講演・口頭発表等

2018年11月

Music on my mind - Insights into the use and effect of background music in the language classroom

JALT 2018

記述言語
アファル語
会議種別
ポスター発表

Music is often used to manipulate our unconscious behaviour for commercial purposes ('consumer atmospherics'). For example, to make us shop for longer (Yalch & Spangenberg 2000), or encourage memory retrieval in advertising (Punj, 1998; Yalch, 1991). Connections have been drawn regarding the shared cognitive processes of language and music (Patel, 2007). However, the use of music as a beneficial element of the language learning environment (perhaps 'classroom atmospherics') seems not so widely articulated. Nonetheless, a growing body of evidence does indicate that music can have a positive effect on language learning and cognitive performance in general (Svan 1998, 1999; Hallam & Price 1998; Kang & Williamson 2012).

This presentation introduces a study concerning the effect of background music (BGM) on the classroom English language performance of 40 first and second year Japanese university students. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. In students' quick writing tasks, there appeared to be a correlation between the use of music in the classroom and improved performance; with a significant increase in the number of words written when BGM was used. Students also expressed a preference for the use of background music during various classroom activities and felt that this helped them perform better. The presentation also makes suggestions for the selection and key characteristics of appropriate background music for classroom language learning activities, based on this study and previous research in the area.