Music, First or Second Language Acquisition and Pronunciation

Music, First or Second Language Acquisition and Pronunciation

Edwin Suryadi F.I

According to some language researchers (Fiske, 1993; Heller & Campbell, 1981; Sloboda, 1985; Swain, 1986), there seems to be some sort of symbiotic relationship between the underlying principles and the mental processing of language and music at the meta level. It has been asserted that infants learn their native language by principles that make sense of aural information; therefore, it seems reasonable to approach second language acquisition in a similar way (Jackendoff, 1994). Since music is also acquired through the aural sense, musical activities are suggested to aid in first or second language acquisition.

Some studies which were reviewed by Marquart (1992) have concluded that remarkable differences exist between children who are sung to daily, versus those who are not, especially in the area of speech and language acquisition. Marquart explains the background of these studies:

Most of these studies are based on the philosophy of Kodàly, the Hungarian musicologist, composer, researcher and philosopher, who believed that music played a significant role in the development of mankind. He also believed that it was important to begin music education at the youngest possible age. His philosophy was that music’s place in the curriculum was one of a core subject. His research indicated that classes receiving daily music instruction academically surpassed classes receiving less frequent instruction. Noted improvement in other academic areas, particularly math, was an unexpected result in Kodàly’s first experiment. The results of his studies convinced the Hungarian Ministry of Education to expand the Singing Primary Schools.

Lowe (1995) investigated whether the incorporation of a music program would reinforce both the learning of music, as well as the learning of a second language. The subjects of her study were 53 second-grade students of the French Immersion program in Canada that were set up in interdisciplinary music and French classes. Students were given eight weekly units of five 15- minute music lessons that were incorporated into the regular French secondlanguage classes. Daily lesson plans for both classes were prepared together by both teachers using the same educational materials and curriculum content. The results showed that the group that received the additional music lessons performed significantly better than the control group in all music tests and in the oral grammar and reading comprehension French tests, even though the principal emphasis was on musical instruction. Her findings lead to the conclusion that the study of music and foreign languages are mutually beneficial.

According to Murphey, 1987, music has been used more extensively in the ESL classroom since teachers have more access to songs in English. In Switzerland, adolescents ar in contact with between 8-12 hours a week of english language music, double or triple the number of hours of English classes in school. Such contact may just be making learning English in school easier if, as Lyczak (1979) concluded, prior exposure to language does affect subsequent learning, even when this exposure is not linguistically meaningful. For an extensive list of commercial ESL materials using music, see Lems (1996).

The purpose of Cormier’s (1985) study was to determine the extent of the relationship between selected music and French second language variables. Subjects encompassed 79 students in grades 4, 5, and 6, who were enrolled in French Immersion (including music) classes. Students were tested for six days with standardized tests for music and reading, with French tests created by the researcher. The French variables included: retention of aural information, comprehension, vocabulary, diction, pronunciation, language reading and imitation. The music variables included: tonal imagery, rhythm imagery, phrasing, music reading and pitch discrimination. Results of this study found the music variables to be significant predictors of the speech variables, implying that music and speech, both aural expressions, may involve similar learning processes. The final conclusion was that a relationship exists between French second language and music variables for grades four, five and six subjects when mental ability is taken into consideration. This is supported by the theories of Bruner (1960), Gagné (1977), and Thorndike (1913) who suggested that learning transfer occurs through similar elements, shared between subject areas.

Medina (1990) conducted a qualitative research on the effectiveness of music and story illustrations in the English vocabulary acquisition of second-grade limited English proficient students. The dependent variable of vocabulary acquisition was crossed with instructional medium (Music/No Music) and extralinguistic support (Illustrations/No Illustrations). After a four day treatment, mean vocabulary gain scores were consistently higher for music treatment groups and illustration groups. The gain scores for vocabulary acquisition were highest for the group that used both music and illustrations. Data obtained one and a half weeks after treatment showed mean gain scores were still consistently higher for the combined effects of both music and illustrations. The investigation provided empirical support that music is a useful tool for second language acquisition.

Most adults who learn a foreign language speak with an accent which derives in part from phonological and phonetic differences between their native language (L1) and the target foreign language (L2). Music can be effective in improving phonetic skills in a variety of ways. Leith (1979) stated, “There is probably not a better nor quicker way to teach phonetics than with songs” (p. 540). Gatti-Taylor (1980) believed that phonetic instruction was one good use to which songs could be put, even in beginning classes, stating, “It is relatively easy to find song lyrics that stress a particular phoneme” (p. 466). García-Sáez (1984) agreed stating, “the use of song is an excellent way to practice Spanish phonetics and it is not at all difficult to find examples of songs that contain sounds the majority of students have trouble producing” (p. 4). The melody, combined with the lyrics, provides an excellent opportunity to review pronunciation and enjoy music at the same time.

Traditional pronunciation texts have emphasized or implied that students should strive for perfect pronunciation or near-native pronunciation. Morely (1996) contended that this would be an unrealistic goal, an important shift in language instruction now tends to emphasize a communicative focus: “one that views the proper place of pronunciation in the L2 curriculum as an integral part of communication, not a separate drill-based component set aside from the mainstream of spoken discourse” (p. 151).

Techmeier (1969) concluded that the most difficult skill in learning a foreign language is proper pronunciation. He felt that if the child does not pronounce a word well, the problem may be that the child does not hear the word correctly. According to Techmeier, as well as Urbanic and Vizmuller (1981), singing helped to develop better hearing skills and, as a result, promoted and reinforced good articulation of words.

Poliquin (1988) reported that the particular value and effectiveness of using songs in language instruction, was specifically to improve pronunciation skills. He explained that semantic comprehension is controlled by the left brain and that musical tones and rhythm are controlled by the right. He therefore encouraged the pedagogical use of songs to develop cognitive skills, to demonstrate the relationship of language rhythm and song rhythm, and to teach a second or third language.

Karimer (1994) formulated a study using ESL students to find out if acquiring a native-like fluency would be faster using nursery rhymes, chants and songs. Students were Southeastern Asian adults, who were divided into ethnic groups. This division was made since the Lao Hmong group’s culture practiced a courtship ritual requiring the man to look for two qualities in a wife, sewing and singing. The man sang an original love song to his intended, who then responded by matching his intonation patterns exactly. No difference was noted with this nationality since only three subjects from this group remained in the final results.

The subjects’ task was to distinguish between minimal pairs defined as two words that differ in one phoneme only-for example “fill/pill, buzz/bus.” Both groups were given a pre-test that distinguished between phoneme sounds, then they were given a treatment consisting of 20 minutes of instruction, twice a week, and over a two week period. The control group was asked to listen to a word list of 10 minimal pairs, while the experimental group was asked to listen to various songs and rhythmic chants which presented the same sounds contextually. The students were given a post-test similar to the pre-test after the two week period. An advantage in test scores was seen in the experimental group. Since the control group had tested higher on the pre-test, the improvement scores were used to compare between the groups. The improvement score for the control group was 3.9 while the experimental, songs and chant group gained 10 points. These results indicated a definite advantage for the experimental group, after only two weeks of treatment. In addition to the rhythm of the language, what might have been a important factor in this case was contextual learning, or learning the use of a language as it naturally occurs.

In a study of Spanish pronunciation and musical aptitude, Eterno (1961) found a direct relationship between musical aptitude and/or musical training and foreign language pronunciation. This might suggest that although teachers present the material to a group of students, those who (perhaps unknowingly) have a musical aptitude may be more affected by language when that language is presented in song form.

Arellano and Draper (1975) considered 79 students in fifth grade, who had experienced previous exposure to Spanish. Subjects were tested on 15 variables. Researchers viewed the relationship between discriminatory abilitiespitch, intensity, rhythm, timbre, and tonal memory-and the capacity to achieve in the area of Spanish accent and Spanish language comprehension. Overall results indicated musical ability and Spanish accent were strongly correlated, even when the possible common relationship with I. Q. was taken into consideration. Researchers concluded that the close relationship found to exist between musical ability and second language learning may suggest that the learning of music and second language can be mutually reinforcing.

Scovel (1969) discussed the relationship between cerebral dominance and a speaker’s accent. He states that the onset of cerebral dominance, which seems to occur around the age of twelve, inhibits the ability of a person to master the sound patterns of a second language without an impinging foreign accent. He believes that adults cannot master the sound patterns of a second language with the fluency of a native speaker. The basis for this opinion is the fact that children learn language in a different way-with actual objects in the environment and their names, the largest being visual-auditory and tactile-auditory association. When adults learn a second language, it is primarily done by translating from the first language, i.e., by auditory-auditory associations, not by dealing directly with the environment. Different anatomical regions are used in the two cases.

Speakers in Scovel’s study (1969) were asked to say a simple sentence twice. The listeners, junior high school students, were able to judge whether the speakers were native born Americans with an 85% accuracy. His point is that speakers must achieve a native accent before the age of twelve or they will never be able to sound native. He presents the possibility that it is the nature of the brain, specifically the phenomenon called cerebral dominance or lateralization, that accounts for the ability of children to learn languages fluently. He states that there is strong circumstantial evidence that the maturational development of cerebral dominance is closely linked to the ability to acquire language. He believes it is nature, not nurture, which determines our ability to speak without a foreign accent.

What he pointed out as the different ways that children learn a language, and different anatomical regions used in learning, may well be attributed to nurture in the way that adults are taught. The traditional method has been to teach adults using the first language as the foundation. Perhaps we could teach adults with actual objects in the environment, as well as allow them the same listening period (Kadota, 1987; Postovsky, 1974) or silent period (Krashen, 1985) that is present under natural acquisition circumstances where they hear the native sounds until they are ready to produce speech.