Relations between Music and Foreign Languages

Music and foreign languages have many common determinants. Both music and languages have fixed rules which are being confronted during language acquisition or listening to music; both music and languages involve processes such as reading, memorizing, perception, motivation, emotion, listening, thinking, etc. Listening can be beneficial in the language learning process. Music can form pupils emotionally and aesthetically, it supports the development of their emotional intelligence, and thus it definitely has an impact on foreign language education. The involvement of music in the processes mentioned above plays an indispensable role in harmonizing both rational and emotional aspects of human thought and experience. The main aim of the research is to seek the points where music meets foreign language education. The research has already produced findings in the field of foreign language acquisition processes related to music. Examining the interdisciplinary relations and overlapping fields, the applied research aims at producing a conception within the framework of foreign language methodology, especially in the case of disciplines that are not purely linguistic.

The research into the relations between music and foreign languages is aimed at issues directly connected with foreign language methodology, particularly at the impact of music on the language acquisition processes, possible ways of enhancing such processes, and the impact of music on foreign language learners. The research has been carried out since 2016 at the Faculty of Education of the University of Hradec Králové in collaboration with the Neurological Clinic of the Faculty Hospital in Hradec Králové, and the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Hradec Králové. The research is realized mainly in the fields of foreign language methodology, pedagogy, music psychology, neurolinguistics, modern experimental phonetics, and psycholinguistics.

The current research is primarily focusing on monitoring EEG activities, specifically on correlations between a stimulus and changes in brain activities. The monitored procedures include spectral analyses, investigations into complex continuous wavelet coherences, mutual information, a degree of complexity, entropy, and stimulated records. Inter-dependencies between the stimulus and changes in EEG activities are processed through statistical methods (factorial ANOVA, MANOVA, logistic regression) and methods of machine learning. Furthermore, phonetic comparative analyses of English, German, Russian and French are being carried out. An inseparable part of the research is investigating music's impact on foreign language acquisition in relation to memorizing. Statistical methods (factorial ANOVA a logistic regression) are applied to these investigations.

The existing research results imply that there is unambiguous evidence proving the influence of music on foreign language learning. Recent research in neurolinguistics and in music and language perception has proved that music and languages are connected with both brain hemispheres; these are transversally interconnected via a series of interactions (cf. E. Altenmüller, L. Jäncke, M. Spitzer, A. Pattel, etc.). Arguably, melody and harmony are processed in the right part of the brain, whereas rhythm and meter are in the left hemisphere (see Fig. 1). It is therefore highly probable that while learning foreign languages both hemispheres need to be activated. During listening to a foreign language, its melody is perceived by the right hemisphere and its rhythm by the left hemisphere. This phase of the research is open to cooperation with neurological clinics, or other related medical fields enabling via brain monitoring methods (EEG, fMRI, etc.) the localization of brain centers processing the perception of language and music.

Fig. 1. Musicians’ brain – parts of the brain activated during particular musical activities (according to Spitzer)

Musical and linguistic development are inseparable parts of the formation and harmonious cultivation of a human personality. The development of linguistic and musical competencies is a diverse sum of human beings' somatic, neurophysiological, emotional, and sociocultural presuppositions. And the relations between language and thought, and those between music and thinking are apparent. An individual´s musical and linguistic development shows a number of liaisons traceable during the mutual confrontation of both variables.

Another researched entity essential for foreign language and music acquisition is memory. The brain is active during learning and recalling music pieces in the same way as during learning and recall of verbal information. Parallels between music and foreign language learning can also be found by cognitive psychologists, neurologists, and foreign language methodologists.

Foreign language teachers and students and foreign language textbooks are other essential research areas. Both reception and production of foreign languages (that means pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and syntactic structures, listening and reading comprehension, speaking and writing skills), intensive perception (linked with motivation, memory, creativity, concentration, empathy, and fantasy) and learning about culture (literature, art, geography, film) compose legitimate parts of foreign language acquisition. Music is definitely a phenomenon that can greatly support the above-mentioned components of this acquisition.

Music is a significant communication means having a close relationship to language education. Vocabulary can be extended through listening to music lyrics because the vocabulary acquired in context is better and faster remembered. Most songs that can be used during foreign language education use real, everyday language, including slang. The rhythm and intonation of the given foreign language can be successfully introduced through music. Music is a universal conversation topic across cultures. Simultaneously, the music reflects social life and often includes various personal or historical references connected with the given culture. Last but not least, music is a relaxing and motivational phenomenon, which cannot be ignored in foreign language education.