Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2002 The effects of songs in the foreign language classroom on text recall and involuntary mental rehearsal Claudia Smith Salcedo Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Salcedo, Claudia Smith, "The effects of songs in the foreign language classroom on text recall and involuntary mental rehearsal" (2002). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1458. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1458 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE EFFECTS OF SONGS IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM ON TEXT RECALL AND INVOLUNTARY MENTAL REHEARSAL A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Curriculum and Instruction by Claudia Smith Salcedo B.A., Louisiana State University, 1982 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1990 December 2002 © Copyright 2002 Claudia Smith Salcedo All rights reserved ii DEDICATION This is dedicated to my angels-my three children. They are kind, wonderful people, who are a daily blessing to me. I am very proud of them and I thank God for their love and support. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to my Lord for giving me strength and for directing me to the guidance I needed. I would like to express my appreciation to my family whose love and encouragement have made my efforts worthwhile. Loving thanks go to Rebeca, Samuel, and Sharon for believing in me and for their assistance in completing this task. I thank Rebeca for helping with research, Samuel for the initial recordings used in conducting the pilot studies, and Sharon for her indispensable help on the domestic front. Thanks go to my husband Carlos for time spent retrieving articles and making copies. I also thank my parents, Claude Smith and Doris Diné, for their encouragement and support. I hope my efforts make them all proud and reward their faith in me. My most heartfelt thanks go to my Major Professor, Dr. Robert Claude Lafayette, without whom I would not have been able to accomplish many projects, including this dissertation. He has willingly served as teacher, boss, and mentor. I am grateful for his career guidance and will always be thankful for the extensive help he has provided. In addition, the financial assistance provided by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction has afforded me the opportunity to complete the degree. Thanks to Dr. Janice Hinson for serving as my minor professor and for imparting technological knowledge through several classes. I extend a sincere thank you to the other members of the committee; Dr. Margaret Parker for her willingness to help and guide me in the field of foreign languages, Dr. Earl Cheek iv for willingly joining the committee near the last stages, and Dr. Cornelia Yarbrough for serving as Dean’s representative. I am fortunate that Terri Wilbanks agreed to share her students and classroom for this research. The attention to detail in the data collection was invaluable. I appreciate the time spent on the collaboration of this project. Many thanks go to Jeff Blackwell of Blackwell Communications for the quality production of the media used in this study. He was ever willing to produce or edit audio material which occasionally needed last minute changes. Thanks to Javier Grijalva and Carlos Salcedo for recording the spoken lyrics, and to Dámaris Albrecht Dupertuís for recording the piano melodies. Many thanks to Dr. Lynn LaMotte for helping me in the initial stages of the statistical analysis of the data, and to Jing Liu for continuing the analysis. I am indebted to Sangeeta Singh for assuming the task of analysis completion. Her expert explanation in the interpretation of this analysis was truly helpful. I wish to thank Dr. Lucia Harrison for her collaboration in the realization of the pilot studies. Thanks to Susan Sarnataro for reading and making useful comments on the content of this document. I thank everyone who helped further my studies and for the valuable collaboration that has made this project possible. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Historical Overview ....................................................................... 1 Personal Interest ........................................................................... 3 Interviews ....................................................................................... 4 Statement of the Problem ............................................................ 7 Purpose Statement ....................................................................... 8 Research Questions ..................................................................... 8 Significance of the Study ............................................................ 9 Summary ...................................................................................... 10 Definition of Terms ..................................................................... 11 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ........................................................... 14 Musical Methodologies ............................................................. 14 Suggestopedia ............................................................... 15 The Contemporary Music Approach ........................... 17 Language Learning Textbook Methodologies .......... 17 Physiological Response to Music ........................................... 25 Music Research in Areas Other than Foreign Languages .. 28 Infant and Pre-infant Studies ........................................ 28 Preschool Studies .......................................................... 31 Primary School Studies on Math and Reading ........ 32 Music and the Brain ................................................................... 43 Left and Right Hemispheres ......................................... 43 Music as a Memory Aid ................................................. 46 Involuntary Mental Rehearsal .................................................. 55 Music and Aspects of Language Acquisition ........................ 62 Music and First or Second Language Acquisition ... 63 Music and Pronunciation .............................................. 66 Music and Motivation ..................................................... 74 Music and Grammar and Vocabulary ......................... 76 Music and Cultural Awareness .................................... 77 Summary ...................................................................................... 79 vi 3 MATERIALS AND METHODS .............................................................. 81 Pilot Studies ................................................................................ 81 Discussion of Results of the Pilot Studies .............................. 84 Purpose of the Study ................................................................. 86 Research Questions and Hypothesis ..................................... 86 Research Design ........................................................................ 87 Data Organization ...................................................................... 89 Statistical Procedures ................................................................ 90 Description of Subjects Used ................................................... 90 Instruments ...................................................................... 91 Procedures ...................................................................... 92 Data Analysis Plan ......................................................... 93 Limitations ........................................................................ 94 Song Selection and Analysis of Songs ..................... 94 Summary ...................................................................................... 97 4 RESULTS ................................................................................................ 98 Overview of Statistical Procedures ......................................... 98 Results of Research Questions ................................................ 99 Research Question 1 ..................................................... 99 Research Question 2 ................................................... 101 Research Question 3 ................................................... 102 Research Question 4 ................................................... 103 Summary ................................................................................... 106 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS