Using music activities to enhance the listening skills and language skills of Grade 1, English first additional language learners

Abstract

Music activities can be used to develop and enhance young learners’ listening abilities. Listening is a language skill which is a prerequisite for the development of other language skills and especially for the development of a person’s speaking abilities. It is also a prerequisite for the development of a person’s language abilities in a second language. In a research project involving a group of 70 English first additional language learners, two Grade 1 classes were selected. One class was the experimental group and the other class was the comparison group. Over a period of six months the experimental group received planned music activities daily. When the two groups were retested after six months, significant differences in the means between the experimental and the control groups were found. The experimental group significantly improved their listening skills in English as a second language (ESL). This has implications for teaching ESL learners in the Foundation Phase.