The Effect of Music on Second Language A

8/18/2019 The Effect of Music on Second Language A

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The Effect of Music on Second Language Acquisition

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the effects of using of music in

second language acquisition. First of all,, the power of music, and

how music stimulates L2 acquisition will be examined. Then,

practical applications to integrate music in second language

classrooms will be provided to help L2 teachers integrate music in

their classrooms.

IntroductionGenerally spea ing, !usic and language have intrinsic features in

common, such as pitch, volume, stress tone, rhythm and pauses.

"nother shared feature of language and music is that we learn both

of them through exposure. #o language can be acquired without

oral or written input $or visual input, in the case of sign language%,

and in a similar fashion we acquire our notion of music from what

we hear around us & which is why music from other cultures often

sounds odd to us when it differs significantly from the patterns of

sounds and rhythms to which we have grown accustomed.

't is a well& nown fact that singing is an easy way of memori(ing

something. !ost of us can probably remember having learnt themultiplication tables with a specific tune. !elody seems to act as a

path or a cue to evo e the precise information we are trying to

retrieve. )o, for example, we are able to rehear mentally the voice

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and words of a person with whom we have had an argument.

)imilarly, while reading the notes ta en in a lecture, we will

probably rehear the lecture+s voice, while at the same time we can

mentally visuali(e the place from which s he was tal ing and even

her his gestures or body movements. !usic seems to leave a

particularly deep race in our memories this could be due to the fact

that it is related to affective and unconscious factors. 't could also

be related to the hypothesis that it is less energy demanding

because musical perception starts before birth.Review of Literature

!usic involves elements such as melody, harmony, timbre,

rhythm, tempo, and lyrics.

"ccording to some researchers, those elements are related to each

other in creating both harmonic and disharmonic music

$)everance, 2-- %. "ll elements of music can be exploited to elicit

ideas in writing. For example, the context, lyrics and rhythm

provided in the song can stimulate learners/ imagination. Griffee

$*0021 ix% states that the elements of music can help creating

friendly and cooperative atmosphere that is significant in language

learning.There has been a great deal of excitement over music research in

the last twenty years. "ccording to anshuma er $*03-%, music

has the ability to facilitate language acquisition, reading readiness,

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and general intellectual development4 to foster positive attitudes

and to lower truancy in middle and high school4 to enhance

creativity4 and to promote social development, personality

ad5ustment, and self&worth $cited in 6einberger *0031 78%. " large

number of research studies have been carried out on the impacts of

music in the second language classrooms.

'n the area of reading and writing, 9i:dwardo $2-- % conducted a

research study in order to answer the question whether music in the

language classroom setting can improve students/ reading andwriting s ills. The results of case study research have suggested

that pairing music and linguistic intelligences in the college

classroom improves students+ grades and abilities to compose

theses statements for research papers in courses that emphasi(e

reading and writing s ills.

;oncerning writing, 6i5aya $2--8% conducted a study to find out

whether music influences second language learners in writing. The

findings indicated the positive effects of music in enhancing

second language writing. almost all the respondents confirmed that

the use of music in their writing classrooms helped them in

writing. They felt that listening to music while writing could ma ethem relaxed and calm so that their ideas could flow easily. ;ross

$*00<% and =rewer $*00<% suggest also that music can create a

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relaxed environment. !oreover, the music could ma e the learners

focus more on what they wrote in second language.

"ffecting learners/ motivation in learning can also be influenced

by the use of music in the second language classroom can .

"ccording to a research study conducted by 6eiss off $*03*%,

students who received the medium of commercially&recorded

pop roc music as an integral part of the instructional pac age in

language arts scored significantly higher with regard to continuingmotivation $cited in :ady and 6ilson 2-- %. 'n this research study,

6eiss off made comparisons between alternate learning conditions

> using music and no music > with respect to tas performance and

continuing motivation. The study pointed out that, ?students who

were almost always unmotivated became motivated because of

music@ .

'n general, music is nown to bring psychological effects to its

listeners. !ost of the time, we feel happier when listening to 5oyful

songs. 6e tap our fingers and feet unconsciously following the

rhythm of the music. )ometimes our favorite music can help us

recall our memory about certain moments we experienced.Using Music in Second Language Acquisition

music can be used to stimulate L2 acquisition. "ll elements of

music can be exploited to elicit ideas in writing. The context, lyrics



and rhythm provided in the song can stimulate learners/

imagination. These elements are beneficial because writing itself is

an act of imagination. ?'t is a concentrated inner dialogue calling

on memory, logic, and creative visuali(ation@ $!yers *00<%.

Griffee $*0021 ix% states that the elements of music can help

creating friendly and cooperative atmosphere that is significant in

language learning. This coincides smoothly with the idea of

desuggestopedia, proposed by Lo(anov. e states that learners set

up psychological barriers when learning $*0A3 cited in Larsen&Freeman 2---% in which we often find that writing can ?create

fear@ for language learners $ orwit( and Boung *00*, and

)carcella and Cxford *002, cited in Cxford *0001 8<%. owever,

the learning environment is able to change their negative feelings

into positive ones. 'f the learning environment is comfortable and

relaxing for learners to study in, the barriers can be reduced.

=ringing music into classrooms is a way to minimi(e the

psychological barriers learners have in learning. 't is because

listening to music can lower anxiety and diminish tension $;ross

*00<1 *8 4 =rewer *00<%.

music is important in reducing psychological barriers, whichinhibit language learning. 't ?can activate the Dparaconscious/ part

of the mind, 5ust below the fully&conscious mind@ by using music

$Larsen&Freeman 2---1 3*%. 't also believed in the power of human

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brain $superlearning% that conducive learning environment will

accelerate the language learning process $=rown 2---%. !usic is

used to relax the learners/ mind psychologically by increasing

alpha brain waves and decreasing blood pressure and pulse rate.

!yers $*00<% stated that 1

?There is no doubt that it has the power to put people in a better

mood. " class in a good mood is much easier to wor with than a

class indifferent or numb from lectures, sleep deprivation, culture

shoc , and endless wrestling matches with a new language.@!oreover, imagination can also be drawn out by listening to

music. !usic, for instance, can bring bac powerful memories,

learning experience and information, which might be forgotten

because of human/s routines $=rewer *00<%. !usic can also soothe

our soul and this comforting mood adds the creativity in our

imagination. This can help learners solve the problems in starting

to write. !usic can also facilitate learners to express their ideas

and feelings in L2 writing. =ac ground music can also be played

during the writing process to stimulate internal processing, to

smooth the progress of creativity, and promote personal reflection4

and even one study revealed that learners wrote twice as muchwith music than without music.

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Effects of Using Music on Second Language Acquisition

Esing second language in second language acquisition may have

the following effects 1

First 1 !usic is universal. Endeniably, everyone > adult,

children, teenagers, and old people > li es music. 't is the universal

language of all people in the world. !oreover, it can cater to

different level of learners $!urphey *002%.

)econd1 !usic is everywhere. 't is hard to escape music and

songs as they occupy more of the world around us. Bou listen to itwhen you go to restaurants, malls, or when you turn on your radio

when you drive your car etc . )ome music can also be accessed for

free, for example from the 'nternet where you can download or

listen to.

Third 1 !usic can help people to build vocabulary. The repetition

used in the song/s lyrics can help learners remember vocabulary

easily $Griffee *002%. 'n addition, it is much easier to learn

vocabulary in the context of the songs.

Fourth 1 !usic is used in a meaningful context $9a in *0831 * 4

Griffee *002%. 'n general, lyrics in songs have theme lines, or story

behind which ma es learners can learn language in a meaningfulcontext. ?"lso, songs offer rich bac ground and social and

historical context to language learning@ $Griffee *0021 ix%. ?)ongs

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can evo e historical period e.g. ;hristmas songs in ;hristmas

season@ $ibid.1 <%.

Fifth1 !usic is highly memorable $!urphey *0021 7% >

creates a state of relaxed receptivity, its rhythms correspond in

some way with basic body rhythms, its messages touch deep&

seated emotional or aesthetic chords, its repetitive patterning

reinforces learning without loss of motivation, stuc in my head.

)ixth1 music is highly motivating . !usic, especially the

popular one, can attract learners/ attention because it is close to thelearners/ lives. The relaxing mood of music can expand their

learners/ attention span and stimulate their mind to search for more

ideas.

)eventh : music raises language awareness. "dvanced learners are

encouraged to identify the language pattern and the errors when

they are exposed to lyrics which are grammatically incorrect or

inappropriate.

Disadvantages of Music in Second Language Acquisition

'n some cases, the songwriters use wrong grammar. owever,

teachers can also ma e use of this incorrect grammar to arouselearners/ linguistic awareness, if the learners/ proficiency level is

adequate.

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"lso, some songs contain difficult words and pronunciation

because of various accents and some slang .

Conc usion

'n conclusion, we can suggest that music can be an alternative way

of stimulating ideas for language learning. 'ts elements such as

instrumentation and language lyrics can be exploited more by

second language teachers to ma e the process of learning more

en5oyable and relaxing.

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The Effect of Music on Second Language A