Yes, it is well known that music can be a very effective tool for learning a foreign language. The mind interprets patterns in music and generates an emotional response as a result, which helps us form a connection with the language. Music communicates with the brain’s reward centre, and generates a chemical reaction that can provide a feeling of happiness.
Beyond how it makes us feel, music also can affect the way we learn. It’s one of the few activities that involves using the whole brain. Listening to music, following the lyrics, melody, rhythm and beat utilises both sides of the brain.
Through music, there are huge waves of words and phrases around us, which offers you extraordinary potential for learning. Music helps us learn vocabulary much more effectively. The rhythm of the music, as well as the repetitive patterns within the song, help us memorise words.
Music offers many advantages for learning languages. Even scientists have shown that listening to a song and humming along can help with language learning!
When singing, we try to reproduce sounds and tone, so our accent is less pronounced than when we speak.
Listening to music allows us to enrich our vocabulary because the lyrics of the songs are generally composed of informal expressions and words that we don’t necessarily learn when studying English.
Listening to music helps with memorisation. According to scientists, singing new words makes them easier to remember. Do you remember how you learnt the alphabet when you were a child?
This article not only offers some ideas to help you learn English with music, but also invites you to practise this method with KnowledgePond Education's free videos on YouTube.
