Music, Language and Second Language Acquisition

Music has, so far, been noted to be beneficial in education. There have been some experimental studies that look at the effects of music on reading, vocabulary, and conversational skills in teaching foreign languages. However, there have been no studies searching for the effects of music in the arena of learners'' speaking fluency as well as their motivation/interest level. In this respect, several questions arose: Can music be a salient factor in the teaching of language skills, particularly speaking? Can music be a tool to enhance students'' capacity for speaking fluency? On a less direct but arguably even more important level for second language learning, can music play a role in improving students'' motivation/interest in language learning contexts? The purpose of this book was therefore to explore the above questions and, based on their answers, to guide English language teachers in their thinking about the use of songs in the classroom, both as a means of enhancing learners'' abilities to speak fluently and as a motivating tool.