DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE, LANGUAGES AND MEDIA
Degree Project with Specialisation in English Studies in
Education
15 Credits, First Cycle
“We like to move it, move it!”
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An investigation into the impact of movement and music on
learning.
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En undersökning av vilken påverkan rörelse och musik har på lärande.
By Beatrice Svensson & Lena Åkerman
Degree Examiner: Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang
English Studies in Education Supervisor: Maria Graziano Opposition Seminar 2020-01-13
Preface
We hereby certify that all parts of this essay reflect the equal participation of both authors. The parts we refer to are as follows:
● Planning
● Research questions selection
● Article searches and decision pertaining to the outline of the essay ● Presentation of findings, discussion, and conclusion
Abstract
This essay investigates what impact different types of movement and music has on overall academic achievement and language learning, both when connected and unconnected to specific curriculum goals and lesson content. The essay looks at both a macro and a micro perspective of the two subject areas to investigate a wider range of possible language learning benefits to be gained from incorporating more movement and music in school, both in and outside of the English as a Second Language classroom. While researchers in these areas agree that academic achievement and language acquisition are benefitted by different types of movement and music, they vary in how and to what degree these benefits show in their results. The essay, therefore, provides a summary of these results and a discussion about what the sum of the results might mean for the Swedish school system.
Key terms: Movement, music, academic achievement, academic performance, second
language classroom, multimodal, language acquisition, language learning, gestures, physical exercise and song.
Table of Contents
Preface 2
Abstract 3
Table of Contents 4
Introduction 5
Aim and Research Questions 7
Methods 8
3.1. Search Delimitations 9
3.2. Inclusion Criteria 9
3.3. Exclusion Criteria 10
3.4. Table summary of Primary Sources 10
Results and Discussion 11
4.1. Movement Unconnected to Specific ESL Goals or Content 11 4.2. Movement Connected to Specific ESL Goals or Content 12 4.3. Music Unconnected to Specific ESL Goals or Content 15 4.4. Music Connected to Specific ESL Goals or Content 16
Conclusion 18
1. Introduction
Both music and movement are widely believed to have positive effects on learning and memory. According to the Total Physical Response (TPR) method, as created by James. J. Asher in 1969, using physical movement to react to verbal input helps create a neural link between speech and action which helps boost language and vocabulary learning. Likewise, according to Schön et al. (2018), music may benefit academic achievement and language acquisition by, for example, increasing student’s levels of arousal and attention, and enhancing phonological awareness. This essay, therefore, strives to further investigate the impact of music and movement on learning in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Initially we wished to look at the combined benefits of movement and music for specifically the middle year school range, however, since we could not find any primary sources with that combination we chose to separate them into two different areas and to broaden our age range to second language students in general. Within these areas we first look at the general benefits of movement or music to academic achievement, since any such
benefits would supposedly aid also the subject of English. Thereafter we look at the specific benefits to using movement and music in the ESL classroom context. As Cameron (2001, p.20) says: “Within the ZDP, the broader and richer the language experience that is provided
for children, the more they are likely to learn”. Using an array of movements and musical
components in school may help act as scaffolding for ESL students by providing more context, and thus making more English language content available to them in their individual zones of proximal development.
For the purpose of this essay, we define the word music as a concept that includes singing songs, rhymes and chants, listening to music, and playing instruments. Furthermore, we define the word movement as a concept that can refer to physical exercise, whole-body movements and a range of different types of gestures.
The Swedish Curriculum for the Compulsory School, Preschool Class and the Recreation Centre declares that students should get to experience knowledge expressed in different forms. Listed among these forms are dance, rhythm and music - with student production as an important consideration (Swedish National Agency for Education/ Utbildningsdepartementet, 2011). Previously, it has been thought that only comprehensive input was necessary for language acquisition, but according to Cameron (2001) we nowadays realise that output
(student production) is also necessary for a student to acquire components of learnt language to the fullest extent. Using music and movement integrated with the curriculum goals and lesson content of the English as a Second Language classroom would add to other multimodal outlets for student output. However, in our experience, Swedish students in the L2 classroom are not always provided with multimodal teaching methods. Instead, from what we have seen many teachers rely solely upon a textbook and workbook combination, excluding many of the multimodal opportunities for authentic output that, for example, song, dance and active play would provide.
Lundgren (2017) writes about the concept of pragmatism as developed by Dewey. According to the author what is central in Dewey’s pedagogy is the idea that the “I” or the ”self” has an interactive relationship with the body that hosts it. The expression “learning by doing” was coined within the school of pragmatism to express how the body can translate the practical world into theoretical knowledge for the “I”. This is because pragmatism views theory and practise as integrated aspects of human actions (Säljö, 2017). Säljö (2017, p.243) writes that “Dewey emphasised the importance of sensory experiences of the kind that is exemplified by creative tasks [...] in school”. This idea rhymes well with the basic values and mission statement of the Swedish Curriculum, according to which school tasks should accommodate intellectual as well as practical, sensory and aesthetic aspects (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011). Furthermore, the idea connects seamlessly to the ideas of TPR and
multimodal expressions, as mentioned above, and provides yet another motivation for the use of music and movement in the classroom.
For instance, games that incorporate physical movement can be used to engage students in more physical activity. Furthermore, they could also provide the students with authentic language learning opportunities, since they will have to listen to and read instructions that explain the rules of the game. Moreover, students seeking clarification from the teacher or interacting with the other players of the game and referees also help give a physical context to specific vocabulary elements, and may promote learning. Language is, in situations like these, needed to be able to communicate with others; language is also made comprehensible
throughout playing the actual game and while observing the others playing (Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2009). For example, if teachers work more interdisciplinarily, any general benefits of physical movement to learning could become specific to the ESL classroom by having the instructions for P.E. content sometimes be given in, for example, English.
In popular knowledge, merely listening to classical music while studying supposedly helps us to focus better. One of the oldest theories behind this, “The Mozart Effect”, suggests that listening to specifically the works of Mozart temporarily enhances the listener’s spatial abilities (Schellenberg, 2004). However, according to more recent research this very specific claim has been hard to substantiate (Schellenberg, 2004). Yet, there is a growing body of research that does indicate a positive connection between music in education (both targeted listening activities and formal instruction), and the improvement of particular cognitive abilities (Piro & Ortiz, 2009).
Music is not just a tool that can be used to help enhance cognitive abilities. Many pedagogues also propose it as an active tool for children to use when learning specific language elements. For example, Cameron highlights the importance of using rhymes and songs in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom, to enhance students’ phonological awareness (i.e., “the ability to hear the individual sounds and syllables that make up words”, Cameron, 2001, p.137). Children develop listening skills before they develop speaking skills, in both their first and second languages (Read, 2007). Therefore, Read (2007), suggests exposing them to language that is beyond their current capacity to produce in order to promote phonological awareness and vocabulary. A way of doing this, could be by using songs as a listening activity, and thereby bringing the vocabulary in the lyrics into their ZPD. Different forms of songs can be specifically used to focus on how something is said, as opposed to what is said and why, and they provide authentic context for rehearsal since songs need to be sung a few times before we have them memorized (Gibbons, 2015).
Since students learn in different ways and are benefited by a multimodal approach to teaching (Liberg, 2007), research in movement and music in connection to academic achievement and language acquisition is relevant.
2. Aim and Research Questions
The present essay reviews studies investigating the effects of movement and music on academic achievement and language acquisition. As stated in the introduction to this essay, we initially wanted to look at the possible benefits of the combination between movement and music to language learning. However, our searches yielded no such results and our findings
therefore caused the initial aim of our essay to be divided between the two areas separately. In our research synthesis we want to apply both a macro and a micro perspective on the role of movement and music in schools. The macro perspective will try to find studies answering whether movement and music have any general benefits for students that can be transferable to the ESL classroom. That is, if movement and music that are not directly connected to the content or learning goals of a lesson benefit the overall academic performance and/or the cognitive abilities of students. The micro perspective, instead, will try to find studies
answering the question whether language acquisition is benefited by movement and/or music elements that are directly connected to learning goals and specific lesson content in the ESL classroom. The reasoning behind looking at both of these perspectives is to get a more
complete picture of all of the possible benefits to second language learning that can be gained by including more movement and music elements into students’ school day.
Therefore, our main research question is: does the incorporation of movement and music elements into the school sphere have any benefits for language acquisition in students’ second language, and if so how? More specifically we want to find out the following:
• What benefits does movement have for overall academic achievement, that have correlatory benefits to the ESL classroom. What are the language learning benefits to be gained when different varieties of movement is directly connected to the content of the learning element (for example, playing an interactive game about prepositions in the target language)?
• What benefits does music have for overall achievement, that have correlatory benefits to the ESL classroom. What are the language learning benefits to be gained when different varieties of music is directly connected to the learning element (for example, sing a song about space in the target language to acquire more space related
vocabulary)?
3. Methods
The search engines and databases used to find both primary and secondary sources are ERIC, ERC, and Google. In our searches, the majority of what we found were secondary research synthesises. Some of these were then used to find primary sources by looking at their
course literature, the Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and the recreation centre, and the Swedish National Agency for Education.
3.1. Search Delimitations
Our initial step was getting advice from teachers with expertise in the field. We spoke to a few of our teachers from previous courses who we knew had expertise in our chosen field. The names given to us were: Marion Tellier, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Adele Diamond, Eva Alerby and Ann Bamford. We used the databases ERIC and ERC to search for both the names provided to us by our teachers and our supervisor, and search-terms that we thought could yield us results. Some of the many search-terms we used in different combinations were: language acquisition, language learning, music, movement, English as a second language, language development, song, gestures, cognitive, academic achievements, physical activity, physical education, learning outcomes. When searching these names and search-terms in different combinations we found a stark majority of secondary sources that fitted our
requirements. When our searches generated too many results, we used the in-built restrictions in the databases to narrow down the findings. The restrictions used in different constellations depending on need were peer-reviewed, full-text, publication type (reports and research), and restricting the year limit to this millennia. We used the secondary sources to look for primary sources by skimming the texts for relevant studies and then finding them in the reference list. We then found the studies by either searching for the author and subject area or the full title of the study in ERIC, ERC or on Google. As a point of interest, we usually found Google to be of greater help than the databases when wanting full-text access to these studies once we had a title to search for.
3.2. Inclusion Criteria
We included studies that had correlation between movement or music and learning outcomes or academic achievement. We were mainly on the look-out for actual studies, but as the vast majority of our findings were secondary sources, we included in our criteria the secondary sources that drew their data from studies so that we could use the secondary sources as a
means to finding primary sources. Our aim was to include studies with participants in the middle year age range from either Sweden or Scandinavia. However, we could find no relevant studies from Scandinavia, and only a few studies in our preferred age range. Thus, we changed our criteria to include an age range from toddlers to young adults, and we have included studies from all over the world.
3.3. Exclusion Criteria
We excluded studies that upon closer inspection were irrelevant to our query. Reasons for exclusion were where content was irrelevant by, for example, focusing only on movement for physical or mental health, or music as a school subject. Studies where the method was judged to be weak were also excluded. Obviously, studies that were found not to meet the above inclusion criteria were not included.
3.4. Table summary of Primary Sources
Area of Interest Total Number of References
References Used Movement Connected and
Unconnected to Specific ESL Goals or Content
7 6
Source Country Age or Grade Range
USA Canada Spain China Australia French Grade 3-5 Grade 4-5 Ages 12-14 Average age 18 Pre-school Average age 5.5 Music Connected and
Unconnected to Specific ESL Goals or Content
9 6
Source Country Age or Grade Range
Canada USA Austria Turkey France China Age 6 Grade 2 Ages 13-15 Grade 1 Average age 23 Average age 23
4. Results and Discussion
In this section a summary and discussion of studies relating to the areas of interest for this essay will be presented. As mentioned previously, our primary studies all deal with the subjects of movement and music separately, and the results have, thus, been divided into thematic sections depending on their main focus. After the results have been presented, each section ends with a discussion of the studies in that section. We first look at what the results could mean separately for the Swedish school system, along with both general and specific benefits to language learning. Last, in our conclusion, we present a suggestion for how to get any combined benefits of the two areas found in the research into the ESL classroom.
4.1. Movement Unconnected to Specific ESL Goals or Content
The effects of physical activity on academic achievement and student motivation has been investigated in several studies. For example, Fedewa, Ahn, Erwin, & Davis (2015) performed a study aimed at seeing if an increase in physical activity during the school day positively enhanced student intelligence and standardized academic achievement. The study was
conducted on 460 North American students in grades three to five from four different schools and spanned a time period of 8 months. The teachers of the experimental groups integrated 20 minutes of physical activity per school-day into the curriculum, and the control groups had no additional physical activity. All groups were tested before and after the experiment on their ability to solve problems and to think logically in new situations (fluid intelligence), and on their academic achievement. Results showed that fluid intelligence increased equally in both the experimental and the control groups, therefore additional physical activity showed no added benefit to these areas. Additionally, the study showed that taking time out of the curriculum to add physical activity did not have a detrimental effect on achievement in the subjects whose time was reduced. Similar results were shown by Ahamed et al. (2007) who examined the effects of increasing the time students spent performing physical activity during school hours on their academic achievement. The participants of the study were 431 Canadian fourth to fifth grade students from eight different schools, and the experiment took place over a period of 16 months. In this study, the schools were randomly assigned to either have additional physical activity (the experimental group), or to go by their usual practice and have the physical activity already mandated by the curriculum. The study found that despite
dedicating an average of ten additional minutes of physical activity per day, the experimental group did not lower their academic achievement as compared to the usual practice group.
Interestingly, Ardoy et al. (2013) showed that, while increasing the amount of physical activity did not affect academic achievement, increasing the level of cardiovascular intensity of lessons in physical education improved both academic achievement and cognitive
performance. The participants of the study were 67 adolescent students from the ages of 12 to 14 years old, in Southeast of Spain. They were divided into three groups: (1) increasing the number of physical education lessons per week, (2) increasing both the number and intensity of the lessons, and lastly (3) increasing the intensity for a specific number of P.E. lessons. While positive effects on academic results were seen when increasing the intensity, no changes in academic results were seen when taking time from other subjects to increase time spent on P.E. lessons. Therefore the study supports the previous ones, while adding an interesting quantifier of what may be the key to the academic benefits of physical exercise: intensity.
In sum, the results of the first two studies showed no benefit to academic achievement (and by extension the ESL classroom) when making more time for physical education in students school-day. These two studies are important to include, for the sheer fact that they are incongruent with the idea that more physical activity can positively impact academic achievement. The results of the study by Ardoy et al. (2013) did, however, indicate that academic achievement and cognitive performance is indeed increased by physical activity. Importantly, the key to these benefits seems to lie in the intensity of the activity and not the frequency. Though, more research is needed to see if any positive effects of added physical activity actually balances out the loss in lesson time for the other subjects. Consequently, simply adding more physical activity to the school day does not have any derivative benefits to academic achievement nor, thereby, the ESL classroom. In the next segment we will look at what benefits to language learning can be derived from making intentional connections in the classroom between language content and different types of movement, such as physical activity, whole-body movements, and a range of gestures.
4.2. Movement Connected to Specific ESL Goals or Content
As the above studies show, physical activity unconnected to specific ESL goals or lesson content may benefit not only students’ health, but also, depending on the intensity of the activity, their academic achievement and cognitive performance (thus providing possible extrinsic benefits to the subject of English). The following section reviews studies that
investigate if physical activity can increase academic achievement and assist in language learning when intrinsically connected to specific goals and content.
Somlak and Ying (2019) examined the effectiveness of audio-visual aids, specifically with articulatory gestures (i.e. the facial movements that correlate to specific sounds in spoken language). The participants in the study had an average age of 18, and were students from two first year classes at a university in China. They were exposed to both audio and audio-visual recordings of English poems. The control group were taught using the audio recordings without seeing the image of the speaker’s face, whereas the treatment group were taught using audio-visual recordings (i.e. they saw the speaker’s face and could observe their articulatory gestures). The results of this study showed that audio-visual training with articulatory gestures led to an improvement of accurate pronunciation, while the audio-only group did not display this kind of improvement.
Similar results were found in a study by Mavilidi, Okely, Chandler, Cliff, & Paas (2015) that investigated the learning effects on a foreign language vocabulary task when using whole- and part-body gestures to enact words. Mavilidi et al. (2015) defined whole-body gestures as movements that the subjects are asked to produce with their whole body to re-enact the meaning of a verb (e.g. run around the room flapping their arms to enact the word “fly”), and also used the term physical exercise to describe this activity. Part-body movements are in the study defined as equal to the meaning of gestures (e.g. arm and hand movements are that are used while the rest of the body remains static). The hypothesis was that the children would learn vocabulary most efficiently when using physical exercises to represent the meanings of the words. In the study, 111 Australian preschool children from 15 different childcare centres, were divided into groups representing one of the following four learning conditions: 1. An integrated physical exercise condition (the condition in line with the hypothesis, where the physical activity is related to the learning task); 2. A non-integrated physical exercise condition (physical activity unrelated to the learning task); 3. A gesturing condition (the students performed seated gestures connected to the learning task); 4. A conventional condition (the students repeated the words in the learning task while remaining seated). The participants were taught 14 different words in Italian (to create a foreign language learning context), and the teaching method depended on what group they had been placed in. In order to measure both short-term and long-term recall, the participants were tested during the experiment, directly after the experiment was concluded, and again six weeks after that. The
results confirmed the hypothesis: the students in the physically integrated exercise group outperformed the other groups in a free recall test, and in a cued recall test the groups that used either integrated or non-integrated physical exercises tested similarly to each other while outperforming the seated groups (but the group with seated gestures performed better than the group that merely did verbal repetition).
Additionally, the impact of gestures on active knowledge (i.e. the ability to use the right word in the right context) was examined by Tellier (2008). Twenty French children with an average age of five and a half participated in the study. The control group watched a video where the target foreign words were stated while a picture was shown as an illustration, then they had time to repeat each word before the next one appeared. The experimental group watched a video where the target words were stated with accompanying illustrative gestures (e.g. where the word ‘swim’ was stated while the person on the video mimicked swimming with their arms), after which the children had time to repeat both words and gestures. Their active knowledge of the words was tested by showing the students the picture or gesture belonging to each word, and the students named the ones they remembered. In turn, their passive
knowledge of the words was tested by stating the words and having the students reproduce the correct getsure or picture (depending on group affiliation) for each word. The gesture group outperformed the picture group in regards to active knowledge, but not to passive knowledge. A later test also showed that the gesture group was able to retain more words than the picture group, showing the positive effects of reproduction of gestures on long-term memorization of foreign words.
The above studies all show that movement in the form of gestures have positive effects on different aspects of language learning depending on how the gestures are used in the learning element. They can help clarify pronunciation, as in Somlak and Li’s study (2019) where student pronunciation was clearer in the test group than in the control group. Furthermore, gestures also seem to aid students in processing new vocabulary into both short and long term memory. In Mavilidi, Okely, Chandler, Cliff, & Paas’s (2015) study, students in the
experimental group that used gestures were also able to produce more vocabulary than the control group, indicating that gestures aided in making them more confident of their newly attained vocabulary. Consequently, when planning ESL lessons, the results from the studies indicate that teachers should take into consideration how to integrate gestures with their teaching style and lesson content.
4.3. Music Unconnected to Specific ESL Goals or Content
This section reviews studies about the general benefits of music to cognition and academic achievement, and by extension the ESL classroom. Schellenberg (2004) tested the hypothesis that attending music lessons may enhance IQ levels. The participants were 132 Canadian children (aged 6 when the tests began) who were randomly selected out of applicants responding to an advertisement about free art lessons. They were divided into four groups, two of which received music lessons (either keyboard or voice), one received drama lessons and one group received no lessons. After a year the participants were tested for improvements in intelligence (specifically verbal memory, spatial-temporal and mathematical reasoning), educational achievement, and social functioning. The participants were tested both before and after the experiments, and the two music groups had an average increase in IQ of 7.0 points and the two control groups (drama and no lessons) had an average increase in IQ of 4.3 points. This quite significant increase in IQ levels for the experiment group in comparison to the control groups suggests that music has specific benefits to IQ that other multimodal activities do not. Interestingly, the drama group increased in social adaptive behaviour, where the other groups did not. Music lessons that are unconnected to language lesson content also seem to have benefits to language acquisition skills, as a study by Piro & Ortiz (2009) shows. This study aimed to examine the effects of long term music instruction on students’
vocabulary and verbal sequencing skills. The participants in this study were 103 second grade students from two different elementary schools in the United States of America. The
experimental group attended a school that offered music instruction for students, and the control group attended a school that did not. Both groups were tested before and after the experiment in vocabulary and verbal sequencing, and the post-experimental test results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in both categories. According to the authors, the reason why music seems to assist in specific language learning elements (such as prosody, vocabulary, pitch) might be connected to the theory that the areas of the brain that process language and music are next to each other and might somewhat overlap.
Moreover, since most children are interested in music, it facilitates incidental learning of language for those students who listen to music in the target language (e.g. English) in their spare time. Schwarz (2013), investigated the incidental language learning from different pop
songs outside of school, in English as a foreign language context by examining 74 test subjects from Austria between the ages of 13 to 15 years old. This was done by having the students answer two questionnaires asking them about their habits of music consumption. The participants of the study were asked questions like what genre of music they listen to, how often they listen to music, what language they listen to, and when did they listen to music. As a result of this study the researchers could conclude that English input in an out-of-school context can increase second language acquisition. This melds well with the idea of using students’ own interests as a language learning tool to increase motivation (Malmgren, 1996).
These studies suggest that students’ exposure to music, both an unorganised form (e.g. a student listening to music at home) and more organised forms (such as planned music instruction), helps not only to increase cognitive abilities and intelligence, but also with learning specific language elements and skills, which are highly relevant to the ESL learning context (such as prosody, verbal sequencing, and verbal memory). While, the Swedish school system is not able to ensure that all students receive one-on-one music instruction (e.g. to learn a particular instrument, or voice lessons), all students do attend curriculum designated music lessons and should therefore reap some of the benefits discussed above. Considering these results, it would be interesting to see if music can have an even bigger impact on second language learning when used in connection to specific lesson content in the ESL classroom.
4.4. Music Connected to Specific ESL Goals or Content
According to the above studies, music can benefit language learning even when not connected to language lesson content, and the following studies delve deeper into what can be gained when intentionally making the connection between lesson content and music in different forms. The language learning possibilities of bringing student extracurricular music interests into the ESL classroom was examined in a corpus-based study by Akbary, Shahriari & Fatem in 2016 (a corpora is a collection of texts that have been gathered with specific criteria in mind). They investigated the use of song lyrics as a way of teaching and learning phrasal verbs. The study examined how frequently different phrasal verbs are repeated in different types of music genre, it also compares different music genres to find out if they are different in terms of the frequency and type of phrasal verbs used. The results showed that different genres of music differ in what phrasal verbs that the students are more likely to encounter. Since in most parts of the world English music is very popular to listen to, teachers can use pop songs to their advantage in their lessons, as they may provide a valuable opportunity for
students to learn particular and challenging aspects of the English language, such as phrasal verbs. This type of corpus studies opens up for the prospect for teachers to find what
particular songs can be used to target desired language learning elements in the ESL classroom.
A study by Çevikbaş, Yumurtaci & Mede (2018), investigated the above idea in a classroom context. It included 24 Turkish EFL students from a first grade class, and who had the proficiency level of beginners. The aim of the study was to see to what extent using songs in learning and teaching could contribute to vocabulary development of first grade English as a First Language (EFL) learners. There were three songs used in this study, focusing on daily routines, food and habits, since these subjects are an important part of the first grade syllabus. The results showed an increase in students’ vocabulary performance. Specifically, the songs that they enjoyed the most were the same songs that affected the results to the greatest extent. This study revealed that use of songs had positive effect on vocabulary development.
Listening to the songs helped the students who did not have any previous knowledge of the vocabulary that was related to these songs, possibly by providing an engaging and authentic context for the words.
Whereas Akbary et al. (2016) looked into the lyrical aspect of using songs in a learning context, Schön et al. (2008) examined more of the musical aspect in seeing whether learning based on sung sequences of language, rather than spoken, would enhance the learning effect. They tested 68 native French-speaking subjects with an average age of 23 in three separate groups. The participants in the study listened to a stream of voice synthesised nonsense words that were constructed from the same six syllables in different variations, and were asked to try to identify, by pressing a button, which sounds out of four syllables constituted a word from the made-up language. The results indicate that the participants in the experimental group (where the music matched the rhythm of the nonsense words which were sung by the voice synthesiser) outperformed the participants in the two control groups (where the words were either only spoken, or sung by the voice synthesiser out of rhythm with the music) in their ability to correctly identify words of the made-up language. This indicates that music that is in sync with the learning content helps learners to identify word boundaries.
To what extent teachers should use music in the ESL classroom was investigated by Li and Brand (2009), who studied what effect using songs to varying degrees in the classroom would
have on students’ language learning. The study measured how the use of songs influenced language acquisition, language usage and meaning, as well as ESL learners’ motivation, enjoyment and confidence. The participants were 105 Chinese students with an average age of 23, and they were divided into three test groups all being taught by the same teacher.
Moreover, the teacher was observed to make sure any difference in results between the groups was not due to fluctuations in the teacher’s competence and enthusiasm). In the first group songs was exclusively used in teaching the sought after language skills, in the second group both songs and standard teaching practise were used, and in the third group only standard practise was used. The results for the language aspects found that, though all groups benefited from instruction, the all-song groups outperformed the other two in the post-test. Interestingly, the no-song group scored second-best, leading the researchers to hypothesize that the
combination of musical and regular instruction acted as a distraction for that test group. The same order was seen in the motivational aspect testing with the all-song group getting the best score, the no-song the next best, and the mixed the worst score. These results highlight the importance of further researching to how much quantity of music is needed in the ESL classroom in order to facilitate learning, since the research suggests that using a deficient amount of music actually detracts from learning instead.
To summarize, research indicates that the use of both the lyrical and the musical aspect of songs have a positive effect on vocabulary development in an ESL learning context. According to the above research, music has many varied uses in the ESL classroom when connected directly to specific learning goals and content. Firstly, by using tools like corpus based searches, teachers can utilise carefully chosen popular songs to connect to students’ own interests and experiences while still targeting a specific learning element. Secondly, for EFL learners, music can assist in identifying word boundaries when the music is in sync with the target content (e.g. like in a song). However, as the results of the study by Li and Brand pointed to, more research is needed to distinguish between when music facilitates learning and when it may, in fact, hinder it.
5. Conclusion
The above studies investigated the possible benefits of movement and music to overall academic achievement and intelligence, as well as to specific language learning content in ESL classroom contexts. To reiterate: for the purpose of this essay we define the word music
as a concept that includes singing songs, rhymes and chants, listening to music, and playing instruments. And define the word movement as a concept that can refer to physical exercise, whole-body movements and a range of different types of gestures. According to the reviewed studies, movement in terms of physical activity only seems to increase overall academic achievement when done at a certain intensity level. Consequently, the Swedish school system (and thereby also the ESL classroom) could benefit by investigating how to increase the intensity of pre-existing P.E. hours, while still maintaining curriculum goals and mandated content. A way of including more physical activity during school time, that does not decrease the time of other subjects but do show positive effects on academic achievement and language learning, is to include movement elements in language lessons that are connected to certain language targets. In doing so, the ESL classroom could reap the benefits of the theory behind TPR, by helping to create a neural link between new vocabulary and specific movements or gestures. Furthermore, it links to the idea of “learning by doing”, by having students
internalise English language content via their own bodies in physical movement connected to the target material. The study by Mavilidi et al. (2015) illustrates a way to do this where they have the experimental group re-enact the meaning of foreign verbs using movements that activate the whole body. Since these studies show that using gestures connected to language learning goals have positive effects on vocabulary recall and production, both short and long term memory, and pronunciation skills, it is important that teachers draw the full benefit of this by including content related movement elements in their lesson planning.
Another way of engaging students and increasing language learning in the ESL classroom, that also has the potential of connecting their extracurricular interests to the school sphere, is by using popular songs connected to lesson content. According to the reviewed studies, using music to target specific learning goals has benefits as it helps students in identifying language boundaries, shows them authentic examples of prosody and syntax, and helps to engage and motivate them. However, since some studies show that using a blend of music and usual practise content might distract students more than aid them in their learning, teachers might need to focus certain lessons completely around musical methods, and keep other lessons clear of music. Interestingly, possibly due to the closeness of their processing centres in the human brain, research shows that music does not have to be at all connected to language lesson content to provide benefits to language learning. In fact, research shows that attending some sort of one-on-one music lesson (be it voice or a specific instrument), increases overall academic achievement and intelligence. In Sweden today, only some schools have a
collaboration with a music school and are able to provide students with the opportunity to attend one-on-one music lessons for free. However, considering the research reviewed in this essay, the Swedish Curriculum for the Compulsory School / School Commission/ the
Ministry of Education, should look into making it obligatory for all schools in order for this benefit not to be a privilege related to the wealth or location of students’ families. Thus, ensuring more equal opportunity for all Swedish students.
In conclusion, for teachers to draw the full benefit of the areas examined in this essay (movement and music), a way would be to incorporate a song-and-dance combination
connected to target language elements in their lesson planning. This would allow students the specific benefits of both of the multimodal expressions movement and music in their language learning. To reiterate Liberg’s (2007) point that children all learn in different ways, and are good at different things, bringing both music and movement (for example, by singing and dancing) into the ESL classroom provides several different types of scaffolds and challenges for students during one learning element, ensuring that more students exist within the ZPD being both challenged aided. Furthermore, it would ensure that teachers do what they can to provide equal opportunity for students, since integrating the more general benefits of
movement and music described in this essay into the school-system would probably require restructuring of the system from above. Since our initial wish was to look at movement and music combined in the ESL classroom for the middle years but found such research was lacking, we suggest this as an important and interesting area in need of further research.
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