Music and ESL Learning: Effects of Songs on Language Recall

Introduction

One of the goals of teaching any foreign language is making words seem fluid, easy, and natural to the new speaker — as natural as his or her own native dialect. However, this can be a challenging task for ESL teachers, particularly given the multitasking they are forced to perform on a daily basis and the additional academic demands under which they operate. Teaching English to a non-native speaker, and then attempting to help that student function in a biology or math class — whether the subject matter is presented in simplified English or the student's first language — can sometimes seem like an insurmountable challenge.

However, the 2010 article The Effects of Songs in the Foreign Language Classroom on Text Recall, Delayed Text Recall and Involuntary Mental Rehearsal, published in the Journal of College Teaching and Learning, suggests that music has the potential to facilitate improved linguistic recall for ESL students rather than inhibit it. As Salcedo (2010) writes, "Music represents an integral part of the human culture, and particularly language and communication. Music can be a powerful tool in the learning experience" (p. 19).

Literature on Music in Education

The author begins with a literature review making a case for the value of music in education. Research from a wide range of disciplines is offered in support. Even anthropologists support the educational use of music based on cross-cultural analysis: although the forms of music-making 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, p. 19). Given that many ESL students find speaking English aloud to be highly stressful, the use of music as a form of stress relief 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 new stimuli. Even simple exposure to music has been shown to reduce the time needed to acquire new language by one third. Notably, "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, p. 20).

Study Purpose and Theoretical Framework

Despite this promising body of prior research, the author notes that little existing literature addresses the use of music specifically within a classroom language-learning environment. The purpose of the study was therefore to examine the value of shifting from a conventionally based foreign language acquisition program to one that emphasized music. The author hypothesized that "shifting the focus of teaching method from spoken or read texts to a musically based material would provide students with the opportunity to practice second language production through entertaining and culturally rich songs" (Salcedo, 2010, p. 20).

The thesis of the article is supported by Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, as well as what is known about oral language acquisition: "learning to listen for changes in pitch in music may promote the ability to sound out new words" (Salcedo, 2010, p. 20). Music has a specific ability to facilitate learning by enhancing the phonemic stage of acquisition, in which visualized words are connected to sounds. It can also reduce the tedium of memorization, providing "sequential information, line and syllable length information, chunk linking, and rhythmical information that have the potential for making accurate reconstruction of the text" (Salcedo, 2010, p. 22). Furthermore, music more effectively generates involuntary mental rehearsal — the phenomenon by which a new language learner recalls words or phrases without conscious effort or translation. This effect is also referred to in the literature as din (Salcedo, 2010, p. 22).