interesting! Sounds from your description that Phillips bundled the course materials with the hardware, rather than making the course material separately available - so perhaps largely done in an effort to move tape decks rather than a corporate interest in getting into the language learning racket?

Regarding the Punch and Judy material, speaking as a simple fellow with a very limited, imperfect understanding of much of the ways of man and of the world, I have to admit that the question of why Punch and Judy performances ever drew the interest they did is perhaps the most puzzling thing of all for me. (The second most puzzling thing in the world to me now, courtesy of your post, is what the heck is going on in picture 2 of the visual cues section in your post; perhaps they are trying to teach, or encourage learners to puzzle out, "le père semble manger les cheveux de l'enfant" or something similar?)

As long as audio of actual Punch and Judy shows were not included, I don't think I would object as an adult to some of the indicated dialogue; after all, in Duolingo, I am spending hours of my life learning which animals eat apples.
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System

Postby Speakeasy » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:40 pm

Hello, lavengro, thank you very much for taking the time to comment on the above language programme and for your support. In response, here are a few thoughts to consider:

“Sounds from your description that Phillips bundled the course materials with the hardware, rather than making the course material separately available - so perhaps largely done in an effort to move tape decks rather than a corporate interest in getting into the language learning racket?” At the time that Philips chose to introduce what-was-for-them a decidedly unusual product, they were one of the world’s largest producers of electronics equipment, their operations dwarfed those of Sony and Panasonic combined. We should bear in mind that Philips invented the mini-cassette, a product which they later redesigned yielding what-became the regular audio cassette. Despite its lower quality of sound when compared to Sony’s 8-track system, Philip’s creation became the international standard for an inexpensive, compact, portable, trouble-free recording medium. They were not under pressure to move tape decks or anything else that they produced, they were a very innovative and profitable company.

I suspect that the real story behind these language courses is that someone in the Senior Level of the Sales & Marketing department (accustomed to selling radios, television sets, electric razors, and everything else under the sun) dreamt up this strange little course and that, despite their misgivings, none of their staff had the courage to suggest that this was one of the those ideas that should never leave the conceptual stage. I have worked for small, for medium, and for large concerns and I have witnessed the phenomenon repeatedly. Anyone who reads history or pays attention to world or local events has seen the same thing. For whatever reason, the boss sells himself on a new idea and, despite the shaking of heads in the backroom, it gets implemented and, as predicted, it turns out to be a costly failure. However, because the boss’ name is written all over it, the effort is declared to be an unqualified success. Of course, anyone suggesting otherwise should be prepared to suffer the most dire consequences. Sometime later the project is quietly abandoned. Does this happen with public policy? Is the boss ever wrong, for as long as he remains the boss? You wanna' tell him?

“Regarding the Punch and Judy material, … I don't think I would object as an adult to some of the indicated dialogue; after all, in Duolingo, I am spending hours of my life learning which animals eat apples.” The Punch and Judy dialogue that I reproduced above was drawn from what would have been the mid-point of the six-level programme; at that point the materials would have been approaching the CEFR A2 level. When considering the dialogue, I find it useful to compare it to those of most other language courses directed at an adult audience for use either in a self-instruction setting or for presentation at the university level (Assimil, Linguaphone, McGraw-Hill, Langenscheidt, and the like). Putting whimsy aside, I suspect that most adults would quickly tire of the Punch and Judy dialogue and that they would seek out materials and courses which better reflect their tastes and their level of maturity.

The second most puzzling thing in the world to me now, courtesy of your post, is what the heck is going on in picture 2 of the visual cues section in your post; perhaps they are trying to teach, or encourage learners to puzzle out, "le père semble manger les cheveux de l'enfant" or something similar?). Thank you, you’ve just made my point! Step One in the 10-step learning process, which is to be applied assiduously throughout every lesson of the entire course, is “Study the pictures: Concentrate on the picture (or series of pictures) associated with the lesson. Make sure you understand the illustrated situations perfectly.” The objective here is that the student should form a mental image of the activity taking place in the illustrations and associate the audio recordings with the image.

I found the exercise of forming a mental relationship to be extremely difficult and particularly subject to misinterpretation. That is, (a) I could not predict the associated dialogue at all, and (b) I found that the associated dialogue was a poor match to the illustrations. In other words, this “essential step” in the learning process did not reinforce the materials and did work for me. I have an embarrassingly-large collection language-learning materials. Few of them have illustrations or photographs at all and, of those that do, none of them require the student to make a particular association between the printed or recorded materials and the accompanying images. In my opinion, this particular application of “audio-visual” language instruction was ill-conceived.

Addendum:
With reference to my comments "I suspect that the real story ...", following Axon's comments below, I did a little more research on the author of the basic text of these courses, Dr. Hans-Werner Hunziker. It would appear that these courses were launched as part of a much wider programme designed to help customers make the best use of technologies in education. (http://www.learning-systems.ch/multimedia/curr_e.htm) Egg on my face!
Last edited by Speakeasy on Tue Aug 14, 2018 12:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:33 am

Hashimi, I thank you for the compliment, even though it was wholly undeserved.

When compared to Elexi, Daristani, Aravinda, Chung, reineke, ilmiri, iguanamon, Ericounet, emk, jeff_lindqvist, jpazzz, neumanc, n_j_f, PeterBeischmidt, Professor Arguelles, and so many others whose names I cannot presently recall, both here on the LLORG and on the HTLAL, I know very little, indeed! In passing, I owe a particular debt to Elexi who helped me come to terms with my "fetish" for vintage language-learning materials.

To those others whose names I have forgotten but on whom I have relied for guidance, my debt to you all is boundless!
Last edited by Speakeasy on Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System

Postby Axon » Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:12 am

I can comment on nothing else but the interesting choice of cartoon.

That cartoon was originally published under the name Vater und Sohn (more information at the German wikipedia) as a wordless weekly comic from 1934 to 1937.

My first exposure to this comic was in China, where I chanced across a bound collection to which dialogue in Mandarin had been added. Since it was intended for children, they had added phonetic transcriptions of the characters which allowed me to read the book with ease. I read the whole thing in two afternoons, learned a great deal of Chinese, and enjoyed it immensely. Only after I finished the book did I research it and find that the dialogue was an invention of the Chinese publishers.

Just from reading the dialogues you presented, it seems like a nice way to extract quite a bit of teachable language from simple pictures. I am again reminded of Bakunin's work in hiring native speakers to describe the content of wordless cartoons. I don't think I've seen any other language course doing this - perhaps you have?
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:31 am

Axon, the information that you provided prompted me to pursue my search for information on the Philips language courses and it would appear that these courses were part of a much wider programme designed to help customers make they best use of technologies in education. Thank you for the prompt! I have made adjustments to my posts above.

In the multi-lingual textbook that makes up a portion of the course materials, Hans-Werner Hunziker is identified as the author of the basic text. (http://www.learning-systems.ch/multimedia/curr_e.htm) The textbook credits O.E. Plaunen as the creator of the pictures for these courses and, coming full-circle, your link to Wikipedia article on "Vater und Sohn" confirms this.

The promotional pamphlet that was included in the course package states that the concept was based “on experience gained from the ‘Language Through Pictures’ courses, developed by Professor I.A. Richards and his co-workers at Harvard University.” The article on Hans-Werner Hunziker states that he acquired the rights in 1968 to the “world-famous ‘Language Through Pictures’ self-study courses (by Professor I.A. Richards from Harvard University).”

My Google search of “Language Through Pictures, I.A. Richards” yielded references to a number of such courses. I was completely unaware of these materials and of how well they had been received. In my “assessment” above, I questioned the validity of the application, thereby demonstrating how very little I know! Here is the link to “Work of I.A. Richards” (https://academic.oup.com/eltj/article-abstract/XXXV/1/66/373240?redirectedFrom=PDF).”
Language Through Pictures Self-Study Courses.PNG
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System

Postby Elexi » Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:38 pm

I remember reading through Richard's 'German through Pictures' when I was at school. The pictures looked like something out those 'What to do in the event of a nuclear war' pamphlets that were current at the time. It didn't appeal to my ultra cool 14 year old self, but maybe that was my mistake. I am due a trip to the British Library on Friday, so I might have a look at a copy while I am there.
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System

Postby Zegpoddle » Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:03 am

Hmmm, that little old man looks like he could be the brother of the little old man on the page below from Action English Pictures, an old TPR (Total Physical Response) resource known to most teachers of English as a Second Language of a certain age in the U.S.

As for a course that teaches language entirely through dialogues about Punch and Judy shows and "dogs, children, teeter totters, toy rifles, and dad being cross"...SIGN ME UP! I'm sick to death of courses full of purely utilitarian lessons about buying train tickets and checking into hotels. Even though I need to know how to accomplish those functions, the lack of imagination just kills my inner child. I still shudder at the memory of a page in Lese- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik that included an entire reading and exercise on the topic of...wait for it...smokestacks. "Someone kill me right now, please."

And charming, outdated illustrations that feature the Monopoly man are just catnip to my vintage-loving sensibility. Bring it on!
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System

Postby Cainntear » Sun Sep 16, 2018 1:28 pm

As with many courses, I think there's a lot of self-deception on the part of the guy that designed it. Avoiding audio-lingual, behaviourist rote memorisation is great in principle, as is the idea of immersion, but it simply isn't possible with that low a volume of materials. Immersion is about massive input, and avoiding memorisation is only possible with wide variation. The sort of recycling and reuse of materials in a course like this always lends itself to memorisation.

Where does self-deception come into this?

Well, at some point the author must at some level have realised that there wasn't enough material, but talked himself into believing that the principle was so correct, that it would be OK despite not actually being able to work as intended.
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Re: Philips AAC Language Learning System / Language Through Pictures

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:54 pm

Philips AAC Pocket Language System / Language Through Pictures
My presentation of the Philips AAC Language Course, above, was based on a copy of the first three volumes of the French course in this series which I had recently added to my collection. In my presentation of the materials, I noted that these courses were also available in a smaller format, wherein the audio recordings were made available in “mini-cassette” format for playing on a suitable player/recorder.

At the time, I made mention of these smaller formatted courses based on photographs that I found on the Internet. Even more recently, I received delivery of a “Philips AAC 3000 Pocket Language System, Basiskurs Deutsch 1” which is complete in every respect. The two versions are different not only in the size of the audio cassettes and their respective players/recorders, but in the course contents, as well.
Philips AAC Language System (mini-cassette) 0.JPG

Languages
The ‘Philips Language System’ series of courses was available for the teaching of: English, French, German, and Spanish. The accompanying user guide provided brief instructions (in Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Spanish) on how operate the mini-cassette player/record and how to study with the course.

Derived/Copied from the ‘Language Through Pictures’ series
The frontispiece of the three small course manuals contains the following advisory: “This language course is a further development of the ‘Language Through Pictures’ course designed at Harvard University USA by I.A. Richards, Christine Gibson, and Associates. Use of the basic text materials of the original course is made by arrangement with Language Research Inc., Massachusetts, USA. Copyright © 1985 by Philips AG Zürich, Switzerland. The information that is available on the internet suggests that Language Research Inc., was the holder of the copyright, most likely in I.A. Richards’ name.

The statement “this language course is a further development of the ‘Language Through Pictures’ course” minimises the fact that the Philips’ courses were an exact copy of the ‘Through Pictures’ series, supplemented by audio recordings which were never prepared for the original works. As I was curious about the origins of the Philips series, recently, I purchased a copy of “German Through Pictures”, Copyright © 1953 by Language Research Inc. A close comparison of the original course to the subsequent Philips version reveals that the course contents were identical to one another.

LEFT: “Basiskurs Deutsch 1” by Philips
RIGHT: “German Through Pictures” by Language Research Inc.
German Through Pictures & Philips Basiskurs Deutsch.JPG

Methodology: “Full Immersion” Through Visual/Audiovisual Cues
The Philips AAC 3000 Pocket Language System course guide advises the reader: “It is an audiovisual course that integrates looking, listening, and comprehension by comparison. Without translation, this extremely easy method teaches the basic vocabulary (approximately 700 words in levels 1 and 2) through pictures with a carefully graded sequence of sentences. Just look at the pictures and listen to the cassette until you are able to repeat each sentence. Then try to say each sentence before the cassette until you are fluent. Write down the text (i.e., dictation) and correct it by using your textbook.”

In both cases (the original ‘Through Pictures’ course and the ‘Philips Language System’ derivative/copy), the course books present the target language without translation and without any explanatory notes of any kind whatsoever. Whereas the ‘Through Pictures’ course did not contain a glossary, the Philip’s version did include one; however, it too was in the target language only. That is, the original course and its derivative/copy are “full immersion” courses the meaning of the sample sentences and very brief dialogues are to be derived from the visual cues provided by the diagrams/pictures.

Assessment
It is interesting to note that the director of the Philips’ language programme, Hans-Werner Hunziker, believed that the subsequent series (introduced at the beginning of this discussion thread) which used the 'Vater un Sohn'pictures and for which the texts were completely re-written, were superior to the derived/copied ‘Through Pictures’ version. He is welcome to his opinion. Frankly, I agree with Cainntear. That is, the authors of the original series, of its derived/copied version, and of the succeeding series deceived themselves into believing that “immersion … [is] possible with that low a volume of materials.”

In my opinion, the presence of the “visual” cues, as the sole support of the untranslated L2 texts, or even of the expanded “audiovisual” cues of these courses, would not have met the expectations of the average independent language-learner. Rather, I suspect that these courses would have created counter-productive frustration and tension and I would be quite surprised if even a highly-motivated student would have had either the patience or the perseverance to complete these courses.

These courses did not survive in the highly-competitive market for self-study language courses, the methodology does not seem to have been successfully adopted by other publishers, and there is very little information available about these courses on the Internet; there’s a reason for that!

EDITED:
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