Browsing by Author "Aalto, Sanna"

Language skills are an important asset in the global world, so it is important to promote language learning. Music and language learning have been shown to be interconnected. However, most of the studies have been conducted with adult language learners and in laboratories. This study is an experimental study carried out in natural learning context with intervention paradigm. The aim of the study is to explore whether using a song as a tool in learning second language vocabulary in a bilingual preschool differs from using a nursery rhyme or prose. The null hypothesis is that children in bilingual preschool learn second language vocabulary as well with song as with nursery rhyme or prose. The alternative hypothesis is that children in bilingual preschool learn second language vocabulary better with song than with nursery rhyme or prose. Seven foreign language children from the preschool took part in the study. In study paradigm children were presented in learning phase a Finnish version of a well-known nursery rhyme Simple Simon as continuous stimuli in the form of a nursery rhyme, a song and prose. In EEG test phase they were presented same stimuli with some changes in vowels and syllables and their EEG was recorded. Event-related potentials to those changes were then compared between a nursery rhyme, a song and prose situation. In behavioral testing, children were presented words from the learning material and pseudowords formed from those words. We compared how well the children recognized words in the nursery rhyme (poem), the song and the prose situation. The data were analyzed in both research methods using Wilcoxon signed rank test. The null hypothesis could not be rejected. So, it cannot be stated that second language vocabulary is learned better with song than with nursery rhyme or prose. We detected a difference between the prose and the nursery rhyme stimuli in favor of the prose option measured with EEG. However, the sample size was too small to generalize the results. In discussion the results and used research methods are primarily examined on theoretical level considering previous studies. In conclusion, based on the previous studies, it is feasible to recommend using music in education especially in language learning but also in every phase of life due to music’s positive effects on motivation and togetherness to name but a few.