Te puoro, te reo, te ako : music, language, learning

Abstract

This single case study investigates the perceptions and practices of one teacher in a year four classroom who used music as a catalyst for language learning. It is situated in the interpretive paradigm, using a qualitative approach. The study does not aim to investigate an alternative way to teach music. Rather, it explores the potential of music to support language learning, cognition and affect, and lies within the broader sphere of music education. While music and speech therapists, as well as teachers of second languages, have long recognised music's contribution to learning, the phenomenon has remained relatively unexplored in the field of generalist education, particularly in New Zealand. Data were gathered via a series of semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and anecdotal entries from the participant's reflective journal. From the literature and the findings, three broad themes emerge that relate to perceived benefits for language learning. These themes are linguistics, cognition, and affect, which have been used as a framework for presenting the findings. There are also findings that relate to the participant's philosophy and background, giving some insight into her thinking, and why and how the programme evolved. The findings concur with existing literature, which draws from a range of fields. The participant's perceptions of the value of the programme are informed by classroom data gathered in the areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Feedback to the teacher involved from the children, families and other members of the school community indicates that the use of music may have impacted positively on children's language learning, motivation and feelings of well-being. While there are some patterns and trends that emerge, such as an overall improvement in spelling skills, the children responded to different aspects of the programme in varied ways. While the findings are not conclusive, there is a strong indication that the inclusion of music in the participant's language programme may have had a positive impact on language learning in her classroom.