There is some recent research that shows an interesting connection between music and learning. Fabrice Dossville a researcher at a university in France did an experiment with 249 students of sports psychology. He divided them into two groups of equal academic ability. Each group listened to a one-hour lecture on sports psychology. One group listened to classical music in the background during the lecture. The other group listened to the lecture with no music. After the lecture, they took a test to see how much they could remember. The group that listened to classical music did much much better on the test.
They are not sure why listening to classical music had a positive effect? Would Jazz music also have had a positive effect? Why did their test scores improve? Did it help the students focus? Did it change their mood to make them more open to understanding new information? Did it somehow make them more motivated?
No one is sure why it worked but successful language learners have been using music to help them improve their English skills for years. Learning the words to English songs is great for your English. The mixture of melody, rhythm and the poetry of the words create emotional experiences that affect us deeply. These deep emotional connections are perfect for learning and remembering what we learn. Emotional connections help us remember not only the vocabulary of the songs but also the grammar. And of course, music is full of repetition. And repetition is the basis for all learning. So what music should you listen to? Well, the music that touches you is best. The music that makes you feel deeply is best. Everyone is different. Find the music that you enjoy and search for the lyrics online. Youtube is also a great place to find songs with the lyrics in the video. Here’s one of my favorites. Post a song you like in the comments.
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