Salcedo, C.S. (2010). The effects of songs in the foreign language classroom on text recall, delayed text recall and involuntary mental rehearsal. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 7(6), 19-30. Retrieved: http://search.proquest.com/docview/506757936?accountid=10901 One of the goals of teaching any foreign language is making the words seem fluid, easy, and natural to the new speaker as his or her own native dialect. However, this can be a challenging task for teachers of ESL, particularly given the multitasking they are forced to perform on a daily basis in the classroom and the additional academic demands under which they operate. Teaching English to a non-native speaker, and then attempting to aid the student to function in a biology or a math class, whether the alternative subject is in simplified English or even the student's first language, can sometimes seem like an insurmountable task. However, the 2010 article "The effects of songs in the foreign language classroom on text recall, delayed text recall and involuntary mental rehearsal" from the Journal of College Teaching and Learning suggests that one subject, that of music, actually has the potential to facilitate improved linguistic recall for ESL students, rather than inhibit it. "Music represents an integral part of the human culture, and particularly language and communication. Music can be a powerful tool in the learning experience" (Salcedo 2010: 19).

Research from a wide range of disciplines is offered. Even anthropologists support the educational use of music based on a cross-cultural analysis: although types of making music may vary from culture to culture, music is a virtually universal source of communication, pleasure, and ritual. Within every learner's own culture, the rhymes of nursery songs and chanting are used to teach language in an involuntary, unconscious, and joyous way. "Music has been shown to have physiological benefits including lowered anxiety, heart rate, pain, and blood pressure, as well as improved respiratory rate, recovery, and tension relief" (Salcedo 2010: 19). Given that many ESL students find speaking English aloud to be highly stressful, the use of music as stress release is thus a welcome possibility for both teachers and students. Foreign language programs since the 1970s have used music to relax the brain and make it more receptive to stimuli. Even simply being exposed to music reduces the time of acquisition of new language by one third. "75 to 80% of the students tested on remedial reading gained a year or more on the Spache oral and silent reading subtests after only 14 weeks in a musical program" (Salcedo 2010: 20).
But can this be translated into the praxis of the classroom? According to the author, little existing literature on the use of language in a classroom environment is extant. The purpose of the specific study of the article was to examine the value of shifting from a more…