Correlation Of Memorial Learning In Foreign Languages And Music

Abstract

Memory is an integral part of any learning process, therefore it is also very important part in foreign language teaching (FLT) and besides that, it plays essential role when learning and practising music as well. The correlation of music and language memory reveals a very interesting phenomenon. The main aim of this paper is to introduce the results of the research in which we investigated whether the musically educated respondents have higher memory capacity in FLT than the ones lacking such musical background. The methodology of our study was based on the experiment using the language memory test and the questionnaire method. Both methods were finally completed and statistically processed. The research sample included 165 elementary school pupils (aged 12 to 14) from the Czech Republic. In the first phase of the experiment, the respondents listened to 10 audio extracts of various foreign languages. In the second phase, only 5 languages (out of the previous 10) were selected and played to the respondents again. The respondents' task was to identify them. The study results confirmed our expectations that the respondents having music education background have higher memory capacity in FLT than the respondents lacking such musical education. In view of the fact that there exists a significant similarity between music and language, we can observe their possible mutual practical usage mainly in the fields of ontogenesis, neurology, phonetics and pedagogy. If musically educated pupils have excellent musical memory, based on the intensive memory training.

Keywords: MemoryFLTmusiccognitive learning

Introduction

Mark Twain (2019-06-11) said that a good memory and tongue tied in the middle is a combination which gives immortality to conversation. His motto mirrors an essential nature of human being expressing very clear connection between our memory and language - two entities that play one of the main role during the human conversation.

Memory participates in all our mental processes and it is considered as a key factor in language learning. For more of the memory-related language learning see Vrabcová et al. (2019, submitted). The brain transforms our experience into a code which we can understand as a certain transmission of the information into the memory system. Further on, the information is stored in order to be brought back any time needed.

Thus, the similarity between memory learning in FLT and in music studies is apparent. The role of memory in FLT and music comprises of a vast complex of points to be considered. For example, we can speak about a long-term memory of a foreign text and/or long musical compositions, or we can concentrate only on a short-term memory of vocabulary, lexical connections, or a tone pitch. Musical and language memory development is related to the personal experience and practice. A person studying music or a foreign language from an early childhood has usually better language and music memory. In connection to this, higher brain plasticity in childhood age plays its role. Another fact to bear in mind is that the intensive contact with music or any foreign language together with a constant music and language structure repetition considerably help to develop musical and language memory. According to Habibi et al. (2017) on one hand musical training induces macro and micro structural brain changes and on the other hand according to Besedova (2016) the prosodic features of a foreign language such as pronunciation, accent, intonation, melody, stress, tone, word juncture etc. could be taught and practised with the help of music.

Problem Statement

Memory participates in all our mental processes and it is considered as a key factor in language learning. The brain transforms our experience into a code which we can understand as a certain transmission of the information into the memory system. Further on, the information is stored in order to be brought back any time needed. It is not easy to define memory, but we can say that one of the memory role in human mind is to code, save and evocate information originated from the previous experiences. Thus, the memory becomes a vital part of many cognitive processes, according to Encyklopedia Britannica (2009). As an example, Nakonečný (2003) understands memory as the neuropsychic disposition and he states that memory is a process and ability to store, organize and use our experience. We understand memory as a well-organized and complicated system determined mainly by the genes and experience which a person acquires during the cognitive processes. The cognitive processes are for us the manifestations of the individual differences in the information processes which are related to cognitive neurologic mechanisms and structures. According to Peterson, Rayner and Armstrong (2009) the cognitive styles are to a certain extend fixed, relatively invariable and represent probably inborn preferences. Based on this definitions' complex, we present our research topic - correlation of memorial learning in foreign languages and music.

Research Questions

At the beginning of our research we formulated several questions:

a) To which extent memory influences FLT?

b) To which extent memory influences the music learning?

c) Is it possible to follow a certain correlation of memorial learning in FLT and music studies?

d) Do the musically educated pupils have higher preconditions for FLT?

Considering these research questions, we constituted the following hypotheses which we will try to verify in our experiment:

1) Pupils having the musical education will have higher success rate in remembering the foreign language audio tracts than the pupils lacking the musical education.

2) Language selection will not have any influence on the success rate in remembering the foreign languages.

3) The differences between girls and boys in remembering the language sequences will be insignificant.

Purpose of the Study

Musical and language memory is absolutely vital for the abilities which form musical and language experience. From this point of view we consider the memory as one of the key musical and language ability. The main aim of our study is to focus on the elementary pupils in the Czech Republic. Through our experiment - a language memory test - we will try to confirm, or disprove, our principal research question that musically educated pupils have better memory abilities for learning foreign languages than the pupils lacking the musical activities. At the same time we will try to confirm, or disprove, our hypotheses. When speaking about musically educated pupil, we mean the elementary pupil (aged 12 to 14) who attends elementary music school in which s/he is musically educated (e.g. singing, playing on a musical instrument, studying a music theory). A pupil without musical education is in our experiment the pupil (aged 12 to 14) who is not musically educated although s/he is confronted with music in their surroundings, e.g. ordinary music background of a common character.

For our research purposes we chose short-time memory, or working memory, which is in its character temporary and saves the information temporarily - specifically speaking between about 30 seconds to several minutes. The cognitive psychologists, as by Miller (1956), describe the capacity of short-term memory by the number 7+/-2. Any remembering in such cases needs very small personal afford to use detected principle. Generally speaking, we can describe the short-term memory as a kind of memory which stores the information until it is either forgotten or saved into the more stable long-term memory. According to the Baddeley's working memory model (1992), there are 3 main components: 1. Central executive system, 2. Visuo-spatial sketchpad and 3. Phonological loop. The relevant part for our experimental purpose is the phonological loop which saves and reproduces speech information and it is essential not only for the mother tongue but also for the foreign language. Simultaneously, it saves and processes the information necessary for the complex cognitive tasks such as learning, thinking and understanding the language.

Research Methods

We proceeded in our research in several phases.

Findings

We set up three hypotheses which we wanted to either confirm or disprove. The answer to our first hypothesis, that the musically educated pupils will have higher success rate to remember the foreign languages than the non-musically educated ones, can be seen in Fig. 01 . Our hypothesis was fully confirmed. The musically educated pupils had higher success rate (37,62%) in their language memory test than the non-musically educated pupils (23,21%). The average success in language memory test was 30,55% which means that out of 5 given languages 3 were identified well. In that case we can say that musical education certainly support foreign language learning, mainly when considering supra-segmental area.

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We used two sequences (see more in Research Methods) in which the languages were divided according to their language families. The language families were equally presented, therefore we assumed that the selection of the sequence would not have any influence on the success rate in remembering the languages. Our hypothesis was confirmed, because the ratio 33,1% (sequence 1) and 27,9% (sequence 2) are comparable, i.e. do not show higher differential rate, see Table 02 .

Our last hypothesis concerned the differences between the girls and boys in the success rate of the language test. We presumed that the gender would not play any significant role. As we can see in the following table, the differences between girls (30,43%) and boys (30,83%) did not play any role in the language memory test and therefore it is not possible to say that girls are more successful than the boys, or vice versa. Our hypothesis was fully proved.

Our results proved that musically educated pupils have higher success rate in the language memory test and we can expect them having better predispositions for learning foreign languages than the non-musically educated pupils. We are aware of the fact that the learning processes are influenced by various other factors, e.g. intelligence, talent, will, perception, and many others that are essential parts of the language learning. We observed in our study only the factor of memorial learning, more precisely from the point of supra-segmental view in which we focused mainly on foreign language melody. For further understanding of the relation between the music and FLT, it is necessary to focus also on other above mentioned aspects and undergo more experiments.

Conclusion

FLT is connected with variety of factors playing essential role in successful learning. It can be complicated by many existing kinds of learning strategies which we understand as a process of gaining and using the experience that enables us to adapt to the permanently changing situations and it is directly connected to the memory where the learning experience is saved and under the certain conditions it can be intentionally reproduced, according to Nakonečny (2003). Evidently, we cannot learn any language without the language memory. Similarly, there is no musician without the music memory. Interconnection of the music and language memory is a frequent phenomenon. H. Gardner in his theories connected linguistic and music intelligence, which plays an important role in the memory. According to Smith (2007), we can analyzed such interconnection from 4 points of view: 1) onto-genetic - music and speech mean for a person a communication through the sounds (they have in common the features such as changes in pitch, tone, intensity, rhythmical and pace elements), 2) neurologic - co-operation of the cognitive structures needed for language and music has been already proved, 3) phonetic - vital part of any language study is its prosodic system (phonetics), and 4) pedagogic - taking into account a great number of similarities between music and language, we can trace their mutual usage.

The Gardner's principles inspired our study of the relation of music and language and we focused on the correlation of memorial learning in FLT and in music studies. A lot of research work proved that there exists very close co-operation between the music and language brain centres, for example Besedova et al. (2019) or Peretz and Zatorre (2005), which is manifested mainly in musical people who can learn foreign languages easier and even quicker because they have higher sensitivity to the intonation and melody. The principal result of our study corresponds directly with the mentioned thesis, because we proved in our experiment that the musically educated pupils have higher success rate in language memory test than those not having such musical background. To sum up, we can say that there exist very obvious parallels between music and language memory. Therefore, we should definitely strengthen the presence of musical elements in FLT for example by the active singing of the songs, or even by passive listening to the instrumental music. The teacher in such case develops not only the pupils' language, emotional and cognitive perception, but stimulates also their sense for language which we see as absolutely essential part of the language education.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express many thanks to all persons who were involved in our research. Many thanks belong mainly to the schools participating in the experiments: namely to ZŠ Úprkova Hradec Králové, ZŠ Letohrad, ZUŠ Jitro Hradec Králové and ZUŠ Habrmanova Hradec Králové. Our study was financially supported by the specific research grant of Faculty of Education Hradec Králové (Nr. 2122/01360/1210) and it was approved by the ethic committee of Faculty of Education Hradec Králové 22^nd January, 2019.

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