Music is three dimensional. A song is more than words on paper. It conveys a message. Researchers have found that music trains the brain for higher forms of thinking. The use of music in first language acquisition is easy to see.

Children learn to sing before they speak. An infant’s communication is a series of coos that communicate hunger, fatigue, alarm or pleasure. Further, a child’s mother can discern the child’s need based on pitch. This poses a question; can music enhance the acquisition of a second language?

The question led me to research the language of learning and consider the wider range of music. Using an adaptation from Krashen’s Hypothesis, I will present a theory of music and language learning. There are several features of Krashen relevant to music and language. Three of the most accepted components are: the affective filter, the monitor model and natural input.

The affective filter hypothesis states that optimum learning occurs in an environment of high stimulation and low anxiety. According to the theory, the emotional state of the learner acts as a filter. Krashen sees the learner’s emotional state as an adjustable filter that may pass or impede input needed for acquisition. Many ESL students come to class in a state of uncertainty. They often feel cut off from their native cultures and struggle to adapt, causing a disturbance in their affective filters.

Such disturbances can be overcome with the help of music. I was teaching a class of Bosnian Muslims and Serbs at the Refugee Center in Utica, New York. Tension between the cultures made for an uncomfortable learning environment, distressing their affective filters. However, when one student played an accordion for an assignment on cultural exchange, chairs and desks were pushed back by the other students who joined hands and began dancing. Students from other classrooms heard the music and joined us, and soon they were all singing and dancing. The walls between Muslims and Serbs as well as the Balkans and the U.S. were coming down for the moment in our classroom. Using music in the class resulted in a more relaxed learning environment, and improved both the emotional states and the affective filters of the students.

Another aspect of Krashen’s theory is the monitor model. In describing this model, he claimed that adult second language learners have two means for internalizing the target language.

The first is acquisition, an intuitive process of constructing the system of language. The second is a conscious process in which students pay close attention to form, rules and are clearly aware of the learning process.

During acquisition, the input language students receive should be just beyond their level of understanding. This is called the “I-plus-one” formula. In other words, language learners are exposed to their own level of competency “plus one,” or just a bit more of the next level.

Song lyrics often work this way because students will pick up the chorus much sooner than the verses of a song. The chorus is a hook to the plus-one feature of many parts of the verses. Students learn the chorus, then use it to learn the rest of the lyrics.

For example, when students have been in my class for three months, I introduce them to Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. The complete song consists of nine questions, with the chorus, “The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind.” In this question and answer format, there is plenty of room for the “I-plus-one” exercise.

A third aspect of Krashen’s theory is defined as natural input. Given that each side of the brain represents different styles of learning, natural input is achieved differently by each individual learner. There are a few general conclusions about the functions of left and right brain learning that can be used to help relate to music.

Author James Asher states, “It is my hypothesis that no genuine learning can happen until there is a switch from the left to right brain.” In other words, there must be images for the mental representation of a word in order to retain and use it. Asher presents a strong case.

In terms of cultural diversity and learning styles, it is clear that some cultures are more right brain dominant than others. Some ethnic groups think more with pictures than words. ESL students represent that diversity. Among the features of the right brain dominant personalities are preferences to drawings, freedom in expressing emotions and use of metaphors. Right brain people respond well to illustrated instructions and rely heavily on images in thinking or remembering.

The left brain dominant individual is defined as being more verbally oriented and objective. They rely on language in thinking and tend to be analytical in their reading. The left brain learner rarely uses metaphor. Music uses both brain hemispheres. Emotion and language are one in a song.

When coupled with a visual image, music can become a very powerful learning tool. Perhaps that is why television programs that dramatize contemporary songs have been so successful as a medium reaching youth culture. Whether it is a positive or negative message, the input sticks.

One lesson I have used with advanced learners involved a painting by Vincent Van Gogh and a song, Vincent, by Don McLean. The song was about the painter and mentions Van Gogh’s famous work of art.

A poignant component from this lesson was taken from a student. She said that you do not need to look up the words in a song to get the message; that if you take the poetry apart, it takes away from the beauty of the song. That lesson must have made an impression on her. When she moved to Germany a short time later, she sent the classroom a gift. It was a framed print of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Further support for Krashen has appeared in my personal experience. My career as an ESL teacher began as a volunteer tutor in the ESL department of an Atlanta high school. I was asked by the department head to bring my guitar to class. There were several levels of English proficiency in the program. We began at level one with childrens’ songs which contained physical gestures and motions. Strangely, the students liked the song, while most American teenagers would surely have sneered at it. Repetition, pronounciation and hand motions combined with a good-natured attitude can be very effective with language learning. We sang songs and met for music time once a week for 90 minutes.

At the end of the year, the county ESL director commented on the dramatic improvement in pronounciation that she attributed to the singing exercises. Similarly, speech therapists have been using music to help patients recover from strokes or accidents that effect their ability to speak. An innovative researcher, Paul Newham, operates the Voice Movement Therapy Center in London. He sees a connection between the intonation of sentences and music. In fact, he states that speech without music leads to language without heart.

The world of advertising uses music to make viewers retain information about a product or even to feel, “Like a good neighbor,” as in the case with State Farm Insurance. The jingle plays on the emotion and the memories. The key factor to storing material in a person’s long-term memory is rehearsal.

Adding rhythm and melody to chunks of language invites rehearsal and transfers words into the long-term memory. When native-Australians covered vast stretches of wilderness on foot, they used singing maps passed down from their ancestors to find their way. The songs describe what land features to look for in a barren setting and helps soothe fears of the unknown.

When I began using music in the ESL classroom, it was hard to find teaching materials. It turned out to be a good thing, because I wound up developing my own curriculum. Since then, I am beginning to see more materials and more research being done. Still other methods being used involve karaoke and classroom music video production.

In conclusion, there is strong evidence supporting the use of music in the ESL classroom. Language and music are tied together in brain processing by pitch, rhythm and by symmetrical phrasing. Music can help familiarize students with connections and provides a fun way to acquire English.