ECDA Conference 2014

Presented by:

Dr. Carol Loy, Kinderland Educare Services

Dr. Noel Chia, National Institute of Education

Introduction

• This study is funded by the Early Childhood Research Fund (ECRF) of the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).

• The findings and views expressed in this presentation are that of the authors and do not represent the views of ECDA or any government ministries

Music & Linguistic Abilities

• Music contributes to preschool-age children's awakening to different subject matters, particularly to reading and writing.

(Cutietta, 1995, 1996; Ribière-Raverlat, 1997; Bolduc & Montésinos-Gelet, 2005; Bolduc, 2006).

• Musical activities promote the development of auditory perception, phonological memory, and metacognitive knowledge—three components that are equally involved in the development of linguistic abilities.

(Bernstein, 1976; Fiske, 1993; Lowe, 1995, 1998; Ribière-Raverlat, 1997; Sloboda, 1985;

Bolduc & Montésinos-Gelet, 2005; Bolduc, 2006).

Quasi-experimental Studies

Quasi-experimental studies also show that:

• Children who participate in musical and first-language interdisciplinary programs develop phonological awareness, word recognition, and invented spelling abilities more efficiently than their classmates who do not participate in such programs.

(Bolduc, 2006; Register, 2001; Standley & Hughes, 1997).

Purpose of Study

• To compare the effect of children’s musical ability, obtained via formal music teaching, on their reading ability using pre- and post-tests.

Definition of Terms

• Audiation Audiation takes place when one hears and feels music

through recalling, the sound not being physically present except when one is audiating. (Gordon, 1979)

• Musical Ability/Aptitude (Tonal & Rhythm) Ability to differentiate ‘Same’ and ‘Different’ as sound in

music elements e.g. pitch, rhythm, pulse, melody, harmony. • Rhyming and Reading Ability Ability to match ‘Letters and Sounds’ and recognize ‘Regular

and Irregular words.’

Methodology

• A quasi-experimental group design for pre-test/ post-test comparisons.

• Parental consent forms signed.

• A total of 73 five & six yr. old children participated.

• 34 of the children from 2 childcare centers offering the formal music curriculum were assigned to the Experimental group.

• 39 from 2 childcare centers that do not offer the formal music curriculum participated in the Control group.

Profile of Participants

Variable

M

F

Age

(Mean)

Age

(Min)

Age

(Max)

Age

(Range)

Experi-

mental

20 14 5 4.6 5.5 0.9

Control 14 25 5.05 4.5 5.6 1.1

Instruments

• PMMA (Gordon, 1979)

– Primary Measure of Music Audiation test

– Measures music aptitude

(tonal & rhythm) of children

(kindergarten, grade 1-3).

• WRaPS (Moseley, 2008)

– Word Recognition and Phonic Skills test

– Measures word recognition with standardized scores & age equivalent (4.5 yrs – 8.75 yrs).

Data Collection Procedures

• Children seated in small groups (4-6 per group).

• Class teachers help children stay on track.

• Practice items for method of answering.

• Test items without assistance.

• PMMA Tonal test conducted before Rhythm test.

• PMMA & WRaPS carried out within same week on 2 separate days.

Data Collection- Tonal Pre -test

PMMA

apple shoe cup tree

Data Collection- Rhythm Pre -test

PMMA

truck book

Data Collection- Pre-test

Pre & Post-test Data

At the start, independent t-tests showed that both groups were comparable in terms of:

• Age

• Gender mix

• Music aptitude (PMMA Tonal & Rhythm Tests) Gordon, E. E. (1979).

• Word Recognition (WRaPS Test) Moseley, D. (2008).

Music Curriculum

• Length of treatment: 20 weeks • Frequency of lessons: once a week • Duration of lessons: 60 minutes each • Contents: - Singing - Listening - Rhythm - Keyboard Playing - Ensemble - Notation

Data Collection- Post-test

PMMA

Data Collection- Post-test

PMMA Tonal & Rhythm

28.5

38.7

28.1

33.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

Tonal Pre Tonal Post

Experimental

Control

25.7

36.8

24.7 27.3

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Rhythm Pre Rhythm Post

Experimental

Control

PMMA Tonal & Rhythm Tests

Increase in mean score

Experimental Control

Tonal 10.2 5.8

Rhythm 11.1 2.6

Results - WRaPS

20.9

55.2

21.3 25.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

WRAPS A WRAPS B

Experimental

Control

(5yr 9mth)

(5yr 9mth)

(8yr 9mth)

(6yr 2mth)

Results - WRaPS

Experimental Group • Word recognition age (mean) increased

from 5 yr 9 mth to 8 yr 9 mth • Total increase = 3 years

Control Group

• Word recognition age (mean) increased from 5 yr 9 mth to 6 yr 2 mth

• Total increase = 0.4 years

Pre-Literacy “Musicy” Pre-Oracy Beginning Literacy

Oral Perceiving

Aural Perceiving

Aural Processing

Oral Processing Audiating

Audiating

Word Recognition

Hearing Music

Hearing Letter Sound

WRaPS

PMMA

Subvocalizing

Discussion

Conclusion

• The musical ability of the children in the experimental group had a significant positive effect on their reading ability.

• They developed word recognition abilities more efficiently than those who did not participate in the music curriculum.

Implications

•Positive musical aptitude can have a positive effect on reading ability as early as preschool.

•Formal music curriculum can be used as an efficient complementary educational approach to facilitate the development of linguistic abilities.

•This may help reduce reading difficulties when children enter primary school.

Limitations

• It is instrumental to note that the results of this study are limited to its design and implementation to rule out threats to validity in terms of testing procedure, participant mortality, history, maturation and selection.

Limitations

• Participant selection was controlled with similar profile in terms of

gender, age and socio-economic status. • Participant history was controlled with similar profile in terms of

word recognition and musical aptitude level. • Participant maturation was accounted for by the comparison of the

experimental to the control group's performance. • Participant mortality was controlled for with a large number of

subjects (n > 30) for each group. • Testing procedures were controlled for with a 100% fidelity of

implementation.

References

Bernstein, Leonard. (1976). The unanswered question: Six talks at Harvard. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bolduc, Jonathan, & Montésinos-Gelet, Isabelle. (2005). Pitch awareness and phonological awareness. Psychomusicology, 19(1), 3-14.

Bolduc, Jonathan. (2006). Les effets d' un programme d' entraînement musical expérimental sur l' approbation du langage écrit à la

maternelle [Effects of a music training program on kindergartners' literacy skills]. Québec: Université Laval.

Cutietta, Robert. (1995). Does music instruction help children to read? General Music Today, 9(1), 26-31.

Fiske, Harold. (1993). Music and mind: The concept of mind in music cognition. Canadian Music Educator, 34(3), 15-26.

Gordon, E. E. (1979). Primary measures of music audiation. Chicago, IL: G.I.A. Publications.

Lamb, Susannah J., & Gregory, Andrew H. (1993). The relationship between music and reading in beginning readers. Educational

Psychology, 13(1), 19-27.

Lowe, Anne. (1998). L'intégration de la musique et du français au programme d'immersion française: Avantages pour l'apprentissage

des deux matières [Integration of music and French into a French immersion program: Benefits for the two subjects]. Revue des

sciences de l'éducation, 24(3), 621-646.

Moseley, D. (2008). Word Recognition and Phonic Skills (WRaPS) 3 UK: Hodder Education.

Register, Dena. (2001). The effects of an early intervention music curriculum on prereading/writing. Journal of Music Therapy, 38(3),

239-248.

Ribière-Raverlat, Jacquotte. (1997). Développer les capacités d' écoute à l' école: Écoute musicale, écoute des langues [Developing

listening abilities in school: Musical monitoring and language monitoring]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

Sloboda, John A. (1985). L' esprit musicien: La psychologie cognitive de la musique [The musical mind: The cognitive psychology of

music]. Paris: Mardaga.

Standley, Jayne M., & Hughes, Jane E. (1997). Evaluation of an early intervention music curriculum for enhancing prereading/writing

skills. Music Therapy Perspectives, 15(2), 79-85.

Research Project Team

Dr. Carol Loy, Kinderland Educare Service Dr. Noel Chia, National Institute of Education Patricia Ng, National Institute of Education Susan Tan, Kinderland Educare Services Crystal Lim, Kinderland Educare Services

Thank You