There is research to support that early book reading positively influences language abilities later in life (Hafiz & Tudor, 1989). Hence, some parents read bedtime stories regularly to their young children. However, what if the child simply dislikes reading or the parent is unable to find time to read bedtime stories regularly?

Well, findings from an ethnographic case study in China suggests that language skills can be developed through music too! Specifically, popular songs can be integrated within the family as an alternative to support language learning in early childhood.

Past research studies have found that the integration of music creates a playful learning environment which is crucial in enhancing learning outcomes (Wood, 2010). It ensures that the learning process is perceived as more meaningful and a form of play (Howard, 2002). For example, children may bop their heads to the melody, sway their bodies along with the rhythm, and make sense of the story conveyed by the lyrics. As such, learning becomes more engaging compared to a grammar exercise or vocabulary drill from an assessment book.

Source: GIPHY

Listed below are just some of the numerous benefits that music contributes to language learning:

1. Discriminating between auditory stimuli (Anvari et al., 2002; Lathroum, 2011)
2. Phonemic and phonological (speech sounds) awareness (Anvari et al., 2002; Lathroum, 2011)
3. Orthographic (printed words) awareness (Dugan, 1996; Standley & Hughes, 1997)
4. Sight word identification (Register, 2001; Standley & Hughes, 1997)
5. Expansion of vocabulary (Madsen, 1991)
6. Promotes one’s comprehension ability (Colwell, 1994; Fisher, 2001)

To investigate the effects mentioned above, the researcher examined a 4 year 10 months old Chinese girl, Sarah, who does not enjoy reading books but loves listening to Chinese pop songs, watching music videos, singing and dancing to the music. During the study, home visits were conducted on an average of once every 2 weeks from Sarah’s birth until the end of the data collection period. Telephone conversations and online chats were recorded as well.

It was noted that Sarah was very drawn to music videos and at the age of 3, she was able to sing 《第一次爱的人》 (My First Lover) by Cyndi Wang and pronounce every word clearly. To determine if the vocabulary introduced by Chinese popular songs were understood by Sarah, 2 language tasks were carried out.

In the first task, Sarah was able to verbally explain 28 out of a list of 30 2-character words comprising nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. In the second task, Sarah was tested on her reading and comprehension abilities where she was asked to read a story that was 592 Chinese words long. Sarah was generally able to explain the storyline and its details using her own words.

The overall findings from this case study suggest that music-mediated language learning can be incorporated into home language education. Song lyrics provide exposure to a wide variety of vocabulary where some may not even be used in a typical conversational dialogue. Furthermore, exposure to pop songs in the form of music videos also provides linguistic input in both audio and visual formats that can benefit the acquisition of other language skills such as:

1. Sound-form correspondence
   • E.g. when Sarah listens to a song while recognizing the Chinese characters of the lyrics
2. Text decoding
   • E.g. when Sarah relates the moving images in the music video to identified Chinese characters
3. Comprehension
   • E.g. When lyrics are decoded and Sarah tries to make sense of the moving images displayed in the music video

While the findings from this study may not be generalizable to all other children and families, this case study provides insights as to how music-mediated language learning is a potentially effective alternative to support language learning in early childhood. Therefore, for parents who have children who dislike reading books, perhaps playing the latest pop songs over the radio or watching music videos may be a better choice 😉

To read Sarah’s interview transcripts and have a peek at the language tasks conducted, find out more in the original article below:

Wang, K. (2013). The Magic of Popular Songs: A Case Study of Music Mediated Early Language Development. Canadian Social Science, 9(3), 130–138. https://doi.org/10.3968/j.css.1923669720130903.1125

This blogpost was written by our intern Jerald and edited by our lab manager Fei Ting.

References:

Anvari, S. H., Trainor, L. J., Woodside, J., & Levy, B. A. (2002). Relations among musical skills, phonological processing, and early reading ability in preschool children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 83, 111-130.
Colwell, C. (1994). Therapeutic applications of music in the whole language kindergarten. Journal of Music Therapy, 31(4), 238-247.

Dugan, M. (1996). The effect of music therapy on the pre- reading skills of children in an inclusive preschool setting. (Unpublished master’s thesis), Florida State University, Tallahassee.

Fisher, D. (2001). Early language learning with and without music. Reading Horizon, 42(1), 39-49.

Hafiz, F. M., & Tudor, I. (1989). Extensive reading and the development of language skills. ELT Journal, 43(1), 4–13. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/43.1.4

Howard, J. (2002). Eliciting children’s perceptions of play using the activity of apperception story procedure. Early Child Development and Care, 172(5), 489-502.

Lathroum, L. M. (2011). The role of music perception in predicting phonological awareness in Five- And Six- Year-Old Children. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation), University of Miami, Miami.

Madsen, S. (1991). The Effect of music paired with and without gestures on the learning and transfer of new vocabulary: Experimenter-derived nonsense words. Journal of Music Therapy, 28, 222-230.

Register, D. (2001). The effects of an early intervention music curriculum on prereading/writing. Journal of Music Therapy, 38, 239-248.

Standley, J., & Hughes, J. (1997). Evaluation of an early intervention music curriculum for enhancing pre-reading/ writing skills. Music Therapy Perspectives, 15, 79-85.

Wood, E. (2010). Developing integrated pedagogical approaches to play and learning. In P. Broadhead, J. Howard, & E. Wood (Eds.), Play and Learning in the Early Years (pp. 9-26). Singapore: Sage.