Music in Language Education A Comparison of Music and Traditional Methods on Vocabulary Retention Amandine Bailey, Emad Eldigwy, Yoshiko Tsuda

Music in Language Education Language educators are always looking for new methods in which to instruct students. Effects of music have been positive overall. Important to study music in comparison with traditional methods used in schools today to see if the addition of music does improve vocabulary retention.

Related Literature Fronseca-Mora (2011) Music and rhythm have been shown to improve the memory and recall abilities of language learners as it mixes linguistic and musical information through use of both hemispheres of the brain. Medina (1990) Adding music to meaningful information helps further increase memorization.

Related Literature Li (2009) The effects of music on language proficiency with adult ESL learners from the People’s Republic of China. Results showed that students obtained higher language proficiency scores following nine hours of music-based instruction than in partially music-based instruction and in non-music-based instruction. Students also showed a more positive attitude towards learning the language and greater confidence in their instruction

Purpose Gap in understanding how music affects vocabulary retention in comparison with traditional methods. This study examined two hypotheses: 1. Students will retain more vocabulary with the music- based approach than the traditional approach. 2. Students will feel more successful in their language learning with the music-based approached than the traditional approach.

Participants 22 English Language Learners, CollegeTown USA Country of Origin: People’s Republic of China (20), Tibet (1), Tanzania (1) 13 females, 9 males Ages 17-22

Design Vocabulary-based course Between-subjects experimental design Subjects separated into two groups by third party. Researchers were blind to the proficiency levels Each class began and ended with the pre- & post-survey

Materials Pre-, Post-, & Delayed Post-Survey (self-rating scale) Vocabulary TangerinePlasticineMarmalade CellophaneLooking-glassPorter KaleidoscopeTurnstile I don’t know it 1 I sort of know it 2 I know it 3 I know it and can explain it 4

Materials “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by The Beatles Picture yourself in a boat on a river With tangerine trees and marmalade skies Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Materials Sentence worksheet with traditional group 1. TangerineFrank likes to eat tangerines from Florida. 2. MarmaladeTom puts butter and marmalade on his toast. 3. TurnstileI went through the turnstile in a hurry to catch the train.

Music-Based Approach 25 minutes Pre-survey, 12 or less (72.7%) on a scale of 8-32 Song lyrics, discussing one line at a time, using visuals Sing song Explaining words to partner Sing song Post-survey

Traditional Approach 25 minutes Pre-survey, 12 or less (81.8%) on a scale of 8-32 PowerPoint and sentence worksheet Writing sentences & sharing Volunteers to share sentences Post-survey

Debriefing 1.5 hours later Reminder of the study (but not the vocabulary) Delayed post-survey Debriefing questions

Debriefing 1. What did you think we were looking for? Students recognized the purpose of the study (best methods of learning, memorization). 2. Was the song familiar to you? Only one student was familiar with the song. 3. How did you feel about the use of song in your lesson to learn vocabulary? Helped with pronunciation and remembering the meaning. 4. Did you feel successful in learning and remembering the vocabulary? Yes.

Debriefing 1. What did you think we were looking for? Students recognized the purpose of the study (“how we learn”, memorization). 2. Did you recognize the words? Some said they were familiar with the words, most were not. 3. How did you feel about the use of sentences and practice in your lesson to learn vocabulary? Very useful. Familiar with this method. 4. Did you feel successful in learning and remembering the vocabulary? Yes, because they were used to it and did it all the time.

Focus Group Games Movies/TV Reading News Conversations Music What has been your favorite way to learn? Interactive & entertaining activities

Results & Discussion Contrary to the hypothesis that the participants in the music group would retain vocabulary longer, the traditional method subjects did significantly better on the delayed post-survey. t (20) = 2.14, p =.004, d =.23.

Results & Discussion Traditional Group

Results & Discussion Music Group

Shortcomings & Considerations Survey (self-rating scale) Self-rating and formal assessments Time Literature showed increased time in studies showed more positive results with music Group size Different instructors Effects of music on pronunciation and communication abilities

Conclusions This study did support our second hypothesis Findings with first hypothesis were contradictory to literature, Beasley (2006) Raised questions concerning aspects of the procedure Effects on pronunciation Critical for language educators – new concepts and methods to help provide a more meaningful and natural learning environment for language learners

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