Week 2: The Research Begins

Research

This week, I began by exploring the relationship between music and second language acquisition, particularly in the area of French. Through my research, I collected several songs and resources. 

From the work of Degrave (2019) and an article "Using Music" by the French Teacher Network, several benefits of using music in a foreign language classroom (FLC) are:

• Non-Linguistic Aspects
• Increased motivation 
• Decreased anxiety, especially about learning other languages
• Gives an opportunity for different learning preferences 
• Sustains attention 
• Increases cultural knowledge
• Linguistic Aspects
• Increases vocabulary recall
• This is fostered when students are active participants in the singing. 
• It is helpful to use songs that are repetitive (eg. folk tunes) so that the melody is easy to learn and does not distract from the lyrics
• Helps students differentiate between words and syllables due to the pitch changes and breathing patterns
• Aids student's pronunciation of phonemes, intonation, and the stress patterns

The French Teacher Network also listed several ideas for both beginner and more advanced French learners. I have listed several of my favourites below. (For a more extensive list, see the references at the end of this post): 

• Beginners
•  Start with songs that have actions to reinforce vocabulary and help with memory 
• Set verb conjugation (and other lists, like the days of the week) to well-known songs 
• Sing numbers with clapping or another rhythmic movement 
• Use the song "Alouette" to teach the body parts 
• Make your own words (or have the students create their own) to well-known songs 
• Sing well-known songs in French (eg. Christmas songs) 
• Advanced
•  When considering songs
  
• Ensure that lyrics are clear and interesting 
• Ensure that the tune is memorable 
• Activities with the song
• Scramble the lyrics and get students to re-order them 
• Have students fill in the gaps for particular vocabulary and grammatical structures 
• Give students lyrics with logical errors that they have to note and correct
• Sing-alongs
  
• For example, I created several short activities for the song "Papaoutai" by Stomae ("Papaoutai") 

Reflections

      Although this is not a new area of research, I found that there are differing and sometimes contradictory reports of whether music had a statistically significant difference in linguistic aspects. The findings that I have recorded above are ones that have shown statistical significance, but there were many others that had correlational relationships or the difference did not have a statistical significance. This suggests that this area requires further research. 

    I found that there are plenty of resources or lists of songs and creators that have appropriate materials for the classroom. It is especially helpful to have multiple songs on YouTube. However, some of the most widely cited (eg. Un Kilo de Chansons) are older resources and are only accessible on CD. As a teacher, I think that it is imperative to preview these songs and resources to ensure they are appropriate for class usage. 

    Overall, I know that I am not the first person to make this connection. There is a wealth of information and resources available which I will explore in the next week. 

Challenges

    I found it challenging to access some of the older resources. I will continue to do searches of libraries that have physical copies if there are no alternatives and these resources are valuable. Further, I need to be able to sift through the information available to compile collections that have the most helpful resources in a concise manner. 

Areas for Further Research 

    I would like to explore more studies about the benefits to linguistic aspects of language learning to draw more concrete conclusions. 

    I plan to review more songs and uses of music to start collecting a list of helpful resources. I am also considering how lyrics and songs can be used to further important themes and messages. This could mean integration with other subjects. Alternatively, it could serve to increase social awareness of important and current issues. 

The Plan Moving Forward 

Over the next week, I plan to finish my research about the relationship between music and language acquisition. I will write and publish a short synopsis about my result in next week's post. I will continue to research and experiment with several songs for the song bank and final presentation. 

References:

Degrave, P. (2019). Music in the Foreign Language Classroom: How and Why? Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 10, 412. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1003.02

Mademoiselle Matrat. (2016, February 11). French verbs (avoir; être; faire; aller) en chanson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1RvCib-0Zg

Shimna French. (2013, January 31). What date is your birthday in French.wmv. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcwcGwaS_2w

Stromae. (2013, June 6). Stromae—Papaoutai. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiKj0Z_Xnjc

thecomputerdude24 Music. (2017, March 16). Un kilo de chansons—"Moi, j’ai soif". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMUzijuUWV0

Using music. (n.d.). Frenchteacher.Net. Retrieved September 9, 2021, from https://www.frenchteacher.net/teachers-guide/using-music-in-mfl-lessons/

Un Kilo de Chansons. (n.d.). 10.

10 Easy French Songs for Beginners. (2019, January 21). La Libre Language Learning. https://lalibrelanguagelearning.com/2019/01/20/10-easy-french-songs-for-beginners/