The Effects of Incorporating Musical Stimulation Into the Swedish ESL-classroom

• Main Author: Neidenmark, Therese
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholms universitet, Engelska institutionen 2013
• Subjects: ESL; Aesthetical Education; vocabulary learning; Specific Languages; Studier av enskilda språk
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-91578

This essay accounts for research describing the relationship between music and learning and accounts for studies that prove the positive effects that music and aesthetical education has on various ages of students and various subjects. It suggests what implications the 2008 decision to remove aesthetical education as a mandatory subject in upper secondary school might cause and discusses the discrepancy between that decision and the rules, regulations and demands that the Department of Education calls for in the Curriculum for the Upper Secondary School (2013). The research in this essay aimed to prove that aesthetical education has a valid place as a subject in the Swedish upper secondary school and investigated what effect soft background music had on vocabulary attainment in two groups of 7th graders in a Swedish urban school. The research consisted of two vocabulary tests performed on two groups of 7th graders where the students studied and took one vocabulary test without background music and one with background music. The results proposed a correlation between improved ESL vocabulary attainment and soft background music. This suggestion was supported by using the teaching method of Suggestopedia and by drawing parallels to several studies presented in the essay.