The Significance Of Teaching Reading Through The Use Of Music PDF Download

It is commonly asserted that music/song can be helpful in the acquisition of many aspects of language including vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. The use of music/song in the English language-learning classroom is not a new phenomenon. While many teachers intuitively feel that music is beneficial in teaching reading, there is sometimes a lack of the theoretical underpinnings that support such a choice. There are examples in the literature to argue the strong relationship between music and language that are substantiated by research in the fields of cognitive science and second language acquisition. Mora (2000) asserts that songs have a positive outcome on the students' language acquisition and that lexical patterns stored in long-term musical memory can be retrieved with ease at a later date for mental rehearsal, memorization or during oral interaction. Likewise, research shows that, beyond active engagement with melody and rhythm, simply listening to music during and after other activities enhance cognitive abilities such as memory, attention and intelligence (Schellenberg & Weiss, 2013).This thesis presents music as a tool to be incorporated in teaching reading to English language learners. The present thesis will review current literature regarding structural parallels between music and language, ways in which music impacts the affective state and the cognitive processing of music and language. Simultaneously, the thesis will present a product designed to shed light upon the question of the effect of music/song on teaching reading to ELLs.