Beyond book-reading, what are some other ways that children can learn to master languages? Read on for some recommendations – backed by research related to the science of reading!

1)   Drama-based activities

Drama involves rich stories, interactions, and imagination. These components make drama an engaging and effective method in helping children develop language skills. Conversational ability is one direct impact of drama-based activities on language skills. Research suggests that collaborating in drama-based activities helps to promote self-initiated discussion among peers and aids in children’s’ storytelling abilities for primary school aged children (Alasmari & Alshae’el, 2020; Zhang et al., 2018). Furthermore, drama could increase children’s self-motivation and confidence in their language learning processes (Man et al., 2021). Another positive impact is how drama promotes a different method of learning new vocabulary. Through drama-based activities (e.g., plays), the process of encoding new vocabulary into long-term memory is enhanced by situational personalization of words in a storyline. This has shown to be an effective alternative to memorizing new vocabulary through rote-learning (Demircioğlu, 2010).

2)   Singing

Research suggests that songs provide a positive learning experience for children and motivate them to learn and master languages (Džanić et al., 2016). Rubio and Conesa (2015) make several cases for incorporating songs into teaching languages. Firstly, songs are repetitive in nature and provide opportunities for pronunciation correction. Secondly, the natural rhythm of songs mimics the stress patterns (i.e., which syllables are emphasized in spoken words) of spoken English – thus, making songs useful for practicing aspects of communicating in English. Finally, songs also provide opportunities for vocabulary learning and practice. Most children’s songs include repetition of monosyllabic words. This may be useful for early learners when gaining exposure to some of these words. Furthermore, humming the melody of songs may also be a useful strategy in recalling information. Children who chose to hum the melody of the song were found to be more successful in remembering the lyrics to the song when they were asked to recall those songs (Busse et al., 2018).

Taking a more modern approach, Singing and Listening to Improve Our Natural Speaking (SLIONS), a karaoke application developed locally in Singapore, provides feedback for improvement to singers based on input from their pronunciation (Murad et al., 2018). In the era of technological advancement, applications like these (and more in the future) could be considered to further enhance language-learning processes amongst beginning readers.

3)   Drawing

Drawing can be an excellent tool in learning new words as pictures and illustrations encompass drawings that can be meaningful to a viewer. It has been demonstrated that making drawings of words significantly enhanced word recall as compared to writing words (Wammes et al., 2016). In this sense, drawing could improve memory of words by integrating visual, semantic, and motor aspects of a memory. Furthermore, doodling (i.e., an informal way of drawing) can also be used to promote learning languages. Blue (2020) suggests some forms of doodling that can be helpful in learning new English words or phrases: creating meaningful sketches, snapshots, diagrams, personalized maps and perhaps a grammar story. These forms of drawings could help children who enjoy a visual learning mode to learn better, for example, drawing a ‘personalised map’ could be useful in helping children practice prepositions of place such as ‘at’, ‘or’ ‘in’. Visit this website to see some sketches!

In conclusion, these activities are exciting alternatives to book-reading and can make language learning more interesting! Try them out with your family in the upcoming school holidays or year-end holidays, and let us know what you think in the comments below!

Drafted by: Serena

Edited by: Michelle, Phoebe

Reviewed by: Joyce, Marilyn

References

Alasmari, N., & Alshae’el, A. (2020). The effect of using drama in English language learning among young learners: A case study of 6th grade female pupils in Sakaka City. International Journal Of Education And Literacy Studies, 8(1), 61-73. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.8n.1p.61

Blue, J. (2022, April 11). Using drawing as a tool to learn English: Cambridge English. World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2020/07/22/drawing-learn/

Busse, V., Jungclaus, J., Roden, I., Russo, F. A., & Kreutz, G. (2018). Combining song—And speech-based language teaching: An intervention With recently migrated children. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2386. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02386

Demircioğlu, Ş. (2010). Teaching English vocabulary to Young Learners via drama. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 439–443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.039

Džanić, N. D., & Pejić, A. (2016). The effect of using songs on young learners and their motivation for learning English. NETSOL: New Trends in Social and Liberal Sciences, 1(2), 40–54. https://doi.org/10.24819/netsol2016.8

Man, C. F., Sharif, S., May, A. L., Talin, R., & Singh, S. S. (2021). The effects of drama-based activities as a language learning tool on learners’ motivation in non-malay-medium national schools in Malaysia. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v10i3.31742

Murad, D., Wang, R., Turnbull, D., & Wang, Y. (2018). SLIONS: A Karaoke Application to Enhance Foreign Language Learning. Proceedings of the 26th ACM International Conference on Multimedia. https://doi.org/10.1145/3240508.3240691

Rubio, I. M., & Conesa, I. R. (2015). The use of rhymes and songs in the teaching of English in primary education. Docencia e Investigacion, 25(2), 87.

Wammes, J. D., Meade, M. E., & Fernandes, M. A. (2016). The drawing effect: Evidence for reliable and robust memory benefits in free recall. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69(9), 1752–1776. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1094494

Zhang, H., Hwang, W.-Y., Tseng, S.-Y., & Chen, H. S. (2018). Collaborative drama-based EFL Learning in familiar contexts. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 57(3), 697–722. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633118757731