I have long believed that singing in a foreign language can enhance learning. That has been my own personal experience over many years, and I have seen it in my teaching, as well. There continues to be research on this topic and there was an article in the “Science News” of July 18, 2013 issue of British newspaper The Telegraph that cites research by Dr. Katie Overy at the University of Edinburgh. She and her colleagues used Hungarian as the target language, assuming that this would be a less well-known language in which to conduct the study.
Here is a quote from the article:
“Research from the University of Edinburgh found that adults who sang words or short phrases from a foreign language while learning were twice as good at speaking it later.
It is thought that by listening to words that are sung, and by singing them back, the technique takes advantage of the strong links between music and memory.”
Here is a link to the article:
One thing that I continue to wonder about, however, is whether students who have learning difficulties also have a higher predominance of tone-deafness. That seemed to be the case among my at-risk students – many of whom could not carry a tune and also did not enjoy singing.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting question about the possibility of a connection between time deafness and struggles with second language learning. I’ve only been teaching French for five years, all at the elementary school level, but I made this connection almost immediately because of a couple of my students and their struggle to sing our Canadian anthem in French.
Thanks for your comment. [I trust you meant “tune” (not “time”) deafness, right?] You have added a perceptive insight from your own second language teaching experience. That helps us all.