A master thesis from Aalborg University
Music Cognition and Linguistic Fluency: Investigating the cognitive influence of music education in relation to the development of language skills
Author(s)
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2015
Submitted on
2015-05-31
Pages
107 pages
Abstract
Formålet med dette pilotforsøg var at undersøge forholdet mellem musikundervisning og udviklingen af sproglige kompetencer. Begrundelsen for forsøget var inspireret af tidligere forskning, som har påvist en sammenhæng mellem kinæstetisk pulssynkronisering og færdigheder i flydende læsning (Tierney & Kraus, 2013c). Disse resultater er udvidet i dette pilotforsøg, som har udforsket sammenhængen mellem kinæstetisk pulssynkronisering og læsefærdigheder i engelsk som andetsprog. Forsøget var desuden konstrueret som en intervention, for at fastslå, om musikundervisning med fokus på kinæstetisk pulssynkronisering påvirker udviklingen af sprogfærdigheder. Endvidere blev data vedrørende hjertepuls samlet for at undersøge en potentiel sammenhæng med musik eller sprogfærdigheder, hvilket kunne bidrage til en yderligere forklaring af sammenhængen mellem musik og sprog. Forsøgets resultater påviser en sammenhæng mellem kinæstetisk pulssynkronisering og flydende læsefærdigheder, og derved støtter de konklusionerne fra forsøget af Tierney og Kraus (2013c). Engelsklæsningerne i forsøget blev foretaget af forsøgspersoner som ikke havde engelsk som modersmål. Derfor tyder resultaterne også på, at der er en sammenhæng mellem kinæstetisk pulssynkronisering og læsefærdigheder i engelsk som andetsprog, som var forsøgets første hypotese. På grund af begrænsningen i mængden af statistisk signifikante resultater, kan resultaterne fra forsøget ikke støtte den anden og tredje hypotese, at musikundervisning ville påvirke sprogfærdigheder, og at hjertepulsen ville korrelere med synkronisering eller læsefærdigheder. Men der var en række tendenser i forsøget som antyder muligheden for, at fremtidige undersøgelser med adgang til flere ressourcer og mere raffinerede metodologiske procedurer, kan indhente en øget mængde statistisk signifikante resultater og dermed videre understøtte forestillingen om, at musikundervisning har potentialet til at udvikle sprogkompetencer.
The aim of the current pilot study was to investigate the relationship between music education and the development of language skills. The justification for this investigation was inspired by previous research, which reported a correlation between beat synchronization skills and oral reading fluency (Tierney & Kraus, 2013c). The present study expanded on these results by exploring whether beat synchronization skills also correlate with second language reading fluency. In addition, the current study was designed as an intervention in order to determine if music training with a focus on beat synchronization affects the development of language skills. Furthermore, heart rate data was recorded in the present study in order to investigate potential correlations between heart rate and tapping or reading performance, which may help to further explain the relationship between music and language abilities. The results of the current study partially support the previous findings by Tierney and Kraus (2013c) that beat synchornization skills significantly correlate with reading fluency. The English reading performances evaluated in the current study were carried out by non-native English speakers, which provides evidence in support of the first hypothesis that beat syncrhhonzation skills also positively correlate with second langauge reading skills. Due to the low amount of statistically significant results, there was a lack of support for the second and third hypotheses that music training would affect language skills and that heart rate would correlate with tapping or reading performance. However, there were a number of trends observed in this pilot study which indicate the possibility that future studies with access to greater resources and refined methodological procedures may find an increased amount of statistically significant evidence supporting the notion that music training has the potential to benefit language development.
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