6. Effects of Background Music
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DIPLOMARBEIT / DIPLOMA THESIS Titel der Diplomarbeit / Title of the Diploma Thesis „Keep talking with background music in the EFL classroom“ verfasst von / submitted by Veronika Mojzes angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. Phil.) Wien, 2017 / Vienna, 2017 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 190 344 456 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / UF Englisch UF Geographie und Wirtschaftskunde degree programme as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Friederike Klippel Table of contents List of abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ i List of figures ...................................................................................................................................... i List of tables ........................................................................................................................................ i 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 2. Study rationale and methodology ............................................................................ 2 2.1 Purpose and rationale ........................................................................................................ 2 2.2 Research questions and assumptions ........................................................................... 3 2.3 Research design .................................................................................................................... 4 3. The use of music for educational purposes – historical development ........ 4 3.1 Suggestopedia in foreign language learning ............................................................... 6 3.2 Classic music for enhanced learning - The Tomatis Method................................. 9 3.3 The Mozart Effect ................................................................................................................10 4. Music in education in the 21st century ................................................................. 13 5. Background music affecting emotion, arousal and cognition ..................... 17 5.1 Emotion, arousal and mood - definitions ...................................................................17 5.2 Background music affecting emotions ........................................................................19 5.3 Arousal-Mood hypothesis ................................................................................................22 5.4 Cognitive-Capacity hypothesis .......................................................................................25 6. Effects of background music .................................................................................... 26 6.1 Overall negative effects on cognitive tasks ...............................................................27 6.2 Effect of background music on extroverts and introverts ...................................29 6.3 Effects of different music characteristics ...................................................................31 7. Creating a comfortable classroom atmosphere with background music 38 7.1 Willingness to communicate in L2 (WTC) .................................................................38 7.1 Affective filter hypothesis ...............................................................................................42 7.2 Relieve of stress and anxiety - Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) ...................................43 8. Empirical research ...................................................................................................... 45 8.1 Procedure ..............................................................................................................................45 8.2 Choice of music ....................................................................................................................46 8.3 Results of empirical research.........................................................................................48 8.3.1 Student questionnaires........................................................................................................... 48 8.3.2 Familiarity of background music and music preferences ........................................ 49 8.3.3 Attitudes towards communication in English ............................................................... 49 8.3.4 Results FLCAS ............................................................................................................................. 51 8.3.5 Results of feedback questionnaire ..................................................................................... 52 8.4 Classroom observations ...................................................................................................56 8.4.1 Observations 6th grade ............................................................................................................ 57 8.4.2 Observations 5th grade ............................................................................................................ 59 8.5 Teacher interviews ............................................................................................................62 9. Discussion of results ................................................................................................... 64 9.1 Limitations ............................................................................................................................68 9.2 Pedagogic implications and future suggestions ......................................................69 10. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 69 11. References ................................................................................................................... 72 Music references: ...........................................................................................................................76 12. Appendices .................................................................................................................. 77 Appendix 1: Information letter to students .........................................................................78 Appendix 2: First student questionnaire ..............................................................................79 Appendix 3: Second student questionnaire .........................................................................81 German abstract.............................................................................................................................83 List of abbreviations AHS Allgemeinbildende höhere Schule ARAS ascending reticular activating system CLT Communicative Language Teaching EFL English as foreign language EEG Electroencephalography FLCAS Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale GPA Grade point average ORF Österreichischer Rundfunk WTC Willingness to Communicate in L2 List of figures Figure 1 Optimum level of arousal ................................................................................. 23 Figure 2: Music's effect on cognitive performance ........................................................ 32 Figure 3: Perceived speaking competence...................................................................... 50 Figure 4: Evaluation of background music..................................................................... 53 Figure 5: Continuous use of background music ............................................................. 54 Figure 6: Background music during other activities ...................................................... 55 List of tables Table 1: Ranking of favourite genre ............................................................................... 49 Table 2: Overview of background music during lessons 6th grade ............................... 57 Table 3: Overview of background music during lessons in 5th grade ........................... 61 i 1. Introduction In many English language classes in Austria, teachers face the issue that students are often reluctant to practise their oral speaking skills in English and switch to their mother tongue during speaking exercises if the teacher does not pay attention. According to communicative language teaching (CLT), oral communication skills are increasingly important for students to develop in their English classes. Thus, the improvement and support of student L2 talk is of central interest to language teachers. In the literature about language teaching methodology, several factors and techniques are mentioned to foster students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and to minimize or even prevent foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), which is a major cause of students remaining silent. In this paper, the use of background music is investigated, because it is likely to be conducive in student speaking exercises in the classroom, according to theories of emotional arousal, affective variables and music therapy. There exists a considerable amount of research on the impact of background music on learning, which tends to result in positive outcomes in music conditions. However, the findings in these studies are not conclusive, since learner performance is dependent on the precise task requirements, the type of background music, learner’s personality and situational