Melodies, Rhythm and Cognition in Foreign Language Learning [1 ed.] 9781443813624, 9781443897419

Citation preview

Melodies, Rhythm and Cognition in Foreign Language Learning

Melodies, Rhythm and Cognition in Foreign Language Learning Edited by

M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora and Mark Gant

Melodies, Rhythm and Cognition in Foreign Language Learning Edited by M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora and Mark Gant This book first published 2016 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2016 by M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora, Mark Gant and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-9741-8 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9741-9

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements .................................................................................. viii Part 1: An Overview Chapter One ................................................................................................. 2 Music and Language Learning: An Introduction M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora Chapter Two ................................................................................................ 7 Music: Why it Affects Us, How Society Uses it, and How this Knowledge May Benefit Educators Hamish Binns Part 2: Music as a Pathway to Cognition in Language Learning Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 24 From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds: Melody at the Root of Language Acquisition Kathleen Wermke and Werner Mende Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 48 The Relationship between Musical Aptitude and Foreign Language Skills Carmen Toscano-Fuentes Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 57 Musical Training and Foreign Language Learning Javier Ávila Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 69 Teaching English Rhythm through Folk Songs Rosalía Rodríguez Vázquez

vi

Table of Contents

Part 3: Melodies for Very Young Language Learners Chapter Seven............................................................................................ 86 Children’s Poetry and Music in Foreign Language Learning Cristina Aguilera Gómez and Pascuala Morote Magán Chapter Eight ............................................................................................. 97 A Window into Composing Musical Materials for Young English Language Learners Laurie Thain Part 4: Songs and Music in the Primary Language Classroom Chapter Nine............................................................................................ 108 Shall We Sing? Orff-Schulwerk Tools for Rhythmic Development in L2 Students Alejandra Pacheco-Costa Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 119 The Impact of Music on Creativity: Exploring Classroom Research Teresa Fleta and M. Luisa García Bermejo Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 130 Songs as a Valuable Pedagogical Tool for EFL Primary School Children Maria Diakou Part 5: Melodies and Rhythm in the Secondary and Tertiary Foreign Language Classroom Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 142 Awakening Senses for Language Learning José Manuel Foncubierta and Mark Gant Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 153 Education in Values through the “Chanson Française”: A New Approach in Teaching FFL in Higher Education Eva Adam

Melodies, Rhythm and Cognition in Foreign Language Learning

vii

Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 163 A Music-Based Agenda for Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language: Common Themes and Directions Ziwei Zhou Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 174 A—B—C, it’s easy as Do—Re—Mi! Notes from the Tune Into English Roadshow, a Touring Didactic Sing-along Show Fergal Kavanagh Contributors ............................................................................................. 186

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The editors would like to thank Cambridge Scholars Publishing for their professional assistance and special thanks is due to all contributors to this book.

PART 1: AN OVERVIEW

CHAPTER ONE MUSIC AND LANGUAGE LEARNING: AN INTRODUCTION M. CARMEN FONSECA-MORA UNIVERSITY OF HUELVA, SPAIN

Music is love in search for a Word. —Sidney Lanier

Among the various aims of academic inquiry are those of describing, explaining and understanding the phenomena we live with or are surrounded by, many of them profoundly embedded in our nature since ancient times, even since the creation of humankind. This is the case with language and music, two unique, innate human capacities that have been an object of study in many different disciplines. In fact, this is a research topic that is transdisciplinary and has been dealt with in brain, language, music, education, and health studies. More concretely, melodic and rhythmical patterns are two crucial elements that can be found in research into both language and music. Curiously enough, the idiom “to have an ear for” is found in many different languages and is directly related to language and music. So in French, we find the expression “avoir de l’oreille pour”, while in German it is “ein Ohr haben für” and in Spanish “tener oído para”. This shows that beliefs about the relationship between music and language are somehow supported by our shared verbal behaviour; by common sense or street wisdom. However, analysing what is meant by “having a good ear for music or languages” brings many different research perspectives into the picture. From neuroscience, it raises questions about brain functioning, which brain areas are triggered by each of them or how musical and language stimuli are processed (Patel 2014). Psychologists are interested in the affective power of music and words, as well as in explaining the common cognitive processes which the mind activates (Chobert & Besson 2013). Musicologists mainly seek to understand how musical training

Music and Language Learning: An Introduction

3

benefits language learning and to describe the main ingredients of an optimal music-for-language-learning intervention programme (Runfola, Etopio, Hamlen & Rozendal 2012). Health studies are concerned with the conditions in which human well-being is affected by music and language (Barnes 2015). Finally, educationalists are interested in finding out whether alternative teaching methods based on musical approaches could help learners to overcome language learning difficulties or simply make them learn at a quicker rate (Fonseca, Gómez, Jara 2015). The interplay between language and music brings to applied linguists inquiries into the nature and function of speech melodies, the role of prosody, or descriptions of rhythmical patterns in verbal behaviour. From another perspective, applied linguists are interested in researching the role of music in first and second language acquisition to see if students with a good ear for music are better equipped for language learning (Fonseca, Avila & Segador 2015). The necessarily fragmentary answers from all disciplines are needed when trying to understand the relationship between language and music, and more deeply, when trying to find out how music contributes to communication exchanges in any language, what universal properties it adds to the first language acquisition process and how the teaching and learning of foreign languages could be improved. As language and music are two innate human capacities, with an undeniable link between them, does this mean that everyone could benefit from their intertwined input in the language classroom? On the one hand, musical abilities enhance linguistic cognitive processes such as phonemic and phonological awareness, reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, listening and speech abilities. On the other hand, language learning also takes advantage of the emotional elements provided by music and songs. Musical activities have been found to influence memory, attention and effort as a result of their physiological properties and also to foster a relaxed and safe but motivating and productive classroom atmosphere (Fonseca & Herrero 2016). From the perspective of applied linguistics, this book draws together the literature published over recent decades on music and language and also draws on experiences in language teaching; it provides a clear explanation of just how central melodies and rhythm are to foreign language learning acquisition. It adds insights from the specialized literature on this topic in order to explore how musical approaches in the language classroom can be of benefit for foreign language learners. Therefore, Binns’ overview chapter briefly examines not only some of the evolutionary explanations as to why music may form such an important part of our lives, but also some of the ways in which it may affect people

4

Chapter One

physiologically and psychologically. Using specific examples, it then looks at how music can change students’ emotions, can aid teacher instruction, can make grammatical structures more memorable, and can help students identify with foreign cultures. Music as a pathway to cognition in language learning is analysed in part two of this book. Wermke and Mende’s research explores the musical elements of human infants’ pre-speech vocalizations and states that they seem to reflect much more than a special musical feature; they are described as an imperative and a necessary precondition for language acquisition. Toscano-Fuentes’ perspective explains how musical aptitude contributes to the learning of foreign language skills while Avila’s chapter attempts to provide a detailed overview of musical training potential by analysing the effects of music on the different cognitive and affective variables that define a good language learning process. Finally, this part of the book is rounded off with a study of rhythm in language learning. Rodríguez Vázquez gives evidence for the use of traditional songs as effective instruments in the teaching of EFL rhythm to adult learners. The ultimate goal of the chapter is to show how a comprehensive analysis of songs may contribute to a better knowledge and understanding of suprasegmental features and, more broadly, how the use of vocal music in the EFL classroom can shed light on the confluence of cognitive, neurobiological and affective factors in language acquisition. The third part of this book is concerned with melodies for very young learners. Aguilera and Morote state that poetry and music lie at the heart of nursery rhymes. Children’s songs are described as an educational resource of exceptional value in which poems, melody and rhythm are combined. The similar formal structures of both poetry and popular melodies foster the creation of fertile and creative contexts that put children in touch with music and words, essential elements in their intellectual and emotional development. Thain’s chapter reflects on what musical materials for young English language learners could be like. Her premise is that well-chosen musical materials offer much more than just “fun and enjoyment” and that not all musical materials are created equal. Whether they are aimed at practicing pronunciation, reinforcing vocabulary or supporting reading, Thain emphasizes that musical materials must be carefully designed. Songs and music in the primary language classroom are dealt with in the fourth part of this book. Pacheco-Costa’s contribution considers the Orff-Schulwerk musical and pedagogical approach as an ideal framework for improving young foreign language students’ skills, particularly those related to phonetics, speech rhythm, vocabulary and reading. Fleta and García Bermejo’s chapter presents pedagogical experiences that show how

Music and Language Learning: An Introduction

5

to make teaching and learning more interesting by taking music as a springboard for inspiration. They reflect on how to use creativity to improve literacy. Last but not least, Diakou’s approach focuses on songs as a valuable pedagogical tool for EFL primary school children. She states that the repetitive nature of songs and the joy they bring into the classroom help to reinforce language acquisition. The fifth and last part of this book summarises interesting suggestions as to how to use melodies and rhythm in the secondary and tertiary foreign language classroom. Foncubierta and Gant explore ways of awakening the senses for language learning. They state that music and images not only favour students’ active participation, but also activate learners’ previous knowledge and personal experiences and help them to find stories to share in class. Adam’s contribution draws readers’ attention to the development of ethical, moral and affective aspects which can contribute to the improvement of learning in different areas of knowledge. She states that a more comprehensive and humanistic education, the nucleus of which is not based solely on the cognitive development of learners, can be reached through music. Her concern is related to improving knowledge of the French language and culture through the traditional “Chanson Française” which she considers to be a useful tool for enhancing the personal competence of both teachers and pupils. Zhou’s chapter aims to create a synthesis that informs and orientates teaching practices by putting music under the spotlight in various fields. It draws on a broad spectrum of evidence that highlights the significant bearing that music has on language teaching and learning. By setting one foot in each camp of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the cognitive and the social, this chapter indicates possible points where music and SLA intersect, giving particular emphasis to enhancing learners’ speech perception and production. As an example, a review of Hip-Hop/ Rap and the educational and pedagogical implications that assist English language teaching and learning for Chinese learners is discussed. Kavanagh closes this book describing his inspiring Tune into English Roadshow, an interactive didactic show, using wellknown songs to help to raise students’ awareness of the language used in pop music. Melodies and rhythm have the effect of creating positive emotions; they affect students’ predisposition toward language learning, that is to say, their cognition. As the emotional human beings we are, any stimulus is firstly evaluated by our amygdala, an almond-shape set of neurons in charge of emotions and emotional behaviour and therefore motivation, located deep in the brain's medial temporal lobe. Musical elements trigger positive emotions, motivation, verbal memory, social bonding or even

6

Chapter One

self-regulation, all of which are needed for the development of good language skills. For our readers, we hope that we have managed to make the values and cognitive benefits that melodies and rhythm can offer for any age group more visible, enhancing learning both inside and outside the language classroom.

References Barnes, Jonathan. 2015. “Towards a Creativity-rich Curriculum for the well-being of Children Three to Seven Years Old.” The Routledge International Handbook of Philosophies and Theories of Early Childhood Education and Care: 278. Chobert, Julie, and Mireille Besson. 2013. “Musical Expertise and Second Language Learning.” Brain Sciences 3, 2: 923-940. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen, and Francisco Herrero Machancoses. 2016. “Music and Language Learning: Emotions and Engaging Memory Pathways.” Positive Psychology in SLA 359. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen, Javier Avila López, and Arturo Gallego Segador. 2015. “Beneficios del entrenamiento musical para el aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera.” Revista Electrónica Complutense de Investigación en Educación Musical-RECIEM 12: 29-36. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen, Pilar Jara-Jiménez, and María GómezDomínguez. 2015. “Musical Plus Phonological Input for Young Foreign Language Readers.” Frontiers in Psychology 6: 286. Patel, Aniruddh D. 2014. “Can Nonlinguistic Musical Training Change the Way the Brain Processes Speech? The expanded OPERA hypothesis.” Hearing Research 308: 98-108. Runfola, Maria, Elisabeth Etopio, Karla Hamlen, and Mary Rozendal. 2012. “Effect of Music Instruction on Preschoolers' Music Achievement and Emergent Literacy Achievement.” Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 192: 7-27.

CHAPTER TWO MUSIC: WHY IT AFFECTS US, HOW SOCIETY USES IT, AND HOW THIS KNOWLEDGE MAY BENEFIT EDUCATORS HAMISH BINNS SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY - MADRID CAMPUS, SPAIN

Introduction This chapter briefly examines not only some of the evolutional explanations of why music may form such an important part of our lives, but also some of the ways in which it may affect people physiologically and psychologically. Then, using specific examples, it looks at how music is, and has been, harnessed by society and used for distinct purposes ranging from enhancing factory production and curing medical pathologies to torturing prisoners and instructing guerrilla fighters. The same components of music that allow for such diverse social usage can also be channelled into education in a number of ways: music can change the emotional state of a classroom, can aid instruction, can make nightmarish grammatical structures almost palatable, and can help students to identify with and imitate foreign cultures. As advertisers discovered long ago, music does not possess magical properties which indoctrinate listeners and, as with any other marketing technique or teaching tool (an unfortunate but ever more true analogy), careful preparation is vital for its successful use in the classroom. And, if language teachers are fully aware of how different music may affect their students in a given situation, it may improve their teaching effectiveness. The chapter finishes with a closer look at the specific case of using political propaganda songs to teach languages: their repetitive and

8

Chapter Two

rhythmic structures which are designed to motivate and communicate specific messages make them highly effective language teaching tools.

Why music can affect us The origins of music are uncertain but its universality suggests that it is related to the evolution of humankind. According to Darwin, the reason why all humans have the capacity to make and appreciate music is because, in an evolutionary past, we used this to attract more sexual partners thus ensuring the survival of our species (Darwin 1871, 880), just as songbirds do (Catchpole and Slater 1995). There are many examples of dance and song playing an integral part in human courtship, ranging from the romantic jaw’s harp playing of the Hmong of South East Asia or the ritual singing and dancing of the Masai in Kenya to Salsa dancing in a Latin club in Soho. Darwinian theory would suggest that the best musicians, or dancers, have more reproductive success than their less musical colleagues. Miller (2000) applied this idea to contemporary rock musicians, arguing that Jimi Hendrix’s musical output, while doing him “no survival favours” (Hendrix died at the age of 27), enabled him to have “sexual liaisons with hundreds of groupies, [maintain] parallel long-term relationships with at least two women, and [father] at least three children […]. Hendrix’s genes for musical talent probably doubled their frequency in a single generation through the power of attracting opposite-sex admirers” (2000, 331). Miller (1999) also discovered that males produced at least ten times more music than females and were most productive around the age of 30, near the time of peak mating effort and activity. If music and dance in humans are related to natural selection, as Darwinians claim, and can thus increase an individual’s possibilities of finding a fit reproductive partner, then music plays, or at least has played, a fundamental role in the survival of the species: this would certainly account for music being such an effective tool for motivating students in the classroom! There has also been much academic debate over the relationship between language and music, and which of the two evolved first. Despite a few detractors, such as Pinker, who claim that music is “quite different from language” (1997, 529), there is an increasing amount of evidence to support the idea that either language went through a musical phase during the course of its evolution (Dunbar, 2004), or that music is “derived from language” (Wilson 2012, 283).

Music: Why It Affects Us, How Society Uses It

9

Music is deeply rooted in human biology and is critical to the cognitive development of the child (Cross 1999, 25), and studies focusing on Infantdirected Speech (IDS) have shown that IDS relies on musicality rather than language to convey meaning and that it is universally recognized. Further acoustic analysis studies have demonstrated that IDS has a distinctive prosodic structure which may facilitate word learning (Kemler Nelson et al. 1989) and that vowel hyperarticulation—also found in Foreigner-directed Speech (Uther et al. 2007, 5)—may act as a didactic device for instruction of language learners (Papousek 1991). Further proof that music and languages share some sort of evolutionary history is evident in the prosody of traditional songs. Each language demands different musical treatment and traditional music has evolved accordingly: English words do not lend themselves to flamenco rhythms just as French lyrics do not fit comfortably into Irish melodies. Indeed, the musical patterns of a baby’s crying, long before words are formed, correspond to those of their mother’s language (Mampe et al. 2009). Thus, the prosody found in traditional music is perhaps one of the easiest ways of illustrating a language’s rhythm, word emphasis, word intonation, and pronunciation.

How music can affect us Research suggests a direct cause-effect relationship between certain types of music and physiological reactions in human subjects. Music can cause galvanic skin response (Peretti and Swenson 1974), vasoconstriction (Kibler and Rider 1983), and muscle tension (Scartelli 1984), and can also affect the variability of heart rate (McCraty et al. 1996; Anshel et al. 1978; Roballey et al. 1985), respiration rate (Foster and Gamble 1906), pulse rate, and blood pressure (Webster 1973). Brain anatomy research has shown that music can affect the limbic system, which is part of the Emotional Response System, and may stimulate the release of endorphins which in turn inhibit the transmission of pain signals (Creutzfeldt et al. 1989). This mental and emotional activity can also alter the autonomic nervous system (ANS) (Kamada et al. 1992), which may in turn affect the function of the cardiovascular (Sinha et al. 1992), neuroendocrine (Lovallo et al. 1990), and immune systems (Ader et al. 1991). It seems likely that the immune and hormonal changes observed in subjects after listening to music are a result of the ANS being affected (Lenton et al. 1991; Updike et al. 1987). Music can also facilitate the induction of trance because it stimulates the alpha brain waves that allow a person to think internally or have a tranquil state of mind: studies

10

Chapter Two

using electroencephalographs have found that musicians produce a higher amount of alpha waves in the temporal lobe than non-musicians do (Overman et al. 2003). All music has a continuous fluctuation of pitch which coincides with the ebb and flow of the emotions that are being expressed (Cooke 1959, 105), and these emotions may provoke subsequent behavioural patterns. Being happy has been found to induce increased cooperation (Isen 1970; Fried and Berkowitz 1979) and the ability to think more creatively (Isen et al. 1987). Krumhansl (1997) observed that music which is expected to invoke sadness produces large changes in heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance and temperature while music which is expected to provoke fear produces important changes in pulse rate and amplitude and music which is expected to provoke happiness produces significant changes in respiratory patterns. McCraty et al. (1988) reported that 15 minutes of listening to Grunge music caused a significant increase in hostility, sadness, tension and fatigue, even in teenagers who claimed to like it: this may be explained by negative sensations producing an increase in sympathetic stimulation, which in turn increases levels of cortisol and other adrenal steroids (McCraty et al. 1995). The levels of these steroids have also been shown to vary in response to musical intervention using designer music, such as Lew Childre’s, Speed of Balance (Childre 1996). Having seen the physiological effects that music may produce in humans, teachers may want to think carefully what music they use next time in the classroom. However, many of these studies seem to ignore factors such as the surroundings, the predisposition or the personality of the subject, and these may be as important as—if not more important than—the music itself in terms of producing reactions in people.

What music is like and how it can be used Unification Music plays a role in both creating groups and reinforcing the feeling of belonging to a group. According to Benzon (2001, 81), music is the “biotechnology of group formation” and “is a medium through which individual brains are coupled together in shared activity” (2001, 23). In terms of the classroom, it can help with classroom management, such as clean-up activities and it can be used to time activities, and to provide attention cues in order to energize and motivate students (Sprenger 2002). Music can also aid in building a stronger sense of community and a culture of caring, where people nurture each other (Bennington 2004).

Music: Why It Affects Us, How Society Uses It

11

Ironically, just as music can favour the formation of in-groups, it can also create out-groups, which is why teachers must choose carefully what music they use in the classroom. Some students may like Heavy Metal and will automatically reject other genres such as Pop or Hip-Hop, and vice versa. Hence, unfashionable genres such as classical, 1950s rock and roll or folk music are often safer options for the secondary school classroom because few adolescents will have any established opinions on them. The exclusive nature of certain genres of music, however, tends to be at a very local level because, as Blacking (1973, 68) suggests, there is a universally recognized relationship between musical intervals and human feelings, which makes music a useful tool for traversing cultural boundaries (Mithen 2005, 91; Oelman and Loeng 2003). Although music can form inand out-groups, it is often one of the easiest ways of beginning meaningful communication in a foreign culture, as many travelling musicians can testify.

Arousal Music has the power to arouse strong sentiments among the members of a specific group, whether it be a tight-knit group such as the Scouts or a loose-knit group such as Michael Jackson fans. Traditionally, armies have been accompanied by marching bands or bagpipers to boost morale and arouse patriotic feelings. Although musicians no longer go into battle playing, soldiers still listen to music. Songs, such as Mystikal’s Round out the Tank, and Outkast’s Bombs Over Baghdad were popular among US troops in the Iraq war, and helped psych them up before battle (Gittoes 2006). Similarly, students often listen to their favourite music to help them to focus before an exam. Arousal, however, does not always produce a positive sensation, as the research carried out by McCraty et al. in Grunge music showed (McCraty et al. 1988), and music that is played repetitively at loud volumes during extended periods, can easily become a weapon of torture. In 2006, the BBC reported that US troops were torturing Iraqi prisoners by playing the Barney I Love You song for up to 12 hours non-stop. Obviously, the volume of music played in a classroom must be appropriate to the task being performed, and the number of times a song is repeated during a specific exercise must be carefully monitored, so as not to produce a negative effect on the students.

12

Chapter Two

Healing There are numerous anthropological reports of music being used by healers in societies such as the Navajo (Fergusson 1931, 203-204) or the Ashanti (Wilson 2006). In Evans-Pritchard’s account of Azande witchcraft, he explains how divinatory medicines made from magical trees and herbs were activated by drumming, singing, dancing (1976, 436). Indeed, Rouget, in his anthropological study of music and trance, refers to shamans as musicants and possessed people as musicated (1985, 288). More recently, sedative music has allowed doctors to reduce doses of anaesthetics and other pain-relief medication (Standley 1995; Robb et al. 1995). Robertson claims that “fifteen minutes of soothing music lulls the patient into such a state of well-being that only 50 per cent of recommended doses of sedatives and anaesthetic drugs are needed to perform otherwise very painful operations” (Robertson as cited in Horden 2000, 12). Similarly, classical music has been used to reduce anxiety and depression (Guzzetta, 1989), and new age music has been found to facilitate sleep in elderly individuals with sleep disturbances (Mornhinweg 1995). Regular musical intervention using Peter Hübner’s Medical Resonance Therapy Music® reportedly produced a 75% reduction in attacks among epileptic sufferers, and 80% of those treated reported a marked reduction in both the intensity of epileptic seizures and in epileptic amnesia (Hübner 1995). Although this may not seem directly relevant to education, teachers may use music as a classroom anaesthetic to soothe rowdy spirits. Even though the music may not cure the students of their fidgetiness, it can provide a distraction which aids in making them less boisterous.

Production In traditional societies, certain types of song are related to certain tasks, such as Bulgarian threshing songs and Somalian water-carrying songs. The music, often participatory, acts as a social binder but also allows individuals to improve their physical performance by responding to the rhythmical elements of the music and synchronizing their actions to it and the task at hand (Anshel and Marisi 1978). Music can increase employee morale and reduce absenteeism and staff turnover, and those who prefer to work with music show significant benefits in performance, job satisfaction and energy levels (Oldham et al. 1995). Keypunch operators’ productivity at the Mississippi Power and Light Company increased 18.6% and their

Music: Why It Affects Us, How Society Uses It

13

errors decreased 37% as a result of the installation of a programmed background music system (Ross 1966). In the classroom, research has shown that slow tempo music played at a low volume can enhance cognitive performance (William Pryse-Phillips 2003, 611); (Hallam et al. 2002), and can facilitate language acquisition, reading readiness, and general intellectual development (Hanshumaker 1980). According to DiEdwardo (2004), music improved students’ grades and abilities to compose thesis statements for research papers in courses that emphasize reading and writing skills. Wijaya (2006) found that second language learners believed that listening to music while writing could make them relaxed and calm so that their ideas could flow easily and students who had commercially recorded pop/rock music as an integral part of the instructional package in language skills scored significantly higher with regard to continuing motivation (Weiskoff 1981; Eady and Wilson 2004).

Marketing Between 70 and 77% of customers prefer stores that play music, and 63% of them claim that they purchase more in stores with background music (Burleson 1979; Robert 1971). Milliman’s famous study on the effects of music in supermarkets found that higher sales volumes were consistently associated with slow tempo music (60-73 BPM) while in contrast, lower sales figures were consistently associated with faster tempo music (93-110 BPM), even though the customers did not seem to be significantly aware of the background music (1982, 86-91). Moreover, customers spend more money on food and drink at restaurants where slow tempo music is being played (Caldwell and Hibbert 1999), the amount of time spent drinking soda in bars decreases when fast music is played (McElrea and Standing 1992), and the number of bites per minute that diners take corresponds to the speed of music played (Roballey et al. 1985). Similarly, an increase in the volume of background music can lead to an increase in consumer’s alcohol drinking in bars (Guéguen et al. 2004; 2008), and customer preference for either French or German wines is strongly associated with the use of either stereotypical French and German background music being played (North et al. 1999). If bites per minutes could be converted into words per minute or students could be manipulated by music to favour certain subjects, then teachers would perhaps have less work to do in the classroom. However, although it is tempting to believe that music can directly influence people’s actions, as expounded by Gorn (1982), subsequent studies have

14

Chapter Two

indicated that music alone is not sufficient to create preference for a product (Allen and Madden 1985; Kellaris and Cox 1989). Music in the classroom is only effective when used in the correct educational setting and in conjunction with appropriate didactic preparation and exercises.

Indoctrination Music can both enhance the meaning of words and make them easier to assimilate and memorize, and—in the correct setting—can become an extremely powerful medium for unification and indoctrination purposes. Many religious groups use music to communicate their messages, whether it is a priest intoning the creed, a Hindu singing a raga or a muezzin calling out the Adhan. Other groups, such as the Sufi dervishes, the Moroccan Guedra, or New York charismatic evangelists, may use music and song to transport the listeners into other states during religious or healing rituals. The power of song has not gone unnoticed by political groups. Most political or military songs—from the Internationale to the Stars and Stripes—have fast 2/4 or marked 6/8 march rhythms and are written in major keys designed to create a sensation of happiness and euphoria in the listener (Toiviainen and Krumhansl 2003). Salvador Allende’s victory in the 1970 Chilean general election was partly thanks to the Canción Nueva movement, which used songs to inform the illiterate campesinos and factory workers of a possible alternative future. Not surprisingly, many musicians, such as Victor Jara, were among the first victims of Pinochet’s military coup in 1973. During the 1980s conflict in Nicaragua, Carlos and Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy (1979) wrote a series of training songs for the mostly illiterate guerrilla fighters. The songs give chillingly precise instructions on the different types of munitions, how to make bombs or how to strip, clean and reassemble an M1 Garand rifle.

Memorization and holistic learning Just as they do for guerrilla fighters, music and rhyme allow children to assimilate and memorize information which is otherwise too complex for them to process efficiently. According to Rudolf Steiner, imitation is an unconscious process that is different to learning and is one of the strongest features in early learning (Steiner 1923/1988), and the Waldorf system encourages repetition rather than analysis in the early years of language teaching. This seems logical when one considers that the children of the

Music: Why It Affects Us, How Society Uses It

15

last three decades have learned to count rhythmically to music while watching Sesame Street (Richardson and Wolfe 2001). The holistic learning of chunks of melody or text is similar to the learning of a language in authentic situations, in which the learner is immersed in a culture where that language is spoken. It allows students to concentrate on the activity itself (in this case, the song) rather than on language learning. According to Krashen and Terrell, “language is best taught when it is being used to transmit messages, not when it is explicitly taught for conscious learning” (1983, 55). The vocabulary accumulated through learning songs (Griffee 1992) allows learners to unconsciously form a database of important vocabulary and grammatical structures, which can later be extracted if needed. As an example, students of Spanish who memorize the first line of Ojalá (1978) by Silvio Rodríguez (“Ojalá que las hojas no te toquen el cuerpo mientras caigan”) have a foundation for understanding the complex use of the subjunctive, and later when they want to use a phrase starting with ojalá or mientras, they can recall this structure to use as a basis from which to construct the new phrase. This same phrase may help them learn the Spanish tendency to use articles instead of possessive pronouns when referring to parts of the body.

Atmosphere Music can help to create a relaxed, friendly and cooperative atmosphere, a factor which is significant in language learning (Griffee 1992). Music is a carrier of emotion, and emotion mediates our thoughts and actions, thus affecting our physical and intellectual state. By purposefully capitalizing on the emotional connection between mood and music, teachers can use material related to lyrics and tunes effectively (Bennington, 2004). Since behaviour, learning and memory depend on the physical and intellectual state of the learners (Jensen 1995), music should form an integral part of every classroom (Bennington and Robert 2004).

Authenticity Authenticity is one of the six core features of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) methodology (Mehisto et al. 2008), and involves the use of materials that have not been developed specifically for language learners (Nunan 1988), and which allow for natural contact with and for a natural acquisition of a language (Coonan 2005). Songs can provide an infinite source of authentic texts, and although, in terms of vocabulary and structure, they may sometimes seem less accessible for

16

Chapter Two

certain learners, they—like any authentic text—are enjoyable, interesting and motivating (Guariento and Morley 2001). Song lyrics also often have theme lines or a story behind them which “offer rich background and social and historical context to language learning” (Griffee 1992, ix). As examples, We wish you a Merry Christmas can be used to evoke the Christmas season and as a basis from which to study the related traditions, and Bob Dylan’s Masters of War can be used to talk about the anti-Vietnam movement in the 1960s.

Using protest songs in FL teaching There is no one type of music that works better than all others in the classroom because—like any teaching tool—a song is only as effective as a teacher makes it. However, folk-based protest songs contain many elements that lend themselves to language teaching. Most protest songs are culturally specific, and thus belong to musical genres that are unfamiliar to young learners, and do not create any problems of in-groups or out-groups. Moreover, they stimulate interest in problems related to the culture of the language being taught, and since these problems are divorced from the students’ life experiences, the students do not suffer moral dilemmas. For example, a student from Saudi Arabia will quite happily talk about human rights issues in the USA but will probably be very uncomfortable talking about similar issues in his or her own country. The slightly illicit aspect of many protest songs can also be a useful motivational factor in the classroom, especially among adolescents. Protest songs are specifically designed to mobilize and motivate people, and the lyrics tend to be clear, direct and repetitive. Moreover, since the melodies and rhythms tend to be culturally specific, the songs tend to be highly prosodic, and hence provide useful models of the language’s rhythm, word emphasis, word intonation, and pronunciation. Examples of songs that can be used effectively for EFL are: Joan Baez’ We shall not be moved, Bob Marley’s Bad Card or Bob Dylan’s Masters of War. There are many examples for the teaching of other languages as well, such as: for Spanish, Quilapayún’s Venceremos; for Portuguese, Chico Buarque’s Construçao; and for French, Mireille Mathieu’s La Marseillaise.

Conclusion The social importance of music can perhaps be attributed to evolutionary, physiological and psychological processes. Music can act as a facilitator to

Music: Why It Affects Us, How Society Uses It

17

help induce certain states and, in adequate settings, can be applied to enhance group cohesion, production, health, memory, marketing and ideologies. Music can be applied effectively to enhance education in that it can provide authentic material, facilitate the memorization of instructions, vocabulary, structures, and pronunciation, create favourable teaching environments, and motivate students. It can also serve as a basis from which to teach otherwise complex language concepts. Nevertheless, music in itself is no guarantee that teaching will be enhanced: it must fit the situation in which it is to be used because the wrong music can produce effects that totally neglect the objective of the exercise. Music in itself cannot cure a sick person, but together with a competent authoritative figure in whom the patient trusts, an appropriate setting, and the appropriate care, music can enhance the effectiveness of certain treatments. Music cannot make a customer buy a specific product, but if that product caters to the customer’s needs, is adequately positioned and well-priced, then the music may enhance its sales. Similarly, music cannot teach students unless it is combined with suitable preparation, justification, and tasks. Music, just like any supplemental tool, can be used constructively and effectively or not: its effectiveness depends totally on the teacher.

References Ader R, D. L. Felten and N. Cohen. 1991. Eds. Psychoneuroimmunology. 2nd ed. San Diego, Calif: Academic Press Inc: 1081-1113. Allen, C. T. and T. J. Madden. 1985. “A Closer Look at Classical Conditioning.” Journal of Consumer Research 12(December): 301315. Anshel, M. H. and D. Marisi. 1978. “Effects of Music and Rhythm on Physical Performance.” Research Quarterly 49: 109–113. Bennington, Robert W. 2004. Music Use in the Classroom: Comparing Effects on Students. University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education. Benzon, W. 2001. Beethoven’s Anvil: Music in Mind and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press Blacking, J. 1973. How Musical is Man? Washington: University of Washington Press. Burleson, G. L. 1979. “Retailer and Consumer Attitudes Towards Background Music.” Unpublished paper, Department of Business Administration, University of Texas at El Paso.

18

Chapter Two

Caldwell, C. and S. A. Hibbert. 1999. “Play that One Again: the Effect of Music Tempo on Consumer Behavior in a Restaurant.” European Advances in Consumer Research (4): 58-62. Catchpole, C. K. and P. J. B. Slater. 1995. Bird Song: Biological Themes and Variations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Childre, D. L. 1996. Cut-thru. Boulder Creek, California: Planetary Publications. Cooke, D. 1959. The Language of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Coonan, C. M. 2005. “The Natural Learning of a Foreign Language. CLIL as a Possible Partial Solution for the Primary School.” Scuola e Lingue Moderne 4-5. Creutzfeldt, O. and G. A. Ojemann. 1989. “Neuronal Activity in the Human Lateral Temporal Lobe III: Activity Changes During Music.” Experimental Brain Research 77: 490–498. Cross, I. 1999. “Is Music the Most Important Thing We Ever Did? Music, Development and Evolution.” In Music, Mind and Science, edited by Suk Won Yi. 10-39. Darwin, C. 1859. The Origin of Species. London: J. Murray. DiEdwardo, M. A. 2004. Music Transforms the College English Classroom. Dissertation. California Coast University. Santa Ana, California. Dunbar, R. 2004. The Human Story. London: Faber and Faber. Eady, I. and J. D. Wilson. 2004. The Influence of Music on Core Learning. Education (Chula Vista Calif.) 125/2: 243-248. Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1976. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fergusson, E. 1931. Dancing Gods: Indian Ceremonials of New Mexico and Arizona. New York: Alfred Knopf. Foster, E. and E. A. M. Gamble. 1906. “The Effect of Music on Thoracic Breathing.” American Journal of Psychology 17: 406-416. Fried, R. and Berkowitz, L. 1979. “Music Hath Charms...and Can Influence Helpfulness.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 9: 199208. Gilbert Rouget. 1985. Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations between Music and Possession. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Gittoes, G. 2006. Soundtrack to War. Melee Entertainment. Gorn, G. 1982. “The Effects of Music in Advertising on Choice Behavior. A classical Conditioning Approach.” Journal of Marketing 46(Winter): 94-101.

Music: Why It Affects Us, How Society Uses It

19

Griffee, D. 1992. Songs in Action: Classroom Techniques and Resources. New York: Prentice Hall. Guariento, W., and J. Morley. 2001. “Text and Task Authenticity in the EFL classroom.” ELT Journal 55(4): 347–353. Guéguen, N., C. Jacob, M. Lourel and H. Le Guellec. 2008. “Sound Level of Environmental Music and Drinking Behavior: a Field Experiment with Beer Drinkers.” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 32: 1795-98. Guéguen, N., H. Le Guellec and C. Jacob. 2004. “Sound Level of Background Music and Alcohol Consumption: an Empirical Evaluation.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 99 (1): 34-38. Guzzetta, C.E. 1989. “Effects of Relaxation and Music Therapy on Patients in a Coronary Care Unit with Presumptive Acute Myocardial Infarction.” Heart and Lung 18: 606-616. Hallam, S., J. Price and G. Katsarou. 2002. “The Effects of Background Music on Primary School Pupils’ Task Performance.” Educational Studies 28: 112-122. Hanshumaker, J. 1980. “The Effects of Arts Education on Intellectual and Social Development: A Review of Selected Research.” Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 61: 10-28. Horden, P. (ed). 2000. Music as Medicine: The History of Music Therapy since Antiquity. Aldershot: Ashgate. Hübner. P. 1995. The Harmony Laws of Nature in the Microcosm of Music. Edermünde, Germany: AAR Edition-Scientific Information Service. Isen, A. M. 1970. “Success, Failure, Attention and Reactions to Others: The Warm Glow of Success.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 15: 294-301. Isen, A. M., K. A. Daubman and G. P. Nowicki. 1987. “Positive Affect Facilitates Creative Problem Solving.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52(6): 1122-1131. Kamada, T., S. Miyake, M. Kumashiro, H. Monou and K. Inoue. 1992. “Power Spectral Analysis of Heart Rate Variability in Type As and Type Bs During Mental Workload.” Psychosomatic Medicine. 54: 462470. Kellaris, J. J, D. Cox and A.D. Cox. 1989. “The Effects of Background Music in Advertising: a Reassessment.” Journal of Consumer Research 16: 113-118. Kemler Nelson, D. G., K. Hirsh Pasek and P. W. Jusczyk. 1989. “How the Prosodic Cues in Mothers Might Assist Language Learning.” Journal of Child Language 16: 55–68.

20

Chapter Two

Kibler, V. E. and M. S. Rider. 1983. “Effects of Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Music on stress as Measured by Finger Temperature Responses.” Journal of Clinical Psychology 39(2): 213-215. Krashen, S. D., and Terrell, T. D. 1983. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Krumhansl, C. L. 1997. “An Exploratory Study of Musical Emotions and Psychophysiology.” Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 51(4): 336-353. Lenton, S. R. and P. R. Martin. 1991. “The Contribution of Music vs. Instructions in the Musical Mood Induction Procedure.” Behavioral Research Therapy 29(6): 623-625. Lovallo, W. R., G. A. Pincomb, R. B. Brackett and D. J. Wilson. 1990. “Heart rate Reactivity as a Predictor of Neuroendocrine Responses to Aversive and Appetitive Challenges.” Psychosomatic Medicine 52: 1726. Mampe, B., A. Friederici, A. Christophe and K. Wermke. 2009. “Newborns' Cry Melody Is Shaped by Their Native Language.” Current Biology 19(23): 1994-1997. McCraty, R., M. Atkinson, G. Rein and A. D. Watkins. 1995. “The Effects of Emotions on Short Term Heart Rate Variability Using Power Spectrum Analysis.” American Journal of Cardiology 76: 1089-1093. McCraty, R., M. Atkinson, G. Rein, A.D. and Watkins. 1996. “Music enhances the effect of positive emotional states on salivary IgA.” Stress Medicine 12: 167-175. McCraty, R., R. Barrios-Chopli, M. Atkinson and D. Tomasino. 1988. “The Effects of Different Types of Music on Mood, Tension, and Mental Clarity.” Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 4: 7584. McElrea, H. and L. Standing. 1992. “Fast Music Causes Fast drinking.” Perceptual and Motor skills 75: 362 Mehisto, P., M. J. Frigols and D. Marsh. 2008. Uncovering CLIL. Macmillan Educational. Mejía Godoy, C. and L. E. Mejía Godoy. 1979. Guitarra Armada. Pentagrama, México Miller, G. F. 1999. “Sexual Selection for Cultural Displays.” In The Evolution of Culture, edited by R. Dunbar, C. Knight, and C. Power, 71-91. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. —. 2000. “Evolution of Human Music through Sexual Selection.” In The Origins of Music, edited by N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, and S. Brown, 329-360. Boston MS.: MIT Press.

Music: Why It Affects Us, How Society Uses It

21

Milliman, R. 1982. “Using Background Music to Affect the Behavior of Supermarket Shoppers.” Journal of Marketing 46:86-91 Mithen, S. 2005. The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Mornhinweg, G. C. and R. R. Voignier. 1995. “Music for Sleep Disturbance in the Elderly.” Journal of Holistic Nursing 13(3): 248254. North, A. C., D. J. Hargreaves and J. McKendrick. 1999. “The Influence of In-store Music on Wine Selections.” Journal of Applied Psychology 84: 271-276. Nunan, D. 1988. The Learner-Centred Curriculum: a Study in Second Language Teaching. Cambridge/ New York/ Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Oldham, J. M., A. E. Skodol, H. D. Kellman, S. E. Hyler, N. Doidge, L. Rosnick and P. E. Gallaher. 1995. “Comorbidity of Axis I and Axis II disorders.” American Journal of Psychiatry 152(4): 571–578. Overman, A. A, J. Hoge, J. Alexander Dale, J. Cross and A. Chien. 2003. “EGG Alpha Esynchronization in Musicans and Nonmusicians in Response to Changes in Melody, Tempo, and Key in Classical Music.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 97: 519-532. Papousek, M. and S. F. C. Hwang. 1991. “Tone and Intonation in Mandarin Babytalk to Presyllabic Infants: Comparison with Registers of Adult Conversation and Foreign Language Instruction.” Applied Psycholinguistics 12(4): 481-504. Peretti, P. O. and K. Swenson. 1974. “Effects of Music on Anxiety as determined by Physiological Skin Responses.” Journal of Research in Music Education 22(4): 278-283. Pinker, S. 1997. How the Mind Works. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. Richardson, L. and M. Wolfe. 2001. Principles and Practice of Informal Education; Learning Through Life. London: Routledge. Roballey, T. C, C. McGreevy, R. R. Rongo, M. L. Schwantes, J. Steger, M. A. Winiger and E. B. Gardner. 1985. “The Effect of Music on Eating Behavior.” Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 23: 221-222. Robb, S. L., Nichols, S. J., Rutan, R. L., Bishop, B. L. and Parker, J. C. 1995. “The effects of music assisted relaxation on preoperative anxiety.” Journal of Music Therapy 32: 2-21. Rodriguez, S. 1978. Al final de este viaje. Movieplay. Ross, Susan A. 1966. “Background Music Systems—Do They Pay?” Administrative Management Journal 27(August): 34-37.

22

Chapter Two

Scartelli, J. P. 1984. “The Effect of Biofeedback and Sedative Music, EMG Biofeedback Only, and Sedative Music Only on Frontalis Muscle Relaxation Ability.” Journal of Music Therapy 21(2): 67-68. Sinha, R., W.R. Lovallo and O.A. Parsons. 1992. “Cardiovascular Differentiation of Emotions.” Psychosomatic Medicine 1992; 54(4): 422-435. Sprenger, M. 2002. Becoming a “Wiz” at Brain-based Teaching: From Translation to Application. How to Make Every Year Your Best Year. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Standley, J. M. and S. B Hanser. 1995. “Music Therapy Research and Applications in Pediatric Oncology Treatment.” Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing 12: 3-10. Steiner, R (1923/1988) The Child’s Changing Consciousness and Waldorf Education. New York: Anthroposophic Press. Toiviainen, P. and C. L. Krumhansl. 2003. “Measuring and Modeling Real-time Responses to Music: the Dynamics of Tonality Induction.” Perception 32(6): 741-766. Updike, P. A. and D. M. Charles. 1987. “Music RX: Physiological and Emotional Responses to Taped Music Programs of Preoperative Patients Awaiting Plastic Surgery.” Annals of Plastic Surgery 9(1): 2933. Uther, M., M. A Knoll and D. K Burnham. 2007. “Do You Speak E-NGL-I-SH? A Comparison of Foreigner- and Infant-directed Speech.” Speech Communication 49: 2-7. Walter, R. C. 1971. "Piped-In Music Is Money to Employers," Administrative Management Journal 32(March): 66. Webster, C. 1973. “Relaxation, Music and Cardiology: the Physiological and Psychological Consequences of their Interrelation.” Australian Journal of Occupational Therapy 20: 9-20. William Pryse-Phillips. 2003. Companion to Clinical Neurology. Oxford University Press: 611. Wilson E. O. 2012. The Social Conquest of the Earth. New York, NY: Liveright Publishers. Wilson. 2006. The Drumming of Traditional Ashanti Healing Ceremonies. Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology (11).

PART 2: MUSIC AS A PATHWAY TO COGNITION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

CHAPTER THREE FROM MELODIOUS CRIES TO ARTICULATED SOUNDS: MELODY AT THE ROOT OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION KATHLEEN WERMKE CENTER FOR PRE-SPEECH DEVELOPMENT AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS, UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG, GERMANY

AND WERNER MENDE THE BERLIN-BRANDENBURG ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, BERLIN, GERMANY

Introduction Infants from all cultures seem to pass through the same early stages of melody development at the same phase of life history, long before extensive vocabulary and grammar are established. The initial stages of vocal development are guided by melody, which is a consequence of the still immature brain representing a critical “learner bottleneck”. Primitive prosody in the form of melody and rhythmic variations are trained, combined, repeatedly stabilized and, finally, shaped by the ambient language and culture during the first year of life. The human infant is the most proficient vocal learner of all primates, and differs from his or her primate relatives in that s/he is specifically pre-adapted to acquire oral language. By introducing our Melody Development Model (MD-Model), we will explain the importance of returning to the root of language development in infants if we are to achieve a full understanding of language acquisition. The musical elements of human infants’ pre-speech vocalizations described here seem to reflect much more than a special

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

25

musical feature; they are probably also an imperative and a necessary precondition for language acquisition. As in music, where melody can be described as the “main theme of a musical piece, the part you sing along with, the succession of tones that are most salient in your mind” (Levitin 2007, c2006, 17), melody in spoken language is the “main theme” of the emotional and linguistic prosody of an utterance. In fact, the melodic charge of spoken language is often more salient and influential than the bare informative content. This becomes particularly obvious in the pre-speech vocalizations of infants, long before extensive vocabulary and grammar is established during later stages of language acquisition. A prototype for melodic talking without words is the typical jargon stage babbling (Bernthal 1994; Sroufe et al. 1996; Bjorklund 2012; Bornstein and Lamb 2011; Bornstein, Arterberry and Lamb 2013). Jargon is a typical stage of pre-speech development across the first year of life. It can begin as early as 9-10 months. In their early conversational babbling, or jargon babbling, the intonation and stress children use in their melodic talking when their speech is not yet intelligible mimics that of their mother tongue: “Jargon babbling is strings of sound filled with a variety of intonations and rhythms to sound like meaningful speech. Babies now often sound as if they are carrying on their end of a conversation, with the intonations sometimes reflecting questions or explanations, but their ‘words’ are only babble sounds” (Pellegrini and Bjorklund 1998, 158). This means the infants produce a series of melodious sounds that gives the impression of a conversation, but that still lacks linguistic content or grammatical structure. An excellent opportunity to observe jargon babbling is given by infants around the age of one who are given a mobile phone to play with, which is a situation that is quite common for parents in Western countries today. Using the mobile phone, infants imitate parental speech behaviour by “talking” to an imaginary partner despite producing almost no identifiable words. Although we are unaware as to whether this behaviour has yet been tested experimentally, we are sure that most native listeners are capable of at least getting a rough idea about the “content” of such “chat” by listening to an infant’s jargon babbling: questions are signalled by a rising melody at the end of a string of babbled “words”; specific melodic variations of phrases or word templates mimic the rhythm of the child’s native language; and pauses are included in babbled sounds as if to wait for the response of an imaginary dialogue partner. Moreover, parents may sometimes themselves identify their own melodic speech

26

Chapter Three

habits when listening to their infant “talking” to someone on the phone during this special developmental period. The developmental phenomenon of jargon babbling is an impressive example of how deeply melody is anchored in the language acquisition process. In jargon babbling, children do not commonly utter sequences of already learnt first words. On the contrary, instead they seem to care very little about these words, preferring to utter melodic sequences in order to “tell a story” and await responses from the imagined communication partner. At the jargon babbling age, children have generally mastered the typical canonical babbling stage. Consequently, they are able to articulate syllable sequences characterized by speech-like speed in the timing of the transitions between vowel and consonant portions of single syllables (e.g. Eugene Buder, Warlaumont, and Oller 2013; Oller, 2000), and are often also capable of producing their first words. However, children of this age intensively exploit melody at the cost of articulatory clarity in order to “talk” more fluently and use longer phrase-like sequences. That means that children at this age emphatically put the focus more on melody than on articulation in order to imitate their parents’ speech melody instead of their articulated expressions. Telling a “tale” of emotions experienced, affects, ideas and situations, which are reproduced as a stream of melodic sounds with rhythmical pauses here and there, is obviously the solution to getting satisfactorily deep into the “story” the infant wants to tell. However, in our model of vocal development, which is outlined elsewhere in more detail (Wermke and Mende 2011b) and summarized here, jargon babbling represents an essential stage in a hierarchical system of melody development that ultimately results in word and sentence production. The emergence of jargon babbling around the first year of life demonstrates the significance of melodic streaming for language acquisition.

In the beginning is the melody Many researchers dedicated to describing language acquisition agree with the view that language and music are innate human capacities that are strongly linked. However, there is often still hesitation when it comes to accepting that melodic (musical) elements in the crying of infants are an important constituent of early language development. Indeed, it may be much easier to accept that cooing or babbling infants are further along the path to achieving oral language than crying infants. Nevertheless, most scientists would not have a problem in accepting that the calls of our primate relatives or the songs of birds are precursors to oral language, although these animal sounds are in no way more “speech-like” than the

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

27

crying of human infants (e.g. Arnold and Zuberbühler 2006; Berwick, Okanoya, Beckers, Gabriel, and Bolhuis 2011; Beckers, Gabriël, Bolhuis, Okanoya, and Berwick 2012; Bolhuis and Everaert 2013). Like some other scientists (e.g. Vihman 1996; Falk 2009), we are surprised that human infant crying attracts so little attention among the researchers concentrating on achieving a better understanding of language acquisition and evolution, while the vocal sounds of many other species, none of which develop a language faculty, are the focus of intensive neuro-biological research (with high financial support) into solving the enigma of spoken language evolution. Is there, perhaps, an unconscious concern that infant crying, with its huge manifold of melodic (musical) elements, could indeed correspond to precursors within language evolution and may thus reflect early roots of oral language development? Alternatively, it may, of course, be that pre-speech sounds are simply not in most linguists’ field of interest, because their focus is on grammatical structures in utterances of older children. However, since most developmental scientists and linguists agree when it comes to the initial crucial role of prosody for language acquisition, it is possibly that it is only a lack of interest, and thus knowledge, that may cause the “cry fear” in investigations of early vocal development (e.g. (Eugene Buder et al., 2013; Oller 2000). This might be due to an ignorance of both systematic melody development in crying and of the increasing manifold of melodic patterns by combinatorics in the crying of young infants, or at least in mitigated crying in pain-free circumstances. Looking back, it becomes clear that an underestimation of infant crying within descriptions of language acquisition seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon, which is probably at least partly understandable due to the approach of many speech scientists in comparing pre-speech vocalization exclusively against standard of normal adult speech. Indeed, much valuable effort has been made when it comes to identifying precursors and mature elements of adult speech in infant pre-speech utterances (Koopmans-van-Beinum, 1986; Oller 2000; Oller et al., 2013; Oller 2014; Stark, Bernstein, and Demorest 1993; Stark, Rose, and McLagen 1975; Vihman 1996). As a consequence, a classification of these utterances into so-called “speech-like” and “not speech-like” vocalization types was artificially introduced in order to make the ‘adult speech’ perspective work better. It is not difficult to anticipate where infant crying ended up within this classification: in the non-speech category, which consequently means that crying was declared de facto as being “unimportant” for a better understanding of language development. From our experiences over the last 25 years of pre-speech studies, this is probably a mistake. It is hardly

28

Chapter Three

possible to comprehensively characterize a developmental course regarding language in infants when using approaches that are based on, and hence constrained by, the target features of mature adult speech. Indeed, in our view, infants’ first moves towards acquiring speech and language are primarily “musical”; they serve as the preparations that are imperative for the emergence and development of streaming sound and articulation. It seems interesting to take a very short excursion into history to support the preceding argument. Early perceptions of the infant cry include a strong link between its musical elements and the development of language. For example, William Gardiner (1832), an English musician (not to be mistaken for his namesake, the British Egyptologist Alan Gardiner, who published work on linguistic theory about 100 years later, in 1932), was probably one of the first to recognize, somewhat intuitively, and discuss similarities between infant crying and music. From today’s perspective, Gardiner was surprisingly modern in his interpretation of early human infant crying. Indeed, in pointing out the musical elements, he stated that vocal communication does not necessarily require words and grammar, and that an infant’s crying may be where meaningful communication starts: “Children have no difficulty in expressing their wants, their pleasure, and pains, by their cries, long before they know the use or meaning of a word; and it is surprising to see with what energy they will evince the strongest passion” (Gardiner 1832, 195). With his book “the Music of Nature”, Gardiner anticipated subsequent views on infant crying and its relation to oral language development (e.g. Darwin 1871; Flatau and Gutzmann 1906; Lewis 1936). It was about 40 years later when Charles Darwin mentioned “musical cries” and “articulated sounds” when postulating that language may owe its origin to “[…] man’s own instinctive cries, aided by sign and gestures” (Darwin 1871, 87). Darwin’s idea of musical crying preceding articulated sounds in evolution is precisely what we have found in our studies of human infants (Wermke and Mende 2011b).

Melody as a key parameter for cry diagnostics and the investigation of language acquisition The starting point of our insight into understanding melody development as a vital component of language acquisition was clinical studies on infant crying conducted in the late 1980s (Mende, Herzel, and Wermke 1990; Mende, Wermke, Schindler, Wilzopolski, and Höck 1990; Wermke et al. 1988). At that time, the community of cry researchers was highly motivated to identify suitable risk-markers for neuro-physiological

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

29

development from cry parameters based on a concept proposed by Scandinavian paediatricians in the 1960s (Bosma, Truby, and Lind, 1965; Wasz-Höckert, Lind, Vuorenkoski, Partanen, and Valanne, 1968). Indeed, brain studies performed over the following 30 years accumulated direct and indirect evidence that it is not only the brain stem, but also higher CNS structures that seem to be involved in the cry production of human infants (e.g. Dehaene-Lambertz et al. 2010; Háden et al. 2009; Leroy et al. 2011; Newman 2007; Perani et al. 2011; Stefanics et al. 2009). The systematic programme of melody development discovered as the main result of our cry studies further buttressed the association of brain organizational and functional processes with cry features. Recently, this was further complemented by the identification of the contribution of sex hormones to this association (Wermke, Hain, Oehler, Wermke, and Hesse 2014). In classical “cry diagnostics”, crying was not yet recognized to change systematically across the first few months of life with regard to its melody. This lack of specific knowledge, for instance, seriously constrained the clinical exploitation of the principally correct insight that melody (fundamental frequency) is the essential characteristic of all cry properties analysed when it comes to an investigation of a possible association between cry acoustics and medical conditions. Beyond “cry diagnostics” melody is also a key parameter for the investigation of early language development. According to our proposed Melody Development Model (MD-Model), vocal development starts with a continuously increasing frequency of occurrence of complex cries and a growing complexification of melody over the first few months of life (Mende and Wermke 2005, 2006; Wermke 2002; Wermke, Leising, and Stellzig-Eisenhauer 2007; Wermke and Mende 1994, 2011a, 2011b; Wermke, Mende, Manfredi, and Bruscaglioni 2002). In the following section, we will introduce the model in some more detail. We will also explain what we mean by “simple” versus “complex” melody, how complex melodies are composed and modified, and why melody development marks the beginning of language acquisition.

Infants are proficient melodic vocalizers: the Melody Development Model (MD-Model) The MD-Model (Wermke and Mende 1994, 2011b) describes a “simple” cry melody as a melody consisting of a single ascending then descending flank of the fundamental frequency (F0) of an utterance. The two flanks together constitute an arc-like structure described as a “melody arc”.

30

Chapter Three

Crying using these simple melody patterns modifies the air stream with a rhythmical sequence of expiratory cries with a single-arc melody (Fig. 31a). The shape of these melody arcs is variable, but is characterized by four shape prototypes when applying a mathematical modelling approach: (1) a fast ascending then slowly descending arc ÷ a left-accentuated melody type, (2) a slowly ascending then fast descending arc ÷ a rightaccentuated melody type, (3) an almost symmetrical ascending then descending arc ÷ a symmetrical melody type, and (4) a flat melody at a certain frequency ÷ a plateau type.1 Moreover, neonates and infants are capable of generating easily audible tonal steps (often short plateaus) that are additionally incorporated in the melody structure. These special elements are often perceivable as tone intervals along the full musical repertoire from unison to octave(s), with the half-tone being found to be a prevailing interval in the crying of young infants (Weigl 2012; Wermke and Mende 2009, 2011a).

Fig. 3-1a and 3-1b (following page): The frequency of occurrence of complex melodies increases in infant mitigated crying over the first 4.5 months (n=43,780 cry utterances from a total of 270 infants; the number of included infants per time interval: mean 110, range 56-224). Displayed are bi-weekly means and the corresponding confidence intervals. For reliability reasons and confidence interval estimation, a permutation approach within a re-sampling method was used (1,000 random drawings per time interval, divided over six groups).

1

Although principally capable of producing variants of all four prototypes, preliminary studies provided evidence that individual neonates seem to prefer certain shape variations. This preference was postulated as at least partly being related to prenatal auditory experiences with maternal speech melodies and rhythm (Mampe, Friederici, Christophe & Wermke 2009; Dahlem 2008; Prochnow 2013).

From Meelodious Cries to Articulated S Sounds

31

Fig. 3-1 a: T Time waveform ms and narrow-b band (45Hz) sppectrograms displaying a cry segment cconsisting of a sequence of ex xpiratory cries with a single-aarc (a) and multiple-arc m melody (b), respectively, inteerrupted by insspiratory noise following each single crry utterance.

Fig. 3-1b: Inn contrast to a simple single--arc melody, a “complex” crry melody consists of tw wo or more conncatenated sing gle arcs. Compllex melodies may m further exhibit rhythm mical variationss generated by short s “segmenta tation pauses” (oscillatory stop of vocaal folds) betweeen melody arccs (Wermke annd Mende 2009 9, 2011b). Accordingly, crying with coomplex melody patterns modullates the air streeam with a

32

Chapter Three

rhythmical sequence of multiple-arc cries (with or without segmentation pauses) interrupted by inspiratory noise.

The MD-Model further claims that the four single-arc melody types represent autonomous elements functioning as building blocks for the generation of complex melody patterns. It also claims that the four melody types are combinable in any possible sequence, only constrained by physiological factors. Most simply, running out of air constrains the maximal number of repeated or concatenated melody arcs within a single expiratory cry utterance. In order to illustrate the high number of distinguishable variations and combinations in cry melodies, a simple thought experiment should be performed. We assume a cry melody consisting of four melody arcs (four concatenated building blocks as introduced above). Furthermore, we assume three segmentation pauses that structure this cry melody rhythmically. For reasons of simplification, we assume only three properties belonging to the arcs: (1) shape type, (2) arc duration, and (3) frequency modulation amplitude; for each of the three properties we assume four clearly distinguishable steps—which is an appropriate discretisation for properties (2) and (3): (1) shape type: four different melody types (see above) (2) arc duration: four distinguishable durations (e.g. 150 ms, 250ms, 350 ms, 500 ms) (3) FM-amplitude: four clearly distinguishable ratios (musical intervals; e.g. half-tone steps). Hence, the number of possible melody patterns is 64 (4*4*4) per single melody arc. For the complete four-arc melody, the number of possible combinatory melody variations is 644, i.e. more than 16 Million. Taking further into account the maximal three possible segmentation pauses (see above), the number of different melody variations increases to more than 100 Million (644 x 23) for the single cry utterance under consideration. It is not difficult to see that this process of variation and complexification results in an “explosion of possibilities” and leads to manifold complex melody patterns and cry rhythms. Theoretically, we can see that there are an almost open-ended number of combinations generating a huge variety of melodic and rhythmic patterns in the crying of human infants. Indeed, many of those combinatory patterns have already been observed in our studies. A similar combinatorics is often described for infant babbling with its doubtless playful reduplication and concatenation of an ever greater number of syllables (Lipkind et al. 2013).

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

33

Our cry studies demonstrate that the principle for composing complex structures by combinatorics cannot be reserved as a decisive phenomenon of infant babbling alone within pre-speech development. In their latest publication on the origins of music, Merker, Morley, and Zuidema, (2015) referred to Wilhelm von Humboldt (1836), pointing to the fact that both music and language are generative, i.e. they produce “infinite pattern variety by finite means”. They further stressed that the key to this huge variety seems not to be primarily recursion, but combinatorics. Likewise, we argue here that combinatorial strategies underlie the developmental programme of cry melody in order to generate a reservoir for melodic and rhythmic patterns (prosodic primitives) for any language to be learnt. A second key dimension of the MD-Model is the uni-directional increase in the relative frequency of the occurrence of cries with a complex melody over the first few months of life2. We found a remarkably stable increase in the frequency of occurrence of complex melodies in crying. An analysis of 270 infants with more than 43,700 cry utterances demonstrated an increasing preference of infants for complex melodies over vocal development in the first five months of life (Fig. 3-2).

2

The subdivision into single-arc and multiple-arc melodies was conducted by examining the melody contours and double-checked using the frequency spectra. Arc-like melody substructures were identified, and the arcs were defined as being longer than 150 ms and exhibiting an FM-amplitude of at least three semitones. The inter-rater reliability of this interactive coding procedure was tested using a randomly selected sub-sample of 400 cries. A total of 128 of these cries had previously been identified as consisting of a single-arc melody; the other 272 had been identified as consisting of multiple-arc melodies. All 400 cries were then analysed again by a second independent rater who had no information about how the cries had been judged previously. As a measure of inter-rater reliability, we computed Cohen’s Index Kappa, which turned out to be 0.79 (p = 0.001), indicating a high degree of agreement between the raters in identifying melody complexity and the frequency of occurrence of complex melodies.

34

Chapter Three

Fig. 3-2. Thee frequency off occurrence off complex meloodies increasess in infant mitigated cryying over the firrst 4.5 months (n=43,780 ( cry uutterances from m a total of 270 infants; tthe number of included i infantss per time interrval: mean 110, range 56224). Bi-weekkly means and the correspond ding confidencee intervals are displayed. For reliabilityy reasons and confidence c interrval estimationn, a permutation n approach within a re-saampling methodd was used (1,0 000 random dra rawings per tim me interval, divided over ssix groups).

In neonaates, a compaarably low percentage of aabout 38% off complex melodies weere identified in the first tw wo weeks of life (first week: about 30%). In weeeks 3-4, the relative frequ uency of the ooccurrence off complex melodies inncreased to abbout 45%, an nd, after a fuurther continu uous rise, reached a value of aboutt 52% at week ks 7-8. Durinng the third month, m the level remainned unchangeed, but there was w again a m marked increaase at the beginning of the fourth and a the start of o the fifth moonths of life (F Fig. 3-2), with the ratee rising to aboout 65% over the t first four aand a half months. The third monthh thus represeents a stabiliization phase,, in which previously p trained mellody patterns now functio on as scaffoolding for artticulatory activity thaat becomes continuously more m prominnent. From th he fourth month onwaards, infants seem to expllore intensiveely the sensattions and effects resullting from theeir playing witth complex m melodies, melo ody-tuned resonance ffrequencies (see ( next section) and sseveral conso onant-like elements, w with the outcoome being ty ypical babblinng behaviourr. At this developmenntal period, thhe intensified training of suupra-laryngeaal activity starts, leadding to intenntionally coo ordinated phoonation and,, finally, articulation in comfort souunds.

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

35

The Scaffolding Function of Melody in Comfort-state Vocalizations Given the arguments outlined above, the following legitimate questions emerge: what happens to this melody pattern in non-cry vocalizations? Or, to put it in the language of Darwin, how do “articulated sounds” develop out of “melodic cries”? Do cooing and babbling utterances have similar melody patterns? How do articulatory elements come into play? How do they interfere with melody development? Our longitudinal studies provide a first answer: As described in a previous publication (Wermke and Mende 2011b, 637-639), an objective comparison of melody shapes (single-arc building blocks) in crying and babbling using a mathematical model demonstrated recurring shape characteristics in crying and babbling melodies. This means that the modelling results indicated a striking shape similarity of melody arcs in both crying and babbling. This outcome buttresses the complexification hypothesis of our MD-Model: identical building blocks were identified in vocalizations at the beginning (crying) and during an advanced stage of vocal development towards language (babbling). This points to recurring architectural principles through using previous achievements under new conditions and with more elaborate skills and to a gradual transition from crying to subsequent pre-speech phases. Finally, we will here consider how the maturation of supra-laryngeal control mechanisms, along with major developmental changes in the vocal tract structure (Vorperian et al. 2005), gradually enable the young infant to modify his or her “melodic cries” by incorporating new elements into the vocal production system. At this point, it is important to remember that it is the immature brain that prevents a young infant from speaking, and not primarily the specifics of his vocal tract anatomy (representing a critical “learner bottleneck”). The developmental challenge is not fundamentally connected to the geometry and related acoustics of the vocal tract but also, or even more so, to the maturation of the brain control systems for articulation. At the end of the second month of life, typically developing infants have already passed through the major steps of the melody development outlined above (cf. Fig. 3-2). They are now prepared to expand their sound repertoire or, from a systems theoretical perspective, to incorporate new elements in the “melody system” which has stabilised meanwhile. The transitory plateau between the 7/8th to the 11/12th week in the curve displayed in Fig. 3-2 indicates this important stabilization phase within early postnatal melody development. From a developmental point of view,

36

Chapter Three

laryngeal phonation and vocal tract based articulation are initially independently working systems. The challenging and novel task for infants at this developmental stage is to establish and subsequently rehearse a controlled interaction of these two systems, resulting in intentional flexibility for producing “articulated sounds” in pre-speech and later speech. The start of this new phase is characterized by typical explorative vocal behaviour at this age, which reflects an intensive testing and experiencing of the multi-parametric resonance characteristics of the vocal tract by playing with the articulators under simultaneous coupling to melody movements. As the controlled tuning of both systems progresses, a joyful rehearsal of the strategies discovered takes place accompanied by a further increase in the frequency of occurrence of new complex melodies (Fig. 3-2) and by faster transitions between modes of articulation (Fig. 33c). In order to visualize the genesis of a well-tuned action of phonatory and articulatory mechanisms, we tracked the first two resonance frequencies of the infants’ sounds and subsequently performed a specific analysis of their interaction with the melody and its harmonics, respectively. This helped us to recognize that melody works as scaffolding or a type of corset for establishing and stabilizing articulation, which is the third essential dimension of the MD-Model (Wermke and Mende 2011b). In Fig. 3-3a to c, three typical examples are given in the form of special tuning diagrams. The three diagrams contain a background pattern based on the melody (F0) and its harmonics using a linear frequency scale in this spectrogram. For the first two resonance frequencies (R1, R2), the resonance tracking function was drawn and displayed synchronously to the harmonics (for the method details, see (Mende and Wermke 2005; Wermke et al. 2005; Wermke et al. 2002).

Fig. 3-3a to c (following pages): Tuning-diagrams: The blue-red-marked resonance points represent the position of the two resonance vertex lines (R1, R2) in the space between adjacent harmonics (background spectrogram). A distance of vertex lines less than 100 Hz from the nearest harmonic is marked by red points. These coincide with our analysis bandwidth and mark the resonances tuned to the corresponding harmonic.

From Meelodious Cries to Articulated S ounds

Fig. 3-3a.

Fig. 3-3b.

37

38

Chapter Three

Fig. 3-3c.

The pattern of the spontaaneously utterred (mitigatedd) cry displayeed in Fig. 3-3a exhibits periods off mastered tu uning (red paarts) between the first resonance fr frequency R1 and the third d harmonic, aas well as R2 2 and the sixth harmonnic. There aree also two time periods duriing which the coupling gets lost (bblue parts). The T tendency to re-establissh the tuning g of both systems in these periodss by a redireection to the preceding esstablished situation insstead of towarrds the nearesst harmonic iss worthy of note. n This seems to reeflect the firrst sign of an n “intentionaal” exploratio on of the sensations generated byy sequences of establishhing, losing and reestablishing a tuning situuation caused by the interaaction of laryn ngeal and supra-larynggeal controls. In a subssequent develoopmental step (Fig. 3-3b), ssimilar tuning processes emerge thatt now involvve different harmonics (tr transition pheenomena). Listeners caan easily percceive the resu ult of those ttransitions as different vowel-like eelements withiin a pre-speecch utterance (iinitiation of co ontrasting vowels). Thhese specific tuuning events prevail p in voccalizations of infants at about three tto four monthhs of age, but have h also reguularly been ob bserved in older infantss (Wermke ett al. 2013). In infants younnger than threee months, they occur only very spporadically. The T intentionnal mastering of such transition phhenomena is an a essential prrerequisite forr performing rapid r and accurate shiifts between vowel formaants in babblling and laterr speech.

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

39

Temporal features, such as the speed and dynamics of these tuned transitions (compare examples 3-3b and 3-3c), depend on the neurophysiological fitness of the underlying control systems, as well as on the intended articulatory target (e.g. syllable type). The building blocks that infants have at their disposal at about three to four months of age can be summarized as follows: they have acquired a huge repertoire of melodic and rhythmical elements, and are also capable of well-controlled adjustments between the melody and resonance frequencies of the vocal tract. As a consequence, they are masters of vowel babbling. For completing the developmental process, consonants or consonant-like elements are all that is missing for the preliminary completion of the sketch of vocal development towards language outlined in this chapter. Like vowels, consonants are an integral part of syllables, which are the basic units of all languages. In a way, putting consonants into play may appear to be a comparably simple task (seemingly just to constrict the vocal tract). From a systems theoretical perspective, this is by no means easy and poses considerable challenges for the phonatoryarticulatory system. It is a demanding task to add consonants while maintaining or repeatedly re-establishing stability of the coupled system. The high speed of the underlying articulo-motoric processes requires an intensive training in order to produce different consonants simultaneously with controlled melodic movements under their temporary tuning to the resonance frequencies. This explains why the developmental challenge is not related to the vocal tract’s geometry alone, but essentially to the brain. However, our young infants become increasingly more skilled over the next months and reach the canonical babbling stage. Accompanying and guiding this developmental process across the first year there finally occurs a novel challenge for melody: melody needs to expand its scaffolding function into longer time units and eventually becomes exploited for phrase and sentence intonation. This marks the period when the slowly progressive partial decoupling of melodies from instantaneous affective states begins. From a phylogenetic perspective, the decoupling from short-term emotional states to more persistent states and the establishment of long-term prosodic connections is a relatively late achievement of modern language. As a result, it is probably not by chance that this decoupling also starts relatively late during ontogenetic vocal development towards spoken language. In conclusion, early vocal development from the systems analytical perspective outlined above demonstrates that the integration of different elements (e.g. complex melodies, adjustment to resonance frequencies, and constriction of the vocal tract) generates combinatorial manifolds. It

40

Chapter Three

produces potential for new vocal performances which, as elements of the next higher level, in turn undergo a corresponding differentiation and maturation process. The MD-Model reflects the multi-level organizational process of early language development. According to the principle of modular composition, initial single elements (melodic, rhythmic and articulatory building blocks), i.e. so-called proto-modules, develop separately, differentiate, and stabilize to become modules (mature building blocks). Such modules can be interpreted as autonomous disposable entities that are available on request to higher systems. A combination of different modules results in new performances which, as elements of the next higher level of phonatory/articulatory system organization, in turn undergo a corresponding differentiation and maturation process. This recurring (iterative) process results in a continuously growing repertoire of infant sound properties, and explains the universal sequence of vocalization types and the supra-segmental organization that emerge over the first year of life (melodic crying, cooing, marginal babbling, canonical babbling, jargon, and word production). In a nutshell, our MD-Model describes the composition of complex cry melodies by a strategy of repetition, specialization and combination. That means that the model interprets melody development across the first few months of life as an excellent example of the general evolutionary principle for composing complex structures (Maynard Smith and Szathmáry 1997; Riedl 1975). The sketch of early vocal development towards language described in this chapter may, at first glance, seem to be rather simple. Indeed, we confess that several specifics have been excluded here, and need to be outlined in more detail elsewhere. However, the aims of this chapter are to introduce our perspective on early language development of infants and highlight the importance of musical elements within this process. The complex patterns of pre-speech melody are, at least in some respects, similar to simple musical melodies. Of course, melody in scale-based music is a sequence of discrete notes which represent well-determined frequency plateaus. Although the notes can be bound by a more or less smooth transition, the frequency steps might be noticeable. In contrast, melody in crying commonly has no marked step-structure. All pre-speech melodies are glissandi that are smoothly slurred or swept over a certain frequency range. They are modulations of the fundamental frequency perceived as a gestalt (single entity). So, like a composer of music, the human infant is capable of creating a “musical piece” with only one instrument, the vocal folds and the cooperating articulators.

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

41

How does semantics come into play? At this early phase of individual life-history there is still not a deep gap between meaning and symbol. In young infants, “coding” for needs and emotional states is not arbitrary, but it is closely coupled to real physiological processes and bodily states (for which we use the term “body-near”). The highly emotionally charged vocal productions of infants reflect an acoustical streaming via melody with, as yet, no difference between “music” or “language”, which we think is exactly what Steven Mithen described from a phylogenetic perspective of language evolution (Mithen 2006). From the phylogenetic perspective, a branching that occurs much later may recapitulate the emergence of different coding processes; one leading to language faculty with definite hierarchically organized semantics, the other leading to a corresponding musical culture with defined musical systems. Both processes are driven by different coding principles for processing one-dimensional sound streams in the brain: on the one hand, an optimization for fast switches of highly contrastive sequences for speech signals with definite semantics, on the other hand, an optimization for highly emotionally charged sequences without adherence to a formal linguistic semantics. There is an ongoing dispute over the question of whether (proto)music preceded, paralleled or succeeded (proto)language in its evolutionary origin (cf. Wallin, Merker, Brown 2000; Merker et al. 2015). The origin of spoken language, particularly the transformation from any form of primitive song or protolanguage into a full-blown language, still belongs to the enigmas of human evolution, despite more than 180 years of intensive research. However, we are convinced that understanding vocal development in human infants, as the only animal that acquires a language faculty, will provide an essential contribution to resolving this enigma. Discussion questions: x What changes in the cry melody can be observed during the first months of life? x Which arguments can be made to support the view that the cry melody functions as a primitive prosody? x Is the analysis of consonant-and vowel-like elements in cooing and early babbling adequate when it comes to characterizing an infants’ developmental stage towards language? x What function does melody fulfil for articulatory development?

42

Chapter Three

References Arnold, K. and K. Zuberbühler. 2006. Language Evolution: Semantic Combinations in Primate Calls. Nature 441(7091): 303. doi: 10.1038/441303a. Beckers, Gabriël J. L., J. J. Bolhuis, K. Okanoya, and R. C. Berwick. 2012. Birdsong Neurolinguistics: Songbird Context-free Grammar Claim is Premature. Neuroreport 23(3): 139–145. doi:10.1097/WNR.0b013e32834f1765. Bernthal, J. E. 1994. Phonological Characteristics of Special Populations: Child Phonology: Characteristics, Assessment, and Intervention with Special Populations (Colonial Records of North Carolina) (Englisch) Gebundene Ausgabe—Juli 1994. Child Phonology: Characteristics, Assessment, and Intervention with Special Populations (Colonial Records of North Carolina) (Englisch) Gebundene Ausgabe—Juli 1994. Current Therapy of Communication Disorders. New York, Stuttgart, New York: Thieme Medical Publishers; Georg Thieme Verlag. Berwick, R. C., K. Okanoya, Gabriel J. L. Beckers and J. J. Bolhuis. 2011. Songs to Syntax: the Linguistics of Birdsong. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15(3): 113–121. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.01.002 Bjorklund, D. F. 2012. Children's Thinking: Cognitive Development and Individual Differences, 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Bolhuis, J. J. and M. B. H. Everaert. 2013. Birdsong, Speech, and Language: Exploring the Evolution of Mind and Brain. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press. Bornstein, M. H. and M. E. Lamb. 2011. Development in Infancy: An Introduction, 5th ed. Hove: Psychology. Bosma, J. F., H. M. Truby and J. Lind. 1965. “Cry Motions of the Newborn Infant.” Acta Paediatrica 54: 60–92. doi:10.1111/j.16512227.1965.tb09309.x Dahlem, M. M. 2008. Untersuchung akustischer Eigenschaften spontaner Lautaeußerungen japanischer Neugeborener—ein Beitrag zur Erarbeitung sprachuniverseller Fruehindikatoren fuer Sprachentwicklungsstoerungen bei Saeuglingen mit orofazialen Spalten. Dissertation. University of Würzburg. Retrieved from http://opus.bibliothek.uniwuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3709 Darwin, C. 1871. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 2nd ed. London: John Murray.

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

43

Dehaene-Lambertz, G., Montavont, A., Jobert, A., Allirol, L., Dubois, J., Hertz-Pannier, L., and Dehaene, S. 2010. Language or Music, Mother or Mozart? Structural and Environmental Influences on Infants’ Language Networks. Brain and Language 114(2): 53–65. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2009.09.003. Eugene Buder, H., Warlaumont, A. S., and Oller, D. K. 2013. An Acoustic Phonetic Catalog of Prespeech Vocalizations from a Developmental Perspective. In B. Peter and Andrea Asenath Nora MacLeod, (Eds.), Languages and Linguistics. Comprehensive Perspectives on Speech Sound Development and Disorders. Pathways from Linguistic Theory to Clinical Practice 103–134. New York: Nova Publishers. Falk, D. 2009. Finding our Tongues: Mothers, Infants and the Origins of Language. Anthropology Online. New York: Basic Books. Flatau, T. S. and H. Gutzmann. 1906. Die Stimme des Säuglings. Archiv für Laryngologie und Rhinologie 18, 139-151. Gardiner A. 1932. The Theory of Language and Speech. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Gardiner, W. 1832. The Music of Nature. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman. Háden, G. P., Stefanics, G., Vestergaard, M. D., Denham, S. L., Sziller, I., and Winkler, I. 2009. Timbre-independent Extraction of Pitch in Newborn Infants. Psychophysiology 46(1), 69–74. doi:10.1111/j.14698986.2008.00749.x. Humboldt, Wilhelm von. 1836. Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluß auf die geistige Entwicklung des Menschengeschlechtes. Berlin: Königlich-Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften; in Kommission: Bonn etc.: F. Dümmler. Koopmans-van Beinum, F. J. and Van der Stelt, J. M. 1986. Early Stages in the Development of Speech Movements. In Precursors of Early Speech, edited by B.J. Lindblom and R. Zetterström, 37-50. Macmillan Press Ltd.: Basingstoke, England. Leroy, F., Glasel, H., Dubois, J., Hertz-Pannier, L., Thirion, B., Mangin, J.-F., and G. Dehaene- Lambertz, 2011. Early Maturation of the Linguistic Dorsal Pathway in Human Infants. The Journal of Neuroscience: the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience 31(4), 1500–1506. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4141-10.2011. Levitin, D. J. 2007, c2006. This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession. New York: Plume. Lewis, M. M. 1936. Infant Speech: A Study of the Beginnings of Language. Classics in Child Development. New York: Arno Press.

44

Chapter Three

Lipkind, D., G. F. Marcus, D. K. Bemis, K. Sasahara, N. Jacoby, M. Takahasi, O. Tchernichovski, 2013. Stepwise Acquisition of Vocal Combinatorial Capacity in Songbirds and Human Infants. Nature 498(7452), 104–108. Mampe, B., A. D. Friederici, A. Christophe, and K. Wermke, 2009. Newborns’ Cry Melody is Shaped by their Native Language. Current biology: CB 19(23), 1994–1997. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.09.064. Maynard Smith, J., and E. Szathmáry, 1997. The Major Transitions in Evolution. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Mende, W., H. Herzel, and K. Wermke, 1990. Bifurcation and Chaos in Newborn Infant Cries. Physical Letters A 145(8/9), 418–424. Mende, W., and K. Wermke, 2005. Time Variations of the Fundamental Frequency (Melody) and Resonance Frequencies in Infants’ Crying— Key Parameters for Pre-speech Development. In C. Manfredi (Ed.), Atti: Vol. 21. Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications. 4th International Workshop: October 29-31, 2005, Firenze, Italy, 33–34. Firenze: Firenze University Press. Mende, W., K. Wermke, S. Schindler, K. Wilzopolski, and S. Höck, 1990. Variability of the Cry Melody and the Melody Spectrum as Indicators for Certain CNS Disorders. In J. Kirkland and B. Maclean (Eds.), Early Child Development and Care: v. 65. Infant Cry Research. Papers from the Third International Workshop, 1989, 95–107. New York: Gordon and Breach Science. Merker, B., I. Morley, and W. Zuidema. 2015. Five Fundamental Constraints on Theories of the Origins of Music. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 370(1664), 20140095. doi:10.1098/rstb.2014.0095. Mithen, S. J. 2006. The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Newman, J. D. 2007. Neural Circuits Underlying Crying and Cry Responding in Mammals. Behavioural Brain Research 182(2), 155– 165. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2007.02.011 Oller, D. K. 2000. The Emergence of the Speech Capacity. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. —. 2014. Phonation Takes Precedence Over Articulation in Development as well as Evolution of Language. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 37(6), 567-8; discussion 577-604. doi:10.1017/S0140525X13004159. Oller, D. K., E. H Buder, H. L Ramsdell, A. S. Warlaumont, L. Chorna, and R. Bakeman. 2013. Functional Flexibility of Infant Vocalization and the Emergence of Language. Proceedings of the National Academy

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

45

of Sciences of the United States of America 110(16), 6318–6323. doi:10.1073/pnas.1300337110. Pellegrini, A. D., and D. F. Bjorklund. 1998. Applied Child Study: A Developmental Approach, 3rd ed. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum. Perani, D., M. C. Saccuman, P.Scifo, A.Anwander, A. Awander, D.Spada, A. D. Friederici. 2011. Neural language networks at birth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108(38), 16056–16061. doi:10.1073/pnas.1102991108. Prochnow, A. 2013. Der Erwerb melodisch-rhythmischer Grundbausteine im Rahmen der vorsprachlichen Entwicklung – eine vergleichende Analyse der Schreie von schwedischen und deutschen Neugeborenen. Dissertation. Retrieved from http://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9974. Riedl, R. 1975. Die Ordnung des Lebendigen: Systembedingungen der Evolution: mit 7 Tabellen. Hamburg: Parey. Stark, R. E., L. E. Bernstein, and M. E. Demorest, 1993. Vocal Communication in the First 18 Months of Life. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 36(3), 548–558. Stark, R. E., S. N. Rose, and M. McLagen, 1975. Features of Infant Sounds: the First Eight Weeks of Life. Journal of Child Language 2(02). doi:10.1017/S0305000900001045. Stefanics, G., G. P. Háden, I. Sziller, L. Balázs, A. Beke, and I. Winkler. 2009. Newborn Infants process pitch intervals. Clinical Neurophysiology: Official Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology 120(2), 304–308. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2008.11.020. Sroufe, L. A., R. G. Cooper, and G. B. DeHart. 1996. Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood. In Child Development its Nature and Course. 3rd ed. 254-285. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Vihman, M. M. 1996. Phonological Development: The Origins of Language in the Child. Applied Language Studies. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell. Vorperian, H. K., R. D. Kent, M. J. Lindstrom, C. M. Kalina, L. R. Gentry, and B. S. Yandell. 2005. Development of Vocal Tract Length During Early Childhood: a Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 117(1), 338–350. Wasz-Höckert, O., J. Lind, V. Vuorenkoski, T. Partanen, and E. Valanne. 1968. The Infant Cry. A Spectrographic and Auditory Analysis. Clinics in Developmental Medicine 29 Lavenham, Suffolk: Spatics International Medical Publications, 1968.

46

Chapter Three

Weigl, R. 2012. Lärm oder Lied? Analyse musikalischer Intervalle in den Lautäußerungen von Säuglingen als komplexe vorsprachliche Fähigkeit: 124 Seiten. Diplomarbeit im Fach Entwicklungspsychologie. Würzburg. Wermke, K. 2002. Untersuchung der Melodieentwicklung im Säuglingsschrei von monozygoten Zwillingen in den ersten 5 Lebensmonaten: Habilitationsschrift. Berlin. Retrieved from http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/habilitationen/wermke-kathleen-2002-0129/PDF/Wermke.pdf Wermke, K., and W. Mende. 1994. Ontogenetic Development of Infant Cry and Non-cry Vocalizations as Early Stages of Speech Abilities. In R. Aulanko and A.-M. Korpijaakko-Huuhka (Eds.), Publications of the Department of Phonetics, University of Helsinki Helsingin yliopiston Fonetiikan laitoksen julkaisuja: Vol. 39. Proceedings of the third Congress of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association, 9-11 August 1993, Helsinki, 181–189. Helsinki: Hakapaino Oy. Wermke, K., and W. Mende. 2009. Musical Elements in Human Infants’ Cries: In the Beginning is the Melody. In O. Vitouch and O. Ladinig (Eds.), Musicae Scientiae: 13 (2 suppl.). Music and Evolution. Musicae Scientiae Special Issue 2009–2010, 151–175. Wermke, K., and W. Mende. 2006. Melody as a primordial legacy from early roots of language. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29, 300. Wermke, K., and W. Mende. 2011a. Am Anfang war die Melodie—Wie Babys ihre Muttersprache erlernen. In Kreativität—Struktur und Emotion, edited by A. Lehman, A. Jeßulat and C. Wünsch, 41–49. Würzburg: Königshausen u. Neumann. Wermke, K., and W. Mende, 2011b. From Emotion to Notion: The Importance of Melody. In Oxford Library of Psychology. The Oxford Handbook of Social Neuroscience, edited by J. Decety and J. T. Cacioppom, 624–648. New York: Oxford University Press. Wermke, K., W. Mende, L. Grauel, K.Wilzopolski, U. Schmucker, and G. Schröder. 1988. The Significance and Determination of Pitch in Newborn Cries and the Melodyspectrum as a Measure of Fundamental Frequency Variability. In J. Kirkland (Ed.), Cry Reports—Special Issue 1987 57–62. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Massey University Press. Wermke, K., Mende, W., Kempf, A., Manfredi, C., Bruscaglioni, P., and Stellzig Eisenhauer A. 2005. Interaction patterns between melodies and resonance frequencies in infants’ pre-speech utterances. In C. Manfredi (Ed.), Atti: Vol. 21. Models and analysis of vocal emissions for

From Melodious Cries to Articulated Sounds

47

biomedical applications. 4th international Workshop: October 29-31, 2005, Firenze, Italy; [proceedings] (187–190). Firenze: Firenze University Press. Wermke, K., W. Mende, C. Manfredi, and P. Bruscaglioni. 2002. Developmental aspects of infant’s cry melody and formants. Medical Engineering and Physics 24(7-8), 501–514. Wermke, K., J. Hain, K. Oehler, P. Wermke, and V. Hesse. 2014. Sex Hormone Influence on Human Infants’ Sound Characteristics: Melody in Spontaneous Crying. Biology Letters 10(5), 20140095. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0095. Wermke, K., D. Leising, and A. Stellzig-Eisenhauer. 2007. Relation of Melody Complexity in Infants’ Cries to Language Outcome in the Second Year of Life: a Longitudinal Study. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 21(11-12), 961–973. doi:10.1080/02699200701659243. Wermke, K., S. Pachtner, B. Lamm, V. Voit, J. Hain, J. Kärtner, and H. Keller, 2013. Acoustic Properties of Comfort Sounds of 3-month-old Cameroonian (Nso) and German Infants. Speech, Language and Hearing 16(3), 149–162. doi:10.1179/2050572813Y.0000000010.

CHAPTER FOUR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSICAL APTITUDE AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS CARMEN TOSCANO-FUENTES UNIVERSITY OF HUELVA

Introduction Teaching how to communicate in a foreign language can be challenging due to a range of factors that influence the process. Teachers needs to cater for their students’ individual differences, affective factors, their language aptitude and their willingness to communicate in order to guarantee the correct development of linguistic competence in the target language, both in the oral skills (listening and speaking) and in the written forms (reading and writing). There has been much research that includes the use of music as a successful resource in the teaching and learning process because it appeals to learners’ emotions (Arnold 1999), aids concentration and helps to stimulate and create a positive and relaxed atmosphere (Fonseca, Toscano-Fuentes, & Wermke 2011) and thus facilitates foreign language learning. Nevertheless, there have been studies that emphasize the fact that learners with musical aptitude get better results than the rest of their classmates with regard to learning a second language (Kolinsky et al. 2009; Slevc & Miyake 2006). Consequently, an improvement of musical ability through a training programme with music has the potential to foster the language learning process. The main goal of this study is to determine whether students with high musical aptitude get better results as far as English skills are concerned (listening, speaking, writing and reading) than those participants with lower scores in the Seashore Musical Aptitude Test.

Relationship between Musical Aptitude and Foreign Language Skills

49

Musical aptitude and foreign language skills There are many characteristics that distinguish the good second language learner from the not-so-good one. According to Skehan (1998), the key factor is the learner’s language aptitude, composed of three interrelated parameters: auditory ability, linguistic ability and memory ability. This author states that each of these has the same importance and that the failure of any of them could cause problems in the learning of a language. Auditory ability is determinant when learning languages since if students are not able to identify and decode the sounds they hear, they will not be able to store them in such a way that they can be retrieved when necessary. So, how can we foster language aptitude in ordinary English lessons in a state school? The solution may be through the incorporation of music and songs in a conscious and repeated way. Music is one of the most helpful and habitually used resources in language lessons due to a number of advantages that it has. Gardner (1985) affirms that people with normal brain functioning seem to possess some musical intelligence, even though it may not be their strongest suit. This could be one of the reasons why the incorporation of music in the teaching and learning process could benefit the majority of pupils. Music is considered to be a motivational tool which may promote enthusiasm and active participation on the part of learners. It also increases cooperation and decreases levels of aggressive behaviour (Hallam & Price 1998), improves learners’ attention while preparing exams (McConnell & Shore, 2011), their concentration (Rothbart et al. 2011) and a positive and relaxed atmosphere (Fonseca, Toscano-Fuentes, & Wermke 2011). Moreover, when melody and lyrics go together the benefits are increased because both hemispheres become interconnected; strengthening retention due to the fact that the right hemisphere learns the melody whereas the left is in charge of words (Guglielmino 1986, 20). Listening to songs facilitates the development of auditory perception (Slevc & Miyake 2006), phonemic consciousness (Lightbown & Spada, 2006) and phonological awareness (Delogu et al. 2010; Anvari, Trainor, Woodside and Levy, 2002), prosody improvement (Lima & Castro 2011), target language memorization (Angelucci et al. 2007; Schellenberg et al. 2007), improvement of pre-reading tasks (Bolduc & Montesi nos-Gelet 2005), writing tasks (Standley et al. 1997) and cultural sensibility (Abbott 2002). The advantages of incorporating songs grow when singing takes place because it aids progress in pronunciation and phonemic discrimination (Moreno et al. 2009; Milovanov et al. 2008), grammar (Murphey 2010; Abbott 2002), vocabulary (Galicia et al. 2006), memory (Christiner &

50

Chapter Four

Reiterer 2013) as well as all the other foreign language skills. Listening to songs increases auditory ability (listening), while singing improves the production of sounds (speaking) and reading. As a consequence, the use of songs in the language classroom may facilitate the development of learners’ language aptitude. In addition, many studies confirm that students with musical aptitude get better results than the rest of their classmates with regard to their second language, due to their strong auditory ability (Kolinsky et al. 2009; Forgeard et al. 2008; Magne et al. 2006). Being skilled at music means having a good ear for analysing and discriminating foreign speech sounds; so, at first sight, musically talented individuals must be better equipped than others (Kolinsky et al. 2009). Due to this fact, we need to question whether the use of songs in the target language benefits all students in the same way or if pupils with musical talent are better equipped than the nontalented ones and also whether Spanish students of English as a Foreign Language with no musical ability derive benefits from a training programme with music in the same way as those participants with superior musical aptitude.

The study Participants The subjects of the study were 49 students in the sixth year of primary school (11-12 years old). They were male and female students attending a state school in the town centre of Lepe (Huelva). Their families have a high socioeconomic level. All of them are native Spanish speakers with normal hearing ability. They received three sessions of 60 minutes per week. None of them attend extra English lessons.

Instruments Three tests were selected in order to test our hypothesis. The first one was an English test provided by the publisher of the Oxford University Press course book Cool Kids; the second one, the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery and the last one is the Seashore Musical Aptitude Test. The Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB) tests students’ “language aptitude”. It helps to determine a person’s readiness to begin the study of a foreign language and to identify students with a special talent or ear for languages. The general test contains six sections, although in this research only tests 5 and 6 were used. Test 5 is related to tone, orality and

Relationship between Musical Aptitude and Foreign Language Skills

51

nasality and test 6 works on pronunciation. The Seashore Musical Aptitude Test is a valid and standardized test that measures oral discrimination pairs in order to detect pitch, loudness, rhythm, time, timbre and tonal memory. All the tests were administered individually and anonymously with the sole presence of the researcher. Although anonymity was maintained in all cases, each student was given a number so that individual progress could be traced.

Training programme with music The training programme was carried out throughout the course of a single academic year. Participants had three sessions of 60 minutes per week. They were not aware that they were taking part to a training programme since the teacher and the researcher were the same person. They had known each other for two years prior to the analysis. The dynamics of the lessons were based on games, songs and TPR activities. The only difference was the inclusion of instrumental music and the incorporation of two songs in each unit instead of one, along with some tasks to improve their musical intelligence. The English test was completed at the beginning and at the end of the academic year, whereas the Pimsleur Aptitude Test and the Seashore Test were filled out at the start of October. When students entered the classroom, a piece of instrumental music could be heard. The style depended on the time of day and the subject they had previously been studying. Music could be changed depending on the students’ mood or behaviour. They got used to listening to music while they did their homework, during the exams or when the teacher explained anything. The purpose of this was to relax the students, activate them or help them to concentrate. As a warming up and closing activity, learners had to sing a Jazz Chant by Carolyn Graham (1978) as a routine (Hi, how are you?/Bye bye, see you tomorrow). These were varied throughout the academic year. Jazz Chants were also used in order to work on some specific grammatical patterns and vocabulary. In each unit, two songs were studied. One was the one recommended by the course book they were using for studying English and the other was chosen by the researcher and was related to the topic of study. It could be a rap song for learning English or a song by their favourite singer or band. Additionally, they undertook several tasks with the aim of improving their musical intelligence. At first, they changed the endings of some lines of a stanza taking into account the rhyme. When they were able to search for other words with the same rhyme, they were

52

Chapter Four

asked to invent a further stanza and a chorus themselves. Finally, they had to create their own song, using the structure of a normal song and the rhythm and melody they felt most comfortable with. This was with a view to performance in a concert at school.

Data analysis The main aim of this study was to determine whether musical aptitude contributed to the improvement of foreign language skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) in all of the students or if there was a difference between the musically talented and the non-talented ones. After completing the Pimsleur Aptitude Test Battery, 51% of the participants obtained a high level in the test whereas 36% had an average level and 13% obtained low results. Tests 5 and 6 of this questionnaire and the final grade in English were compared to observe if those students with an advanced level in auditory skills obtained good results in L2. The result confirms that despite the fact that 55% of students had a good listening level only 34% got excellent marks (A). Simple linear regression and correlation based on the Pearson Lineal Correlation Test were also implemented to test if both variables were related and the correlation was high and positive. The statistical significance was p=, 000 so the results highlighted that there was a significant relationship. People who got better results in the auditory skills part of the PLAB test would also get better results in English language learning. The results of those learners who had advanced levels of auditory ability in tests 5 and 6 of the PLAB, were correlated with the results of those students who had a high level of musical ability as ascertained from the Seashore Musical Test. As has been stated earlier, 55% of participants were good in the PLAB test but only 20% of these were also good musically speaking. The rest performed well either in the auditory or the musical tests but not in both questionnaires. The significance of the correlation value of both measures was put to the test. We obtained a correlation of p =, 290 associated with a significance level of 0,043, evidence of a positive statistical significance between the two variables. The statistical significance of this correlation allowed us to affirm that students with higher scores with respect to auditory skills also had higher marks with respect to musical intelligence. Fig. 1 shows an evolution in the different skills between the two tests.

Relationship between Musical Aptitude and Foreign Language Skills

53

Table 4-1: Statistical Description of the Final English Results.

Listening Reading Speaking Writing

Sample

Minimum

Maximum

Average

49 49 49 49

,00 -3,60 -1,00 -2,00

7,20 7,60 4,00 4,10

3,6959 2,7112 2,1786 1,1327

Typ. Deviation 1,8085 2,2827 ,97093 1,4304

The Student T test verifies the existence of statistical significance between the results obtained at the beginning and at the end of the academic year in the four skills. As the bilateral significance is in all cases lower than the Alfa criterion = 0.05, there is no reason to reject the null hypothesis. This means that all cases obtained significantly higher final grades than initial grades.

Conclusion Teaching a foreign language is a complex process due to the range of linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects involved. Students’ language aptitude, individual differences, affective factors and classroom environment should be taken into account when planning an English session. Due to the fact that they yield significant benefits, music and songs are a powerful resource to be incorporated in the daily routine of the teaching and learning process. Instrumental music favours positive classroom atmosphere and changes students’ physiological rhythm of learning. On the other hand, songs are a great educational resource because they encourage the development of the four skills as well as motivation and cultural awareness. However, as initial data from this research indicates, students with less advanced auditory abilities display more difficulties in learning than those who had greater auditory abilities. Pupils who got results in the 9-7 range in the PLAB and did not exhibit any auditory problem, finished with very high grades in the subject. However, those students who stood out with good results in tests 5-6 of the PLAB and did not get high final grades shared two common characteristics: they had less advanced linguistic abilities and a lower level of interest with respect to language learning. Consequently, the development of musical aptitude in learners of a foreign language through musical tasks, instrumental music and songs can be quite beneficial, not only for those pupils who are musically talented

54

Chapter Four

but for all the participants in general, developing a sense of phonemic awareness and a higher level of consciousness of sound production.

References Abbott, Marilyn. 2002. “Using Music to Promote L2 Learning among Adult Learners.” TESOL Journal 11: 10-17. Angelucci, Francesco, Marco Fiore, Enzo Ricci, Luca Padua, Andrea Sabino and Pietri Attilio Tonali. 2007. “Investigating the Neurobiology of Music: Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor Modulation in the Hippocampus of Young Adult mice.” Behaviour of Pharmaceuticals 18: 491–496. Anvari, Sima H., Laurel J. Trainor, Jennifer Woodside and Betty Ann Levy. 2002. “Relations among Musical Skills, Phonological Processing, and Early Reading Ability in Preschool Children.” Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 3: 111-130. Arnold, Jane. 1999. Affect in Language Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press. Bolduc, Jonathan and Isabelle Montésinos-Gelet. 2005. “Pitch Awareness and Phonological Awareness.” Psychomusicology 19(1): 3-14. Christiner, Markus and Susanne M. Reiterer. 2013. “Song and Speech: Examining the Link between Singing Talent and Speech Imitation Ability.” Frontiers in Psychology 4: 1–11. Delogu, Franco, Giulia Lampis and Marta Olivetti Belardinelli. 2010. “From Melody to Lexical Tone: Musical Ability Enhances Specific Aspects of Foreign Language Perception.” European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 22: 46-61. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen, Carmen María Toscano-Fuentes and Kathleen Wermke. 2011. “Melodies that helpௗ: The Relation between Language Aptitude and Musical Intelligence.” Anglistik International Journal of English Studies 22(1): 101-118. Forgeard, Marie, Gottfried Schlaug, Andrea Norton, Camilla Rosam, Udita Lyengar and Ellen Winner. 2008. “The Relation between Music and Phonological Processing in Normal-reading Children and Children with Dyslexia.” Music Perception 25: 383-390. Galicia-Moyeda, Iris Xóchitl, Ixtlixóchitl Contreras-Gómez and María Teresa Peña-Flores. 2006. “Implementing a Musical Program to Promote Preschool Children’s Vocabulary Development.” Early Childhood Research and Practice 8(1). Gardner, Howard. 1985. Frames of Mind: the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Relationship between Musical Aptitude and Foreign Language Skills

55

Graham, Carolyn. 1978. Jazz Chants. New York: Oxford University Press. Guglielmino, Lucy Madsen. 1986. “The Affective Edge: Using Songs and Music in ESL Instruction.” Adult Literacy and Basic Education 10: 1926. Hallam, Susan and John Price. 1998. “Can the Use of Background Music Improve the Behavior and Academic Performance of Children with Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties?” British Journal of Special Education 25(2): 88-91. Kolinsky, Régine. Hélène Cuvelier, Vicent Goetry, Isabelle Peretz and José Morais. 2009. “Music Training Facilitates Lexical Stress Processing.” Music Perception 26(3): 235-247. Lightbown, Patsy M. and Nina Spada. 2006. How Languages are Learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lima, César F. and Sao Luís Castro. 2011. “Speaking to the Trained Ear: Musical Expertise Enhances the Recognition of Emotions in Speech Prosody.” Emotion October 2011: 1021-31. Magne, Cyrille, Daniele Schön, and Mireille Besson. 2006. “Musician Children Detect Pitch Violations in Both Music and Language Better than Non-musician Children: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Approaches.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 18: 199-211. McConnell, Meghan. M. and David I. Shore. 2011. “Mixing Measures: Testing an Assumption of the Attention Network Test.” Attention, Perception and Psychophysics 73: 1096-1107. Milovanov, Riia, Minna Huotilainen, Vesa Välimäki, Paulo A.A. Esquef, Mari Tervaniemi. 2008. “Musical Aptitude and Second Language Pronunciation Skills in School-aged Children: Neural and Behavioral Evidence.” Brain Research 1194: 81-89. Moreno, Sylvian, Carlos Marques, Andreia Santos, Manuela Santos, São Luís Castro and Mireille Besson. 2009. “Musical training Influences Linguistic Abilities in 8-year-old Children: More Evidence for Brain Plasticity.” Cerebral Cortex 19(March): 712–723, accessed October 2014, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn120. Murphey, Tim. 2010. “Gracias a la Vida-Musica que me ha dado tanto: Songs as Scaffolded Languaging for SLA.” In Linguagem E Cognição, edited by A. Hermont, R. Esprito Santo and S. Cavalcante, 241-255. Belo Horizonte: PUC Minas. Pimsleur, Paul. 1966. Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Rothbart, Mary K., Brad E Sheese, M. Rosario Rueda and Michael I. Posner. 2011. “Developing Mechanisms of Self-Regulation in Early Life.” Emotion Review accessed March 2013,

56

Chapter Four

doi:10.1177/1754073910387943. Schellenberg, E. Glenn, Takayuki Nakata, Patrick G. Hunter, and Sachiko Tamoto, 2007. “Exposure to Music and Cognitive Performance: Tests of Children and Adults.” Psychology of Music 35: 5-19. Seashore, Carl E., Don Lewis and J. Gerhard Saetvit. 1992. Test de Aptitudes Musicales de Seashore. Madrid: TEA Ediciones. Skehan, Peter. 1998. A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford Applied Linguistics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Slevc, L. Robert and Akira Miyake. 2006. “Individual Differences in Second-Language Proficiency: Does Musical Ability Matter?” Psychological Science 17: 675–681, accessed February 2015, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01765.x. Standley, Jayne M., and Jane E Hughes. 1997. “Evaluation of an Early Intervention Music Curriculum for Enhancing Prereading/writing Skills.” Music Therapy Perspectives 15(2): 79-85.

CHAPTER FIVE MUSICAL TRAINING AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING JAVIER ÁVILA UNIVERSITY OF CORDOBA, SPAIN

Introduction Language acquisition is a classic example of an interdisciplinary research field; in the last three decades in particular it has been open to information from such varied sources as psychology, neurobiology, psychiatry, pedagogy and linguistics. It is more and more difficult to assemble overarching models which include all these different factors and studies such as the current one attempt to add new elements to the overall picture. In this case clinical and analytical neurosciences support the commonly accepted view that music ability (either processing or producing music) can help language development. Musical aptitude has been considered to be an individual difference in L2 learning mainly due to its impact on phonological skills; however, there are some other factors related to music and language to be taken into account, ranging from neural activity and information processing abilities to learning styles, mental imagery and inner speech. Once we get a clear picture of the functioning of language and musical systems, the reciprocal influence of both these languages can be outlined and a number of educational implications can be discerned. Interdisciplinary research is the key to leading language acquisition towards a less metaphorical approach. Pinker (1994, 18) suggests that language is part of our neural coding, the instinctive drive to communicate; in the same vein Mithen (2009) also points out the existence of a music instinct in human beings, taking into account evolutionary concerns. Both drives seem to have a great deal to do with emotions, affection, social activity and communication, part of a biological heritage shared by almost every culture. However, Monzalvo

58

Chapter Five

and Dehaene-Lambertz’s (2013) findings provide evidence for the influence of formal reading training on the neural processing of language comprehension, suggesting that environmental factors also condition the way in which we learn and ultimately think. While the genetic component in the acquisition of a language may be the central core of the operation, the system is also susceptible to a refining process which is open to environmental factors.

The brain of the language and music learner: a neural view Any comprehensive theory of the acquisition of language needs a description of how signals are received and interpreted (Chomsky 1965, 30). However, there seem to be few studies drawing on speech representation in order to draw conclusions concerning language acquisition. Speech learning and mastery can foster the acquisition of syntactic and semantic clues in the acquisition of a language (Gleitman and Warner 1982; Morgan 1986; Jusczyk, Hirsch-Pasek, Kemler Nelson, Kennedy, Woodward, and Piwoz 1992). Morgan and Demuth (2014) revisit Pinker’s (1997) “prosodic bootstrapping hypotheses” as a “phonological bootstrapping” one, indicating that speech information may contain clues to syntactic and semantic analyses, that is, a sheer phonological analysis of speech may lead to the acquisition of lexicon and syntax, (Nespor 2010), helping in the acquisition of lexical words and fostering lexical segmentation and acquisition (Fonseca, Avila López, and Gallego Segador 2015). One of the various factors that seem to be relevant at both basic and advanced stages of second language acquisition is that of phonetic coding (Rossi et al. 2013; Hu et al. 2013). The latter study focussed on pronunciation aptitude as a hallmark of “near-nativeness” in second language acquisition (SLA) and Abrahamsson and Hyltenstam (2008) provide intriguing evidence that, in a sample of healthy adults, this aptitude was predicted, not only by phonetic coding and first language competence, but also by personality traits such as empathy. Similar cognitive processes underlie the procedure of discriminating sounds/phonemes and musical notes or sounds/graphemes and musical symbols, that is to say, similar processes are involved in learning to read verbal and musical texts. Hansen and Bernstorf (2002, 17) offer a comparison of the skills used in text reading, music-symbol reading, and music-text reading, and they settle on six different abilities: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, sight identification, orthographic

Musical Training and Foreign Language Learning

59

awareness, cueing systems awareness, and fluency; establishing two categories: emergent and decoding skills, and fluency skills. When reading (aloud or silently) the sound elements support the graphemes that the eye deciphers. These prosodic elements, namely sounds, accent, rhythm and intonation guarantee lexical access and develop reading comprehension. Chobert and Besson (2013) and François et al. (2013) provide neuropsychological research on how musical training helps to overcome phonological deficits in facilitating language acquisition. Similarly, musical expertise has been shown not only to have an impact on the processing of verbal and non-verbal stimuli (Ott et al. 2011), but also on pronunciation (Milovanov et al. 2010). By taking into account Patel's explanation (2011, 2012) of how musical training affects brain plasticity (the OPERA hypothesis) all these previous connections regarding language learning are somehow explained. The above-mentioned overlap in acoustic features and neural paths that the two domains share accounts for an improvement in precision by means of music training, since emotion, focussed attention and repetition are part of the staple diet of musical training. Kraus and Chandrasekaran (2010), dealing with the plasticity of the brainstem for auditory speech, derive implications for language learning, since the neural encoding of oral speech can be enhanced by non-linguistic auditory training, namely learning to play a musical instrument or to sing. Banai et al. (2009) and Parbery-Clark et al. (2009) suggest that musical training can influence the development of different auditory skills (see also Moreno et al. 2009; Strait and Krauss 2011; Parbery-Clark, Skoe and Krauss 2009). These findings are easily understood if we consider that music and speech use the same vehicle to convey information: pitch, timing and timbre. Like any other enhanced experience, extensive usage of these cues in music may influence speech processing. Patel’s (2011) OPERA hypothesis explains that, given 5 basic conditions, adaptive processing in speech processing networks takes place, these conditions are: the overlap of neural networks that process acoustic features; higher musical demands on these networks in terms of precision; emotion (because musical activities elicit positive emotions); repetition (since musical activities involved in this network are often repeated); and finally attention (because of the focus needed in order to perform such musical activities).

60

Chapter Five

Language and music learning factors There is general consensus in the research community that language learning is a complex conglomerate that requires the ability to consider individual factors as well as a holistic capacity to see them all working together. A good language learner seems to rely on an adequate balance between the affective factors that make possible the cognitive processing and use of information. From early attempts in which active, academic, social and affective strategies were described as the staple diet of the good language learner (Rubin, 1975) Naiman, Froanhlich, Stern, and Toedesco (1978) and Stern (1975), Cook (1997) or Carroll (1981) in terms of language learning aptitude through to Brown (2000) and Harmer’s (2001) descriptions of learners, we have been witnessing attempts to pin down the defining features of a good language learner and how to foster these in the learning environment. In the same way, music is a complex communication system requiring the exercise of cognitive abilities (Schellenberg and Weiss 2013) and the development of specialized brain circuits for musical structures as well as social and emotional constituents (Trainor and Hannon 2013; Juslin and Sloboda 2013). Unlike some other universal domains of human expertise such as vision or social organization, both music and language (included signed languages) are organized temporally with the relevant structures unfolding in time. Furthermore, spoken languages, like music, reach our perceptual system as frequency spectra, arrayed as pitches. In both cases, some of the pertinent systematicities are universal whereas others are culture specific […]. Learning combined with inherent perceptual and cognitive predispositions, eventually renders adult learning in each domain. (McMullen and Saffran 2004, 290)

Learning styles Individuals differ in their preferred mode of instruction or study and the proponents of the learning styles theory try to tailor-make the presentation of information according to learners’ choices. Learning styles have long been used in the attempts to pin down the good language learner’s key features (Ausubel 1968; Ehrman 2003; Cohen 1998; Harmer 2003). Similarly, Ellis (1996) found that individual cognitive styles may influence the perception of “what is going on” in music with significant variation in discrimination. Peretz et al. (2004) underline how the two processing systems work autonomously, and that the production system in language and music works in accordance with this. For instance, field

Musical Training and Foreign Language Learning

61

dependence and field independence are needed in order to learn a language, they may be present in various developmental stages and these styles are not in a complementary distribution; accordingly, Ellis (1996) also found incidence of field dependence and independence concerning the discrimination of musical parts in listening tasks. Left and right cerebral dominance in language and music seem to follow similar patterns of activation. The description of the characteristics of brain function in language learning stated in Brown (1994) also applies to music. Using functional magnetic resonance Ohnishi et al. (2001) found significant evidence of different degrees of activation in musicians and non-musicians in the bilateral planum temporale and the left posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The differences seem to be correlated with absolute pitch ability and the age of starting long-term musical training, again underlining the influence of environmental factors on neural structure. Musically naïve subjects showed right dominant activation indicating right hemisphere predominance, whereas musicians showed left dominant cortical activation during musical perception. These results are consonant with previous studies, for instance, Zatorre et al. (1998), Zatorre (1998), Tervaniemi et al. (1999); Tervaniemi et al. (2000). Language functions seem to be located mainly in the left hemisphere, however, Obler (1981, 58) points out that there is significant involvement of the right hemisphere in second language learning, and that: “this participation is particularly active during the early stages of learning the second language”. Ambiguity tolerance seems to also be an important learning style favouring language learning in order to cope with the many “inconsistencies” of the L2 (Brown, 2000, 120). The role of creativity in language learning and music perception and production is nowadays considered an article of faith in the profession; the principle of the “least effort” applies in both languages: in linguistics the “least effort” heuristics have been present since the late sixties and received special attention with the economy principles of Chomsky (1995) and Chapelle and Rogers (1996), whereas in musical processing it also applies to tonic finding (locating the tonal point of reference) and to tree-building, creating a hierarchical representation of events (Thompson-Schill et al. 2013, 293-294). Special importance is attached to rhythmic categorization using top-down cognitive processes (Bharucha 1994; Huron 2006). Tegano (1990) showed how tolerance of ambiguity and playfulness are correlated to creativity. Evidence suggests a prime role for tolerance of ambiguity both in language use and learning and in music perception and production. Schmidt and Sinor (1986) show

62

Chapter Five

how the reflection/impulsivity cognitive dimension was significantly related to Primary Measures of Music Audition (PMMA1) tonal scores. There is a great deal of ambiguity in coping with in verbal and musical communication. Thompson-Schill et al. (2013) use the terms global and local ambiguity to show what the human brain has to do to solve the puzzle in such simple examples as reading the New York Times; on the other hand, musical disambiguation also includes tackling global and local ambiguity. Paco de Lucía’s comments on his late discovery of musical scales and how they opened a new world of communicative possibilities are especially illustrative in terms of this2. In light of the pervasive ambiguity in music, several principles describe how one interpretation comes to be favoured over another. These principles describe transitions in a multidimensional tonal space that is crystalline in its multidimensional regularity and beauty. (Thompson-Schill et al. 2013, 293)

This reference to the multidimensional space to be processed tunes with Masuhara's conception of language processing and learning (2005). The world we live in is no more than a manipulation of reality, an integration of internal and external information filtered through sensory systems (Llinás 1990).

Motivation Motivation is probably the first affective factor that teachers and scholars point out when asked about the importance of affective factors in SLA. It has found its place into general knowledge about language learning and is usually placed at the catalysing centre of the whole acquisition process. The conception of motivation has undergone a critical shift in the last decades, being now viewed as a temporal, dynamic dimension (Schmidt 1991; Dornyei 1994; Williams and Burden 1997). This conception of motivation as a process leaves the motivation factor open to environmental and instructional influence. Schumann (1997) provides neurobiological information on the interrelation of affect and cognition, accounting for the key role of motivation in second language acquisition. Five key categories are pointed out as determinant of effective language learning: novelty, intrinsic pleasantness, goal/need significance, coping potential and norm/self compatibility. Stimuli are appraised through these categories 1 2

Primary Measures of Music Audition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gthk0FNPkW8

Musical Training and Foreign Language Learning

63

and this dynamic process is the basis for SLA motivation as the cornerstone of affective and effective acquisition. Emotion is considered to be the basis of every cognition process and will determine the ultimate degree of success in language learning. The amygdala seems to be at the central core of the whole appraising process, providing emotional and motivational value to the language learning experience; the amygdala and the limbic system integrate meaning and emotion. Li et al. (2014) show that the amygdala is also involved in music processing, there is an intrinsic link between music and emotion. The analysis of language and music learning shows similar developmental underpinnings, in the same way, self-efficacy, one of the triggering factors in intrinsic motivation and language achievement (Ehrman, Leaver and Oxford 2003) seems also to be correlated to musical training (Fonseca and Avila 2015), and music ability (Zelenak 2015), similarly, Erler and Macaro (2011) correlated lack of self-efficacy with a negative influence on students’ willingness to keep studying the foreign language. Again, the broader concept of self-esteem is also considered to be an essential factor in language learning (Ushioda 2009) and an interrelated factor in music performance and instruction (Costa-Giomi 2004; Hietolahti-Ansten and Kalliopuska 1990).

Conclusion It seems that musically trained individuals do better in language learning than ordinary people. Neurobiological information accounts for this difference in terms of the demands of music on our brain, fostering neural plasticity and better operation of the networks; it affects not only listening comprehension but also reading and consequently the related productive skills: writing and speaking. This neurological evidence finally accounts for what we intuitively knew about the parallel working of language and music, though so many shared defining functioning factors could not be just a coincidence: motivation, learning styles such as tolerance of ambiguity, field dependence-independence and cerebral dominance, all of these suggest that there is a common substratum that facilitates language learning. Implications can be derived for curriculum design, indicating the prime role of music not only as part of the integral multi-competence nurturing of individuals but also as a key factor in the development of language learning.

64

Chapter Five

References Ausubel, D. P. 1968. Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View. doi:10.1107/S010827019000508X. Brown, H. Douglas. 1994. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents. Carroll, J. B. 1981. “No Title.” In Individual Differences and Universals in Language Learning Aptitude, edited by K. C. Diller, 83-118. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Chobert, J, and M Besson. 2013. “Musical Expertise and Second Language Learning.” Brain Sciences 3 (2): 923–40. doi:10.3390/brainsci3020923. Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Journal of Linguistics 34. doi:10.1017/S0022226797006889. Cohen, A. D. 1998. Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language. NY: Addison Wesley Longman Limited. Cook, Vivian. 1997. Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. Empirical Approaches to Language Learning ECML. 49. doi:10.2307/358567. Costa-Giomi, Eugenia. 2004. “Effects of Three Years of Piano Instruction on Children’s Academic Achievement, School Performance and SelfEsteem.” Psychology of Music 32: 139–52. doi:10.1177/0305735604041491. Dornyei, Zoltan. 1994. “Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language Classroom.” The Modern Language Journal 78(3): 273-84. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02042.x. Ehrman, M. 2003. “A Brief Overview of Individual Differences in Second Language Learning.” System 31(3): 313-30. doi:10.1016/S0346251X(03)00045-9. Ehrman, M, Betty Lou Leaver, and Rebecca L. Oxford. 2003. “A Brief Overview of Individual Differences in Second Language Learning.” System 31(3): 313-30. doi:10.1016/S0346-251X(03)00045-9. Ellis, Mark C. 1996. “Field Dependence-Independence and the Discrimination of Musical Parts.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 82(3): 947-53. Erler, Lynn, and Ernesto Macaro. 2011. “Decoding Ability in French as a Foreign Language and Language Learning Motivation.” The Modern Language Journal 95(4): 496-518. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01238.x. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen, Javier Avila López, and Arturo Gallego Segador. 2015. “Beneficios del entrenamiento musical para el

Musical Training and Foreign Language Learning

65

aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera.” Revista Electrónica Complutense de Investigación en Educación Musical—RECIEM 12(December): 29-36. doi:10.5209/rev_RECIEM.2015.v12.46500. François, Clément, Julie Chobert, Mireille Besson, and Daniele Schön. 2013. “Music Training for the Development of Speech Segmentation.” Cerebral Cortex 23(9): 2038-43. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhs180. Harmer, Jeremy. 2003. “The Practice of English Language Teaching.” ELT Journal 57 (October): 401-5. doi:10.1093/elt/57.4.401. Hietolahti-Ansten, Merja, and Mirja Kalliopuska. 1990. “Self-esteem and empathy among children actively involved in music.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 71(3f): 1364-66. doi:10.2466/pms.1990.71.3f.1364. Hu, Xiaochen, Hermann Ackermann, Jason A Martin, Michael Erb, Susanne Winkler, and Susanne M Reiterer. 2013. “Language Aptitude for Pronunciation in Advanced Second Language (L2) Learners: Behavioural Predictors and Neural Substrates.” Brain and Language 127(3): 366-76. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2012.11.006. Juslin, Patrik N., and John A. Sloboda. 2013. The Psychology of Music. The Psychology of Music. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-3814609.00015-8. Li, Xueting, Alain De Beuckelaer, Jiahui Guo, Feilong Ma, Miao Xu, and Jia Liu. 2014. “The Gray Matter Volume of the Amygdala Is Correlated with the Perception of Melodic Intervals: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study.” PloS One 9(6): e99889. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0099889. Llinás, R. R. 1990. “Intrinsic Electrical Properties of Mammalian Neurons and CNS Function.” Fidia Research Foundation Neuroscience Award Lectures 8(November): 175-94. doi:10.3389/fncel.2014.00320. Masuhara, H. 2005. “Humanistic Teaching Articles for Teachers and Teacher Trainers.” Humanising Language Teaching. http://www.hltmag.co.uk/mar05/mart04.htm. Mcmullen, Erin, and Jenny R. Saffran. 2004. “Music and Language: A Developmental Comparison.” Music Perception. doi:10.1525/mp.2004.21.3.289. McPherson, G. E. 2006. “Self-Efficacy and Music Performance.” Psychology of Music 34 (3): 322–36. doi:10.1177/0305735606064841. Milovanov, Riia, Päivi Pietilä, Mari Tervaniemi, and Paulo A .A. Esquef. 2010. “Foreign Language Pronunciation Skills and Musical Aptitude: A Study of Finnish Adults with Higher Education.” Learning and Individual Differences 20(1): 56–60. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2009.11.003. Naiman, N., Froanhlich, M., Stern, H.H., and Toedesco, A. 1978. The Good Language Learner. Edited by OntarioInstitute for Studies in

66

Chapter Five

Education (OISE). Toronto: OntarioInstitute for Studies in Education (OISE). Toronto: OntarioInstitute for Studies in Education (OISE). Nespor, Anne Christophe Teresa Guasti Marina. 2010. “Reflections on Phonological Bootstrapping: Its Role for Lexical and Syntactic Acquisition.” Language and Cognitive Processes, September. Taylor and Francis Group. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/016909697386637. Ohnishi, T., H. Matsuda, T. Asada, M. Aruga, M. Hirakata, M. Nishikawa, A. Katoh, and E. Imabayashi. 2001. “Functional Anatomy of Musical Perception in Musicians.” Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y.ࣟ: 1991). doi:10.1093/cercor/11.8.754. Ott, Cyrill Guy Martin, Nicolas Langer, Mathias S. Oechslin, Martin Meyer, and Lutz Jäncke. 2011. “Processing of Voiced and Unvoiced Acoustic Stimuli in Musicians.” Frontiers in Psychology 2(Sep). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00195. Patel, Aniruddh D. 2011. “Why Does Musical Training Benefit the Neural Encoding of Speech? A New Hypothesis.” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 130(4): 2398. doi:10.1121/1.3654612. — 2012. “The OPERA Hypothesis: Assumptions and Clarifications.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1252 (1): 124–28. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06426.x. Peretz, Isabelle, Lise Gagnon, Hebert Sylvie, and JOEL Macoir. 2004. “Singing in the Brain: Insights from Cognitive Neuropsychology.” Music Perception 21(3): 373–90. doi:10.1525/mp.2004.21.3.373. Pinker, S. 2016. “How the Mind Works.” New York, NY: W. W. Norton and Company. Accessed February 20. http://stevenpinker.com/publications/how-mind-works. Ritchie, Laura, and Aaron Williamon. 2011. “Primary School Children’s Self-Efficacy for Music Learning.” Journal of Research in Music Education 59(2): 146–61. doi:10.1177/0022429411405214. Ritchie, Laura, and Aaron Williamon. 2007. “Measuring Self-Efficacy in Music.” International Syposium on Performance Science 1996: 30712. Rossi, Sonja, Tobias Hartmüller, Micol Vignotto, and Hellmuth Obrig. 2013. “Electrophysiological Evidence for Modulation of Lexical Processing after Repetitive Exposure to Foreign Phonotactic Rules.” Brain and Language 127(3): 404-14. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2013.02.009. Rubin, Joan. 1975. “What the ‘Good Language Learner’ Can Teach Us.” TESOL Quarterly 9(1): 41. doi:10.2307/3586011. Schellenberg, E. Glenn, and Michael W. Weiss. 2013. The Psychology of Music Elsevier. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-381460-9.00012-2.

Musical Training and Foreign Language Learning

67

Schmidt, Charles P., and Jean Sinor. 1986. “An Investigation of the Relationship among Music Audiation, Musical Creativity, and Cognitive Style.” Journal of Research in Music Education, 34(3): 16072. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3344746. Schmidt, Richard W. 1991. “Motivationௗ: Reopening the Research Agenda.” Language Learning 41(4): 469-512. doi:10.1111/j.14671770.1991.tb00690.x. Schumann, J. H. 1997. The Neurobiology of Affect in Language. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Stern, H. H. 1975. “What Can We Learn from the Good Language Learner?” The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes 31(4): 304-18. Tegano, Deborah W. 1990. “Relationship of Tolerance of Ambiguity and Playfulness To Creativity.” Psychological Reports 66 (3): 1047-56. doi:10.2466/pr0.1990.66.3.1047. Tervaniemi, Mari, A. Kujala, K. Alho, J. Virtanen, R. J. Ilmoniemi, and R. Näätänen. 1999. “Functional Specialization of the Human Auditory Cortex in Processing Phonetic and Musical Sounds: A Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) Study.” NeuroImage 9(3): 330–36. doi:10.1006/nimg.1999.0405. Tervaniemi, Mari, S. V. Medvedev, K. Alho, S. V. Pakhomov, M. S. Roudas, T. L. Van Zuijen, and R. Näätänen. 2000. “Lateralized Automatic Auditory Processing of Phonetic versus Musical Information: A PET Study.” Human Brain Mapping, 10(2): 74-79. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0193(200006)10:23.0.CO;2-2. Thompson-Schill, Sharon, Peter Hagoort, Peter Ford Dominey, Henkjan Honing, Stefan Koelsch, D Robert Ladd, Fred Lerdahl, Stephen C Levinson, and Mark Steedman. 2013. “Multiple Levels of Structure in Language and Music.” In Language, Music 289-303. Torre, Manuel. (2011, February 2). Paco de Lucía-Documental. [video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gthk0FNPkW8 Trainor, Laurel J., and Erin E. Hannon. 2013. The Psychology of Music. The Psychology of Music. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-3814609.00011-0.Ushioda, Ema. 2009. “Self-esteem and Fecond Language Learning.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31 (1): 129-30. doi:10.1017/S0272263109090081. Williams, M. and Burden, R.L. 1997. Psychology for Language Teachers. A Social Constructivist Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

68

Chapter Five

Zatorre, R. J. 1998. “Functional Specialization of Human Auditory Cortex for Musical Processing.” Brain, 121(10): 1817-18. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/121.10.1817. Zatorre, R. J., D. W. Perry, C. A. Beckett, C. F. Westbury, and A. C. Evans. 1998. “Functional Anatomy of Musical Processing in Listeners with Absolute Pitch and Relative Pitch.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 95(6): 3172-77. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.6.3172. Zelenak, Michael S. 2015. “Measuring the Sources of Self-Efficacy among Secondary School Music Students.” Journal of Research in Music Education 62(4): 389-404. doi:10.1177/0022429414555018.

CHAPTER SIX TEACHING ENGLISH RHYTHM THROUGH FOLK SONGS1 ROSALÍA RODRÍGUEZ VÁZQUEZ UNIVERSITY OF VIGO, SPAIN

Introduction In the context of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), the teaching of suprasegmental phonology is often overlooked, to the extent that many EFL learners finish their language instruction without having heard about rhythm and intonation. This chapter explores the use of folk songs as potential instruments for teaching English rhythm to adult Spanish-speaking learners. A method based on the contrastive analysis of the rhythmic constraints at work in English and Spanish folksong is presented in order to define the most salient rhythmic features in each tradition and thus delimit the relevant elements for the mastering of English speech rhythm. The ultimate goal of the chapter is to prove that a comprehensive analysis and use of folk songs in the EFL classroom may contribute to a better understanding of language rhythm. More broadly, this study shows that the use of vocal music for teaching a second/foreign language might shed light on the confluence of cognitive, neurobiological and affective factors in language acquisition.

Teaching English pronunciation to adult learners: preliminary considerations In the teaching of EFL, pronunciation instruction tends to be regarded as a mere by-product of listening and speaking practice, which means that 1

This chapter has been written in the framework of the FFI2013-44065-P Project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

70

Chapter Six

hardly any attention is paid to the phonological grounding of each and every phonological rule or principle taught in the classroom.2 The explicit teaching of foreign-language pronunciation dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when a good number of different approaches to the topic were introduced and implemented in the EFL classroom. Those approaches ranged from Audiolingualism and the Oral Approach, cultivated in the 1940s and 50s in the US and the UK, respectively, through to Total Physical Response, the Silent Way, the Natural Approach and the Communicative Approach, cultivated from the 70s and 80s onwards. In their detailed review of these pedagogical perspectives, Celce-Murcia et al. (1996, 2) state that each one of them responds to either an intuitive-imitative method, based on the learners’ ability to listen and imitate the sounds of the target language as uttered by competent speakers, or an analytic-linguistic method, which uses materials that inform the learner about the phonological and phonetic characteristics of the target language. Whichever viewpoint is chosen for teaching English pronunciation to non-native speakers of the language, instructors need to bear in mind a number of issues that will have an impact on the methodology adopted. For a start, the teacher should consider the degree to which the phonology of the learners’ L1 might influence the acquisition of the phonological characteristics of L2. Rasier and Hiligsmann (2007, 43) argue that “the only area where the influence of the learner’s L1 on his/her L2 linguistic habits has never really been called into question is phonology”.3 This may be due to the nature of the speech process, for “the production of speech sounds is unlike that of lexis and syntax, since it does not involve passing messages through the brain, but rather the development of highly automatized motor skills and […] the formation of L1 speech habits which are not easily de-automatized in L2” (Jenkins 2000, 112). Arguably, in order for adult learners to master L2 prosody, they must be able to discern which motor skills need to be adapted to the new language so as to facilitate the articulation of rhythmic features in that language. There is no doubt that, in order to mechanise certain skills, there must exist a

2 In this chapter, the teaching of English as a Foreign Language is referred to as “EFL teaching”. Similarly, we refer to Spanish as “L1” and English as “L2”. 3 For further views on the issue, see Flege, J. E. 1987. “The Production of ‘New’ and ‘Similar’ Phones in a Foreign Language: Evidence for the Effect of Equivalence Classification.” Journal of Phonetics 15: 47-65; Oldin, T. 1989. Language Transfer: Cross-linguistic Influence in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Teaching English Rhythm through Folk Songs

71

preliminary process by means of which learners analyse, systematise, codify and put into practice the principles regulating those skills. The learner’s age must also be taken into account when dealing with the acquisition of a new language. The distinct difficulties encountered by adult learners have been explored with reference to the Critical Period Hypothesis (Lenneberg 1967; Johnson and Newport 1989), according to which adults cannot gain full mastery of L2, particularly if we refer to native-like pronunciation.4 In sum, the interference from L1, together with biological, emotional and social factors, could account for the difficulties encountered by adult learners of a second or foreign language. However, it is important to bear in mind that adults are suited to the development of relatively complex learning tasks involving various cognitive capacities, since they “have greater cognitive and linguistic capabilities and conceptual complexity than younger learners” (Smith and Strong 2009, 1). Actually, the fact that most adult learners “can usually communicate confidently and effectively in their first language […] and may code switch between several other languages” (Smith and Strong 2009, 2) must be taken as an ideal starting point for teaching L2 prosody. Finally, the question of universality—whether certain phonological characteristics are universal, i.e. common to all natural languages—must also be borne in mind. Despite the on-going debate on the issue, it is generally accepted that there are a few phonological universals common to all languages when analysed synchronically (see Hyman 2008). Thus, the adoption of a teaching and learning method that combines a contrastive analysis approach with the analysis of phonological universals clearly seems to be desirable. Turning now to the scope of EFL pronunciation lessons, there is no doubt that they should include both segmental and suprasegmental components. However, the latter are usually overlooked in favour of a partial view in which individual sounds—either in isolation or combined—are taken to be the sole object of analysis in those lessons. In this regard, it has been pointed out that rhythm is one of the biggest challenges encountered by both L2 teachers and learners (Chela Flores 1993, cited in Celce-Murcia et al. 1996), which is confirmed by the fact that many L2 learners finish their language instruction without having heard about rhythm and intonation. Paradoxically, L2 instructors acknowledge the fact that “a learner’s command of segmental features is less critical to 4

For a comprehensive overview of the topic, see Abello-Contesse, C., R. ChacónBeltrán, M. D. López-Jiménez and M. M. Torreblanca-López, (eds.) 2006. Age in L2 Acquisition and Teaching. Bern: Peter Lang.

72

Chapter Six

communicative competence than a command of suprasegmental features, since the suprasegmentals carry more of the overall meaning load than do segmentals”, and “[l]earners who use incorrect rhythm patterns or who do not connect words together are at best frustrating to the native-speaker listener” (Celce-Murcia et al. 1996, 131). When talking about language rhythm, various components come into play, namely syllable prominence, stress, syllable count, vowel length and vowel quality, among others. Depending on the L1 and L2 with which we are dealing, some or all of those components will account for the rhythmic characterisation of both L1 and L2. In this regard, the above-mentioned contrastive dimension must be made partially explicit in the process of teaching EFL rhythm, particularly with adult learners.5 This chapter explores the potential use of folk songs as effective instruments for the teaching of English rhythm to adult Spanish speakers. The second section introduces the working principles of the theoretical framework on which the suggested teaching method is based, namely the text-setting approach. In the third section, this teaching method is developed step by step; a number of Spanish and English folk songs are analysed so as to show their potential use in helping learners discover the rhythmic constraints at work and apply them to English speech. The fourth section presents the conclusions.

A novel approach to teaching rhythm: text-setting in folksong When used in the EFL classroom, songs are viewed largely as verbal objects. Put differently, the close connection between language prosody and musical rhythm is virtually ignored in order to concentrate on the text as a repository of new vocabulary items or grammatical structures. As a result, very little attention is paid to the interaction between text and music with regard to the rhythmic constraints that regulate them. Despite the fact that most EFL textbooks do not deal with the connection between language and music rhythm, many do acknowledge its existence:

5

Although this chapter does not deal with rhythmic typologies as such, it is worth bearing in mind the classification of Spanish and English as a syllable-timed language and a stress-timed language, respectively. For a good introduction to this classification and the criticisms regarding it, see Pamies Bertrán, A. 1999. “Prosodic Typology: On the Dichotomy between Stress-Timed and Syllable-Timed Languages.” Language Design 2: 103-130.

Teaching English Rhythm through Folk Songs

73

Word and sentence stress combine to create the rhythm of an English utterance—that is, the regular, patterned beat of stressed and unstressed syllables and pauses. This rhythmic pattern is similar to the rhythm of a musical phrase. Just as in music, English moves in regular, rhythmic beats from stress to stress—no matter how many unstressed syllables fall in between. This stress-timed nature of English means that the length of an utterance depends not on the number of syllables (as it would in a syllabletimed language like Spanish [...]) but rather on the number of stresses. Celce-Murcia et al. 1996, 152 (emphasis added).

Any instructor who intends to use vocal music in the EFL classroom in order to teach language prosody actively should carefully choose a corpus of songs that ‘imitate’ the rhythms of L1 and L2 in order to be able to engage learners in a contrastive analysis that will facilitate access to the unfamiliar prosody of L2. In this regard, most scholars agree that “the most perfect relationship between language and music is to be found in the folksong” (Kodály, in Spicher and Sweeney 2007, 37). The term folksong refers to a genre which includes traditional songs, the authors of which are often unknown and which have been passed from singer to singer aurally as part of a continuing oral tradition in all cultures. Other vocal genres might seem as valid as folksong but, as Spicher and Sweeney (2007, 38) observe, they do not share “the same prosodic correlations to the spoken language found in folk music”, as only textsetting in folksong follows “a ‘native grammar’ of text-to-tune alignment which will sound natural to the speakers of the corresponding community” (Rodríguez-Vázquez 2013, 70). From a linguistic perspective, song has been defined as “a composite which combines two objects each with its own structure, a linguistic object—text—and a musical object—tune” (Dell and Halle 2009, 63). The relationship between text and tune is mediated by text-setting (Fig. 6-1), a process which involves arranging syllables and lines against a metrical pattern.

Chapterr Six

74

T Text

Text-settin ng

Tuune

Metree

M Metre

- (Un)stresssed syllabless - Syllablee

- Beeat positio on - Beeats per baar

G Groupin ng

Grrouping g

- Lines - Strophees

- Phrases - Periods

Fig. 6-1: Textt-setting.

As can bbe gathered by observing Fig. F 6-1, a sonng establishess a match between thrree layers of rhythmic r struccture, namelyy linguistic pro ominence —articulatedd in terms off stressed vs. unstressed u sylllables, poeticc metre— organised acccording to thhe number of syllables s per lline and the number n of lines per strrophe and muusical rhythm— —chiefly deppendent on thee number and positionn of the beatts in the barss, phrases andd periods, alll three of which are organised acccording to the same kiind of princciples, as hierarchies oof alternating prominence. As A mentionedd above, folk songs s add an idiosyncrratic characterristic to this triple match, foor the “[a]naly ysis of the constraints oof the pitch, stress, s and rhy ythm of folk ssongs […] rev veals that they [are] eextensions off the linguisttic constraintts of the lan nguage in question” (R Rubin 1995, cited in Spicher and Sweeeney 2007, 37-38). In

Teaching English Rhythm through Folk Songs

75

other words, the match between linguistic prominence and musical rhythm in folksong is as natural as it can be, since the prosodic constraints of any given language are preserved when that language is set to music (see Rodríguez-Vázquez 2010). This points to the fact that there must be some areas of overlap in the cognitive processes of music and language, as research in the field has shown (see Patel 2003). Text-setting, i.e. the match between the various layers of rhythmic structure that co-exist in songs, is regulated by two main groups of constraints, namely metrical and grouping constraints, present at the prosodic level in language and the rhythmic level in song (Dell and Halle 2009, 69-70). The method presented endorses the analysis and application of one metrical and one grouping constraint to the chosen folk songs. The application of such a simple theoretical apparatus aims at bringing to the surface the principles that regulate text-setting in Spanish and English folksong and thus helping EFL learners to draw a number of conclusions with regard to the rhythm of both languages, on the one hand, and helping them to reproduce easily the rhythm of English speech, on the other. Before going any further, the constraints upon which this method is based must be formulated. The metrical constraint (1) regulates the correspondence between (un)stressed syllables and musical beats in songs, while the grouping constraint (2) ensures that the correspondence between syllables and beats established in the first line of a given song is preserved throughout that song. (1) Metrical constraint (a) All stressed syllables fall on strong beats; (b) All syllables that fall on a strong beat must be stressed. (2) Grouping constraint Two syllable-to-beat alignments are parallel if the distributions of the syllables along the grid are identical. In the next section, the constraints in (1) and (2) are applied to the analysis of a number of case studies taken as preliminary models in order to exemplify the potential use of folk songs in the EFL classroom.

Putting into practice the text-setting model of analysis in the EFL classroom The method for teaching rhythm through folk songs entails a number of clearly defined steps which illustrate the so-called ‘spiral model of

76

Chapter Six

learning’ (Bruner 1960, 13). Such a model aims at making learners acquire knowledge through enquiry and the intuitive grasp of basic ideas that will be revisited in more complex forms and repeated as new tasks are introduced until they are fully understood. Our model comprises four main stages—introductory stage, analytical stage, application stage and concluding stage—developed in detail in the remainder of this section. In the introductory stage the teacher introduces the topic and provides learners with some background information about folksong—its definition and main characteristics—as well as a basic theoretical apparatus comprising of the concepts with which they will be dealing: a detailed explanation of the constraints in (1) and (2) is key at this point. The analytical stage is subdivided into four steps, all of which rely on the above-mentioned capacity of adult learners to cope with a certain degree of conceptual complexity as well their ability to integrate various cognitive and linguistic skills. At this stage, the teacher monitors the learners’ progress, achieved by completing a number of tasks focused on the analysis of L1 rhythm. The first step involves listening to the folk songs, after the teacher has introduced each one of them, and singing. This activity is developed with a double purpose in mind. On the one hand, it contributes to reducing students’ anxiety and stimulating affective learning, i.e. improving levels of motivation and self-confidence. On the other hand, it promotes language awareness through the progressive adoption of a contrastive approach to the identification of the relevant rhythmic elements in the Spanish and English folk songs. The second step is interdisciplinary in nature, as students have to try to read the musical score of the songs that they have listened to and sung in order to determine how the prosody of the language interacts with the rhythm of the music. Very basic principles will be put forward so that all learners, even those who cannot read music, are able to identify the most salient rhythmic devices in music (see Cooper 1985, 18-25). The fundamental principles with which learners will be working are introduced below, exemplified in Fig. 6-2 and 6-3: a. A song has a natural pulse, which can be shown by simply tapping its rhythm. When we tap, we mark the pulse or beat of a song. In the score of a folk song, bar lines show the division created by the recurring opposition between strong and weak beats in the song (Fig. 6-2b). As a general principle, the first beat in a bar is the strongest one.

Teaching English Rhythm m through Folkk Songs

77

b. In orrder to know how h the pulse works for a ggiven song, we w need to know w how many beats per barr there are, aand what the value of thosee beats is. Thee symbol whicch provides uss with that infformation is thee time signatuure, found at th he beginning oof the song (F Fig. 6-2a). The ttop number inndicates how many beats pper bar there are, a while the bbottom number is a sort of code whicch indicates the basic rhythhm that is beinng used. c. Relatted to this is i the fact that t the bottoom numbers in time signaatures—4, 8, 12—are the most m commonn ones in folk ksong and standd for note vallues. Thus, 4 stands for ‘ccrotchet’ (Fig.. 6-2e), 8 standds for ‘quaver’ (Fig. 6-2a to o c), 12 standss for ‘semiquaaver’, and so onn. d. For tthose time siggnatures whicch have a muultiple of threee as their top nnumber (Fig. 6-2a), the beats are divideed into two groups. g In Fig. 66-2, there are six beats per bar grouped in two groupss of three beatss each. The firrst beat in thee bar, which iis also the first beat in the fiirst group, is the t strongest one o in the barr, while the fo ourth beat (i.e. tthe first beat in the second d group) is sttrong, althoug gh less so than the first beat in i the bar. Thee remaining bbeats are all weeak. a. Time signaature, which meeans ‘six semiquuavers per bar’ (6/8) b. B Barline c. Quaveer d. Dotted crottchet (= three quuavers) e. Crotchhet (= two quavers)

Fig. 6-2: Scorre of Señor regiidor (Manzano Alonso 2003, 1148).

Chapter Six

78

The third step consists in asking learners to ‘translate’ the rhythmic information contained in the musical score into a more simple type of representation, the metrical grid, where the setting of the text to the tune will be made visually clear. After drawing the grids, learners will easily observe the correspondence or lack of correspondence between lexical stresses and strong musical beats, on the one hand, and between unstressed syllables and weak musical beats, on the other. In this respect, grids provide a quick means for analysing text-setting with regard to the metrical constraint formulated in (1). Fig. 6-3 marshals the grid corresponding to the musical score of the song Señor regidor. In any grid, horizontal crosses symbolise the isochronous occurrence of the musical beat and pulse, while vertical crosses relate to the strength of the beat in questions, i.e. the more vertical crosses, the stronger the beat. Secondary strong position (first beat in the second group) Weak position Strongest position (first beat in its bar)

x x Se-

x ñór

x re-

x x x gi-

x

x dór

x x que

x

x x x x duér- me

x

x

Fig. 6-3: Metrical grid corresponding to bars 1-3 of Señor regidor.

Once those three steps have been completed, learners will be in a position to explore how text-setting works for Spanish folksong, bearing in mind the constraints in (1) and (2), repeated here for convenience as (1’) and (2’). In this case, the objective of the task is for them to identify the elements that define the rhythm of Spanish. Afterwards, the same tools will be used to analyse English folk songs. (1’)

Metrical constraint (a) All stressed syllables fall on strong beats; (b) All syllables that fall on a strong beat must be stressed.

Teaching English Rhythm m through Folkk Songs

79

(2’) Groouping constraaint Two syllable-to-beeat alignmentts are parallell if the distrib butions of the syyllables alongg the grid are identical. i In the casee of the Spannish song, th he observationns with regarrd to the metrical connstraint in (1’aa) and (1’b) go o along the fo llowing lines:: a. In Sppanish folk songs, s not alll stressed syyllables fall on o strong beatss—observe the setting of th he stressed syyllables -ñor, -dor and duer-- (in italics in Fig. 6-3) to weak w beats. b. In Sppanish folk soongs, not all th he syllables thhat fall on a sttrong beat are sstressed—obseerve the setting of unstresssed -gi- (fou urth beat) and --me (tenth beaat) to strong musical m beats. c. The previous obsservations can n be confirm med through analysing a otherr folk songs. The main co onclusion thatt learners sho ould draw centrres on the facct that, in Sp panish, word stress is not a salient rhythhmic element. What determ mines the rhythhmic quality of o the text is itss neat division into syllables, all of whhich keep theeir vowel qualiity—i.e. there is no vowel reduction. With regarrd to the grouuping constraiint in (2’), Fiig. 6-4 showss that the setting of thhe syllables inn the second, third and fouurth lines relaates to the setting of tthe first line. In other words, the adsccription of sylllables to musical beaats replicates the setting made m in line onne despite thee fact that stressed sylllables in the other o lines do not corresponnd to strong beeats. This fact confirm ms that the maarker of rhythm m in Spanish iis the syllablee.

Fig. 6-4: Paraallel setting in Señor S regidor.

In the appliccation stage, leearners work in groups in oorder to apply the same constraints tto the Englishh folk songs. The T objectivee is for them to t draw a number of cconclusions aft fter contrasting g the Spanish and English songs. s

80

Chapterr Six

Fig. 6-5 corresponds to The Penny ny Wager (Keennedy 1984, 612), an example off the type of song that the teacher couuld present. This T is a strophic sonng that compriises of six stan nzas, each of which consists of four lines. The reefrain comes after a the last liine of every seecond stanza.

W Figure 6-5: English folk song The Penny Wager.

The learnerss’ analysis willl focus on thee following obbservations: With reggard to the meetrical constraiint in (1’a) annd (1’b), the firrst line in the text is sset so that strressed syllables (trav-, worrld and North h) fall on strong beatss, while unstreessed syllablees (I’ve, -elledd, this, from, the and ter) corresppond to weak beats. In oth her words, inn English, wo ord stress cannot movve; similarly, unstressed sy yllables, pronnounced with h reduced vowels, cannnot be assignned any degrree of stress,, as that wou uld imply regaining thhe quantity annd quality off the syllablee when prono ounced in isolation.

Teaching English Rhythm m through Folkk Songs

81

Figure 6-6: M Metrical grid of The Penny Wag ger.

Regarding thhe grouping constraint c in (2 2’), although tthe number off metrical accents in thhis song stayys constant, th he fact that thhe number of syllables varies betweeen lines has implications. i A line with m more syllables has more metrical possitions to be fiilled, which means m that the setting of thee first line will not neccessarily be prreserved. In other o words, thhe grouping constraint c is not essenttial in Englishh, as the numb ber of syllabless per line may y and will indeed vary, if necessaryy, so as to ensure that stresssed syllables are set to strong beats. In conclusioon, the only factor that mustt remain consttant is the occurrence oof strong syllaables. The conccluding stage involves two steps that willl help learners put into practice, usinng the rhythm of spoken lan nguage, the texxt-setting princciples they have observeed. The first step s consists of o reproducingg the texts of the songs (Fig. 6-1) as chains of spokken language in i order to obsserve where strresses fall as well as nooting how stresssed (x) and un nstressed (-) sylllables are reallised. Text T

(U Un)stressed sy yllables

I’ve I travelled tthis world froom the North Counterie C

-x--x--x--x

a-seeking, a a-seeeking for goood companie,

-x--x--x--x

good g companiie I never coulld find

x--x-x--x

nor n that whichh will please me m to my mind d.

-x--x-x-x

Singing: S Whacck-fol-the-dayy, whack-fol-tthe-day

x-x--xx--x

and a I had in m my pocket just one pennie.

--x--x--x-x

Fig. 6-7. Textt of The Penniee Wager.

82

Chapter Six

The second step consists of assigning made-up texts to the rhythmic schemata—i.e. to the metrical grid—of the song. In this way, EFL learners will eventually be in a position to automatize the production of rhythmic chains of speech in English.

Conclusions Despite the acknowledged importance of speech rhythm in the process of learning a second or foreign language, EFL instructors and textbooks often ignore this linguistic component. As a result, learners do not develop awareness of the prosodic differences between L1 and L2, with a consequent inability to perceive, analyse and reproduce the rhythm of the latter. This chapter has presented a method designed for teaching English rhythm to adult Spanish speakers by means of folk songs. It is widely accepted that songs “highlight speech rhythm” (Lahoz 2012, 145). In the case of folk songs, not only do they highlight speech rhythm, but they reproduce, imitate and are conditioned by it, which makes them an ideal tool for teaching language rhythm in a pleasurable and intellectually and emotionally engaging way. The method encompasses four stages in which learners are provided with some theoretical background and then guided through the analysis of the constraints that regulate text-setting—the relationship between text and tune at the metrical and grouping levels in songs—via a number of case studies. Those case studies are presented from the most familiar to the least familiar—learners analyse one or more Spanish folk songs and then apply the same method to English folk songs. By doing that, they will be able to find out how the match between text and tune in L1 and L2 is regulated, and then how this links in with the constraints that regulate the rhythm of spoken language. The final objective is to make learners aware of English rhythm and how much it differs from the rhythm of Spanish, in order to help them to apply their newly acquired knowledge to their speech production in English. To summarise, this chapter has advocated the importance of rhythmic issues in second-language acquisition and shown that the deep analysis and active use of folk songs may contribute to a better knowledge and understanding of prosodic elements when it comes to learning a foreign language effectively.

Teaching English Rhythm through Folk Songs

83

References Bruner, J. S. 1960. The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Celce-Murcia, M., D. M. Brinton, and J. M. Goodwin, 1996. Teaching Pronunciation. A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. New York: Cambridge University Press. Cooper, H. 1985. Basic Guide to How to Read Music. New York: Penguin. Dell, F. and J. Halle. 2009. “Comparing Musical Text Setting in French and English Song.” In Towards a Typology of Poetic Forms, edited by J.-L. Aroui, and A. Arleo, 63-78. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Hyman, L. M. 2008. “Universals in Phonology.” The Linguistic Review 25/1-2: 83-137. Jenkins, J. 2000. The Phonology of English as an International Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Johnson, J. S. and E. L. Newport. 1989. “Critical Period Effects in Second Language Learning: The Influence of Maturational State on the Acquisition of English as a Second Language.” Cognitive Psychology 21: 60-99. Kennedy, P. 1984[1975]. Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland. London: Oak Publications. Lahoz, J. M. 2012. “Syllable, Accent, Rhythm: Typological and Methodological Considerations for Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language.” Revista Internacional de Lenguas Extranjeras 1: 129-150. Lenneberg, E. 1967. Biological Foundations of Language. New York: Wiley and Sons. Manzano Alonso, M. (ed.) 2003. Cancionero popular de Burgos: V canciones del ciclo anual y vital. Burgos: Diputación Provincial de Burgos. Patel, A. D. 2003. “Language, Music, Syntax and the Brain.” Nature Neuroscience 6(7): 674-681. Rasier, L. and P. Hiligsmann 2007. “Prosodic Transfer from L1 to L2. Theoretical and Methodological Issues.” Nouveaux cahiers de linguistique française 28: 41-66. Rodríguez-Vázquez, R. 2010. The Rhythm of Speech, Verse and Vocal Music: A New Theory. Bern: Peter Lang. —. 2013. “The Metrics of Galician Songs: Some Preliminary Remarks.” Signa 22: 59-80. Smith, A. F. V. and G. Strong. 2009. “Adult Language Learners: An Overview.” In Adult Language Learners: Context and Innovation,

84

Chapter Six

edited by Smith, A. F. V. and G. Strong. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Spicher, L. and F. Sweeney. 2007. “Folk Music in the L2 Classroom: Development of Native-Like Pronunciation through Prosodic Engagement Strategies.” Connections 1: 35-48.

PART 3: MELODIES FOR VERY YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS

CHAPTER SEVEN CHILDREN’S POETRY AND MUSIC IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING CRISTINA AGUILERA GÓMEZ AND PASCUALA MOROTE MAGÁN POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA, SPAIN

Introduction Music and lyrical poetry have, since the beginning of time, been seen as related and parallel artistic expressions that have mutually enriched one another. Communication beyond conventional language is inherent in human beings. People from any era, located in specific spaces, have expressed their feelings of love, religion, death (funerals), affirmation of their personality, etc. through different art forms. Among these we are going to highlight music and poetry due to the link that can be found between the two throughout the history of universal culture, the history of music and the history of literature. Ferrán (1990) notes that Music and Literature are twin sisters and that Euterpe protects them with her ineffable voice through song and melody. Poems are written to be heard and recited. When we have listened to a bard or poet, his or her words remain in us to the extent that when we listen to those same poems again what we hear then is the voice of the first reciter. We agree with Jaime Ferrán’s idea that poetry is “magic within children’s reach” (1990, 60), a secret combination that allows us to penetrate the fruitful imagination of children through a powerful stimulus that submerges them in the abstract, the real, the playful, the wondrous, the fantastical, the epic; a combination which strengthens memory as a relevant element of cognition. Emotions naturally form a part of the

Children’s Poetry and Music in Foreign Language Learning

87

process of learning music and literature1, encompassing psychological, sociological and aesthetic aspects. This process in which music and poetry converge in an interdisciplinary fashion can lead to an encounter with the other art forms such as painting, sculpture, drama and theatre. Storr (2002) asserts that the Greeks considered the study of singing and the interpretation of the lyre to be integral to the formation of a part of every citizen. For them, music and poetry were inseparable. The poet and the composer were usually the same person; therefore the lyrics and the music were created at the same time. Hence, in this article we have proposed the following objectives: x To reflect on the relationship between music and literature. x To facilitate the learning of first and second languages with music and literature. x To compare formal structures in sung poetry. x To consider both music and literature as universal culture and a way of approaching the relationship between different art forms.

Music and literature From our point of view, it is relevant to draw attention to the link that exists between music and the child’s first experience of language with the emotive words that s/he hears in his/her family environment and that are sung to him/her in order to communicate, play, learn vocabulary and imitate significant gestures. A child’s first games are music and literature coming from the oral family tradition, for example, the ditties and rhymes that are so well known and prevalent in the Hispanic world. The following stanzas illustrate the coordination of movements with sounds and words: Palmas, palmitas que viene su papá. y le trae un borreguito que dice ba,ba,ba. (Clap handies, clap handies Till daddy comes home Sweets in his pockets For baby alone.) 1

According to Storr (2002, 41) in the beginning, language and music were much more interconnected and so it is logical to think of music as a fruit of a subjective, emotional need to communicate with other human beings.

Chapter Seven

88 Cinco lobitos tiene la loba cinco lobitos, detrás de la escoba. (Five little wolves The mummy wolf has Five little wolves Behind the brush.)

These rhymes are used to count, designate and learn the names of each finger: Este cogió un pájaro (little finger) Otro lo peló (ring finger) Este lo asó (middle finger) Este le echó sal (index finger) Y el gordito, se lo comió, se lo comió. (thumb) (This Little piggy went to market This little piggy stayed home This little piggy had roast beef And this little piggy had none And this little piggy went wee, wee, wee all the way home.)

Ehrenzweig2 points out that it is not illogical to speculate that speech and music have a common origin in a primitive language which was neither spoken nor sung, but was a combination of both forms of expression (1974, 164-5). It is a cultural constant throughout the passing of time, that these two artistic manifestations have formed, since the beginning of time, a dissoluble unit which reaches us in many traditional dances and children’s games which are composed of dance, music and either logical or nonsensical lyrics. Morote (1991, 15) explains that: The main motivation of the birth of the arts is founded on the religious beliefs of primitive peoples, the primary expression of which is myth. Over time, art is desacrilised and becomes a mere manifestation of human feelings which would be treated differently, so art is understood as high art and popular art. One example of this double process of desacrilisation and 2

Anton Ehrenzweig, The Psychoanalysis of Artistic Vision and Hearing, 3rd ed., Sheldon Press, 1975, 164-165 (Spanish translation, Psicoanálisis de percepción artística. Barcelona, Gustavo Gill, 1976. In Anthony Storr (2002, 40).

Children’s Poetry and Music in Foreign Language Learning

89

separation of art forms is found in Greek tragedy which started as a ritual to the god Bacchus (Dionysius) but later became an artistic manifestation. When Aeschylus established this literarily, the original core of tragedy was the chorus which anonymously represented the people. When Euripides comes on the scene, this double process is expended and the chorus moves to the background while the dialogue, action and characters that acquire a psychological dimension, become the main elements of tragedy.

The connection between music and poetry In spite of a tendency towards the separation of the arts from each other, our culture has never desisted from joining literature, theatre and music together in a single performance. With its roots in the Renaissance, modern opera, with Verdi’s (1813-1901) Aida, is the paradigm of an integral spectacle in which music and literary text, along with ballet and dance (both of which can be equated to the movements which accompany children’s games) are perfectly woven together. In the Romantic period, we must mention the drama of Norwegian writer Henrick Ibsen (18281906), Peer Gynt (premiered in 1867), which was written in verse and also led to the musical piece by Edvard Grieg (1834-1907); this is perhaps the work of art which best shows the concurrences and discrepancies between poet and musician, hence it seems to us that the essential element is the word, more than the music. The word, in which, even more than poetry, music and philosophy, we find folkloric and popular elements which are treasured as myths, fairy tales, legends and songs originating from Gudbrandsal (a Norwegian region). Both creators, writer and musician, agree that the soft melody “Solveig’s Cradle Song”, redeems the protagonist when she manages to calm herself and send herself to sleep. Even today, we are seeing a tendency towards the revival of traditional or popular ballads from the 15th and 16th century in Spain with words accompanied by music which follow a formal structure based on repetition, using the primary form ‘A A’. The relationship between music and poetry is never broken. Epics are heroic songs: “arma virumque cano” exclaims Virgil in the Aeneid (“I sing of arms and of a man”). Provençal troubadours make use of the genre called cansó for love poetry. The Kharjas of the Spanish-Arabic poets of the 10th century were but songs in which some of the dominant themes of primitive traditional Spanish lyrical poetry are expressed. The maiden was the most prominent figure in this poetry: both in love and suffering the agonies of love, who bids farewell to her suitor at dawn or who mourns his absence or delay. The Cantigas de amor o de amigo (Songs of love or friends) of Galician-Portuguese lyrical poetry, are love songs put into the mouth of a woman. And in contrast to

Chapter Seven

90

the refinement and delicacy of this type of love poetry are the Cantigas de escarnio y de maldizer (Songs of ridicule and disparagement) which, as the name suggests, were sung to mock and make fun of someone. Furthermore, the poets sing in verse “voy a cantar al son de la zampoña mía” (“I am going to sing to the sound of my pipe”), says Góngora in his dedication to the Count of Niebla from The Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea. Quevedo divides his burlesque poem Las necedades y locuras de Orlando el enamorado (The Foolishness and Madness of Orlando the lover) into cantos and begins thus: “Canto los disparates, las locuras, los furores de Orlando enamorado” (“I sing of the follies, the madness, the frenzies of Orlando the lover”). Lope de Vega writes songs such as La Bienvenida (The Welcome): Seáis bienvenida, Zagala pulida. Seáis bien llegada Pulida zagala. (Be thee welcome, Lovely lass. Be thee welcome Lass so lovely.)

In this song the characteristic methods of poetry and popular music are observed as having an agile, lively allegro rhythm, concise poetry and simple vocabulary. His sacred songs resemble children’s games as in the case, for instance, of the well-known A la dana dina: A la dana dina, A la dina dana. A la dana, dina, Señora divina. A la dina dana, Reina soberana. (The dana dina the dina dana. The dana dina Lady divine. The dina dana Queen sovereign.)

Children’s Poetry and Music in Foreign Language Learning

91

Music and poetry in children’s songs The literary richness that is contained in songs dedicated to children is undeniable; whatever the culture and language in which they have been composed. They are all characterised by the musicality which accompanies the sonority of the verses and the implicit rhythm which sustains them. Bernal and Calvo (2000, 81-83) consider that “children’s song is an excellent didactic resource because it demands the direct participation of the child, which makes it a basic element both of children’s musical education and of learning and internalisation of other areas in the curriculum”. Poetry contains elements that also belong to the field of music: metre, which is responsible for rhythm, and stanza, verse and phonetics which are associated with sound and melody, so it is natural that poetry is always used as a means for initiating children into the development of musicality and speech. Popular rhymes, riddles, songs, proverbs, counting games, storytelling, etc., are activities which stimulate the imagination and serve not only to help children to express themselves but also to have fun and develop their musicality and language. Uno, dos y tres, Dame una taza de té. Chocolé, chocolé, Chocolé. A por ti. A por ta. A por todos Los demás. (One, two and three, Give me a cup of tea. Chocolay, chocolay, Chocolay. After you. After ye. After everyone else.)

According to Cervera (1992, 81) Poetry is introduced to children as the great opportunity to manipulate words, to contemplate them from different angles and to play with them. Musicality and rhythm are the most obvious characteristics of popular poetry for children. The musicality created by rhythm and rhyme is so evident that often the words themselves move to the background.

Chapter Seven

92

Maria Elena Walsh plays with words using constant repetitive rhyme: Pez de platino fino, fino, ven a dormir en mi gorro marino. (Fish of silver So fine, so fine, Come and sleep in this sailor cap of mine.) Perla del día, fría, fría, ven a caer a mi bota vacía. (Pearl of the day, So cold, so cold, Come and fall in my empty boot’s hole.) Feo cangrejo, viejo, viejo, ven a mirarte el perfil en mi espejo. (Ugly old crab So old, so old, Come and look at yourself in my mirror so bold.) Flaca sirena, buena, buena, ven a encantar mi palacio de arena. (Slim mermaid, So great, so great, Come and enchant my palace of sand.) Señora foca, loca, loca, venga a tocar el tambor en la roca. (Mrs. Seal, So silly, so silly, Come and play the drums on the rocks) Pícara ola, sola, sola, ven a jugar con tu traje de cola.

Children’s Poetry and Music in Foreign Language Learning

93

(Mischievous wave, Do behave, do behave, Come and play near the rocks and the caves.) Un delfín que toque el violín voy a pescar con mi red marinera, (A dolphin That plays the violin, Take out my nets, I’m going fishin’,) y me espera para bailar, loca de risa la espuma del mar. (He’s waiting for me To dance one, two, three, Crazy with laughter in the foam of the sea.)3

Children enjoy playing with words and the melodies that accompany them, as we have already pointed out. The excitement they show when interpreting songs that they know allows them to develop and improve, among others, phonological, articulatory, expressive, creative and memory abilities. In the popular children’s song called Debajo de un Botón (Under a Button) found in the song book compiled by the Lenguaje Creativo4 group, it can be seen how prosodic accents coincide with the rhythm established by the first downbeat in each bar written in 2/4 timing. The text and the melody are associated and this maximises the rhythmic and accentuated syllabic effect (tín, tín, tín; ton, ton, ton […]), creating, with the repetition of syllables, the impact of a percussion instrument.

3

Walsh, M. E. 2001. Canción del pescador. Tutú Marambá. 37 Grupo “Lenguaje Creativo” CPR de Guardo, 1997. Canciones para jugar y cantar. Madrid. CCS

4

Chapter Seven

94

Debajo un botón

Debajo un botón, ton, ton, que encontró Martín, tin, tin, había un ratón, ton,ton, ¡ay! qué chiquitín, tin,tin, ¡ay! qué chiquitín, tin, tin, que era aquel ratón, ton, ton, que encontró Martín, tin, tin, debajo un botón, ton, ton. (Underneath a button, ton, ton, Found by Martin, tin, tin, tin, There was a little rat, tat, tat, What a small little thing, thing, thing, What a small little thing, thing, thing, Was that little rat, tat, tat, Found by Martin, tin, tin, tin, Underneath a button, ton, ton.)

The auditory development that children experience through musical interpretation boosts their awareness of the phonological aspects of the words which accompany them, as well as stimulating memory, due to the repetition of the musical and verse patterns. The use of poetry, nursery rhymes, rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythmic activities in songs can also improve pronunciation, reading and aural comprehension in a second language. The rhythms that Hoberman (2001) manages to create in his poem I like in the You Read To Me collection, stand out due to the antiphonal effect that is created when read aloud by two voices. The repetitive, almost obstinate rhythm facilitates memorization. I like soda. I like milk. I like satin.

Children’s Poetry and Music in Foreign Language Learning

95

I like silk. I like puppies. I like kittens. I like gloves. And I like mittens.

Most children listen to songs from the earliest of ages in their homes, which they later repeat in school. This favours the process of the acquisition or learning of languages from the following points of view: psycho-affective, psycho-cognitive, poetic-musical and cultural. When children sing these songs, they engage emotionally and they involve themselves in a fluent, natural, not to mention gratifying, type of learning. Hey diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped the moon; The little dog laughed To see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Wright (1995, 4) argues that children want to find meaning in the songs and stories they hear, therefore they listen with a purpose. If they find meaning, they are rewarded through their ability to understand the foreign language. If they do not understand, they need to feel motivated in order to try to improve their ability to understand. In contrast to Wright’s viewpoint, we must add that children love nonsense rhymes as well, since they, themselves, create them and then play with them freely and spontaneously. In Umbrella (Yashima 1958), Momo listens to the sound of the raindrops on her umbrella: Bon polo Bon polo ponpolo ponpolo ponpolo ponpolo bolo bolo ponpolo bolo bolo ponpolo boto boto ponpolo boto boto ponpolo.

Therefore, we conclude with a reaffirmation of our ideas around the fact that putting children in contact with authentic material, which is full of the richness gained from inherited tradition, increases their vocabulary and guarantees the continuity of the cultural baggage attained by a music-

96

Chapter Seven

literature symbiosis. Accordingly, we have achieved the objectives we set out for ourselves at the beginning of this chapter, which coincide with the assertion of The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC 2008) in pointing out that children can definitely learn the sounds of languages through exposure to games, nursery rhymes and rhythmic activities.

References Bernal Vázquez, Julia and Calvo Niño María Luisa. 2000. Didáctica de la música: La expresión musical en la educación infantil. Granada: Aljibe. Cervera, Juan. 1992. Teoría de la literatura infantil. Bilbao: Aldecoa. Cooke, Deryck. 1959. The Language of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dujovne. Alicia. 1982. María Elena Walsh. Barcelona: Ediciones Júcar. Ehrenzweig, Anton. 1975. The Psychoanalysis of Artistic Vision and Hearing. London: Sheldon Press. Ferrán, Jaime. 1990. Música y poesía en poesía infantil: teoría crítica e investigación. Cuenca: Servicio de publicaciones de la Universidad de Castilla- La Mancha. Fubini, Enrico. 1994. La estética musical desde la Antigüedad hasta el siglo XX. Madrid: Alianza. Grupo “Lenguaje Creativo.” 1997. Canciones para jugar y cantar. Madrid: CCS. Hoberman, Mary Ann. 2001. You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You. New York: Little Brown & Co. Morote Magán, Pascuala. 1993. Cancionero popular de Jumilla: Serie de cultura popular. Servicio de publicaciones: Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Jumilla. National Association for the Education of Young Children. 2008. Learning to Read and Write. New York, DE: International Reading Association. Poggi Amedeo, and Vallora Edgar. 1995. Beethoven: repertorio completo. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra. Storr, Anthony. 2002. La música y la mente: El fenómeno auditivo y el por qué de las pasiones. Barcelona: Planeta. Walsh, Maria Elena. 2000. Zoo loco. Buenos Aires: Alfaguara. Wright, Andrew. 1995. Storytelling with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Yashima, Taro. 1958. Umbrella. New York: Viking.

CHAPTER EIGHT A WINDOW INTO COMPOSING MUSICAL MATERIALS FOR YOUNG ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS LAURIE THAIN COMPOSER, CANADA

Introduction When observed through the filter of years working as a professional singer-songwriter, music for the young learner EFL classroom takes on a very different meaning to that which it does for most classroom teachers. Many teachers of young EFL learners (TEYL) use rhythm and music in the classroom because it is “fun”. Although affective considerations are crucial, well-chosen musical materials can also work to aid language learning and support memory. Years spent teaching English to Japanese children have illuminated how aspects of music and rhythm support the principles of how children learn. While most teachers are limited to commercially available materials, I draw on my musical past, MSc. TEYL study and first-hand experience in the young learner classroom to write songs and chants that meet the needs of my students. Whether practicing pronunciation, reinforcing vocabulary or supporting reading, musical materials must be carefully designed to be appropriate for and accessible to young learners. In this chapter I will explain how I write songs and chants for young English language learners. By providing this window into the creative process, I aim to alert teachers to what must be kept in mind when “choosing and using” effective musical materials for the language classroom.

Chapter Eight

98

The natural connection between music and English pronunciation English is a stress-timed language with a characteristic “rhythm in which stressed syllables tend to reoccur at regular intervals of time and the length of an utterance depends on the number of stresses rather that the number of syllables” (Richards and Schmidt 2002, 517). Carolyn Graham, the originator of Jazz Chants discovered the similarity between spoken English and the characteristic rhythm of American jazz by chance. While playing piano and talking with a friend one day, she noticed how remarkably similar spoken English is to the simple 4-beat structure of American jazz (Graham, personal communication, 2009). In other words, speakers of English naturally speak in a rhythm that is similar to the way in which jazz musicians play, with 4 evenly timed beats. Jazz music has both rhythm and melody and although melody has a role to play in spoken English, it was the rhythm that caught the attention of Carolyn Graham. As well as being a musician she was also an English teacher and she researched this discovery in her English classes. By speaking to a simple 4-beat rhythm instead of singing a melody Graham found that students were able to understand the concept and significance of stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) syllables in spoken English. These musical pieces are called “chants”. Graham then went on to publish volumes of Jazz Chants as a way to help students of English practice and understand the feel of natural spoken English. English speakers stress words that convey the meaning. These content words are louder and more pronounced than other words, occur at regularly timed intervals and are therefore comparatively easy to hear. Listening for content words helps listeners understand both the specific information and the gist of an utterance or conversation. At the same time, every word in English has a stressed syllable. English speakers naturally time their speaking, speeding up and slowing down, so that the stressed syllable of the content words land on a natural stress point, shown below as ‫ז‬. .

1 He’s a ‫· ז‬

2 3 4 doc tor and his sis ter’s a li bra ri an. ‫· ז‬ · · ‫· ז‬ · · ‫· · ז‬

We do the same when we sing. As a singer, I know the importance of timing the lyrics of the song so that the stressed syllable of the content word lands on the strong beat of the music. Songwriters must be mindful

A Window into Composing Musical Materials

99

of content words when “text-setting” or writing the words to a song. Placing the content words on the strong beats of the music is important for creating meaning and evoking emotion. Gordon, Magne, and Large (2011) found that when linguistic stress and musical meter in songs are aligned there is synchronization of neural activity with strong beats which enhances comprehension of lyrics. They report on research that shows a greater understanding of sung lyrics when strong syllables are aligned with strong metric positions in the music. Like music, there is melody in spoken English which we call intonation. This rising and falling of pitch cues listeners to meaning, providing them with signals such as when the speaker is finished their turn to talk or when questions are being asked. Understanding the similarities between spoken English and music is critical to modelling pronunciation and teaching English prosody. Knowing how melody, rhythm and stress interact to create meaning in English is extremely important for an EFL educational songwriter.

Music and young EFL learners “Music is a rich source of patterns and children naturally seek patterns in connecting new learning to old and attaching meaning to new experiences” (Thain 2010, 412) . Cameron (2001) reminds us that when teaching children, meaning must come first. The brain looks for patterns through which to organize information according to schematic maps and categories: “as young learners in language classes search for meaning in the experiences we provide for them, we must be sure to create complex, meaningful experiences from which they construct their own patterns of understanding” (Curtain and Dahlberg 2010, 8). There are patterns in the rhyme schemes, the organization of verses and choruses, lexical patterns in the lyric, patterns in the melody and the rhythm and these all work together and interact to facilitate memory and recall (Thain 2012). Fonseca (2000) tells us that music can anchor learning as well as cue or prompt recall “through the use of melody, rhythm, rhyme repetition and in essence, the use of patterns” (151). Most would agree that music in the young learner classroom tends to contribute to a positive and enjoyable atmosphere. Acquisition happens in learning environments where the affective filter is low, where there is little or no anxiety or distress to the learner (Krashen 1981). Krashen also cautions “that children are known to resist learning when learning is unpleasant, painful or being attempted in a punitive environment” (as cited in Curtain and Dahlberg 2010, 10), or in the absence of motivation. In the case of young language learners, the affective contribution is decisive: if

100

Chapter Eight

their attitudes are not favourable enough, the tasks/activities are not intrinsically or extrinsically motivating, nothing happens" (Nikolov, personal communication, October 8, 2011). Repetition is one of the characteristics of motherese or caretaker speech and is vital in language learning. However, learners in an EFL environment are underexposed to the target language and deprived of the constant repetition which establishes learning. Although important, unfortunately repetition can easily deteriorate into decontextualized and unmotivating drilling. Graham (2006) maintains that a major advantage of music is that it offers a lot of repetition without the drudgery of drilling. Phonemic awareness, the realization that words can be broken up into individual sounds or phonemes, is the key for all young language learners’ literacy development. The most powerful predictor of reading success in children is their level of phonemic awareness and ability to attend to and manipulate phonemes (Adams 1990; Henriksson-Macaulay 2013). Henriksson-Macaulay (2013) reports that kindergarten age children who engage in as little as 30 minutes of musical instruction a week can improve phonemic awareness significantly. There is now evidence that language and music share neural resources (Patel 2003). Koelsch (2011) confirms that there is an intimate connection between music and speech and that “the human brain, particularly at an early age, does not treat language and music as strictly separate domains” (184).

Lessons learned from the classroom Years spent teaching and observing young EFL learners in Japan have provided many examples of how rhythm and music support what the literature tells us about how children learn. I can thank rhythm and music for the successful teaching of large groups of Grade 5 and 6 elementary students in Japan and for maintaining order and motivation in the classroom. When presenting communicative chunks of language, I chanted the language as slow, exaggerated, sentences revealing the rhythmical nature of English and showing how stress falls on the important words in order to convey meaning. “Once an individual puts emphasis in his/her utterances the speech becomes more song-like” (Koelsch 2011, 183). I chanted questions like, “What colour do you like?” and the class responded with “I like yellow”, for example. We then had one half of the class chant the question and the other half of the class chant the answer. This simple practice was effective in making meaning, learning vocabulary, practicing pronunciation and anchoring the character of

A Window into Composing Musical Materials

101

English as well as maintaining motivation and avoiding boredom. Happily, I found that language taught through chanting transfers the characteristic rhythm and stress naturally to spoken language. An important classroom moment was witnessing how melody prompted a small class of 6 year-olds to remember a word. As a review exercise, I held up a flashcard and asked the students to tell me the word for “rainbow”. As they struggled to remember, I chanced to hum the Rainbow Song (originally used to teach the word) stopping right where the word rainbow occurred in the melody. As if by magic they instantly called out “rainbow” (Thain 2010). Fonseca (2000) recognizes that singing helps memory as music leaves very deep traces in our memories and that “melody seems to act as a path or cue to evoke the precise information we are trying to retrieve” (150). As a singer, it was easy to see how melody cues recall. When I sang professionally, my repertoire was in the order of 300 songs. Now, after many years, I can still remember those songs and could probably write out most of the lyrics. I could never, however, write down 300 recipes from memory. Sacks (2007) recognizes our limited ability to hold a lot of information in our minds “unless we use mnemonic devices or patterns—the most powerful of these devices are rhyme, meter and song” (237). This is easy to test: just ask an English speaker what the eighth letter of the alphabet is and most will begin singing the alphabet song and counting on their fingers. My teaching journal provides clear evidence that what is learned through music is easier to remember than spoken language. When rehearsing a class of 6 and 7 year-olds for a school concert in English, half the students were singing songs and the other half were performing a small play. The songs were learned quickly and joyfully. Even with a lot of attention to understanding the meaning, the spoken language from the play required tedious repetition and extensive rehearsal and no joy was to be found in the faces of the young actors. A group of 4 year-olds from a Buddhist kindergarten in Japan taught me a lot about song- writing. I was interested in knowing how children might react to a brand new English song without any introduction or explanation. I played a new, original song about making a birthday cake. Within seconds the whole group was moving as one, in time with the music and starting to sing the refrains on the first listening. The next week I played the song spontaneously. The children naturally started moving with the rhythm, instantly sang the parts of the song that were repeated in the chorus, mumbled over the words from the verses that were not repeated and remembered and sang the words when the repetition in the chorus started again.

102

Chapter Eight

What to keep in mind when writing educational songs for children When planning a lesson, teachers have a teaching point in mind and ways of assessing whether the students have, in fact, learned what was intended. However, sometimes poor planning or careless teaching results in children learning things we do not mean to teach. Parents often learn this the hard way when they hear their young children repeating private family conversations to others. Writing effective educational songs for children requires great care, an awareness of how children learn, consideration of the age and developmental stage of the young learners plus solid songwriting skills so that children learn what is intended. Song-writers need to be clear about the purpose of each song they write. Is it a song to practice pronunciation, to introduce important chunks of language, to teach vocabulary, support reading, and introduce cultural phenomena that only exist in the folklore of the target language or to provide accompaniment for actions? Songs designed to practice intricate vocabulary must be slow in order to give students an opportunity to keep up. Conversely, an action song would have a great rhythm, lots of energy and a bright tempo. Action songs tend to be lyrically sparse with lots of repetition as speed makes it difficult for young learners to catch and sing the words and perform the actions. Teachers of young learners have seen what happens when they speed up action songs for fun. Inevitably the children get over-excited and lose control. Fun is important, but if teaching something concrete is the goal, then winding the students up until they overheat is not advised. Listeners generally remember the chorus section of a pop song and with good reason. The chorus is the part of the song that repeats. So while we hear each verse of a song once in every listening we hear the chorus many times. In writing for children we take advantage of repetition by putting the most important words in the song in the chorus since children learn the part that is repeated most often. Teaching materials for young learners must be age appropriate and meaningful. Children are masters at remembering and repeating, however in English classes where drilling occurs children sometimes parrot their responses, meaning that they are producing the language without understanding the meaning. If children memorize a song without knowing the meaning they will have gained nothing to apply to communicative situations. Action songs and those in which children have the opportunity to demonstrate understanding through their actions are helpful in learning

A Window into Composing Musical Materials

103

a new language as meaning can be established first and used to scaffold language learning. When writing songs for young EFL learners, the words must be chosen very carefully. In contracts, song-writing publishers normally provide words through vocabulary lists or stories. When writing from a set of words I use word association to suggest a story line. Key words are then built into a repeating chorus. In writing musical materials for multi-level courses, writers must keep previously-learned vocabulary and grammar concepts in mind as children learn by building on existing knowledge. Most children’s songs are written in 4/4 time, a simple 4-beat structure, that reflects the natural rhythm of English. Complicated rhythms do not lend themselves to teaching English stress and character and children often do not have the physical coordination to deal with complicated rhythms. Singing is a physical skill that combines fine motor control of vocal cords with larger abdominal muscles that support breathing. Small children have small vocal cords so cannot sing low notes. Without proper support from breath, long notes are hard for children to sustain. Melodic steps are also easier for young singers to manage. Large jumps in the melody are problematic and are more suitable for older, more experienced singers. The pitch of the song, how high and how low the notes of the melody go, is important when writing for children. Although some children can sing very high notes, most children are comfortable singing in the range of middle C to high C, a one octave range. Ideally, songs written for young learners should be written in a key that is easy for the teacher to sing as well. While teaching in Japan I was often frustrated by not being able to sing along with my young students because the materials provided by the school were simply too high for me to sing. Another very real lesson learned from the classroom is that when students reach the age of 11 or 12, most simply stop singing in class. There is a great emotional shift that takes place at this age linked to developmental changes and peer/social pressure and somehow this causes singing in class to come to an abrupt halt. In some cases, chanting, keeping the rhythm but taking the melody out of the song, will work with these adolescent learners. Chanting is speaking in time, similar to rap music, and there is no melody to sing. Students in this age group will chant and possibly sing a little if the materials are appealing and the production sounds very modern. Since melody makes lyrics easier to remember, it does work better to have a predictable, sung melodic chorus that is repeated and then lyrically fresh verses that are spoken/chanted. With this in mind, my co-writer and I have developed a chant/song hybrid that we call a chong. Even if students will not actually perform the chongs, they

104

Chapter Eight

will listen and perhaps sing along silently in their heads which has value. Chongs are effective for teaching functional chunks of language, practicing pronunciation and demonstrating the natural rhythm and stress of conversational English. Details of how to access my website, to hear examples of chants and chongs, are given at the end of this chapter.

Choosing musical materials for the EFL classroom Most of us have favourite songs and like songs for different reasons. Why do adults and children want to hear their favourite songs over and over again? Canadian researchers Salimpoor et al. (2011) discovered that dopamine, a pleasure chemical, is released when listening to music. Anticipating the excitement or satisfaction of a favourite refrain, hook or crescendo in a song stimulates dopamine, the feel-good chemical. This research helps us understand why children ask to hear their favourite songs over and over again. When searching for effective musical materials for the classroom, I encourage teachers to consider the same factors that I consider when I write songs. Be aware that not all songs are classroom hits, just as not all songs for adults are hits. Music professionals find it nearly impossible to define a hit or predict which songs will become hits, yet listeners somehow know when they are listening to one. Let me leave you with a secret tool for choosing musical materials for your young learner classroom: the overnight catchiness test. A senior editor at an ELT publishing company introduced me to this “catchiness test”. When writing songs for the publisher, new songs submitted for approval were subjected to the test. The editor would listen to the song once and then again the next day. If, on that second listening, she could remember the essence of the song and do a reasonable job of singing it just from reading the lyrics, the song was accepted. Children subconsciously test every song we play for them and it is easy to tell which ones pass their little catchiness tests. Notice if the children start to move spontaneously to the rhythm, if they are alert, interested, paying attention, starting to sing the refrains, and most importantly, if they ask for the song again. It does not matter how great or valuable you think a song is for the classroom, children ultimately choose the classroom hits1.

1

For examples of songs, chants and chongs for young EFL learners and to contact me please go to purepacificmusic.com

A Window into Composing Musical Materials

105

References Adams, Marilyn J. 1990. Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Cameron, Lynn. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Curtain, Helena A., and Carol Ann Dahlberg. Languages and Children: Making the Match: New Languages for Young Learners, Grades K-8. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen. 2000. “Foreign Language Acquisition and Melody Singing.” ELT Journal 54(2): 146-152. Graham, Carolyn. 2006. Creating Chants and Songs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gordon, Reyna L., Magne, Cyrille L., & Large, Edward W. 2011. “EEG Correlates of Song Prosody: A New Look at the Relationship between Linguistic and Musical Rhythm,” in The Relationship between Music and Language, edited by Janke Lutz, 26-38. PDF and epub electronic book. Lausanne, Switzerland: Frontiers Media SA. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00352. Henriksson-Macaulay, Liisa. 2013. The Music Miracle: The Scientific Secret to Unlocking Your Child’s Full Potential. Earnest House Publishing. Koelsch, Stefan. 2011. “Toward a Neural Basis of Music Perception—A Review and Updated Model.” Frontiers of Psychology 2: 110. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00110 Krashen, Stephen. D. 1981. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. New York: Pergamon Press. Patel, Aniruddh D. 2003. Language, Music, Syntax and the Brain. Nature Neuroscience 6(7): 674-681. Richards, Jack C., and Richard Schimdt. 2002 Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 3rd ed. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education. Sacks, Oliver. 2007. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Salimpoor, Valerie N., Mitchell Benovoy, Kevin Larcher, Alain Dagher, and Robert Zatorre. 2011. “Anatomically Distinct Dopamine Release during Anticipation and Experience of Peak Emotion to Music. Nature Neuroscience 14: 257–262. doi:10.1038/nn.2726. Thain, Laurie A. 2010. “Rhythm, Music and Young Learners: A Winning Combination,” in JALT2009 Conference Proceedings, edited by A.M. Stoke, 407-416. Tokyo: JALT, 2010.

106

Chapter Eight

—. 2012. “Choosing and Using Music Materials for the Young Learner EFL Classroom.” Japanese Association of Language Teaching SIG— Teachers of Young Learners Summer 2012 Newsletter.

PART 4: SONGS AND MUSIC IN THE PRIMARY LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

CHAPTER NINE SHALL WE SING? ORFF-SCHULWERK TOOLS FOR RHYTHMIC DEVELOPMENT IN L2 STUDENTS ALEJANDRA PACHECO-COSTA UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE, SPAIN

Introduction In recent years scholars and researchers have witnessed a great increase in the number of studies that explore the contributions of music to foreign language learning. Among them, we highlight those of Halbach (2008), Font and Cantero (2008) Jordana (2008) and Dégé and Schwarzer (2011). These studies address the use of music in the development of those skills related to phonetics, vocabulary learning and reading. Many of them also show specific applications in the development of bilingual education curricula in Primary and Secondary Education. In this context, our contribution explores the possibilities offered by Orff-Schulwerk for solving phonetic problems for students of the English language. From its beginnings Orff-Schulwerk tried to develop students’ musical abilities through rhythm, speech and movement. The union of those three elements in one pedagogical method makes Orff-Schulwerk an ideal framework for improving students’ foreign language skills, particularly those related to phonetics, speech rhythm, acquisition of vocabulary and reading. The method begins with a series of practice activities associated with rhythmic “building blocks”, which are combined later on into larger sequences. This is the starting point for this chapter which aims to solve some of the most common and persistent difficulties for L2 students of English through the means of rhythm, melody, lyrics, instrumental and sung music, games, movement and creativity,

Orff-Schulwerk Tools for Rhythmic Development in L2 Students

109

Orff-Schulwerk The speech exercise comes at the beginning of all musical practice, both rhythmic and melodic. Single words, grouped together according to sound or meaning, names, sayings and proverbs should be, as these examples show, worked out and written down in their equivalent note-values. (Goodkin 2004, 19)

With these words, Carl Orff introduced the second part of the first volume of Musik für Kinder (Orff and Keetman 1987). They reflect some of his ideas about how words and music must be understood as a single unit. In the following pages, we suggest different ways of applying OrffSchulwerk to solving the phonetic problems of English Language students. The Orff method has been one of the most accepted approaches to music education in the Western world.1 At the time it was not called “method”, but “process” or “approach”, and thereafter we will refer to it as OrffSchulwerk, which broadly encompasses Orff’s educational contributions. Orff-Schulwerk is based on three main pillars: word, music and movement, following the three elements comprising the dramatic genres of classical Greece. All three elements complement each other and form a unit. In words of Goodkin, “personified by four of the muses—Euterpe for music, Terpsichore for dance and Erato and Calliope for the lyric and epic poetry—the Greek conception was a triangular unit […]. Orff intuitively understood the innate connection between each point of the triangle and built a whole pedagogy around this understanding” (Goodkin 2004, 17). Goodkin continues, The union between music and movement seems obvious. Music is sounded movement, and movement is danced sound. The union of movement and language may seem less obvious. However, the way in which a child tells a story entails gesture and movement in a natural way. All effective forms of language should preserve this connection, keeping alive the word using the gesture. As for the union between music and text, Orff understood that the words could be a very useful tool in building a language's tones and rhythms. 1

We can date the beginning of Orff’s pedagogical work to 1924, when he began to work with Dorotee Günther in Munich (Jorquera 2004, 30 et seq.). Since 1953 they gained international recognition through the dissemination of their ideas in teacher training courses that took place in the Orff Institute in Salzburg. In 1962, OrffSchulwerk began to be known in other European countries, the United States and Canada. For a brief overview of the dissemination of the method, see Goodkin (2004, 3-7) and Warner (1991, 1-6).

Chapter Nine

110

Orff-Schulwerk and the rhythm of words The part of Orff-Schulwerk we want to highlight here is the linguistic one. Orff departs from the word, from its rhythmic and poetic use, in order to understand music through rhythm and movement. A series of rhythmic blocks (Baustein) arise from the most basic forms of verbal expression and the basic musical structures and become the foundation of the method. For this purpose it avails itself of single words, rhymes, jingles, sayings, stories, etc. This association of rhythm and words is based on musical rhythm and beat, and the coincidence between the strong syllables in words and the accents of the rhythmic sequences (Warner 1991, 12). Orff-Schulwerk develops the basic principles of musical rhythm and meter through language, which is the most natural way of communication for the child. According to Brigitte Warner, “In Orff-Schulwerk, word and rhythm are a unity and must be treated as such” (1991, 16). She states that the words of two syllables are, with their different accents, the most basic metric form. Their translation into musical notation may vary:

Furthermore, in three-syllable words, the syllables are distributed into long and short ones, as in these examples: In binary meter:

In triple meter:

Orff-Schulwerk Tools for Rhythmic Development in L2 Students

111

From these words, it is possible to create the so-called rhythmic blocks, which are the basic rhythmic cells derived from words. Moreover, “When two building blocks are combined, a half-phrase is formed. […] Two half-phrases make a full phrase, and two or more phrases are already a short piece (at least in elementary terms), or they can become a section of a larger piece” (Warner 1991, 23). Starting from there, complete sentences with a sense are created, and Orff-Schulwerk moves into verbal forms of higher rank, such as proverbs or sayings, riddles and poetry (Warner 1991, 244 et seq.):

Applying Orff-Schulwerk to foreign language learning Our proposal for an application of Orff-Schulwerk in the language classroom arises from the difficulties that many students encounter while learning English. The relationship between music and language in language learning has been widely studied by McMullen and Saffran (2004) or Degé and Schwarzer (2011) among others. McMullen and Saffran demonstrate that music and language have a common basis in early childhood, following the ideas formulated by Lily Chen-Hafteck some years before. Chen-Hafteck tried to integrate language and music development in preschool education (Chen-Hafteck, 1997), since they shared a common origin and were perceived as a unit by young children. As Degé and Schwarzer state (2011), “One shared mechanism in childhood is the sound category learning mechanism. Consequently, a relationship between language sound categories such as phonemes (phonological awareness) and musical sound categories such as notes should be evident”. Degé and Schwarzer focus on phonological awareness as a preparation for learning to read and write, and they prove that a music training programme helps to develop this awareness, mainly through large phonological units. In the case of Spanish students learning English, the phonetic difficulties are mainly based on the difference between a stress-timed language (English) and a syllable-timed one (Spanish) (Pike in Cuenca 2000, 42). Even though the existence of those two categories has been debated, they may be useful for explaining the difference between these

112

Chapter Nine

two languages. Cuenca (2000, 42) quoting Dauer (1983, 1987) mentions that this difference also depends on syllabic structure, on vocalic reduction, and on accent position. One further problem for Spanish students is a difficulty in identification of syllables, since syllables in English cannot be identified from their spelling. That means that Spanish students have to make an effort in order to ignore how words are written and to start “listening” to the text they are reading. Following the different musical development steps in Orff-Schulwerk, we suggest the following procedures in its application in language learning.

Rhythmic blocks This is the first phase of the proposal, and its aim is to form rhythmic building blocks in English, belonging to different semantic fields: meals, proper names, colours, etc.:

Bread, salt, tea, cheese, ham

Water, pepper, pizza, mushrooms

Marmalade, Fish’n’chips A comparison between the rhythmic blocks formed in English and Spanish shows an almost continuous presence of rhythms with the tonic syllable at the beginning of the word in English. In Spanish, on the other hand, an abundance of these rhythms is noted, but also words in which the tonic syllable is not at the beginning of the word, as we can see in the following chart:

Orff-Schulwerk Tools for Rhythmic Development in L2 Students

Rhythmic cell

English Water, pepper, pizza

113

Spanish Sopa, pizza, fruta, tarta, vino, agua Jamón, melón, salmón

Cocido, tortilla, gazpacho, paella Soup, corn, fish, meat, ham

Pan, miel Chocolate, mermelada

Marmalade, vinegar

Through practice with rhythmic blocks different applications with musical instruments emerge, in which rhythm and word are associated by using musical expression. Blocks are recited and at the same time students mark the beat with Orff instruments. Polyrhythms based on ostinatos made up with words may be developed using different voices, alternating vocalization with body percussion.2

Sayings, jingles and rhymes This part of the practice consists of the development of different sequences of phrases, rhythms and jingles, partnered with their rhythmic notation. First students read rhythmically the rhymes from two to four bars in binary meter:

2

For a review of the accentual differences between Spanish and English, see Cuenca 2000.

114

Chapter Nine

(Keetman 1970, 18)

This reading should be accompanied by body percussion, percussion instruments and movement. Associations of different rhythmic patterns and different kinds of movement have proved to be a valuable tool within Orff-Schulwerk in developing the ideas of accent, duration and meter.

Creation One of the most frequent ways of working with Orff-Schulwerk is creativity. Taking sayings and jingles as models, students can put lyrics into a certain rhythmic sequence. This is one of the most important parts of the process, since students are not mere producers or performers—they become the real authors of the lyrics. And this fact, which in their own language can already pose them some problems and uncertainties, in the case of a foreign language becomes an essential practice. In addition, the aim is not only to join up a few letters, but to search for meaning, choosing the most appropriate word, and also operating rhythmically in a language that is not their own.3 Two phases may be organized: the first seeking spelling accuracy and an adjustment to the given rhythm, and after that another one in which students also have to be more careful with the chosen words, trying to find rhymes and developing some basic musical and poetic structures.4

3

On the meaning of the concept of “Poetic music” employed by Orff, see Goodkin 2004, 19-20. 4 On the importance of the creation in the modern implementation of Orff, see Goodkin 2002: “In music class, we will often change the words of games and songs to fit our experience more closely” (Goodkin 2002, 10).

Orff-Schulwerk Tools for Rhythmic Development in L2 Students

115

Songs The specifically rhythmic practice described above is completed by the singing of songs. English and American traditional songs are suggested, and their exploitation is completed with the development of plays and choreographies. The use of a game, as in the case of A sailor went to sea, also allows a huge range of accents and musical rhythm functions. Any tricks are based on the regular beat and in the use of regular stresses in accordance with the meter.

The students’ next task may be choosing a song in English and changing its lyrics. This can be developed in two phases. At first, students have to change only one word, “sea, sea, sea”, giving new solutions that can be put into practice accompanied by gestures and mime. Rhythmically it is quite an easy task, since the students only have to exchange "sea" for another monosyllabic word and these are frequent in English (swim, eat, drink, breath, drive, hop, hit, kick, fail, run, etc.). The second phase would be creating complete verses of lyrics, as one does with London Bridge is falling down, for example. As Bernal et al. (2010, 2) state “while singing, and above all, while creating songs, ‘songwriting’, the words are internalized and incorporated. The value of the words is enriched or internally assimilated when they are accompanied by music”. Singing in English allows students to expand their vocabulary, learn about the culture of the country, facilitates the intonation of speech, and motivates them to investigate the word in order to adapt it to the rhythm of the song (Bernal et al. 2010, 3).

116

Chapter Nine

Melodic improvisation The last task associated to the creation of a melody sung in English is more complex. First of all a blues sequence is practiced, both rhythmically and harmonically, using the association of different rhythmic body percussion sequences to each of the chords that make up the blues sequence: I - I - I - I - IV - IV - I - I - V - IV - I - I. Thanks to this practice, students start to feel the different blues chords, and can define rhythmic sequences that may help them in their performance. After that, students can create the lyrics, starting from an example provided, which may be transcribed using the following melody:

Choosing a musical form such as blues allows students to improvise freely, with few rhythmic restrictions, and at the same time, gives them a solid harmonic basis. This foundation provides a clear tonal context, so students have a strong reference point for their melodic improvisation. A further step would be to improvise blues bearing in mind what blues really are, their meaning, themes, characters, etc. Finally, this same practice may be expanded to other similar music genres, such as reggae or rap.

Conclusions In the current studies concerning music and language development in early childhood, it seems obvious that both disciplines are strongly connected. This same connection may be useful in foreign language learning for older students. For this purpose, a wide variety of methods and suggestions which make use of this relationship between word and music may be found. In this context, our proposal stems directly from a music education method, Orff-Schulwerk, particularly because it is based on the relationship between music, word and movement. Since it is a

Orff-Schulwerk Tools for Rhythmic Development in L2 Students

117

method designed for general music education, no specific musical requirements are demanded from the students—who, on the contrary, may benefit in many different aspects, including phonetics, vocabulary and speech rhythm.

References Bernal, Julia, Amaya Epelde, Mª Ángeles Gallardo Vigil and A. Rodríguez Blanco 2014. “La música en la enseñanza-aprendizaje del inglés.” Paper presented at the II Congrés Internacional de Didactiques. Cadaqués. Accessed November 2, 2014. http://dugi-doc.udg.edu/handle/10256/2866. Castañón Rodríguez, María del Rosario. 2009. “El profesorado de educación musical durante el franquismo.” REIFOP 12(4): 97-107. Chen-Hafteck, Lily. 1997. “Music and Language Development in Early Childhood: Integrating Past Research in the Two Domains.” Educational Psychology 130(1): 85-97. Cuenca Villarin, Heliodora. 2000. “Lenguas de compás acentual y lenguas de compás silábico. Revisión teórica e implicaciones pedagógicas.” Elia 1: 41-54. Degé, Franziska, and Gudrun Schwarzer. 2011. “The Effect of a Music Program on Phonological Awareness in Preschoolers.” Frontiers in Psychology 124(2): 7-13. Font, Dolors, and Francisco J. Cantero. 2008. “La melodía del habla. Acento, ritmo y entonación.” Eufonía 43: 19-39. Goodkin, Doug. 2002. “Creative Education.” In Creativity and Music Education, edited by Timothy Sullivan and Lee Willingham, 2-15. Edmonton: Canadian Music Educators' Association. —. 2004. Play, Sing and Dance. An Introduction to Orff Schulwerk. Mainz: Schott. Halbach, Ana. 2008. “Una metodología para la enseñanza bilingüe en la etapa de Primaria. Bilingual Methods in Primary Schools.” Revista de Educación 346: 455-466. Jordana, Marta. 2008. “La contribución de la música en la estimulación de procesos de adquisición del lenguaje.” Eufonía 43: 49-62. Jorquera, Cecilia. 2004. “Métodos históricos o activos en educación musical.” Leeme. Lista Electrónica Europea de Música en la Educación 14. Accessed November, 2, 2014. http://musica.rediris.es/leeme/revista/jorquera04.pdf. Keetman, Gunild. 1970. Elementary. First Acquaintance with OrffSchulwerk. Mainz: Schott.

118

Chapter Nine

McMullen, Erin, and Jenny R. Saffran. 2004. “Music and Language: a Developmental Comparison.” Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal 21(3): 289-311. Orff, Karl, and Gunild Keetman. 1987. Musik für Kinder. Mainz: Schott. Oriol Alarcón, Nicolás. 2005. “La música en las enseñanzas de régimen especial en España y su evolución en el siglo XX y comienzos del XXI.” Leeme. Lista Electrónica Europea de Música en la Educación 16. Accessed November 2, 2014. http://musica.rediris.es/leeme/revista/oriol2.pdf. Warner, Brigitte. 1991. Orff-Schulwerk: Applications for the Classroom. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

CHAPTER TEN THE IMPACT OF MUSIC ON CREATIVITY: EXPLORING CLASSROOM RESEARCH TERESA FLETA AND M. LUISA GARCÍA BERMEJO COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID, SPAIN

Introduction In the past, the literature on creativity in education has been scarce. Education has always focused more on the ability to recall and retell information accurately than on teaching for creativity. This paper seeks to meet the needs of teachers and students in today's classrooms by investigating the power of music to stimulate creativity. According to many authors, music is a universal language that has a power beyond words (Patel 2008; Kuhl, 2010; Brandt et al. 2012; Koelsch 2013). Music is a vehicle that integrates all skills in foreign language learning and which appeals to learners of all ages and language levels, (Schon et al. 2008; Ludke et al. 2013). This chapter asks what happens to creativity when students in different learning contexts negotiate how and what they are creating individually and in groups. In an attempt to answer questions such as why teachers should consider integrating music activities in their lesson-planning, this chapter presents the outcomes of two projects involving young and adult learners. Both projects explore to what extent learners benefit from music in learning an additional language (L2) and show how to enhance the effectiveness of L2 lessons by taking music as a springboard for inspiration. In the first section, background information on how music contributes to creative language teaching and learning is presented. The second section reports on methodologies that promote language and content through music and discusses the outcomes. Finally, the third

120

Chapter Ten

section concludes by evaluating where these outcomes lead us in terms of pedagogical implications.

Theoretical underpinning To fulfil the needs of today’s classrooms in which the teaching and learning of language and content are integrated at all educational levels, there is a need to be imaginative and to explore new teaching methodologies. One way in which student teachers and primary students can be involved in their own learning processes in a creative manner is through music. Neurological and linguistic research has demonstrated that there is a close correlation between language, music and brain development (Patel 2008). Newborn babies can discriminate the rhythm and intonation patterns of their mother tongue much before they understand the meaning of words (Kuhl 2010). Moreover, musical intelligence is one of those that develop first in humans, as it “is the capacity to create and perceive musical patterns” (Gardner 1997, 36). Due to the language, music and brain correlation, and to the positive effects of exposing children to music and songs in the classroom, many educators have incorporated music and, especially songs, into their teaching plans. Theoretical approaches have shown that music, songs, chants and rhymes are effective L2 teaching tools for language and content learning (Coyle et al. 2010); for developing social skills (Hallam 2010); and also for fostering learners’ creativity (Pugliese 2010) and their Multiple Intelligences (Gardner 1983). Research findings suggest that the brain remembers words and expressions better when they are learned with music (Ho et al. 2003; Franklin et al. 2008). Thus, music and songs are an invaluable aid to learning a new language, especially during the early stages in which learners can benefit from the musical properties of songs (Schön et al. 2008). Singing in class helps to develop listening and concentration skills, facilitates oral L2 learning, and has an effect on the neural processing of rules and on memorising of information (Ludke et al. 2013). The underlying rationale for teaching an L2 through music and songs is to engage young and adult learners in the learning process by making them actively use the target language because “[…] what educators must try to do is to nurture knowledge without killing creativity” (Boden 2001, 102). Teaching should be considered to be a form of “art” because the relationship between teaching creatively and teaching for creativity is an integral one (Jeffrey et al. 2004, 84). Furthermore, teachers are creative in

The Impact of Music on Creativity: Exploring Classroom Research

121

class when they make teaching and learning more interesting (Pugliese 2010, 15). The way in which learners can become creative in the classroom is by having the opportunity to test out ideas in their own ways. Young learners see teachers as their models, therefore student teachers themselves must be prepared to experiment with creative experiences and also be given the chance to demonstrate courage in being creative themselves, feeling what is like to go through the creative process and the challenges associated with it. The ultimate underlying rationale for teaching an L2 through music activities is to engage students in the learning process by making them use the target language actively. In this sense, playing music and singing along in the L2 classroom should be considered an essential part of language teaching and learning because music and songs allow teachers and learners to experiment with language, and permit indirect and unconscious language learning to take place.

Methodology Music and songs have proved to be very beneficial for a variety of curricular areas. The purpose of the present study is to examine the effect of music on young learners at school and on pre-service teachers at university.

Project with young learners Despite the multiple benefits of using music and songs for language learning (Schön et al. 2008), little attention has been paid to the impact of music on vocabulary and grammar assimilation in young learners. In search of innovative teaching methodologies, the project discussed in this chapter explores the potential of music for language production at the first stages of language learning. The main aim of the project was to explore English L2 learning in the young learners’ classroom. To this end, children were exposed to music-based activities where they had to listen and draw first and to write and speak in English L2 at later stage. Participants and context Sixty-six young learners aged 6-7 from two bilingual schools in Madrid, Spain, took part in a pedagogical experience involving creativity and literacy. Twenty students from El Bosque School participated in these creative practices. In this bilingual school the Content and Language

122

Chapter Ten

Learning (CLIL) methodology had been implemented in Primary education since 2005. This means that the school teaches part of the Spanish curriculum through the medium of English from ages 5 to 12, more specifically subject areas such as Science, Arts and Crafts and Physical Education. In this learning context, children are exposed to English in Preschool Education from age 3 for a few sessions of 45 minutes a week. The other forty six students aged 6-7 attended the Tagore School, another bilingual school in Madrid area where CLIL methodology has been implemented in Primary education since 2009. These students had also attended English classes in Preschool Education, two sessions of 45 minutes per week when they were 3-4 years old, and three sessions per week when they were aged 5. As the experience in this school took place at the beginning of the school year, the students were still getting used to having an increased contact time in English. From three sessions of 45 minutes weekly in Preschool, they move on to having nine hours of exposure to subjects taught in English: four hours of English language, three hours for Science and Social Studies, one hour for Music and one hour for Arts and Crafts. From the linguistic perspective and regarding the students’ first language, all participants in this study had completed the process of acquiring oral Spanish and they were developing reading and writing skills. Regarding English L2, students were beginning to develop oral and literacy skills. Material The materials needed for the 45 minute pedagogical experience session were a CD player and a CD Rom with Brahms' Lullaby, Waltz in A flat major Op. 39/15; and Grieg's March of the Dwarfs Op. 54/3. Additionally, each student had available a piece of A3 white card and crayons, pencils and felt tips of different colours. Procedure A pre-writing phase, in which children listened to the music with their eyes closed in order to visualize a character or situation, was followed by a drafting phase, in which students drew what they had visualized (e.g. a rainbow, a theatre, a horse, flowers) and wrote words or sentences related to their pictures. The purpose of this part of the pedagogical experience was to work on Musical, Linguistic and Visual-Spatial Intelligences and to

The Impact of Music on Creativity: Exploring Classroom Research

123

tap into the learners’ creativity as well as to use visualization as a learning strategy. For this part, the learners worked individually. During the reporting phase, each child shared their work with the whole class and described orally what they had drawn and written. The purpose for this interactive phase was to give children the opportunity to work on their communication skills and on their Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Linguistic Intelligences. Outcomes and discussion Sixty-six drawings and pieces of writing related to the drawings were produced by the young learners. Findings show that students were at the emergent writing phase where they used upper and lower case letters as examples in (1) illustrate: (1) “liat blue”, “yelo”, “aple”, rainbow/RAINBOW, HORSE, BLAK, “moster”. Findings also show that students used phonetic writing as seen in example (2): (2) “Teibol”, “miusium”, “muisic”, “Tri”, “reinbou”, “san”, “jaus”. Some of the features to be highlighted during this phase of the project were related to the teachers' questions. Students almost always answered teachers’ questions using the third person singular of the verb TO BE (is) plus a noun, as the example in (3) shows: (3) Teacher: “What’s this, Nicolás?” Pupil: “Is a monster”. Another characteristic of students’ interlanguage was the mixing of Spanish and English as in (4): (4) Teacher: “And what about that?” Student: “Is a camara es para vigilar al monster”. Music was the key element that triggered children’s imagination and helped them in the process of creating and visualizing, as well as in developing their communication and literacy skills. As Gardner (1983) points out, musical intelligence is the one that develops first and runs in parallel to linguistic intelligence. Thus, teachers of young learners should

124

Chapter Ten

take advantage of this fact and include activities in their classes in order to experiment with music as a resource for fostering literacy and developing the students’ Multiple Intelligences. By being exposed to music, by undertaking activities that incorporate drawings and by using language skills, children developed visualization abilities, their imagination and most important, their creativity. As Wright (2006, 17) points out, “creativity is making something new or a new version of something […], it is also when you devise activities and make materials […], making new connections is what creativity is”. The activities carried out with young learners were useful in making new connections and in putting their Multiple Intelligences to work (Musical, Visual-Spatial, Linguistic, Interpersonal and Intrapersonal). From the linguistic point of view, the young learners moved from listening to music, to a one-word level and to sentence level, to finally telling the “story” behind their drawings in class. By using methodologies like the one described above, the young learners experimented with language in an indirect and unconscious way, they were able to improve their vocabulary and their oral skills and hopefully, language learning became meaningful and memorable.

Project with adult learners The main aim of this task-based project on the impact of music on creativity was the development of teaching resources by pre-service teachers addressed at teaching English L2 to Preschool and Primary students. For the development of the teaching resources, features such as the learners’ age and level of English were taken into consideration. Moreover, as language learning and practice go hand in hand during the first stages of the learning process, the objective of this project was the creation of music-based activities for daily routines and transitional times. If fostering creativity is to be a key element in teacher education, it is important to train prospective teachers in thinking and teaching creatively because, in doing so, they “will be better prepared to value and nurture the same creative characteristics in their classrooms” (Abdallah 1996, 52). This innovative educational project focused on student teachers, considering them a priority group in driving innovation within the educational system. This is especially relevant with regard to the new educational models based on competencies which have been recently implemented at university level. Thus, the innovation project presented here contributes to a greater understanding of ways of integrating knowledge, skills and attitudes and learning how to apply them in the classroom.

The Impact of Music on Creativity: Exploring Classroom Research

125

The project was designed to enhance educational innovation with new techniques and approaches both in initial teacher training and in Preprimary and Primary schools, focussing on the areas of English foreign language learning and music. Participants and context A hundred and twenty three student teachers in the final year of their degree from the Complutense University of Madrid and specialising in Music (n.53) and English (n.70) participated in this creative experience. Their English level ranged between B1 and B2. According to the information facilitated by the students in a preliminary questionnaire, some had completed official musical studies; however, the majority of them had limited musical competence. Nevertheless, they all gave great importance to the use of songs and rhymes for learning English. Six teachers specialising in English (n.4), psychology (n.1) music (n.1) and from three different academic institutions (Complutense University of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares University and Primary schools in the Madrid Autonomous Region) were also involved in this multidisciplinary, multimodal, task-based project. Material Initial and final questionnaires were administered to student teachers for various purposes; firstly, to find out about the students’ background in Education Studies and Music, and secondly, to explore their attitudes concerning their participation in a project focussed on the creation of songs for teaching English, and finally, to get feedback at the end of the whole process. A web site was created for the project, in which bibliography and model songs were uploaded. To develop students’ own songs, a didactic unit template was provided for the students. The template contained information relating to teaching and learning objectives, vocabulary, formulaic language, materials and resources, timing, learning styles and language skills. Procedure During the period of a semester, students, divided into groups of four and with the guidance of their teachers, created songs related to daily routines, transitional times and didactic content aimed at teaching English to Preschool and Primary students. A training phase in which students

126

Chapter Ten

attended three workshops dealing with developmental psychology, with daily routines and transitions for English language learning, and with music and rhythm was followed by a creative and group-work phase where students had to complete a template about their song and received feedback from peers and teachers. During the last phase of the project, they presented their final products in class and they were recorded. Outcomes and discussion The final product developed by student teachers was a DVD with seventeen songs which was recorded by the Plataforma de Divulgación Científica (http://plataformadivulgacionucm.com/), a professional platform belonging to the Complutense University and responsible for disseminating innovative projects. The DVD, which contains a selection of the songs created by the student teachers around three topic areas: daily routines, lunchtime, and sing and learn, is available at http://www.eduelearning.com/video/video_proyecto_innovacion.html. Some examples of songs include: Good Morning, When we arrive, Washing your hands, Let’s tidy up, See you tomorrow, It’s time for lunch, Let’s learn, The weather song and The rap house. This bottom-up approach to teaching English went from scratch to performance; it involved a major focus on creativity, collaborative learning and materials development. The music-based activities fostered group work and stimulated critical thinking (Johnson et al. 1998; Kagan 1994). Working in groups proved to be very beneficial for the student teachers, as they developed not only their own Multiple Intelligences, but most importantly, their social skills. New technologies were also present in the project as another valuable tool for initial teacher training. Currently, the development of the concept of digital literacy applied to new media is an issue that raises an awareness of the need for major changes in the education system, changes that eventually will be introduced in teacher training programmes. The project explored literacy practices based on the use of audio-visual media, thus offering future teachers the opportunity to participate in a creative process that incorporates different technological elements since, according to Genzuk (2005, 21): “When this kind of expression is enabled, students see themselves as intelligent, imaginative and talented. It is essential that the concept of literacy be expanded to include visual, audio, interactive and combined media, and that we continually ask ourselves what it means to be truly literate and by extension educated, in the 21st century”.

The Impact of Music on Creativity: Exploring Classroom Research

127

The project developed and promoted positive attitudes within the groups of students and the whole class. Students had to interact with each other, exchange ideas, discuss, negotiate and learn from each other during the creative phase, in order to give feedback to other groups about their songs, thus putting into practice the four skills in EFL. From the linguistic point of view, student teachers worked on the most practical, functional areas of language use in which teachers need to be proficient. They improved their pronunciation and deepened their knowledge of expressions and formulaic language associated with routines and transitions within a meaningful context. Connecting music and actions related to the songs using formulaic language helped students to remember expressions and to fix them in their memory. Overall, this project was useful as it allowed future teachers to develop their own teaching materials and to practice effective teaching techniques with young learners.

Conclusion The body of these two pedagogical experiences has examined what music has to offer in two different learning contexts, school and university. Playing music and singing in the L2 classroom is promising for young learners and educators alike because this can yield benefits for both language and content teaching and learning. The aim of the young learners’ study was to investigate the effect of music on their ability to utilize verbal and non-verbal communication. The drawing/telling tasks aimed at constructing and communicating their ideas verbally and nonverbally proved to be very engaging in the learning context of bilingual education. The outcomes showed the effect of music on the young learners’ ability to construct and convey meaning in the L2 through the symbolic tool of drawing. The second creative approach carried out at university in terms of teaching through music and songs engaged student teachers in problemsolving, collaborative, creative and decision-making tasks. The pedagogies looked at the emergence of creative work from student teachers of different disciplines working together. Moreover, they revealed the need to provide future teachers with the opportunity to create their own teaching materials tailored to fit their specific teaching needs. By creating their own teaching materials, student teachers worked on the most practical and functional areas of teaching language and content. In conclusion, this chapter has provided illustrative and instructive information concerning practices that engage learners of different ages and of different language

128

Chapter Ten

levels actively and effectively in a variety of creative activities taking music as a source of inspiration.

References Abdallah, Adam. 1996. “Fostering Creativity in Student Teacher” Community Review 14: 52. Boden, Margaret A. 2001. Creativity and Knowledge. In Creativity in Education, edited by A. Craft, B Jeffrey and M. Leibling. London: Continuum Brandt. Brandt, Anthony, Molly Gebrian, and Robert Slevc. 2012. “Music and Early Language Acquisition.” Frontiers in Psychology 3: 327. Coyle, Doyle, Philip Hood, and David Marsh. 2010. Content and Language Integrated Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Franklin, M., Katie Rattray, Katherine S. Moore, Jeff Moher, Chum Y. Yip, and John Jonides. 2008. “The Effects of Musical Training on Verbal Memory.” Psychology of Music 36: 353-365. Gardner, Howard. 1983. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books. —. 1997. Extraordinary Minds. Portraits of Exceptional Individuals and an Examination of our Extraordinariness. New York: Basic Books. Genzuk, Michael. 2005. “Visions of Possibilities: Multimedia Literacy in Teacher Education.” USC UrbanEd: The Journal of the Dossier School of Education. Spring/Summer 2005: 18-21. Available online: http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~genzuk/UrbanEdMagLayoutM_GenzukFull Page.pdf Hallam, Susan. 2010. “The Power of Music: its Impact on the Intellectual, Social and Personal Development of Children and Young People.” International Journal of Music Education 28(3): 269-289. Ho, Yim, Mei C. Cheung, and Agnes S. Chan. 2003. “Music Training Improves Verbal but not Visual Memory: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Explorations in Children.” Neuropsychology 17(3): 439– 50. Jeffrey, Bob and Anna Craft. 2004. “Teaching Creatively and Teaching for Creativity: Distinctions and Relationships.” Educational Studies 30(1): 77-87. Available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0305569032000159750 Johnson, David W, Robert T. Johnson, and Edythe Holubec. 1998. Cooperation in the Classroom. Edina: Interaction Book Company.

The Impact of Music on Creativity: Exploring Classroom Research

129

Kagan, Spencer. 1994. Cooperative Learning. San Clemente: Resources for Teachers. Koelsch, Stefan. 2013. Brain and Music. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Kuhl, Patricia. 2010. “Brain Mechanisms in Early Language Acquisition.” Neuron 67(5): 713-727. Ludke, Karen, Fernanda Ferreira,and Katie Overy. 2013. “Singing Can Facilitate Foreign Language Learning.” Memory and Cognition 42(1): 41-52. Patel, Aniruddh D. 2008. Music, Language, and the Brain. NY: Oxford University Press. Pugliese, Chaz. 2010. Being Creative: The Challenge of Change in the Classroom. Peaslake: Delta Publishing. Schön, Daniele, Maud Boyer, Sylvain Moreno, Mireille Besson, Isabelle Peretz, and Régine Kolinsky. 2008. “Songs as an Aid for Language Acquisition.” Cognition 106(2): 975-83. Wright, Andrew. 2006. “Being Creative: Things I find Useful.” Children & Teenagers: C&TS. The Publication of the Young Learners Special Interest Group, IATEFL 06(1): 17-19.

CHAPTER ELEVEN SONGS AS A VALUABLE PEDAGOGICAL TOOL FOR EFL PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN MARIA DIAKOU EFL PRACTIONER, CYPRUS

Introduction Songs can be one of the most enjoyable ways of learning a foreign language, transforming the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom into a positive learning environment. Their contribution to language learning can be considered to be very important and maybe that is the reason why the role of songs in the primary EFL classroom has attracted the interest of many researchers (Newham 1995; McMullen and Saffran 2004; Millington 2011). Could their repetitive nature and the joy they bring be associated with reinforcing language acquisition? Could songs be considered as a valuable pedagogical tool for helping young pupils to learn English? Songs can create exciting learning opportunities and meaningful learning experiences, arousing positive emotions in the primary language classroom and thus play an important role in learning a foreign language. Researchers from a range of countries have evidenced the effectiveness of using songs to learn English (Adkins 1997; Millington 2011; Fonseca et al. 2011). This chapter is an attempt to present the effectiveness of working with songs in the EFL classroom and the role of the songs in motivating pupils by creating a more affective learning atmosphere. Research has shown that using songs helps pupils by “incorporating both hemispheres of the brain throughout the corpus collosum, which strengthens the transmission of messages” (Fonseca et al. 2011, 105), leading to more effective learning outcomes. Songs can provide a break from classroom routine, supplementing in this way a textbook or even serving as the text itself, developing a classroom atmosphere in which the four skills can be enhanced. Young emphasises the need to “create a low

Songs as a Valuable Tool for EFL Primary School Children

131

anxiety atmosphere in the language class by using challenging classroom materials and effective pedagogical approaches to develop learners’ language skills” (Young 1999, 7). It may be then that the use of songs, given their association with positive affect, may be instrumental in reducing anxiety and negative feelings, “fostering a relaxed but motivating and productive classroom atmosphere” (Arnold and Fonseca 2004, 126). Songs can therefore create a more productive classroom atmosphere leading to successful learning.

The psychological effects of songs: affective considerations Scientists state that “music stimulates an endorphin response which acts as an endogenous opiate—a spontaneously secreted analgesic” (Clarke et al. 2010, 120) which has the potential to lift mood, reduce tension and anxiety and raise energy levels. Since songs have the benefit of being fun, and can reduce children’s anxiety, they can also help to create an atmosphere for effective language learning and “an attitude in our learners that reflects genuine interest and motivation to learn the language” (Young 1991, 434).

Emotions affecting language learning positively Music and songs are a source of emotional experience for people since “from a psychological perspective, an emotion is a complex response to an event of personal significance, involving cognitive appraisal” (Clarke et al. 2010, 82) and this can be a factor influencing children’s attitudes. Our aim as teachers should always be to sustain a positive learning atmosphere in the EFL classroom which can keep our children motivated. This can be accomplished through activities linked to the use of songs, which in turn might lead to the development of a non-threatening classroom atmosphere, improving grammatical and vocabulary knowledge and converting pupils’ “natural energy and enthusiasm into meaningful learning experiences” (Ara 2009,165). The use of music and songs “as a vehicle for second language learning is consistent with Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences” (Medina 2002, 3) which states that “each human being is capable of seven relatively independent forms of information processing, with individuals differing from one another in the specific profile of intelligences that they exhibit” (Gardner and Hatch 1989, 4). The use of songs can also help in creating and sustaining an environment which evokes positive emotions, lowering the affective filter, and thus facilitating language acquisition.

132

Chapter Eleven

According to Krashen’s affective filter hypotheses (1985), emotions can influence learning. Thus, in order to understand learning it is necessary to take into account the affective filter. As negative emotions can function as a filter, preventing pupils from gaining maximum linguistic input, it should be in “the interest of the second language teacher to provide an environment which evokes positive emotions” (Medina 2002, 2). This point is reinforced by Lake who maintains that “optimum learning occurs in an environment of high motivation, self-confidence, and low anxiety” (Lake 2002, 1). Šišková maintains that music can help in the process of learning through minimizing anxiety, and since music can positively affect language learning, songs can “improve the ability of the mind to recall” (Šišková 2008, 16), and, by extension, it would be reasonable to suggest, improve the ability to learn new grammatical structures and to retain new vocabulary. Moreover, Lozanov’s system which involved the use of classical music has “proven that foreign languages can be learned with 85%-100% efficiency in only thirty days by using these baroque pieces” (O’Donnell 1999, 2), since “his [Lozanov’s] students had a recall accuracy rate of almost 100% even after not reviewing the material for four years” (O’Donnell 1999, 3). Reports from both practitioners focus on the potential of songs to attract and sustain attention.

Fun and enjoyment created through the use of songs Probably the most obvious advantage of using songs in the primary classroom is that they are enjoyable and seen as a form of entertainment. Most children and adults enjoy singing, but it is important for teachers to take on board that songs are more than just enjoyment. The relaxed atmosphere created by the implementation of songs into the EFL teaching process can help the teacher to add to pupils’ enthusiasm “as they gain confidence” (Parker 1969, 96). But, as Parker goes on to say, what is most important is that using songs can break the monotony of the daily practice routine. Pop songs in particular, which are part of youth culture, can stimulate learning and improve knowledge or “play an associative facilitating role in engaging and stimulating” pupils’ interest in language learning (Murphey 1992a, 774). It is clear therefore that songs offer a great opportunity to help pupils change their classroom routine and, as Ara maintains, “the repetition and most importantly the fun involved in rhymes” in songs (Ara 2009, 165) can increase motivation levels by providing ample opportunities to work with interesting tasks and activities.

Songs as a Valuable Tool for EFL Primary School Children

133

Reducing anxiety Since children learn better if they are engaged in interesting activities, our aim as teachers is to help them “learn in an enjoyable environment without making them feel the pressure of learning a foreign language” (Ara 2009, 168). This involves “tailoring activities to the affective needs of the learner” (Young 1991, 433), using classroom procedures and strategies which “pay off in terms of low anxiety, high motivation, and ultimately in the ability to convey information and communicate ideas and feelings” (Young 1991, 426). As Horwitz et al. suggest: “Teachers and students generally feel strongly that anxiety is a major obstacle to be overcome in learning to speak another language, and several recent approaches to foreign language teaching, such as Community Language Learning and Suggestopedia1, are explicitly directed at reducing learner’s anxiety” (Horwitz et al.1986, 125). Songs can provide a purposeful diversion for learners, “refresh their minds and unlock their creativity” (Shen 2009, 89). Songs can be a great chance for reducing pupils’ anxiety by giving them the opportunity to work with each other, feel comfortable and more confident and this “can result in increased participation and language learning” (Crandall 1999, 227), moving away from the more traditional, teacher-centred classrooms and helping pupils to get rid of the pressure in the language class. This is particularly important given that “because of their short attention spans, children cannot concentrate on tedious activities for long durations” (Ara 2009, 163).

Increasing motivation The use of songs in the EFL classrooms this has the potential to bring about effective learning by reducing pupils’ anxiety, motivating them to learn the target language. The interrelationship between anxiety and motivation is evident from the contention that “by reducing anxiety, songs can help increase student interest and motivate them to learn the target language” (Millington 2011, 136). Motivation has become a central concept underpinning many studies and, as Schön et al. mention in their 1

Suggestopedia is one of the teaching methods developed by the Bulgarian psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov based on the study of Suggestology. The method has been used in different fields of studies but mostly in the field of foreign language learning. Lozanov claimed that by using this method one can teach languages approximately three to five times as quickly as is possible using conventional methods.

134

Chapter Eleven

study, “learning a new language, especially in the first learning phase wherein one needs to segment new words, may largely benefit from the motivational and structuring properties of music in songs” (Schön et al. 2008, 975). As Shen states, motivation is vital in language learning and it can be ‘triggered by internal causes such as the learner’s interest, enthusiasm and desire or by external influences such as peer pressure’ (Shen 2009, 90). Songs can be teaching “instruments which increase sensibility, aid memory, improve concentration” (Fonseca et al. 2011, 104). A teacher may therefore attempt to present and administer tasks and activities through the use of songs so that even simple grammatical substitution drills can be made exciting by using motivational techniques.

The implications of songs for classroom pedagogy The pedagogical potential of music in foreign languages is, as we have explored, enormous, and this is underlined by Shen who speaks of the intrinsic merits that songs and music possess, and claims that they even therapeutic functions, which render them an invaluable resource for language learning. Even if some songs are syntactically and lexically complex, if they are analysed in the same way as any other literary extract, their importance in language learning can become more evident. Many researchers have investigated the link between songs and language learning (Šišková 2008, Fonseca et al. 2011; Legg 2009), and the ways in which they can be used, for example for practising pronunciation and listening. Using songs in a language teaching classroom can provide a harmonious classroom atmosphere and can be a stimulus for student engagement in the language process, connecting entertainment with learning. In the same way, songs as supplementary activities can “make an important contribution to challenging students” (Ho 2009, 29). In terms of song types, according to my experience, all kind of songs, from nursery rhymes to pop songs can be used in the classroom and “may have not only an emotional function, but can also facilitate linguistic processing due to their simple and repetitive structure” (Schön et al. 2008, 982). Allowing students to choose songs they like can make them feel more responsible for the learning process and more engaged with it. Pupils from around the ages of eight to nine usually like listening to pop music, which can be a good vehicle for trying out a wide variety of working arrangements, particularly group and pair work. This is because it is more natural and authentic for young learners to talk to each other about pop music, given their existing interest in the subject. So, bearing in mind that

Songs as a Valuable Tool for EFL Primary School Children

135

there is a need for differentiation in the teaching process in order to address the learners’ diversity, it appears that songs can play an important role in giving students the opportunity to learn at their own pace, which in itself is likely to keep them motivated and to help them accomplish their learning objectives. Authors of different studies have claimed that music can also activate neurons “leading to short-term improvements in visuospatial task performance” (Clarke et al. 2010, 93), which can become a mnemonic device with the potential to influence memory during language learning. As Campbell (1997) suggests “Sound and music can enhance the workplace as well as the classroom” (Campbell 1997, 196). And this was evident in my own M.Ed. research study (see below), since even pupils who could not sing improved their motivation and self-esteem, and felt more confident that they would complete the assignments which were accompanying the songs, making their learning stimulating and enjoyable.

Concerns and negative effects of the use of songs Although there are many benefits from the use of songs in language learning which render them a valuable teaching tool, there are some researchers who express concerns about using them in the language classroom. According to Millington, “a teacher needs to take care in selecting a suitable song for his or her class” (Millington 2011, 136), and, as Richards agrees, “the language, vocabulary, and sentence structure of some songs can be quite different from that used in spoken English” (Richards, 1969, 163), and this can make them unsuitable for use in language teaching classrooms. Moreover, it is not easy for all non-native English speaking EFL teachers to teach the stress and timing of songs correctly, with the result that they are “therefore probably more likely to only use certain songs that they feel comfortable with” (Millington 2011, 137), which might not be the most appropriate for the given group of pupils. As Campbell suggests, even “playing light, easily paced music in the background helps some people to concentrate for longer periods” (Campbell 1997, 74). It should not be forgotten, however, that others may be distracted by the use of songs, as mentioned by Šišková who asserts that music can sometimes serve “as a distraction and not as a means of learning the subject” (Šišková 2008, 13). Some pupils are easily excited and make unwanted noise and disturbance, creating a distraction for others in class who find it difficult to concentrate. The use of technical equipment, as suggested by Murphey (1992b, 8) can alleviate this

136

Chapter Eleven

problem, since if each pupil has his or her own headset, as mentioned later in this chapter, this can minimise unwanted noise as well as aiding concentration. Other researchers have very wisely also given reasons for taking great care while using songs during the learning process. Richards maintains that “before using a song in the classroom it is important to make sure that the words and sentence patterns in it have been already taught” (Richards 1969, 167), since, as Richards also claims, there could be problems caused by difficult language which usually has “low frequency, sometimes archaic and dialect words, and sentences of irregular structures and stressing” (Richards 1969, 163). Consequently, a teacher considering using songs should consider carefully the vocabulary, pronunciation and grammatical input before using a song in the EFL classroom. In addition, there are other difficulties facing the teacher in selecting and using songs. Since she or he needs to “maintain variety in the classroom, the teacher needs a good repertoire of songs” (Millington 2011, 137). Children do not like using the same song on several occasions and easily become bored. Moreover, according to Murphey, “students disagree about songs, and have different musical tastes” (Murphey 1992b, 8). A teacher should also have a good repertoire of interesting and engaging activities, taking into account that “songs go out of date very quickly” (Murphey 1992b, 8), and no matter how enjoyable or memorable songs are, they “will not teach anyone to use the language, and will not give students the ability to communicate in another language” (Millington 2011, 137). Amusia, also referred to as tone-deafness, “a difficulty in discriminating pitch changes in melodies that affects around 4% of the human population” (Douglas and Bilkey 2007, 915) is also something a teacher must have in mind while using songs since, as Clarke et al. mention, amusics are unable to recognise familiar melodies and “cannot detect differences between melodies, lacking the capacity, that is otherwise widespread in the population, to hear “wrong” notes” (Clarke et al. 2010, 134). Patel further adds that there are also pupils with normal hearing who may show “impaired perception of harmonic relations in music, either following brain damage (acquired amusia) or due to a lifelong condition (congenital amusia)” (Patel 2003, 675). These aspects present additional challenges.

Songs as a Valuable Tool for EFL Primary School Children

137

Discussion My Ed.D. study has produced findings that, after triangulation, confirm to a considerable extent my initial hypothesis that songs can affect the way children feel and think and, as a result, can be a valuable teaching tool. Through their potential to help children internalize positive values, songs have a great deal to offer the EFL classroom. They also help pupils understand grammatical structures and develop their vocabulary acquisition. Observation gave evidence of the improvement that using songs as part of language lessons can make towards the learning and reinforcement of grammatical structures and the building of new vocabulary. Even students of low ability managed to learn something, and this was evident from the completed assignments and the discussions that took place during the focus groups. From these findings, it would be reasonable to suggest that all teachers could adopt song-related activities that would benefit their students. My observations of pupils during the entire research process led me to the conclusion that even though songs could improve language learning by keeping learners motivated and alert, if the related activities were not engaging and interesting, pupils showed no enthusiasm and results were not positive. This confirms Richards’ view that “learning takes place not merely through good presentation, but through meaningful, spaced repetition of the learning items” (Richards 1969, 161), and this alerts us to the need to create engaging and purposeful activities which will keep all pupils focused on their language objectives.

Conclusion In line with Fonseca’s contention that “appropriate selection of music and its incorporation in lessons can be beneficial for students” (Fonseca et al. 2011, 106), teachers need to pay close attention to the selection of appropriate songs, so that pupils of lower ability do not have to cope with fast speeds which prevent them from following the words, which can cause stress and anxiety. It is incumbent on every teacher to select songs which are suitable for the age-group and language level of their pupils. Our aim as language teachers should be to help pupils of all abilities to develop confidence and increase their motivation. Using songs with welldesigned linked activities can reduce anxiety, keep pupils of all levels motivated and improve grammar and vocabulary in an enjoyable and interesting way. Songs can add variety to the classroom through the use of creative activities to replace current curriculum material and teaching

138

Chapter Eleven

styles that appear to be boring or not fully engaging. As Arnold (1999, 264) suggests “when positive emotions are involved, learning is reinforced”.

References Adkins, S. 1997. “Connecting the Powers of Music to the Learning of Languages”, The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching vol. IV: 1-10 [online]. Accessed October 9 2010. http://www.njcu.edu/cill/journal-index.html Ara, S. 2009. “Use of Songs, Rhymes and Games in Teaching English to Young Learners in Bangladesh”, The Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics (2)3: 161-172. Arnold, J. 1999. “Visualization: Language Learning with the Mind’s Eye” in Affect in Language Learning, edited by J. Arnold. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Arnold, J., and M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora, 2004. “Multiple Intelligence Theory and Foreign Language Learning: a Brain-based Perspective.” International Journal of English Studies (4)1: 119-136. Campbell, D. 1997. The Mozart Effect, Hodder and Stoughton Publications. Clarke, E., N. Dibben, and S. Pitts. 2010. Music and Mind in Everyday life, Oxford University Press. Crandall, J. 1999. “Cooperative Language Learning and Affective Factors.” In Affect in Language Learning, edited by J. Arnold. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Douglas, K. M. and D. K. Bilkey. 2007. “Amusia is Associated with Deficits in Spatial Processing.” Nature Neuroscience (10)7: 915-921. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen, C. Toscano-Fuentes and K. Wermke. 2011. “Melodies that Help: The Relation Between Language and Aptitude and Musical Intelligence.” Anglistik International Journal of English Studies (22)1: 101-118. Gardner, H. and T. Hatch. 1989. “Multiple Intelligences go to School: Educational Implications of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” Educational Researcher (18)8: 4-10. Ho, W. C. (2009) “A Study of Hong Kong Students’ Music Participation in and out of School.” Research in Education Journal (82)1: 28-46. Horwitz, E. K. Horwitz, M.B. and Cope, J. (1986) “Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety.” The Modern Language Journal (70)2: 125-132. Lake, R. (2002) “Enhancing Acquisition through Music.” The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching VII: 1-10.

Songs as a Valuable Tool for EFL Primary School Children

139

[online], Accessed October 8 2010. http://www.njcu.edu/cill/journalindex.html McMullen, E. and J. R. Saffran. 2004. “Music and Language: A Developmental Comparison.” Music Perception (21)3: 289-311. Medina, S. L. 2002. “Using Music to Enhance Second Language Acquisition: From Theory to Practice.” in Language, Literacy, and Academic Development for English language learners, edited by J. Lalas and S. Lee. Pearson Educational Publishing. —. 2002. “Using Music to Enhance Second Language Acquisition: From Theory to Practice.” in Language, Literacy, and Academic Development for English Language Learners, edited by J. Lalas, and S. Lee. Pearson Educational Publishing. Murphey, T. 1992a. “The Discourse of Pop Songs.” TESOL Quarterly (26)4: 770-774. —. 1992b. Music and Song, Oxford University Press. Millington, N. T. 2011. “Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners.” Language Education in Asia (2)1: 134-141. O’Donnell, L. 1999. “Music and the Brain.” Music Power [online] Accessed October 9 2010. http://users.characterlink.net/odonnell/report.html Patel, A. D. 2003. “Language, Music, Syntax and the Brain.” Nature Neuroscience (6)7: 674-681. Parker, S. L. 1969. “Using Music to Teach a Second Language.” The Modern Language Journal (53)2: 95-96. Richards, J. 1969. “Songs in Language Learning.” TESOL Quarterly (3)2: 161-174. Schön, D., M. Boyer, S. Moreno, M. Besson, I. Peretz and R. Kolinsky. 2008. “Songs as an Aid for Language Acquisition.” Cognition (106)2: 975-983. Shen, C. 2009. “Using English songs: an Enjoyable and Effective Approach to ELT.” English Language Teaching (2)1: 88-94. Šišková, D. 2008. “Teaching Vocabulary Through Music.” Diploma Thesis. Department of English Language and Literature, Masaryk University, Brno. Young, D. J. 1991. “Creating a Low-anxiety Classroom Environment: What Does Language Anxiety Research Suggest?” The Modern Language Journal (75)4: 426-437.

PART 5: MELODIES AND RHYTHM IN THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

CHAPTER TWELVE AWAKENING SENSES FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING JOSÉ MANUEL FONCUBIERTA UNIVERSITY OF LA RIOJA, SPAIN

AND MARK GANT UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM

Creativity is possible only when we are able to focus attention on the problem at hand. —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Introduction Learning is a natural activity that takes place through experience. It is related to the concrete, to information that reaches us through our senses and to what holds meaning for us. We human beings process and learn information which carries meaning. We are better at learning things which shift from being distant from us and become relevant because they interact with us. The learning process does not merely consist of information that we consume but instead it needs information that we construct; this is how we distinguish learning from memorisation. Memory is indispensable for confirming that learning has taken place. However, not all learning relies on the memory. That which is stored in the memory without further impact beyond the merely informative deteriorates and is gradually lost, lacking more significant impact. The brain needs iteration to understand and remember better. But, in the case of second language learning, we know that remembering is easier when linguistic structures are coloured by emotion (Stevick 2002) and this even reduces the need for iteration at times (Zull 2002). According to Stevick (2002, 10): “Linguistic forms, when they are tied only to affective components that are shallow and perfunctory, are lost after a relatively

Awakening Senses for Language Learning

143

short period of time, and they aren’t always readily accessible for use when needed”. Emotions are responses which arise through contact with reality and are then created by the brain. If we consider the importance of the emotional or affective component of the processing and learning of information, we are able to imagine different possibilities in terms of what may take place in the classroom. A language class might consist of information transmission and thereby entertain the learner only “from the neck up” (Rogers 1969) or it might be a space in which a more natural form of learning is nurtured, a place in which the language takes its place in a sensory ecosystem; a language class may awaken sensations carrying a positive and meaningful emotional charge linked to the new information that we are trying to help the students to learn or this may simply be information that the learner merely archives; a language class may help the components of the language concerned (its sounds, its vocabulary, its grammar) to become better lodged in our permanent memory. In short, a language class can become, at times, something that is related to subjective sensory experience. The multisensory approach consists of an understanding that learning is an activity that engages the whole person in a holistic manner. In this chapter, we will deal with the use of image and melody as interrelated resources which can enrich linguistic input with this emotional and multisensory load which we believe to be necessary in order for learning to be more fully experienced, more active and more long-lasting. There are many studies which highlight the benefits of using instrumental music in order to create optimal learning spaces (Lozanov 1978; Murphey 1990; Engh 2013). In our opinion, the use of “melodic environments” facilitates the transformation of the classroom into a “world of meaningful action” (Stevick 1980, 10). Music, and the emotions to which it gives rise, are able to create in our imagination contexts in which L2 communication can develop. Musical input allows the cognitive processes belonging to linguistic components to be linked to the overlay of the affective or the emotional. This can contribute to the awakening of a combination of sensations and positive stimuli which are necessary for learning to become more intense and more meaningful. Brierley (2011) states that “what is felt is remembered”. Learning activities, when felt, are transformed into experiences and these, in turn, stimulate the capacity for linguistic creativity and memory, in other words, our ability to remember. On the other hand, the use of images as a trigger for language, within the melodic environments which music creates, facilitates active participation by the students through techniques of visual literacy. The reading of

144

Chapter Twelve

images as if they were written texts helps statements made by learners to have a level of authenticity which is the hallmark of the unique interaction between the observer and the observed.

Musicality, image and action Instrumental music and images are resources which can be used to help to lighten the cognitive load involved in learning a new language. Both of these can play a role as lingua francas. They are easily decodified independently of the learner’s mother tongue and this facilitates active learning. Both music and image allow the intimate interaction known as inner talk. If we manage to stimulate the learner’s internal dialogue we can make use of L2 either as a type of rehearsal or for textual planning before the final exposition in public. This exercise may facilitate the learner’s initiative in the classroom by providing confidence and security. For years, with the support of research, communicative learning has insisted on the need to stimulate classroom interaction (Larsen-Freeman 1986; Ellis 1994). This has led to gap-filling and information exchange exercises or pair and group activities and other possibilities which have turned interaction into the driving force behind learning. However, it is possible that insufficient attention has been paid to the quantity of time that we also spend in real life talking to ourselves alone. In this context, the use of music and image, in well-structured exercises and with this aim in view, can lead to the stimulus for turning these interior monologues into ones in which interaction becomes authentic and genuine when the voice that you hear in class is firstly that of your internal you, the voice of your own thoughts in a second language. Furthermore, when the information is not only expressed in words but we are also working with images and musical accompaniment, it is easier to find ideas, arguments and lexical units with which to participate in the classroom. As the Kahil Gibram poem quoted by Ávila (2007, 69) affirms: “Man struggles to find life outside himself, unaware that the life he is seeking is within him”. These properties of melodic and image-based surroundings, seen holistically, are a good stimulus for the strengthening of sensations such as the feeling of freedom, the absence of fear or the feeling of ownership. Within this environment what the student produces is the fruit of her or his own creativity or sense of agency and, as a result, participation flows from the availability of responses and from confidence in his or her personal talents. To summarise, all those sensations which stimulate the pathway towards a sense of linguistic creativity allow us to go beyond what has been learned.

Awakening Senses for Language Learning

145

Active participation by the learner The level of participation by learners in teaching and learning activities is differentiated according to variables connected to personality and attitude. Chomsky (1988), on one of the few occasions in which he refers to language teaching, states that approximately 99% of the work of the teacher consists of making the student want to learn. Attitude is the perspective with which we observe things (Robinson 2012). What model of learning does not aspire to create new situations which provide the potential for the learner to observe and assimilate more effectively the content and skills which are the object of learning? Teaching is an activity, art or vocation which, to a degree, includes an aspect of behavioural modelling in the extent to which it is a transformative practice (Kumaravadivelu 2012) and if anyone can change an attitude or contribute to a behavioural change this person is most probably the teacher. Teachers create citizenship, we offer a tool through which learners can improve their ways of relating to the world; we offer well-being and adaptation to the social and employment context in which our students are going to live and work, thus facilitating their integration. According to Brown (1994, 38) “language is a way of life, it is as the foundation of our being, and as such interacts simultaneously with thoughts and feelings.” We teachers can achieve this connection between the cognitive and the affective with the aim that speaking in L2 and participating in class become as meaningful as doing so in the mother tongue. Meirieu (2006, 29) has stated that “there is no teacher who teaches nothing. There is no teacher who teaches no-one”. It is difficult for a teacher to go unnoticed, but it is also possible that this can happen and this must be the worst of outcomes. The task that we carry out can have a positive and enjoyable impact on the subject who is learning. How we carry out our role can be memorable in the life of the student. But in order to “touch many souls” and to make teaching a transformative experience, we need to work with the learner in a holistic and integrated way, including in some way those resources which make it possible for the classroom to become a multisensory and creative space. We have already cited Rogers (1969) referring to the alienating effect of an education which merely trains the learner “from the neck up”. Music, image and movement are resources which can help to make language learning a more experiential and sensorially rich phenomenon. Any teacher can teach something but the most useful learning is that which is taken on board by the student. Nunan (1995) warned of the gap which exists between what we try to teach and what the students really

146

Chapter Twelve

learn. Anything that the student is capable of discovering, creating and valuing for him or herself will be learned with much greater intensity. Any teacher can teach something but the usefulness of this learning and its durability will also depend on the extent to which the process facilitates learning connected to the naturally human combination of experiences, feelings and thoughts which the students bring to the classroom. In short, learning can be deeper if the teacher, who is also a learner, makes her or his role into a means by which learners are enabled to create the content which they are trying to learn. Teaching which facilitates and creates conditions favourable to a learning process, which is rich in experiences in which feelings, thoughts and physical movement come together, will remain in the memory for longer than a form of teaching which is merely focussed on the accumulation of information transferred to the learners by the teacher. We need students to implement their creative capacity in order to develop the ability to construct their own linguistic expression and this means leaving behind models which are merely repetitive or artificial and which are less fruitful in terms of communication outside the classroom and as far as the development of communicative competence is concerned.

Towards a pedagogy of the imagination: linguistic creativity Linguistic and musical creativity define us as human beings (Patel 2008) and both are the product of a characteristic which differentiates us from other living creatures: creativity itself. For centuries being creative has been a quality surrounded by mythology and particular beliefs. Thus, for example, creativity has been perceived as belonging only to geniuses, being a superior form of intelligence which is only available to brilliant minds. It has also been believed that creativity is only visible in great artistic works or that one simply is or is not creative. But this is not necessarily so. Creativity is a quality which belongs, to a greater or lesser degree, to all individuals and which can be trained and developed in the classroom (Gardner 2002). Creativity does not necessarily correlate to intelligence and at any point above a certain intellectual threshold anybody is capable of developing creativity (Getzels and Jackson, 1962). There is, furthermore, a very simple and basic way of being creative: language. A child can manage to produce a phrase that she or he has never previously heard, as Chomsky stated when refuting behaviourist theories of learning. Imitation is not necessarily the key to everything and, curiously, creativity does require imitative processes. For Coseriu (1982),

Awakening Senses for Language Learning

147

language is ergon (something which is already in existence) and at the same time energeia (something in constant change). Thus language is both something that we inherit and in some way “imitate” (through common social patterns), but it also contains a creative element in its development (innovation). Learning a second language requires imitation as well as creativity and teaching can contribute to individual learning in terms of how to be creative, going beyond what has been learned and developing the ability to use linguistic knowledge to speak or write something which is original and which is not the mere repetition of something read or heard through the learning materials used in class. Menchén (1998, 23-24) suggested a model for the stimulation of creativity which relies on the multisensory pathway: the expression of sensations, feelings and emotions; the intellectual pathway: the use of intuition, imagination and thought and the ecological pathway: working through identification with and discovery of nature and the culture surrounding the learner. For the ecological pathway, working with musical instruments can contribute to the creation of learning environments in which feelings of pleasure and relaxation are predominant. Music, images and movement-based activities can make a considerable contribution to the exploration and development of these three pathways which help the learner to express him or herself creatively, progressively leading to a greater degree of participation and autonomy. The inclusion of melodies in the classroom can create conditions in which the ability of the learners to concentrate on the task in hand is enhanced, which is also important for creative processes. In the same way, activities channelled towards the learner constructing positive images of him or herself also reinforce classroom cultures in which learning is concerned with the positive self-esteem of students and an improvement in confidence in terms of their own potential and skills. This is the case with activities such as the ‘emotional photo booth’, a simple exercise in which a student comes up to the board and allows her or his classmates to note positive qualities that they see in him or her around the silhouette formed. Then a photo of this exercise is taken with a mobile phone and we thus have an emotional identity card with which to remind ourselves that the student is accepted and valued by the group. As Stevick maintains (1975, 1), “the image we have of ourselves is our most precious possession”. Moreover, tasks based on movement create conditions for the development of a view of the classroom as a community in which we are all interconnected. This is the case with “name chains”, an activity in which the students have to find the classmate who has the largest number of letters in his or her name. Once this person is found, the teacher asks the

148

Chapter Twelve

student to write her or his name horizontally on the board and the rest of the class add their names one by one to one of the letters of this leading name. Another way of developing this ecological pathway in the classroom is through a very simple musical activity which consists of setting up an identification task. The teacher writes “I am a tune” on the board. At the same time s/he starts playing a sound file, through the use of which the students try to fill an information gap by trying to construct a hypothesis about the relationship between the tune and his or her personality: (“What sort of person is like this?”), the relationship of the music with some important event in the teacher’s life story (“It reminds you of […]”) or the relationship of the tune to hobbies or interests. Next, the students are asked to bring a tune with which they identify and which they want to share with everyone else. As the neuroscientist Juslin notes (2008): “a sound makes you feel more than a thousand images”. This evocative power of music can be exploited in the classroom to work with the mental images that the music produces in us, that is, to work with our ability to imagine things. This activity is an open one; it can be given various different emphases and helps to develop cohesion, group dynamics and the creation, in short, of an optimum learning space. For the intellectual pathway we can bring tasks to the classroom in which images, music and movement appear in the minds of the learners through stimulating their imagination. In this area, tasks based on visualisation are widely recognised as developing creativity and allow us to include in learning a range of feelings which, although they are not experienced in reality (since they are fictitious), do offer the learner a similar experience, which in the final analysis, carries the same benefits. There are experiential activities which involve us holistically in the task, which allow us to produce memories and provide us with free spaces in which to be creative. According to Robinson (2009, 89) “Creativity is the application of the imagination”. Why not stimulate the imagination through images, music and movement so that learners are encouraged to participate more actively? Thanks to the imagination we can recreate in our minds states or situations in which we observe ourselves carrying out actions. With an activity as simple as “A Happy Old Man” we can facilitate the nourishing of the learners’ imagination. Ask the students to close their eyes, put on some background music (for example Carpe Diem by Maurice Jarre). First tell them to concentrate on listening to their breathing for a minute. Then create a context around the “A Happy Old Man” picture. For example:

Awakening Senses for Language Learning

149

Imagine that you are in a city by the sea, whichever one you want, on a beautiful sunny day. You are strolling along the sea front. You reach some steps and a man says “Good morning” to you.

Fig. 12-1. Un viejo feliz (Viviana Cisternas).

Ask them to open their eyes and to look at the man sat on the flight of steps in the picture. Tell them to talk to him in their imaginations while they continue to look him in the eyes and to ask him questions while the background music plays. The teacher may direct the visualisation and pose questions appropriate to the pedagogical aims of the session and the comprehension levels of the students: “What is his name?”, “Where is he from?”, “What does he do for a living?”, “What was his life like in the past?”. The possibilities are very numerous and in the sharing of the answers to the questions there is an opportunity to amass a huge store of lexical and textual items. The beauty of this exercise rests in the authenticity of the personal communication which takes place between the learner and the picture. The students usually find something to say and it gives them an opportunity to create their own dialogue though the invitation to use their imaginations. Finally, for the multisensory pathway we can work with activities such as an input flood, inspired by visual literacy, which consists of training the students to be able to read visual images as though they were textual ones.

150

Chapter Twelve

In this task, the presentation of a shower of images is linked to a musical backdrop. Since this is a visual literacy exercise, the reading of images surrounded by music provides the class with a moment of relaxation and inspiration since the reading of visual texts takes less effort than the comprehension of written ones. The amount of discussion that the interaction between the observer (the student) and the observed (the pictures) produces, along with the emotional content of the piece of music, stimulates interpretative thought, the potential for generating responses and therefore active participation on the part of the learner1. The selection of images takes place according to the following criteria: familiarity, usability, impact and open response (Goldstein 2013). The use of familiar images allows the student/observer to interact more easily with the observed and this same quality increases the usability of the images. It is important that the visual content carries a degree of impact in order to draw the attention and awaken interest and, equally, that it carries the potential for triggering a range of interpretations. In this way, learners can feel confident, knowing that all responses and all interpretations are correct. This confidence, this security, is a key ingredient for developing linguistic creativity.

Conclusion Some years ago, Combs (1989) stated that sometimes we are obsessed with objectivity, with the rational practice of teaching, believing that through it that we train intelligence, and therefore develop learning, in a better way. Today we know, as Combs noted, that learning is, above all, a subjective experience and that multisensory enrichment in the classroom, through resources which technologies offer us or simply by using our own inventiveness as a starting point, can enhance learning, helping it to become more experiential, engaging and intense. This is supported by Zull (2002), who stated that sensory enrichment can lead to more lasting and experience-based learning. The use of image, the emphasis on the emotional gaze of the learner, along with the sensations that are awakened by musical instruments and the experience that we gain through activities based on physical movement or through the feeling of moving through imaginary situations, can contribute to the development of a more multisensory way of learning in the classroom. 1

An example in Spanish can be seen in Foncubierta 2013. “Imágenes mentales y visualización. Ejercicios para el desarrollo de algunas estrategias.” Available online: http://www.nebrija.com/revista-linguistica/imagenes-mentales-y-visualizacion

Awakening Senses for Language Learning

151

References Bruner, Jerome S. 1960. The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Arnold, Jane and M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora. 2007. “Affect in Teacher Talk.” Language Acquisition, edited by Brian Tomlinson. London. Continuum. Ávila, Javier. 2007. “Self-Esteem and Second Language Learning: The Essential Colour in the Palette” edited by Fernando Rubio, Self-Esteem and Foreign Language Learning. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Brierley, David. 2011. “Solo se recuerda lo que se siente.” El País, 12th October. Retrieved from http://elpais.com/diario/2011/10/12/ultima/1318370402_850215.html Brown, Douglas. 1994. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 3rd ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Combs, Arthur. 1982. “Affective Education. Or None at All”, Educational Leadership April, 494-497. Coseriu, Eugen. 1982. Teoría del lenguaje y lingüística general. Madrid, Gredos. Chomsky, Noam. 1988. Language and Problems of Knowledge: The Managua Lectures. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Ellis, Rod. 1994. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Engh, Dwayne. 2013. “Why use music in English language learning? A survey of the literature.” English Language Teaching 6(2): 113-127. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen. 2000. “Foreign Language Acquisition and Melody Singing.” ELT Journal 54(2): 146-152. Fonseca-Mora, and Carmen Toscano Fuentes. 2012. “La música como herramienta facilitadora del aprendizaje del inglés como lengua extranjera.” Teoría de la Educación 24(2): 197- 213. Fonseca-Mora, 2013. “Melodías en el proceso de desarrollo de la capacidad lectora”, Tonos Digital 25(2). Retrieved from http://www.tonosdigital.es/ojs/index.php/tonos/article/view/982 Gardner, Howard. 2002. Mentes creativas. Una anatomía de la creatividad. Barcelona: Paidós. Getzels, Jacob y Philip Jackson. 1962. Creativity and Intelligence: Explorations with Gifted Students, New York: Wiley. Goldstein, Ben. 2013. El uso de imágenes como recurso didáctico. Madrid: Edinumen/CUP. Juslin, Patrik Nils. 2008. “Un sonido te hará sentir más que mil imágenes” La Vanguardia, 14th January. Retrieved from

152

Chapter Twelve

http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/2008/01/14/pagina84/66850886/pdf.html Kumaravadivelu, B. 2012. La palabra y el mundo. MarcoELE 14. Retrieved from http://marcoele.com/entrevista-kumaravadivelu/ Larsen-Freeman, Diane. 1986. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lozanov, Georgi. 1978. Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy. New York: Gordon and Breach Publishing. Meirieu, Philippe. 2006. Cartas a un joven profesor. Por qué enseñar hoy. Barcelona: Graó. Menchén, Francisco. 1998. Descubrir la creatividad. Desaprender para volver a aprender. Madrid: Pirámide. Murphey, Tim. 1990. “The song stuck in my head phenomenon: A Melodic DIN in the LAD?” System 18(1): 53-64. Nunan, David. 1995. “Closing the gap between learning and instruction.” TESOL Quarterly 29 (1): 133-158. Patel, Aniruddh. 2008. Music, Language, and the Brain. New York: Oxford University Press. Robinson, Ken. 2012. El elemento. Barcelona: Debolsillo. Rogers, Carl. 1969. Freedom to Learn. A View of what Education Might Become. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1969. Stevick, Earl. 1980. Teaching Language: A Way and Ways. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. —. 2002. “Let the words, too, become flesh.” Afterwords 1-20. Toscano-Fuentes, Carmen. 2011. Estudio empírico de la relación existente entre el Nivel de Adquisición de una Segunda Lengua, La Capacidad Auditiva y la Inteligencia Musical del alumnado. Huelva: Universidad de Huelva.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN EDUCATION IN VALUES THROUGH THE “CHANSON FRANÇAISE”: A NEW APPROACH IN TEACHING FFL IN HIGHER EDUCATION EVA ADAM UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA, SPAIN

La musique est la langue des émotions —E. Kant

Why are education in values and emotional intelligence important in Higher Education? Gilles Baillat (2010) argues that the issue of the formation of university students and, by extension, of young Europeans, is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable paradoxes in Europe. At a time when the old continent is investing all its hopes into building a "knowledge society", it is fair to point out the scant efforts made in the training and education of young students in most countries of the European Union. This paradox inevitably leads us to a complex multi-dimensional question (disciplinary, educational, professional etc.). We are convinced that the traditional, measurable concept of the intelligence of our students, and of young people in general, disregards an essential aspect of human behaviour: emotional reaction. This is why we want to address this paradox with a different and innovative approach to higher education in which Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Education in Values (EV) at university level can allow young university students to assimilate new commitments. Convinced that music and in particular the object of our study, “La Chanson Française”, fulfil all the necessary requirements for the analysis of social and human realities connected to both the context and the time in

154

Chapter Thirteen

which our university community is finds itself, we intend to demonstrate how we can teach the French language through the most relevant aspects of Education in Values and Emotional Intelligence. This is brought about through song, which is a useful tool for enhancing the personal competences of both teachers and pupils, as Adam states (1999, 118-123), improving communication skills in the teaching of French as a Foreign Language (FFL) while simultaneously increasing motivation and optimizing the teaching and learning process. According to Arnold (2000, 277-294), the relationship between affectivity and foreign language teaching has a bidirectional character; the concern for affect can improve the learning and teaching of foreign languages, but the language classroom may, in turn, contribute significantly to educating students in a more affective way. This is why, in order to achieve the best results, we must consider both dimensions. Similarly, Goleman (1995) proposed that the development of ethical, moral and affective aspects could contribute to the improvement of learning in different areas of knowledge. In the same way, a more comprehensive and humanistic education, in which the central axis is not based solely on student cognitive development, can be achieved through music. Herein lays the possibility of acquiring, in a more innovative way, a better knowledge of the French language and culture through the traditional “Chanson Française”. This would bring to the classroom the voices of Piaf, Brel, Aznavour, Bécaud or Moustaki, all capable of moving the listener and transmitting sometimes even heartbreaking emotions through their lyrics, revealing the life stories of many of the biggest names in the genre, thus raising even higher the value and learning performance of this or any other foreign language.

What is education in values and emotional intelligence? With this study, through music and songs, we intend to present values that students will have to recognize in the classroom in order to integrate and assimilate them. Alternatively, to restate the words of Iglesias (2014, 19): Regarding the role of idealization, the song would be framed in art as a sublimation of feelings and problems, and therefore, as a higher evasion of their immediate destination. In this way, the song has the capacity to be a soothing element able to reduce real tensions through fiction due to a mystical solution […]. Thus, song has dedicated its texts from ancient times to the narration of real events marked by injustice, discrimination and social tensions of all kinds with the aim not only of denouncing but

Education in Values through the “Chanson Française”

155

also of channelling anger. Thus song can also fulfil an educational function by transmitting messages directly and in an easily understandable way.

To do this, we consider in our study the importance of the transmission of and education in Emotional Intelligence for university students. It is clear that the “Chanson Française” is not only able to bring together all the aspects mentioned above but it also brings its own defining characteristics, namely its enormous emotional charge in which passion and a number of inherently human primal instincts are perfectly reflected in the themes dealt with by a number of songwriters, especially those mentioned below.

Education in values We will adapt Education in Values (EV) to the university context following Kohlberg's (1987, 84-114) theory of moral conscience development. According to Kohlberg (1987), to reach maturity the human being passes through six irreversible stages of moral reasoning. Table 13-1. Kohlberg Stages. I. PRECONVENTIONAL LEVEL Stage 1. Punishment and obedience

The person is motivated by what suits him/her selfishly

Stage 2. Instrumental - relativist II. CONVENTIONAL LEVEL Stage 3. Interpersonal concordance Stage 4. Law and order

The person acts in accordance with the customs and norms of his/her society

III. POSTCONVENTIONAL LEVEL Stage 5. Social contract Stage 6. Universal ethical principle

The person judges the norms of his/her society from a universal perspective and he/she chooses rules and beliefs valid for all rational beings

156

Chapter Thirteen

In this way, it is easier to acquire an introduction to or awareness of fundamental values as well as to allow students a space for reflection, selfanalysis and self-awareness. This will permit a more objective and knowledgeable understanding of the values detailed below. Therefore, first of all may we present Lozano’s study of “Freedom” (2003) which states that the latter is the primary value, to be considered as a precondition for the existence of the others. He suggests three modes of understanding this: participation, independence and autonomy. “Equality” fundamentally centres on being equal in dignity and that everybody deserves the same degree of consideration and respect. “Solidarity” is an action that is carried out with a sense of justice and which is concerned with an effort to bring freedom, equality, and other moral values to those who cannot enjoy them. “Active Respect” is an interest in understanding others and helping them to pursue their life plans in a world of inequality. The "Dialogue" value is one of the most suitable methods for finding truth, because we start from the belief that everyone has at least one grain of truth, which can only emerge dialogically as a constructive solution to conflict. "Responsibility" refers to the fact that a person is accountable for the negative and positive consequences of something he or she has done or failed to do. Finally, "Justice" is a value that articulates the other ones: the respect for freedom and empowerment, promotion of equality, the enactment of solidarity, respect for diverse lifestyles, making common decisions through dialogue, in a responsible manner. Thus, when all of these are fulfilled, it can be said that justice is being achieved.

Competences of emotional intelligence According to Delors’ report on the future of education and its development, the acquisition of the four pillars which the report supports are fundamental: “Learning to Know”, “Learning to Do”, “Learning to Live Together” and “Learning to Be”. These are based on the concept developed by Mayer and Salovey (1997, 10), which states that Emotional Intelligence includes “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action” (citing earlier work by Salovey and Mayer 1990, 189). Additionally, we can mention the abilities discussed by Goleman as EI, which we use to present the values to our students by way of moral dilemmas and through oral and written comprehension and expression. Therefore, students are able to interiorize the various dimensions of EI personality characteristics, such as “Self-knowledge” or “Self-understanding” which is first ability of EI:

Education in Values through the “Chanson Française”

157

If one is not capable of managing to understand oneself very well, to be aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses or to learn to identify one’s state of mind and the consequences these might have on human behaviour, it can be hard to control reactions and to use them productively or to understand the behaviour of others, or identify feelings and emotions, so that one can act effectively on interpersonal relationships. (Codina 2009).

The second ability of EI is “Self-control” or “Self-regulation”. Controlling emotions does not mean deleting them. Emotions give us many clues to why we do what we do. Their repression deprives us of this information. Zimmerman (2000, 14) mentions the thoughts, feeling and actions that one has and that one adopts while fulfilling personal goals, in other words, this is a skill that humans must acquire in order to activate the learning strategies necessary to achieve their goals. “Self-motivation” is defined by Weisinger (1998) as being the key both to starting a task and to carrying it out, while for Emerson (2009, 9-11) it is confidence in oneself that is the first secret of success. In short, it is necessary to find sources of inspiration to give us the energy to act. In this line of reasoning, Robbins (1999, 123) defined motivation in the following manner: It is what drives a person to act in a certain way or, at least that causes propensity toward a specific behaviour. That impulse can be triggered by a stimulus external to the individual or it can be generated internally. It is a process that leads to satisfaction over something.

Likewise, Dörnyei (2005, 74) affirms the importance of how “one thinks about one’s own skills, possibilities, potential, limitations and development in the past, as well as certain aspects relative to the task to be performed or the goals to be achieved, including among others, values, benefits and difficulties”. “Empathy” is perhaps the most noteworthy ability to address, according to Salovey and Mayer (1990), especially in terms of one’s capacity to understand the feelings of others. Goleman (1999) believes that the success of an individual depends not only on his or her intellectual coefficient or academic studies, but rather on the individual’s level of emotional intelligence. We must be conscious of our own emotions, understood as being personal competence, and understand the feelings of others, which is a social competence; both of these are abilities that allow us to face the challenges of life. “Coexistence” is yet another social skill referring to the ability to maintain relationships with others while “Assertiveness and Moral Justice”, the final skills, make reference to the evaluation criteria, that is, critical understanding and moral reasoning. The social skills are observable behaviours, learned and

Chapter Thirteen

158

used in social exchanges for specific purposes, and are all defined as core elements of EI, and we are able to incorporate them into classes and work on each of them through the “Chanson Française” (see Fig. 13-2 below, Songs, Themes and Emotional Intelligence). Table. 13-2. Songs, Themes and Emotional Intelligence

SONG TITLES La bohème (Aznavour) Et maintenant (Bécaud) Les feuilles mortes (Montand) La chanson des vieuxamants (Brel) Ne me quitte pas (Brel) Le métèque (Moustaki) La vie en rose (Piaf) L’hymne à l’amour (Piaf) Milord (Piaf)

THEMES AND DILEMMAS Poverty, nostalgia Death, despair Nostalgia, happy times Indifference, betrayal

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Empathy Self-Control Self-Awareness

Pain, loss Transience of time Loving passion The power of love Pleasure and desire

Empathy Self-Awareness Social Skills Self-Motivation Self-Awareness

Self-Control

Experience with the “chanson française” at the UPV As a result of prior experiences and based on “Values Education at the University”, an initiative comprising of various case studies applicable to the university environment and to students’ academic and personal development, we have incorporated the “Chanson Française” into the French as a Foreign Language classroom at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). The groups are usually comprised of 20 to 25 students, aged from 20 to 25, whose level of French ranges between A2 and B2 in the Common European Framework, and who meet for classes for 5 hours per week. We focus on the themes and Education in Values presented in Fig. 13-1 above, in order to obtain benefits both on a linguistic and on a methodological level, as well as to contribute to the overall personal growth and development of our engineering students. Linguistically speaking, after providing opportunities to listen to the song in question, students are asked, individually and in groups, to define relevant vocabulary and idioms, identify specific language structures (expressions of regret, wishes, requests, and the like), as well as to identify and recognize the core values being transmitted by the author/singer through the music. Methodologically speaking, it is well-known that music is

Education in Values through the “Chanson Française”

159

useful in learning a foreign language, in order to facilitate memorization and vocabulary consolidation and to enhance acquisition of phonetic and linguistic structures for improving listening and speaking (pronunciation) skills, but what truly matters for this study is to highlight how music influences behaviour and emotions and the positive effects it has on the listener. In fact, according to the study by Toscano-Fuentes and Fonseca (2012, 197-213) related to the use of sound elements in the English language classroom, certain obstacles in the teaching and learning process of a foreign language in a non-bilingual context can be reduced through the use of music and songs. Furthermore, in our classroom we stress that Education in Values is essential for the growth of university students, not only because they internalize the values represented in the songs, such as dialogue, solidarity and respect for others (see Fig. 13-3 below), but also because by working in groups or teams, they are able to recognize and discuss all kinds of emotions (both their own and those of their classmates). Simulation and evaluation exercises give them the opportunity, in a learner-friendly and emotionally-charged environment, to practice how to resolve everyday conflicts and to learn to live in a globalized world, in which multiculturalism plays a decisive role in building critical and fully contributing citizens. Thus, if we work with these values in the university, it will help these students to thrive while they are creating their own personalities and acquiring their skills in Emotional Intelligence. This is something which, based on student evaluations, they would otherwise never have had the opportunity to learn in the classroom. In short, music makes learning about emotions more accessible and attractive, especially in the case of “Chanson Française”, since it is a motivational resource that has helped learners become familiar with these new concepts and which can be related to the main theme of each FFL teaching unit.

Chapter Thirteen

160 Table. 13-3. FFL and Values.

FFL: “La chanson française” Participatory classes / teacher-student interaction ¾ Teamwork: Emotional intelligence ¾ Simulation: Speaking in public, Feedback ¾ Evaluation: Moral conflicts, value judgments ¾ Intercultural aspects: Sociocultural identity

VALUES ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾

Autonomy Dialogue Coexistence Solidarity Justice Freedom Equality Solidarity Respect

Concluding remarks If Education in Values means finding opportunities for reflection on the part of both the individual and the collective, so the student is able to construct value principles in a rational and autonomous way, principles that will allow him or her to face reality (Buxarraix 1997, 79) and we are convinced that the FFL class or any other language class provides one of the most favourable contexts for this on-going educational challenge. In this respect, we refer to the steps taken to learn foreign languages in line with recommendation Rec(98)6E of the Council of Ministers of the European Union of March 17th, 1998 during meeting 623 of the Ministers’ Deputies which addressed the following points in terms of pursuing new educational policies: x

x x

To give the opportunity to all Europeans to acquire communication skills through people with different mother tongues in order to develop open-mindedness, to facilitate free movement of people and exchange information and to improve international cooperation. To enable students to learn to respect different ways of life and to know how to live in a multicultural world through the links and direct exchanges and from personal experience. That all this allows the creation of human resources and adequate materials for development of teaching foreign languages in the whole educational system and thereby respond to the growing demands of understanding and international communication.

Education in Values through the “Chanson Française”

161

Thus, the main conclusion that we can draw from our experience is that these issues are as necessary as they are urgent and difficult, which is why we have to keep working towards them and why we can treat music and chanson, as a perfect educational complement for teaching FFL. In the future, we can continue to debate Values and Emotional Intelligence on a theoretical level, but it is essential to train students about situations and interventions designed to achieve a collective awareness of Emotional Intelligence and Values Education during their formative years. Music makes students interested and motivated so the teacher of foreign languages can take advantage of this; students pay attention to everything that is communicated in the “Chanson Française” and it makes them reflect on attitudes, feelings and emotions. The advantages are many; in the classroom this resource provides university students with the opportunity to resolve problems likely to be encountered in the future by assuming the roles of the characters. Through this process, they have the opportunity to resolve moral dilemmas or conflicts that can later be transferred into real life by understanding how to develop adequately the skills learned in the classroom while learning the foreign language. Finally, we would like to raise awareness of this field and to invite other colleagues and in particular language teachers, to use music as a tool for all these purposes. However, prior training based on theory would be advised, followed by observation of colleagues who practice it, thus allowing successful implementation from the start.

References Adam, Eva. 1999. Cómo ser profesor y querer seguir siéndolo en el tercer milenio. Valencia: Generalitat Valenciana. Arnold, Jane. 2000. La dimensión afectiva en el aprendizaje de idiomas. New York: Cambridge University Press. Baillat, Gilles. 2010. La formation des enseignants en Europe: Approche comparative. Bruxelles: De Boeck. Buxarrais, Mª Rosa. 1997. La formación del profesorado en Educación en Valores. Propuesta y Materiales. Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer. Codina De Gerencia, Alexis. 2016. “El autoconocimiento. Primera actitud de la inteligencia emocional”, last modified March 12, 2016. http://www.degerencia.com/articulos.php?artid=1477. Dörnyei, Zoltán. 2001. Teaching and Researching Motivation. London: Longman.

162

Chapter Thirteen

—. 2005. The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Eco, Humberto. 1977. Apocalípticos e integrados. Barcelona: Lumen. Emerson, Ralph. W. 1841. Self-reliance, trans “Confianza en uno mismo” en Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ensayos. 2009. Madrid. Gadir Editorial. Fuentes, Carmen Toscano & M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora. 2012. “La música como herramienta facilitadora del aprendizaje del inglés como lengua extranjera.” Teoría de la Educación 24: 197-213. Goleman, Daniel. 1995. Inteligencia emocional. New York: Bantam Books. Iglesias, Ana María. 2014. Y lo cantábamos por ti. Historia de Francia a través de sus canciones. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid. Kohlberg, Lawrence. 1987. “El enfoque cognitivo-evolutivo de la educación moral.” In La educación moral, hoy. Cuestiones y perspectivas, edited by José Antonio Jordán and Félix Santolaria 84114. Barcelona: PPU. Lozano, Félix at al. Monografías Virtuales 2003. “Ciudadanía, democracia y valores en sociedades plurales.” Last modified March 12, 2016, http://www.oei.es/valores2/monografias/monografia03/vivencia02.htm Mayer, John D., & Salovey, Peter. “What is Emotional Intelligence?” In Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence: Educational Implications, edited by P. Salovey & D. J. Sluyter 3-34. New York: Harper Collins. Robbins, Stephen P. 1999. Comportamiento organizacional. Prentice Hall. Salovey, Peter and John. D. Mayer. 1990. Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality. Sage Publications. Weisinger, Hendrie. 1998. La inteligencia emocional en el trabajo. Buenos Aires: Javier Vergara Editor. Zimmerman, B. 2000. “Attaining Self-regulation: a Social Cognitive Perspective.” In Handbook of Self-regulation, edited by M. Boakerts, P. Pintrich y M. Zeidner. San Diego: Academic Press. —. 2001. “Theories of Self-regulated Learning and Academic Achievement: An Overview and Analysis.” In Self-regulated Learning and Academic Achievement, edited by B. J. Zimmerman y D. H. Schunk, 1-37. 2nd ed. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN A MUSIC-BASED AGENDA FOR TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND/FOREIGN LANGUAGE: COMMON THEMES AND DIRECTIONS ZIWEI ZHOU IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY, USA

Introduction Despite the genetic and evolutionary differences in the human species, music and language appear to be the universal elements in every human society (Patel 2008). They are both complex combinatory systems (Pinker 2007) that resemble each other in numerous ways ranging from internal hierarchical structures to expressive functions (Palmer and Hutchins 2006). The relationship between music and language has held an on-going fascination that has sparked extensive investigations in fields such as psychology, archaeology, anthropology, musicology, and neuroscience. However, information from these active research fields remained largely esoteric to the educational and pedagogical settings of Teaching English as a Second/foreign Language (TESOL). Granted, overburdened language instructors who are conducting and planning courses as well as taking charge of numerous managerial issues on a regular basis should not be blamed for such a perceived gap. Rather, we would argue that it is the unshirkable responsibility of applied linguists who should take up the mediation role (Widdowson 2003) in order to appropriate interdisciplinary resources for TESOL practitioners. Therefore, this chapter aims to arrive at a synthesized conceptual agenda by pointing out common themes and orientations in relation to music and language. It draws on a broad spectrum of evidence that highlights the significant bearing of music on language teaching and learning and, in doing so, it hopes to guide teaching practice in a principled way. As a scholarly inquiry that investigates human language development

164

Chapter Fourteen

(beyond that of the first language) (Ortega 2009), Second Language Acquisition (SLA), curiously, has never given serious consideration to the role and impact of music in language development. In fact, the field has been, to a large extent, informed by the discipline of psychology, where music is much more fully researched. In so far as TESOL practice has a tendency to synchronize itself with major SLA research trends, the application of music in teaching practice has largely been side-lined, at best approached intuitively by teachers in ways that lack both theoretical underpinnings and principled rationales, despite the existence of some non-mainstream SLA pedagogical approaches that have been concerned with the use of music such as Suggestopedia (Lozanov 1978) and the Contemporary Music Approach (Anton 1990)1. By setting one foot in each of the cognitive and the social camps of SLA, this chapter points out possible aspects where music and SLA intersect with an emphasis on enhancing both learners’ speech perception and their production. As an exemplar, a review of Hip-Hop/Rap and the educational and pedagogical implications that is has for fostering English language teaching and learning are discussed. Finally, this chapter calls for more research and empirical efforts in order to upgrade music-based pedagogical theories and approaches in the new territory of technological advances.

Input Fundamentally, SLA potentially intersects with music in numerous ways in terms of conceptualizing linguistic input and its role in language acquisition. Schmidt claims that, in order for input to become intake which leads to language acquisition, learners must “attend to”, “notice”, or “consciously register” the linguistic feature in the input (Schmidt 1990, 2001). In the Connectionist model of human cognition, frequency of experience of language sequences increases the strength of mental connection between the linguistic features of the input and the mental categories to which they belong, thus becoming a key determinant of language acquisition (Ellis 2002). Furthermore, the chances of acquisition increase when such inputs are made salient, which can be realized by marking the forms that learners attend to in some way or by providing repetition of the form in question (Robinson 1995; Schmidt 1990; Skehan 1998). In Krashen’s famous Input Hypothesis, he focuses more on the unconscious side of comprehensible input usually in its simplified 1

See Stansell (2005) for a brief review of more contemporary musical approaches in language teaching.

A Music-Based Agenda for Teaching English

165

versions. This can be realized through lowering learners’ affective filter so that learners are affectively disposed to “let in” the input they comprehend (Krashen 1985). Interestingly, the most important requirements of linguistic input such as simplicity, repetition, and salience, which are all considered conducive to second language acquisition, are prevalent in song lyrics. These texts follow a certain template from verses through to choruses that are repeated and recycled multiple times, featuring “frequent use of repetitions, formulaic expressions, expansions, preferences for simplified vocabulary, etc.” (Fonseca, Toscano-Fuentes and Wermke 2011, 101). Even in instrumental music, we hear “significant chunks of repeated melody” (Mithen 2005, p.19). The psychological effect of this textual characteristic of music is immense. For example, the “Song Stuck in My Head” (SSIMH) was found to be a widespread phenomenon (Murphey 1990) and is applicable to language acquisition in the form of DIN (Krashen 1983) which is said to enable learners’ involuntary subvocal rehearsal of linguistic content, thus reinforcing the memory of such content. Murphey (1990, 59) also made the claim that pop songs are particularly conducive to language acquisition since they have learners take on the role of the interlocutors constantly through the use of pronouns such as “I”, “me”, “you” and “my”. From the cognitive perspective, evidence that highlights the importance of repetition in verbal input appears to be abundant. The Skill Acquisition Theory of SLA sees learning as a gradual process from controlled, explicit, and declarative knowledge to automatic, implicit, and procedural knowledge (Anderson, 1993). To illustrate this point, teachers need think no further than their observation that students usually rehearse their verbal productions by themselves again and again. This is, in fact, the way in which people maintain acoustic information in a short-term memory, as suggested by Baddeley (2003) in his proposition of the phonological loop that is an integral part of our working memory system. In the natural environment where learners are exposed to the target language, the input is usually ephemeral, especially in streams of continuous speech. Even in the classroom settings, input may not meet the optimal conditions for language acquisition. Opportunities for acquiring the target language may be further forfeited due to a rejection by teachers of any drill-like activities with the intention of fully embracing communicative language teaching in a wholesale fashion. It is by such biased, if not misguided, pedagogical conduct that the important role of repetition required by language acquisition is eclipsed. Since repetition is a key characteristic of song lyrics, English

166

Chapter Fourteen

instructors can leverage this advantage by using songs to provide a natural context for repetitive linguistic items. For example, pronunciation teachers can exploit the various rhyming techniques largely applied in popular songs in order to enhance the linguistic input of the target phonemes that are considered difficult for their particular learners (see e.g. Jenkins, 2000 for setting phonological cores). The textual patternisation of songs can also manifest itself beyond phonemic level. For example, linguistic input can be enhanced due to the re-occurrence of semantically relevant lexicons. More importantly, the learning of formulaic sequences (Wray 2002) can be bootstrapped with the help of rhythmic patterns and melodic contours inherently structured in the songs.

Interaction In the early 21st Century, there has been a shift in the understanding of how language is acquired and developed by L2 learners. SLA began to harvest a social understanding of various L2 phenomena and SLA researchers began to lay focus on social context of L2 learning (Ortega 2009). Keen consideration has been given to the dynamic construction, distribution, and negotiation of knowledge by different participants and their struggles, conflicts, and power relationships (Ortega 2009). Undergirding various communicative-based tasks widely circulated under the framework of communicative language teaching is the basic rationale that acquisition happens through the process of interaction within which learners receive modified comprehensible input, feedback on the accuracy and comprehensibility of their utterances, and an opportunity to modify their own speech production, while engaging themselves in the process of negotiation of meaning (Pica 1994; Long 1996). In comparison, music is essentially social. Mithen (2005, 205) claims that “music making is the first and foremost a shared activity, not just in the modern Western world, but also throughout human cultures and history”. In a similar vein to that of the social perspective on language acquisition, it is claimed that, in group music-making, group behaviour is not merely the sum of individuals acting to maximize their own returns but is “mediated by a redefinition of self in terms of shared category membership or social identity” (Caporeal, et al. 1989, cited in Mithen 2005, 216). A similar idea was captured by the term “boundary loss” proposed by McNeil (1995) who explains that “music-making together will help in such situations as it leads to the diminution of strong feelings of self, moulding their own minds and bodies in to a shared emotional state, and with that will come a loss of self-identity and a concomitant

A Music-Based Agenda for Teaching English

167

increase of ability to cooperate with others” (Mithen 2005, 209, 215). Following this line of reasoning, it is suggested that teachers harness musical materials that are interactional and conversational in nature such as the genres of musical and opera. Activities can be designed to have students perform the musical dialogues or engage in musical role-play during which pragmatic aspects of language use can be introduced and practiced. These suggested scenario also help to channel an authentic and natural environment within which teachers can focus on the various interactional rules, typical sequences, and functioning that have been extensively examined under the framework of classroom discourse analysis (e.g. Rymes 2009; Zhang-Waring 2009), focusing on a set of observable corrective feedback types such as explicit correction, recast, repetition, elicitation, etc. (Sheen 2000). Moreover, conversational song lyrics are ideal pieces to embed into communicative-based tasks such as “information gap” tasks. To encourage transfer, activities outside of the classroom can even be designed based on what has been mentioned in the songs.

Output With enhanced interaction and communication between teacher and students and amongst students in a non-threatening environment, learners are expected to be more ready, interested, and confident in producing their utterances in L2. In terms of language output, pronunciation and fluency should receive the focus of our attention since they are less fully researched in comparison with the morphosyntactic features of the target language, but are consistently reported as important areas that need improvement based on learner needs. Despite the calls for pronunciation integration into communicative activities (Murphy 1991; Bowen 1972), the teaching of pronunciation practice has “remained largely untouched” compared with advances in language methodology (e.g. role of context, extralinguistic aids, and students' involvement) (Alley 1991). Isaac (2009, 6) specifically pointed out that one difficulty in integrating pronunciation is the acknowledged requirement for repetition in phonology acquisition, which is paradoxical or incompatible with communicative language teaching (CLT) to which current pronunciation pedagogy is affiliated. The ineffectiveness of repetition can be attributed to the drill-like nature of many traditional pronunciation exercises. In this respect, the aforementioned feature of song lyrics which provide a naturally repetitive linguistic environment seems to provide some recipes for this perplexing dilemma in pronunciation teaching.

168

Chapter Fourteen

Another important dimension of pronunciation is fluency, which is normatively perceived as being based on a number of temporal features such as speech rate, pausing, length of runs, etc. (Wood 2000). Derwing and others (2004) pointed out that the pruned syllables per second is found to be the strongest predictor of raters’ global L2 fluency judgments and that fluency and comprehensibility were, in turn, strongly correlated. In the respect of boosting learners’ productive fluency, Hip-Hop/ Rap songs appear to be particularly relevant and informative. As one of the criteria for evaluating a rapper's language competence in rapping (especially freestyling), is being able to “squeeze an incredible amount of syllables into a short amount of time”, rap songs feature particularly fast speech (Smitherman 1997, 5). In correspondence with the aforementioned importance of the repetition of linguistic input, Hip-Hop texts appear to a competent candidate in this respect. Since rhyming is in essence the regular repetition of the same or similar syllable(s) in patterned places (within and across word boundaries), Hip-Hop can provide authentic and natural contexts for the target sound(s) of pronunciation teaching to be self-organized and self-reinforced through repetitive occurrence within a certain time range. Isaacs and Trofimovich (2012) point out that an even more prominent indicator of speech comprehensibility is speech rhythm. This is salient in rap songs, since the number of unstressed syllables in a sentence far outweighs that of stressed syllables, and because the rate of speech in rap must be constant in order to correlate it with the beat of the music, meaning that unstressed words and phrases are produced extremely fast. Such a feature highlights the nature of stressed-timed language in which rhythmic patterns are formed by the generally constant intervals between stressed syllables and this is extremely profitable for exploration in teaching and learning various suprasegmental features of English such as vowel reduction and speech rhythm. Output is closely related to the notion of performance. From this perspective, music and language seem to converge in their production where the musician or speakers make online choices in manipulating acoustic properties of sounds (e.g. frequency, amplitude, duration) in order to achieve a variety of purposes. Indeed, the prosody aspect can be regarded as the pinnacle of the overlaps between both domains. From an acquisition perspective, prosody is essential in that it “provides information to help novice (infants as well as late acquisition learners) parse a continuous acoustic stream into meaningful units and bootstraps learning of complex hierarchy among those units” (Palmer and Hutchins 2006). Therefore, prosody and intonation is an extremely promising area

A Music-Based Agenda for Teaching English

169

for music-based language instruction. With more refined models for the classification of English intonation and pitch contours (see e.g. Wennerstrom 2001) and with the use of more advanced and accessible software that displays both waveforms and spectrographs for learners’ utterances (see e.g. Chun 2012 for computer-assisted pronunciation teaching), teachers are provided with unprecedented sources and choices when it comes to tackling the thorny issues of pronunciation and intonation which have long been ignored in pedagogical practice.

Identity The stream of global Hip-Hop culture has impacted learners, especially teenage learners, on a deep level. Common themes embedded in Hip-Hop texts including “in-depth look into life, hopes, dreams, philosophies, multiple personalities, and personal dilemmas” (Alim 2006, 139) that are highly permeable for urban youth, rendering this music genre wellreceived and even fanatically pursued. Such real-life reflection on topics makes Hip-Hop a critically honest music genre. This does not seem to be restricted to African American speech community. In her article “Respect for Da Chopstick Hip-Hop: The Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy of Cantonese Verbal Art in Hong Kong”, Angel Lin pointed out some common themes in the renowned local rapper MC Yan's lyrics. These include war, social or political critique, money-oriented lifestyle, historical reminder, and Chinese identity (Alim, Ibrahim and Pennycook 2009, 165). More broadly, language ideology underpinning Hip-Hop as a means of fashioning identity should be crucially informative to educators. The use of Hip-Hop texts in cultivating African American students’ literacy practice in classroom settings has been extensively studied. Morrell and Duncan-Andrade (2002, 88) argued that “we could utilize Hip-Hop music and culture to forge a common and critical discourse that was centred on the lives of the students, yet transcended the racial divide and allowed us to tap into students' lives in ways that promoted academic literacy and critical consciousness”. Therefore, Hip-Hop texts provide prime opportunities for students to engage in meaning, cultural learning and critical thinking such as critical questioning and the discussion of contemporary issues facing urban youth (Morrel and Duncan-Andrade 2002). Furthermore, teachers can use such opportunities to address various pragmatic aspects of the target language due to the special rhetorical features of Hip-Hop texts such as imagery and metaphors (Morrel and Duncan-Andrade 2002). Due to these critical aspects of Hip-Hop that are highly relevant to education and pedagogy, more and more higher

170

Chapter Fourteen

education institutions around the world, particularly in North America, are engaging Hip-Hop in an academically rigorous manner through courses, research, conferences, and symposia, as reported by Petchauer (2009, 947). Following Labov's (1972a) foundational exploration of phonological and syntactical systemiticity of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), it has been generally recognized that this linguistic variety has legitimized “its own linguistic rules and sociolinguistic norms of interaction” (Smitherman 1997, 9). Importantly for learners of the English language, such recognition can enhance their appreciation of the complexity of English or of world Englishes, especially in countries where the so-called “standardized” English has been upheld as “the” model. For English teachers in these countries, it is vital that there are opportunities to bring diversity into the classroom in terms of linguistic input.

Some future directions The ever-increasing advancements of technology extend the aforementioned converging areas of music and language to brand new possibilities. Chapelle (2003) pointed out three types of input that are beneficial for learners—salient (e.g. marking phonological forms through stress), modified (e.g. images and glosses), and elaborated (e.g. provision of definition). For interaction, she advanced a conceptual framework for interactions between people, between person and computer, and within a person’s mind, while recommending the focus should be on time planning and on-demand feedback for learner output. More recently, Wang and Vásquez (2012) reviewed a large spectrum of Web 2.0 tools, including blogs, wikis, 3D visual world, podcasts, social network tools, Google products, etc., and reinforced the framework of input, interaction, output, and cultural knowledge from the point of view of language learning. Therefore, it can be observed that those reoccurring themes identified between music and language in this chapter extend to the computerassisted/-mediated arena of language learning as well. Finally, facilitated by the teacher’s own cognition, knowledge, and expertise in classroom teaching, materials development, and curriculum design, which serves as a practical avenue for applying the theoretical framework, the element of music can be further contextualized in order to suit specific and local learner needs in bringing about enhanced learning outcomes and teaching performance.

A Music-Based Agenda for Teaching English

171

References Alim, Sammy H. 2006. Roc the Mic Right: The Language of Hip Hop Culture. NY: Routledge. Alim, Sammy H., Awad Ibrahim, and Alastair Pennycook. 2009. Global Linguistic Flow: Hip-Hop Cultures, Youth Identities, and thePolitics of Language. NY: Routledge. Alley, David. C. 1991. “Contextualizing Pronunciation Exercises Through the Use of Fluency Squares.” Hispanis 74(4): 1091-1096. Anderson, John R. 2007. How Can the Human Mind Occur in the Physical Universe? New York: Oxford University Press. Anton, Ronald J. 1990. “Combining Singing and Psychology.” Hispania 73: 1166-1170. Baddeley, Alan. 2003. “Working Memory and Language: An Overview.” Journal of Communication Disorders 36: 189-208. Bowen, Donald J. 1972. “Contextualizing Pronunciation Practice in the ESOL classroom.” TESOL Quarterly 6 (1): 83-94. Chapell, Carol A. 2003. English Language Learning and Technology. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing. Chun, Dorothy M. 2002. Discourse Intonation in L2: From Theory and Research to Practice. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Derwing, Tracy M., Marian J. Rossiter, and Ron I Thomson. 2004. “Second Language Fluency: Judgment on Different Tasks.” Language Learning 54: 665-679. Fonseca-Mora, M. Carmen, Carmen Toscano-Fuentes, and Kathleen Wermke. 2011. “Melodies that Help: The Relation Between Language Aptitude and Musical Intelligence.” Anglistik International Journal of English Studies 22(1): 101-118. Isaacs, Talia. 2009. “Integrating Form and Meaning in L2 Pronunciation Instruction.” TESL Canada Journal 27(1): 1-12. Krashen, Stephen. 1985. The Input Hypothesis. London: Longman. Labov, William. 1972a. Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular. PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. Long, Michael. H. 1996. “The Role of Linguistic Environment in Second Language Acquisition.” In Handbook of second language acquisition, edited by William C. Ritchie and Tej K. Bhatia, 413-468. New York: Academic Press. Lozanov, Georgi. 1978. Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy. NY: Gordon and Breach. Mithen, Steven. 2005. The Singing Neanderthals. London: Weidenfeld and

172

Chapter Fourteen

Nicolson. Morrell, Ernest and Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade. 2002. “Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth Through Engaging Hip-Hop Culture.” The English Journal 91(6): 88- 92. Murphey, Tim. 1990. “The Song Stuck in my Head Phenomenon: A Melodic DIN in the LAD?” System 18: 53-64. Murphy, John M. 1991. “Oral Communication in TESOL: Integrating Speaking, Listening and Pronunciation.” TESOL Quarterly 5(1): 5175. Ortega, Lourdes. 2009. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. London: Hodder Education. Palmer, Caroline, and Sean Hutchins. 2006. “What is Musical Prosody?” in Psychology of Learning and Motivation, edited by Brian H Ross, 245-278. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Press. Patel, Aniruddh D. 2008. Language, Music, and the Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Petchauer, Emery. 2009. “Framing and Reviewing Hip-Hop Educational Research.” Review of Educational Research 79(2): 946-978. Pica, Teresa. 1994. “Research on Negotiation: What Does it Reveal About Second Language-learning Conditions, Processes, and Outcomes?” Language Learning 44: 493-527. Pinker, Steven. 2007. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. NY: William Morrow. Robinson, Peter. 1995. “Attention, Memory, and the ‘Noticing’ Hypothesis.” Language Learning 45: 283-331. Rymes, Betsy R. 2009. Classroom Discourse Analysis: A Tool for Critical Reflection. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Schmidt, Richard W. 1990. “The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning.” Applied Linguistics 11: 129-58 —. 2001. “Attention,” in Cognition and Second Language Instruction, edited by Peter Robinson, 3-33. New York: Cambridge University Press. Skehan, Peter. 1998. A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smitherman, Geneva. 1997. “‘The Chain Remains the Same’: Communicative Practices in the Hip Hop Nation.” Journal of Black Studies 28(1): 3-25. Stansell, Jon W. “The Use of Music for Learning Languages: A Review of the Literature.” MA thesis. University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, 2005. Trofimovich, Pavel, and Isaacs, Talia. 2012. “Disentangling Accent from

A Music-Based Agenda for Teaching English

173

Comprehensibility.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 15(4): 905-916. Wang, Shenggao, and Vásquez, Camilla. 2012. “Web 2.0 and Second Language Learning: What Does the Research Tell Us?” CALICO Journal 29(3): 412-430. Widdowson, Henry G. 2003. Defining Issues in English Language Teaching. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Wennerstrom, Ann. 2001. The Music of Everyday Speech: Prosody and Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wray, Alison. 2002. Formulaic Language and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wood, David. 2010. Formulaic Language and Second Language Speech Fluency: Background, Evidence, and Classroom Applications. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. Zhang-Waring, Hansun. 2009 “Moving out of IRF (Initiation-ResponseFeedback): A Single Case Analysis.” Language Learning 5(4): 796824.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN A—B—C, IT’S EASY AS DO—RE—MI! NOTES FROM THE TUNE INTO ENGLISH ROADSHOW, A TOURING DIDACTIC SING-ALONG SHOW FERGAL KAVANAGH TEACHER TRAINER, NAPLES, ITALY

The Tune into English Roadshow The Tune into English Roadshow is a touring interactive didactic show, using well-known songs to help raise students’ awareness of the language used in pop music and how it can help in learning English. Lasting between 90 minutes and two hours, the show presents vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation activities to large groups. The activities are based on the language of current and recent chart hits (with a few “evergreens” thrown in), with students consolidating the language by singing together. The volume is adjusted to allow the students’ voices to replace the originals, with the unified voices of the large groups creating a motivating and emotional environment—they are often able to sing the chorus and, indeed, much of the song without music or lyrics. The show culminates in a Total Physical Response dance activity, allowing them to immerse themselves fully in the language learning experience.

Criteria for song selection It is essential that the students are familiar with the songs used in the show, since the recognition of a song inspires an emotional response leading to immediate involvement. The bulk of the songs are hits from the year leading up to the show—these are the songs the students actively listen to, or passively hear, in their everyday life. Older songs, most of

A—B—C, It’s Easy As Do—Re—Mi!

175

them ingrained in the students’ conscious, are also used in order to demonstrate particular points. The activities come from the contents of the lyrics—what are the rhyming words? Is there any specific grammar point? What about a lexical set? It is not necessary for students to understand the lyrics of the entire song—the activities focus on the task rather than the text.

Sample activities These are a selection of activities taken from ten years of the Roadshow.

Warmers I like to begin with a simple activity, using a sure-fire hit to ease and encourage the students into singing. When The Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feelin’ was ubiquitous I began the show by asking what day it was, then elicited the days of the week. The recording of the song was cut to begin at the relevant part of the song, with students immediately joining in, leading to the enthusiastic release of the chorus. Putting a list of words into alphabetical order is non-demanding and is suitable for all levels, regardless of their range of vocabulary. Students then listen and put the words into the order in which they appear in the song. I have used this technique with Waka Waka (Shakira) and Wrecking Ball (Miley Cyrus). It is of course important that the words are pronounced very clearly in the song and are therefore easily identifiable. It is not always easy to decipher song lyrics (even for native speakers), and students are easily distracted, so throughout the Roadshow I help by indicating the answers to each activity on my fingers.

Vocabulary The first ever activity in the Tune Into English Roadshow was one that involved the eliciting and matching of opposites. The Beatles’ Hello Goodbye features the words yes-no, stop-go, goodbye-hello, high-low, why-I don’t know (note the rhymes). Students listened and ordered them, then were divided into two groups to raise their hands for their rhymes, while singing along with the lyrics. I had already presented this at a national conference with a successful text-book author in attendance—the song was in his next publication. I was a little more in touch with students’ tastes a few years later when I repeated this activity with Katy Perry’s Hot

176

Chapter Fifteen

N Cold. This song features the words hot-cold, yes-no, in-out, up-down, wrong-right, black-white, and I added left-right as a distractor. Lexical sets are well represented in pop music, and the first verse of Rihanna’s California King Bed (Rihanna) features seven body parts. I first elicit ten body parts using an image of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (see Fig. 15-1) and I ask if students know its name and cannot resist joking that if Leonardo had been born in Naples it would be the Vesuvian man! I then play the song, asking which words do the students hear? They touch the relevant part of the body as they hear it. Following feedback, the students then sing the song together. This is an extremely effective way of presenting, practising and producing the lexical set.

Fig. 15-1.

Jennifer Lopez’s 2011 hit On The Floor, which sampled Lambada (in turn based on the Bolivian folk song Llorando se fue) mentions eight countries and cities. I first elicit these places and the language spoken there (see Fig. 15-2), then ask students to listen for the correct order. This is sung very quickly, but even lower level groups were able to respond correctly and then sing along accurately.

A—B—C, It’s Easy As Do—Re—Mi!

177

Fig. 15-2.

Another enjoyable activity was eliciting American music, sport and brands (see Fig. 15-3), then asking students to listen for one of each—they did not expect to hear Renato Carosone’s Neapolitan swing tune Tu vuò fà l’Americano, with its rock and roll, baseball and Camel, which to their further delight gave way to Yolando Be Cool’s 2013 dance remix We No Speak Americano (this also gave me the chance to discuss the use of incorrect English in songs).

178

Chapter Fifteen

Fig. 15-3.

Pop music is by its nature positive, and many songs refer to the sun, one of life’s most positive images. One extended activity of the Roadshow was to create a vocabulary mind map, a graphic technique developed by educational consultant Tony Buzan, which featured words associated with the sun (see Fig. 15-4). The activity was introduced by reflecting on one of the best known songs of the home culture (Italy) at an international level— O sole mio. It is a reflection of the north-south cultural differences that at this point it was easy to start a group sing-along in the south, while students in the north were less familiar with the Neapolitan aria. The mind map was built in stages word by word, with students listening for these in relevant songs (David Guetta’s Lovers On The Sun, Fun’s We Are Young, Calvin Harris’s Summer, Passenger’s Let Her Go and Charlie XCX’s Boom Clap). Note, the original draft of the Roadshow also included Times Square’s Follow the Sun, OneRepublic’s Love Runs Out and Grease’s Summer Nights, but the activity became slow and pedantic, so these were cut (see Fig. 15-5)

A—B—C, It’s Easy As Do—Re—Mi!

Fig. 15-4.

Fig. 15-5.

179

180

Chapter Fifteen

The final word to be added was stars—this is perhaps the most important word, as the sun is of course a star. We were then able to sing along with A Sky Full of Stars (Coldplay), Counting Stars (OneRepublic) and Stardust (Mika). Daft Punk’s Get Lucky features words that rhyme with both sun and star and before listening students were invited to guess how many rhymes each word has in the English language: www.rhymer.com lists 3,210 end rhymes for sun, with just 86 for star. I have used You’ve Got a Friend (Carole King/James Taylor) for the four seasons and California Girls (The Beach Boys) for the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). What Does The Fox Say? (Ylvis) is ideal for animals and their sounds (see Fig. 15-6)—this song was unknown when I first included it in the Roadshow: it was interesting to see how enthusiasm grew as the months passed and it became a hit.

Fig. 15-6.

Many words have different meanings, and songs present them in context. There are eight different meanings for the word “beat”, and Michael Jackson’s Beat It is perfect to illustrate this. I first elicited the different definitions for beat: to find better, to defeat, rhythm, to hit, to beat an egg (you can’t beat a hard-boiled egg!), to leave (to beat a retreat), to flap wings, a policeman’s round. I then played the song (with the lyrics, this is a difficult task) and asked students to tell me which two meanings are used—there is also a possible third. In the song Jackson advises someone to run away before a gang arrives, so the title means to leave; “they’ll kick you then then they’ll beat you” is obviously a violent act. He also sings “no-one wants to be defeated”. This also gave me the opportunity to discuss the name of pop music’s most famous group of all time. I showed a picture of a beetle, the insect, then the Volkswagen car, presenting “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Beetles!” I then asked them to spell the word, answers invariably included

A—B—C, It’s Easy As Do—Re—Mi!

181

the letter “a”. I explained the Fab Four were big fans of 1950s group The Crickets (joking with a pun on his name that they were also Italian politician Beppe Grillo’s favourite band) and in tribute chose the name of another insect, adapting it to reflect the rhythm of their music (see Fig. 157).

Fig. 15-7.

Grammar Songs provide the perfect grammar model, as they stick in our heads. For example, if students are aware that their favourite refrain is the Present Perfect Continuous (like “Now you’ve been talking in your sleep” in Pink’s Just Give Me a Reason), they will have no problem in recalling the structure when needed. Many of the lyrics projected during the Roadshow are labelled with their grammatical form, allowing passive language acquisition. Songs are often stories, so a large portion of them are in the Past Simple. The first presentations of the Roadshow featured I’m A Believer (The Monkees/Smash Mouth), which is almost completely in this tense. The ten verbs in the song are to be, can’t, to get, to give, to haunt, to need, to see, to seem, to think and to try. I elicit the correct form, pointing out regular and irregular forms, then students listen for the five verbs sung in the first verse. I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor is also largely in the Past Simple, despite its title, and it also provides the ideal model for describing past

182

Chapter Fifteen

habits or states with the line “I used to cry, now I hold my head up high” (see Fig. 15-8).

Fig. 15-8.

Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Elvis Presley may not be the ideal choice for motivating teenagers, but it demonstrates perfectly the “yes/no” question form with the verb “to be” and the auxiliary verb “to do”. I eased students into the activity by giving them three answers to questions from the song: “Yes, I am”, “No, I don’t”, “No, I’m not”. This provided them with the structure to give me the questions matching these answers: “Yes, I am lonesome (lonely) tonight”, “No, I don’t miss you tonight”, “No, I’m not sorry we drifted apart”. These are the first three lines of the song, which I then invite a teacher to sing, much to students’ amusement! Shakira’s Dare also uses the “to be” question form and Katy Perry’s Firework uses “do you…?” and John Newman’s Can You Love Me Again is good for the modal. This leads to question words, and I used the same technique with six songs: what (What’s My Name, Drake with Rihanna), where (Maps, Maroon 5), who (Who Said, Demi Moore—subject question), why (I’m Your Sacrifice, Ozark Henry), when (Whenever Wherever, Shakira) and how (Mamma Mia, ABBA). As with vocabulary, some grammar forms can only be deciphered in context. With Passenger’s Let Her Go I asked students if the verb is in the Present Simple, Past Simple or Imperative. It is impossible to know from just the title, but when he sings “and you let her go” the correct form becomes apparent. I sang a bit of the Beatles’ Let It Be, and elicited that it is Imperative, just like Let It Go from Disney’s Frozen, a song which is always warmly received! I also point out that “to let” can also mean to rent a house, but joke I would never live anywhere with a sign so similar to another word!

A—B—C, It’s Easy As Do—Re—Mi!

183

Pronunciation Songs feature natural pronunciation and intonation, and singing along is ideal practice. By following the lyrics students acquire correct pronunciation. An activity to examine the pronunciation of -ough involves the songs Someone That I Used To Know by Gotye (rough—here I was able to tell my joke about the dog who sat on the sandpaper!), Cough Syrup by Young the Giant and Summer Nights from Grease (dough) (see Fig.15-9, with the two meanings of dough).

Fig. 15-9.

I used Muse’s Neutron Star Collision (“I’ve got nothing left to lose”) to highlight the correct pronunciation of the final word, to rhyme with choose, while loose rhymes with juice (a difficult word in itself). The bass guitar gives many students pronunciation problems, so after eliciting Paul McCartney’s instrument, I suggested students imagine him playing a fish! (see Fig. 15-10). I then elicited a list of rhyming words, showing a slide with the 96 words listed on www.rhymer.com—I joked that they then had 30 seconds to learn them all! The first verse of Queen’s

184

Chapter Fifteen

We Will Rock You uses three of those rhymes and students also listened to and identified these.

Fig. 15-10.

There is an anecdote that Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw used the word “ghoti” to demonstrate how ridiculous English pronunciation is. A fun activity in the Roadshow was to analyse the word and work out how Shaw suggested it is pronounced. There are three sounds: gh-o-ti. I first elicited the four pronunciations of gh-/g/ ghost, /f/ laugh, silent light/daughter, /p/ hiccough. I then played The Black Eyed Peas I Just Can’t Get Enough, asking which one did they hear? The next two songs were Destiny’s Child’s Independent Women and The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, with its pom pom pom pom pom pom pom football refrain. The students put the sounds together to get /fܼ‫ݕ‬/—and we rounded it off by singing Italian rapper Fabri Fibra’s lines “Big fish, do you speak English?”

Dance Learning is promoted in a dynamic collaborative environment and the Roadshow climaxes with the whole group dancing together. The first Roadshows finished with Village People’s Y.M.C.A.—I had planned that students would form the letters with their arms, but this never happened as the established set dance popular in discos and at parties took over. It was a lot of fun. Now, things are more structured and there is a new finale each year. Four students join me on the podium and mime recurring words or actions from the song, which are then repeated by the whole group as the music plays. Dance routines based on words include The Jackson 5’s Blame It on

A—B—C, It’s Easy As Do—Re—Mi!

185

the Boogie (sunlight, moonlight, good times, boogie), Daft Punk’s Get Lucky (sun, some, good fun, lucky) and Pharrell Williams’ Happy (roof, truth, you, do). Action routines include Maroon 5’s Moves Like Jagger and Michel Teló’s If I Catch You (the English version of Ai se eu te pego). If time permits we continue to dance, and you know it’s been a good show if I sing a song!

Postscript about inappropriate lyrics Many songs contain inappropriate language and concepts, but it is possible to edit these or to find alternative versions. The second verse of Rihanna’s California King Bed (ideal for the body lexical set) features the line “A little last night on these sheets”—a wonderful line but it was better to use software to replace these with a repetition of the first verse’s similar musical couplet “Lips that felt just like the inside of a rose”. I also unceremoniously cut a line from Katy Perry’s Hot N Cold, making the first verse a tercet rather than a quatrain. Some artists also record “clean” versions of their hits, so instead of presenting students with the words “shit” and “bitch” in Icona Pop’s I Love It, they heard “stuff” and “chick”—this humorously reinforced the social unacceptability of these words. Get Lucky, the title of Daft Punk’s huge 2013 hit, is in fact slang for sleeping with somebody, but there was no need to explain this during the show!

CONTRIBUTORS

M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora (University of Huelva, Spain) Kathleen Wermke (University of Würzburg, Germany) Werner Mende (The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin, Germany) Hamish Binns, (Saint Louis University- Madrid Campus, Spain) Carmen Toscano-Fuentes (University of Huelva, Spain). Javier Ávila (University of Córdoba, Spain). Ziwei Zhou (University of Iowa, USA) Rosalía Rodríguez Vázquez (University of Vigo, Spain) Cristina Aguilera Gómez and Pascuala Morote Magán (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain) Laurie Thain (Educational researcher, singer-songwriter at Pure Pacific Music, Canada) Alejandra Pacheco-Costa (University of Seville, Spain) Teresa Fleta y M. L. García Bermejo (University Complutense, Madrid) Maria Diakou, (EFL Practitioner, Cyprus) José Manuel Foncubierta (University of La Rioja, Spain) Mark Gant (University of Chester, United Kingdom) Eva Adam (Polytechnic University of Valencia) Fergal Kavanagh (Teacher Trainer, Naples, Italy)