This time, I'm going to talk about how singing can help you learn a language.
Have you ever tried to sing a song to learn a language?
I haven't done any research on it, but I've wondered if it's only in Japan. I'm not sure if it's only in Japan, but I've thought about it.There are so many ways to learn English, and I hear so many stories of people trying and failing.
There are some countries where bilingualism is the norm, but I often feel that Japan is the only country where people are tied to one language. I often feel that Japan is the only country where people are restricted to one language.
Leaving that aside.
The study I'm going to introduce is about whether singing is useful for language acquisition. The study I'm going to introduce is about whether songs are useful for language acquisition.
The study
Sixty adult English-speaking participants were surveyed and tested by assigning them to one of three ways of listening and repeating.
1. just speaking
2. speaking rhythmically
3. singing
and the three groups were divided into three groups, and the Hungarian language that all of them could not speak was selected.
The result.
After 15 minutes of testing, the singing group performed better. (p<0.05 compared to the other two groups)
The results were not influenced by age, gender, phonological working memory, or musical ability.
Ludke KM et al.Singing can facilitate foreign language learning.Mem Cognit. 2014;42:41-52.
Conclusion
Since the results are from a short-term experiment, we do not know what will happen after a while.
However, it seems that resistance to language may be reduced. Therefore, singing may be beneficial for those who are resistant to speaking.
As for singing, as a former vocalist, my experience is that I sang English songs for a while (about 10 years), but I never had a chance to speak, so my hearing was fine, but my speaking was not.
I think it might be a practical study if we recognize that singing is a way to create an opportunity to speak, and if we combine it with training to speak.
