The presentation reported a small-scale pilot study regarding the influence of melodic structure on second language learners’ ability to allocate attention (i.e., noticing) to target vocabulary. The research project was designed and implemented via an interdisciplinary collaboration between an SLA researcher/teacher educator and a classical music composer/theorist. This research was motivated by language teachers’ anecdotes of using music in their class in order to lower their students’ anxiety and help them to remember vocabulary.

Teachers’ experiences of using music are often mixed. In this research, we examined task-specific melodies and their influence on second language learners’ ability to remember target vocabulary. Three groups of students learned three different songs. The first group learned target vocabulary with melodies featuring an ascending diatonic major key melodic structure. The melodies used for the second group lacked a discernible pitch hierarchy. The control group received instruction using rhythmic speaking without pitch. The target vocabulary was synforms (Laufer, 1988). Second language learners found synforms quite difficult to learn; examples of synforms, which share some affixes, are sensitive, sensible, credible, credulous, and intelligible and intelligent. Part of these songs is below:

Group 1:

Group 2:

Group 3:

The following graphs show the musical structures used for Group 1 and Group 2:

(MG1: Music group 1, MG2: Music group 2)

As indicated in MG1’s graph (yellow line), Group 1’s music shows ascending melodic stucture. In contrast, MG2 does not show any discernable structures.

The results revealed that learners who were exposed to the target vocabulary through a melody whose structure reflected the ascending major scale outperformed other groups that received melodies that lacked a discernible pitch hierarchy or music without the element of pitch in terms of allocating their attention (i.e., noticing target vocabulary). That is, those who learned target vocabulary through ascending diatonic major key melodic structure remembered the vocabulary when they were asked to fill in blanks after the task.

This presentation was successful in attracting a diverse audience: It was composed of former performers who had changed their careers, ESL instructors looking for innovative teaching methods, administrators, and students working on their master’s theses. Audience members asked a range of questions regarding the rationale of choosing particular melodic structures as well as the theoretical framework of the research.

Based on the audience’s positive comments and strong interest in using music in the language classroom, we hope to expand this research project with more participants and provide a longer study period. We strongly believe that the end product will be helpful for language teachers to choose more efficient music for language learning.

REFERENCES

Laufer, B. (1988). The concept of ‘synforms’(similar lexical forms) in vocabulary acquisition. Language and Education, 2(2), 113–132.

Jiyoon Lee’s research and teaching interests include second language acquisition, language assessment, task-based language teaching, and curriculum development. She teaches practical as well as theoretical courses on second language acquisition and teaching. She also conducts workshops on content-based learning for secondary school teachers in the Philadelphia community and assessment for higher education foreign language instructors abroad. Having presented at various academic conferences in the United States, in Korea, and in the United Kingdom, she has published in the TESOL Quarterly (solo author), Language Testing (with Butler), Modern Language Journal (with Butler), English Today (with Jeon), Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, and Electronic Magazine for Multicultural Education. More information can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/jylee0515/

The music of composer Matthew Schreibeis, which includes electronic and acoustic works, as well as music for Western and Korean instruments, combines highly syncopated counterpoint with rhythmically charged lyricism. His works have been performed throughout the United States, Germany, Switzerland, and Korea. Honors include grants from the American Composers Forum and University of Pennsylvania, commissions from the Hanson Institute for American Music and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, residencies at Yaddo and Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and 1st Prize in the National Association of Composers USA Young Composers Competition. He received degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM) and the University of Pennsylvania (PhD), where he is currently lecturer. He has also served as a visiting professor at Korea University in Seoul.

https://sites.google.com/site/mschreibeis/