Why Music ?
Educators contact me from every conceivable country regarding the use of music for English language instruction. I want to make it clear why I believe that it is such an important topic. There are those who are attracted to music use because it is a novel approach to language instruction. Yet, I am not one of those people. Yes, it is “fun” and I do not object to having fun in the language classroom. However, my primary motive is and has always been instructional. My main purpose is to accelerate the process of acquiring English.
A news report which was released today was a reminder of the importance of speeding up the process of acquiring English. Research conducted by the National Center for REsearch on Evaluation Standards and Student Testing, based at UCLA, found that English language learners who were reclassified as being fluent in English in the early grades (e.g., second grade) were less inclined to drop out of high school than older English language learners. Older ELLs can be reclassified late in their school careers because they entered the school as older second language learners or simply took longer to acquire English. In either case, there is a definite need to quicken the process.
Music succeeds at speeding up the process of acquiring a second language. It has the additional benefit of being enjoyable for learners and teachers both. However, if it is used primarily for entertainment purposes, it is just that-entertainment. So care must be taken to use this vehicle, this potentially powerful instructional tool, in the most pedagogically responsible manner so that it succeeds at accomplishing our instructional goal of accelerating the process.
