Hi everyone! This week, I’m going to share what I believe to be a very pertinent study on how a musical approach to language instruction can be particularly beneficial for recently migrated refugee children who often require both emotional and academic supports. Given that singing has been found to improve general well-being (Livesey, Morrison, Clift, & Camic, 2012) and to be an effective pedagogical tool for learning and teaching languages (Schoepp, 2001, Hancock, 2013), researchers from the University of Vechta, the University of Oldenburg, and Ryerson University decided to study its effectiveness in language classes for newly arrived refugee children (Busse, Jungclaus, Roden, Russo, & Kreutz, 2018).
The study consisted of several steps. First, the newly migrated children were administered a language test to determine individual baseline levels for cognitive skills, vocabulary knowledge, and grammatical accuracy in the target language. Next, students were given three 40-min sessions at which time two different songs specifically composed to support early literacy and grammar attainment were taught. These songs targeted the learning of various verb conjugations as well as the differentiation of nouns for quantity and gender as these were identified as areas with which the selected students struggled. The lyrics of the songs were accompanied by pictures or symbols to help students comprehend the meaning of the texts. During each of the sessions, one stanza from each song was taught either through singing or speaking. If the class began with the singing portion, the following class would start with the speaking portion and vise-versa. After each session, the students responded to a few questions regarding their physical and emotional states. Upon completion of the three sessions, the students were given a post-intervention test to determine if their vocabulary recall and grammatical accuracy had improved. The students were also tested on their ability to recall the song lyrics and if they could apply their implicitly learned grammatical knowledge to new contexts. 3-4 weeks later, one last test was administered to establish how well the students retained the learned information as well as how well they could recall the songs.
After analyzing the results of the language knowledge tests, the researchers found that in general the students’ language skills improved after the intervention and that those improvements were retained over time. Furthermore, the students were able to apply those learned skills to unknown contexts. Students who had greater language knowledge prior to the intervention had better results than those who had less prior knowledge. However, both groups benefited from the intervention. Due to the methodology of the study, the researchers were not able to differentiate the results from singing and speaking. Nonetheless, the researchers predict that the positive effect of singing may have also made the speaking portion of the lesson more motivating, a theory which is supported by the students’ survey responses regarding their physical and mental well-being after each session. Moreover, informal classroom observations and teachers’ reports indicate that the students were better behaved and more focused when singing. It is also important to note that very few of the students chose to hum or sing the songs during the recall tests. The researchers think this may be due to the unfamiliar nature of the songs for the learners. Interestingly, the students that did sing or hum retrieved the lyrics more effectively and accurately. The researchers suggest that teaching the melodies of the songs prior to delving into the linguistic properties of the lyrics may help to better familiarize the songs with the students. This could in turn, allow the students to more effectively exploit the music-language connections that prior research has demonstrated.
Although this is but one study, I think this is an exciting and promising path for music in language instruction. I am excited to delve into other studies on the topic and to put these same principles into practice in my own future classrooms. Until next time music and language lovers!
Sources:
Busse, V., Jungclaus, I., Roden, Russo, F., Kreutz, G. (2018). Combining song-and speech-based language teaching: An intervention with recently migrated children. Frontiers in Psychology. 9. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02386
Fuchs, M., and Röber, C. (2008). Piraten-Ratten. Lieder zum Weiterführenden Schrifterwerb. Arbeitsheft und CD mit 13 Liedern und Playbacks [Pirate Rats: Songs for Building Literarcy Skills. Workbook and CD With 13 Songs and Playbacks]. Freiburg: Selbstverlag der PH Freiburg.
Hancock, M. H. (2013). Singing grammar. Teaching grammar through songs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Livesey, L., Morrison, I., Clift, S., and Camic, P. (2012). Benefits of choral singing for social and mental wellbeing: qualitative findings from a cross- national survey of choir members. Journal of Public Mental Health 11(1), 10–26. doi: 10.1108/17465721211207275
Schoepp, K. (2001). Reasons for using songs in the ESL/EFL classroom. Internet TESL J. 7, 1–4. Available online at: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Schoepp-Songs.html