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dissertation entitled

THE ACQUISITION OF VERB FORMS THROUGH SONG

presented by
STACEY BETH-MACKOWIAK AYOTTE

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for the

PhD. degree in French

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THE ACQUISITION OF VERB FORMS THROUGH SONG
By

Stacey Beth-Mackowiak Ayotte

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment Of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of French, Classics, and Italian

2004

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ABSTRACT
THE ACQUISITION OF VERB FORMS THROUGH SONG
By

Stacey Beth-Mackowiak Ayotte

This dissertation reports the findings of two experiments with a pretest/posttest
design that investigates whether listening to/working with songs or poems does play a
role in the acquisition of second language verb forms. Lozanov (1978) incorporated
various styles of classical music in an attempt to stimulate learners to integrate the new
information. Jolly (1975) believes there is a link between linguistics and musicology,
and suggests that the use of songs in the foreign language classroom reflects the inherent
rhythmic nature of life itself. Researchers (Jackendoff & Lerdahl, 1980; Sloboda, 1985)
have focused on the importance of music and memory because songs have repeated lyrics
and rhythm, which they View as tools for learning because of their memory stimuli.
Murphey (1990) refers to this as the song-stuck-in-my-head (SSIMH) phenomenon. For
these reasons, some have claimed that songs can be used to teach vocabulary and
grammatical structures, pronunciation, and aspects of French and Franc0phone culture
(Abrate, 1983; Arleo, 2000; Hamblin, 1983).

For the two experiments, two groups of third semester and fourth semester college
learners of French were exposed to the same language input: one received this input
through song; the other group listened to the words of the song read as a poem (i.e.
without music). The studies examined the effects of song (i.e. lyrics and music) on

grammar acquisition, and specifically on the conjugation of the following verb forms:

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present, compound past, imperfect, future, and conditional. Each of the five songs
focused on one of the selected verb forms. An immediate and a delayed post-test (3
weeks) compared the results of the two groups on grammatical accuracy. The students
also completed a questionnaire regarding the use of songs and/or poems in the classroom.
Analysis of the results of Experiment 1 shows that the group of students who
listened to songs performed with more grammatical accuracy on the immediate posttest
on all three verb forms (present, future, conditional). For the delayed posttest, statistical
significance was seen on the present and conditional forms. In addition, the qualitative
analysis of the attitude questionnaire reveals that students reacted positively to the
implementation of songs in the classroom and requested more song use in the future.
Analysis of the results of Experiment 2 did not demonstrate statistical significance for
any of the three verb forms (present, compound past, imperfect). This experiment,
therefore, demonstrated songs’ limitations on helping students learn verb forms.
Although students may enjoy listening to songs in the classroom, these experiments
demonstrate that songs may not serve as an effective pedagogical tool for teaching verb

forms.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the director of my dissertation, Dr. Anne Violin-Wigent,
without whom this dissertation would not have progressed as it did. For her
encouragement and guidance throughout the preliminary stages and the final reviews, I
am truly thankful.

I wish to thank Dr. Ehsan Ahmed for his support throughout my career at MSU, but most
especially for his advice and friendship during the job search.

I would like to extend a thank-you to Dr. Debra Hardison, who was always willing to
help with questions concerning SLA, statistics, and formatting.

I would like to recognize the Language Learning Center at Michigan State University,
and especially Michael Kramizeh, for his work and expertise in the sound and recording
studio. Without his help, these studies would not have been possible.

I wish to thank Dr. Bill Rosenthal, whose friendship throughout the years has meant so
much to me. Thank you for his expertise in statistics and for his willingness to help
whenever and wherever.

To my colleague and friend, Thao Nguyen, a special thanks for always proofreading my
French and for his exquisite recording voice. I am appreciative of his help over the years.
Thanks to my students who persevered through the study. For each of you and your hard
work, I am most thankful.

To my parents, Frank and Pat Mackowiak, for the constant love and support they have
always provided. Thank you for words of encouragement, for late night phone pep talks,

and for always loving me—I am a very lucky daughter.

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Finally, to my husband, Jason Ayotte, for his constant emotional support, loving words,
and patience especially during the dissertation writing process. I am blessed to have such

a supportive and loving husband.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1
1.1 Music in students’ lives. ........................................................................................... 1
1.2 Music in the classroom. ............................................................................................ 2
1.3 Research questions .................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Hypothesis ................................................................................................................. 5
1.5 Overview of the chapters .......................................................................................... 5

.. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 8
“* 2.1 Music in the learning environment ........................................................................... 8
\I 2.2 Relationship between music and language ............................................................. 10
2.2.1 Music and memory. ......................................................................................... 11
J3 Relationship between songs and language .............................................................. 13
2.3.1 Songs and memory ........................................................................................... 14
2.3.2 How to use songs. ............................................................................................ 17
2.3.3 Benefits of song use. ........................................................................................ 22
2.3.4 Studies that focus on songs. ............................................................................. 23

. \flA Motivation and SLA ............................................................................................... 24
2.4.1 Collaborative activities and motivation. .......................................................... 25
2.4.2 Songs and motivation ....................................................................................... 27

2.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 28
CHAPTER 3: EXPERIMENT 1- PILOT STUDY .......................................................... 30
3.1 Experimental Design ............................................................................................... 30
3.2 Method .................................................................................................................... 31
3.2.1 Participants ....................................................................................................... 31
3.2.2 Materials .......................................................................................................... 31
3.2.2.1 Pretest-Posttest and Delayed Posttest. ...................................................... 31

3.2.2.2 Treatment. ................................................................................................. 32

3.2.2.3 Surveys ...................................................................................................... 33

3.2.3 Procedure ......................................................................................................... 33
3.2.3.1 Pretest ........................................................................................................ 33
3.2.3.2 Treatment. ................................................................................................. 34
3.2.3.2.] First Listening. ................................................................................... 35

3.2.3.2.2 Second Listening ................................................................................ 35

3.2.3.2.3 Third Listening ................................................................................... 35

3.2.3.2.4 Differences in Treatment for Song Group. ........................................ 36

3.2.3.3 Posttests ..................................................................................................... 36

3.2.3.4 Surveys. ..................................................................................................... 37

3.3 Results of Experiment 1 .......................................................................................... 38

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3.3.1 Scoring ............................................................................................................. 38

3.3.2 Tabulation of Results ....................................................................................... 39
3.3.2.1 Pretest ........................................................................................................ 40
3.3.2.2 Immediate Posttest. ................................................................................... 42
3.3.2.3 Delayed Posttest ........................................................................................ 45
3.3.2.4 MANOVA Results. ................................................................................... 47
3.3.2.5 Observations. ............................................................................................ 49
3.3.2.6 Surveys ...................................................................................................... 50

3.4 Discussion— Experiment 1 ....................................................................................... 52
3.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 54
CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT 2 ....................................................................................... 57
4.1 Experimental Design ............................................................................................... 57
4.1.1 Modifications for Experiment 2 ....................................................................... 58

4.2 Method .................................................................................................................... 59

4.2.1 Participants ....................................................................................................... 59

4.2.2 Materials .......................................................................................................... 60
4.2.2.1 Pretest-Posttest and Delayed Posttest. ...................................................... 60
4.2.2.2 Treatment. ................................................................................................. 61
4.2.2.3 Surveys ...................................................................................................... 62

4.2.3 Procedure ......................................................................................................... 63
4.2.3.1 Pretest ........................................................................................................ 63
4.2.3.2 Treatment. ................................................................................................. 63

4.2.3.2.] Group B Treatment. ........................................................................... 64

4.2.3.3 Posttests ..................................................................................................... 65
4.2.3.4 Surveys ...................................................................................................... 66

4.3 Results of Experiment 2 .......................................................................................... 66

4.3.1 Scoring ............................................................................................................. 66

4.3.2 Tabulation of Results ....................................................................................... 66
4.3.2.1 Pretest ........................................................................................................ 67
4.3.2.2 Immediate Posttest. ................................................................................... 69
4.3.2.3 Delayed Posttest. ....................................................................................... 71
4.3.2.4 MANOVA Results. ................................................................................... 73
4.3.2.5 Observations. ............................................................................................ 75
4.3.2.6 Surveys ...................................................................................................... 76

4.4 Discussion ............................................................................................................... 80
4.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 85
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 86
5.1 General Concluding Remarks. ................................................................................ 86
5.2 Limitations .............................................................................................................. 88
5.3 Areas for Future Research ...................................................................................... 89

vii

Appendix A ....................................................................................................................... 92

Pretest for Experiment 1 ............................................................................................... 92
Appendix B ....................................................................................................................... 96
Posttest (Immediate and Delayed) for Experiment 1 .................................................... 96
Appendix C ..................................................................................................................... 100
Le Bane des Délaissés par Isabelle Boulay ................................................................. 100
Appendix D ..................................................................................................................... 101
Octobre par Francis Cabrel ......................................................................................... 101
Appendix E ..................................................................................................................... 103
Si j’étais un homme par Diane Tell ............................................................................ 103
Appendix F ...................................................................................................................... 104
Survey for Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 ............................................................... 104
Appendix G ..................................................................................................................... 106
Pretest for Experiment 2 ............................................................................................. 106
Appendix H ..................................................................................................................... 110
Posttest (Immediate and Delayed) for Experiment 2 .................................................. 110
Appendix I ...................................................................................................................... 114
Un Jour ou L’autre par Isabelle Boulay ...................................................................... 114
Appendix J ...................................................................................................................... l 15
Il changeait la vie par Jean-Jacques Goldman ............................................................ 115
Appendix K ..................................................................................................................... 116
Survey ......................................................................................................................... 116
Appendix L ..................................................................................................................... 1 18
Motivation Survey for Poems ..................................................................................... 118
Appendix L ..................................................................................................................... 119
Motivation Survey for Songs ...................................................................................... 119
Appendix M .................................................................................................................... 120
Demographic Survey .................................................................................................. 120
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 122
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: ............................................................................................................................. 41
Table 2: ............................................................................................................................. 42
Table 3: ............................................................................................................................. 45
Table 4: ............................................................................................................................. 68
Table 5: ............................................................................................................................. 70
Table 6: ............................................................................................................................. 72

ix

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.] Music in students’ lives.

Music surrounds the lives of college students today. While walking to classes,
students listen to their compact disks (CD’S) or their Mpeg lAudiO Layer 3 (MP3’S).
Music television (MTV) is a popular channel for the college-aged person. In fact,
viewers in their teens and twenties ranked MTV #1 for its music content in the teen
demographic according to Media Metrix (http://www.MTV.com 3/21/04). Students
listen to music in their cars, while they study, and while they write papers on their
personal computers. You cannot walk around campus today without hearing music of
some form: the bass booming from a car driving a student to class, the lyrics of a song
spilling out from the headphones of the person walking next to you on his way to class,
the echoing music from a nearby dormitory. It is common to see students listening to
their headphones until the beginning Of their class, after which they leave their
headphones around their necks until the end of the hour, only to place them on their ears
again so they can listen to music on their way out the door. Students listen to music for
many different reasons. The reasons alone are not what are central for these studies;
however, it is worth noting students’ attitudes and perceptions of music, especially when
used in the classroom. MI is most intriguing is determining if song can influence
language learning, and if so, to what degree. / What better way to reach students than
through implementing songs in the foreign language classroom? Songs can be seen as an
additional form of input that can be used pedagogically to teach a foreign language. /
Since students listen to music and seem to enjoy music, one could try to integrate music

into the foreign language classroom/ However, some questions need to be investigated

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technology in the classroom?
1.2 Music in the classroom.

There is a growing interest in the use of technology in the classroom with regard
to foreign language teaching. With the use of the Internet, the World Wide Web,
multimedia components provided with textbooks, interactive CD-ROMS, video and song,
foreign language learning has 1529.199 heavilxtechnologrbassd alwhasrsjmégni-
centered. That is, students have abundant opportunities to speak and to participate during
class. They spend time in pairs or small groups working on the task at hand. The
teacher’s role in a student-centered classroom is one of supervisor, who leads discussion
but allows the students to produce in the target language and to communicate with one
another. With the added emphasis on technology and computer learning in today’s
universities and classrooms, some researchers of foreign language learning speculate that
perhaps the foreign language instructor may becomelgbsoletej With the addition of on-
line courses, which make coming to campus an option, foreign language learning is
taking new shape. Therefore, in order to positively impact our students and to keep
enrollment increasing, it is necessary to include a variety of 16011301081931.991111291}??? in
the classroom in an effort to keep the students motivated and interested in foreign

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Because of the desire to keep foreign language learning ‘fre_s_h,_’fi_nstructor_sv try to
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learning. Students seem to enjoy working outside of the textbook, and one of the ways in

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which authentic French can be introduced into the foreign language classroom is through

speech or up-to-date French expressions is listening to French songs. Therefore, it
appears most suitable to take advantage of this resource and introduce it into classrooms.
Prior to my pilot study (conducted in the spring 2003), I had observed that my students
enjoy listening to songs during class because songs are viewed asachange “FEES
diffegf from ,textbook learning, If a song-related activity is properly prepared and
implemented with a pedagogical goal in mind, it would appear that students could benefit
from listening to authentic language while at the same time learning or reinforcing
pfcjwiwofiusfyfseenfigrammarstructures,yocabulary words, or some aspect of French and
Francophone cum The effectiveness of song as a teaching tool needs to be studied,
however, to go beyond impressionistic observations. Although some articles such as
“Music, song and foreign language teaching” by Arleo (2000), “Exploiting French songs
as a genre” by Hamblin (1993), or “A Blueprint for teaching foreign languages and
cultures through music in the classroom and on the web” by Kramer (2001 ), discuss the
“How To’s” of using songs in the classroom and focus on the implementation of song in
any given lesson plan, nof many empirical studies target song’s efiectiveness on foreign t
. language learning. ,JI'he few studies that do research the impact of songs on foreign

language learning center their interest on younger learners (i.e. elementary school

children and/or students in immersion programs), neglecting the older adult learner, who

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is beyond what many call the ‘optimal’ age for learning a foreign language (Lenneberg,
1967; Penfield & Roberts, 1959). This being stated, it is most necessary to further the
research in this field to determine if songs can indeed facilitate acquisition of a second
language (L2 acquisition) in college-aged students of French.
1. 3 Research questions

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This dissertation includes two studies: one conducted on learners of fourth-
semester college French and the second that focused on learners of third-semester college
French. For the following studies, I asked several research questions.

,3 Do songs have an influence on L2 acquisition? More specifically, can differences
be seen between two groups when one receives songs as input while the other
receives oral readings of poetry as input? Will the song group perform with more

grammatical accuracy on the written examinations? If there is a difference, is the

difference statistically significant?

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II Are there verb forms for which the songs play no significant role? That is, is
there a limit to what verb forms songs can teach? If so, what are the explanations
for this limitation? The verb forms under study are the present, future
conditional, compound past, and imperfect.

0 What are learners’ attitudes toward the implementation of songs in the classroom?
What do they feel they are learning or not learning through the use of songs? ire

songs a motivating factor in the foreign language classroom? That is, does the

implementation of songs motivate the learners to enjoy their studies of French?

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1.4 Hypothesis

My hypothesis is that listening to/working with songs does in fact play a role in
L2 acquisition and that students who listen to songs and complete song-related activities
will perform with more grammatical accuracy on a written examination than those
students who do not, yet receive the same language input (i.e. lexical content) through
listening to poetry read aloud and completing the same activities. Several research
hypotheses follow that will be analyzed using statistical testing.

Research hypothesis 1: Prior to treatment, there are no statistically significant
differences between the two groups on the three verb forms of the pretest.

45 Research hypothesis 2: The groups perform differently on the verb forms on the

immediate posttest.

Research hypothesis 3: The groups perform differently on the verb forms on the

delayed posttest.

 

Q Research hypothesis 4: The students who listen to songs will feel that the songs
are more beneficial to language learning than the students who listen to poems feel that
poeu'y is.

éfi & Research hypothesis 5: The use of songs in the foreign language classroom will
motivate learners to more fully enjoy their French studies.
I . 5 Overview of the chapters
The emphasis for these studies is not on music learning,-butfl_on learning French, in
particular, verb forms, through the influence of songs." In Chapter/2,:i I will first review
studies that have been conducted on Wflsfiiflmmfle

W. These studies (F onseca Mora, 2000; Guerrero, 1987; Horwitz & Young,

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1991; Lozanov, 1978) have shown that the instrumental musical influence serves as a
catalyst for the language learning process in many ways/gecause music lowers the
affective fiE?£’,Eus allowing students to £613." and enjoy the language learning process. I
will also discuss the relationship betWegniifuflsjoand language,because it is important to
determine whether or not the twoare comparable and whether or not there are similarities

between the two. In addition, Twill discuss the research conducted on music and

memory, with emphasis onthe role of prosody in memory retention. Following the

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review of instrumental music, I Will discuss the relationship between song (melody and

text) and language. In addition, researchers and educators have written many articles on
how to implement songs in the classroom, and their research claims many benefits of
song use in the French foreign language (FL) classroom. Finally, the role of motivation
and its influence on foreign language learning will be discussed in an effort to determine
whether or not motivation may be a factor in the success or failure of using songs in the
classroom.

In Chapter 3, I will present the methodology, results, and discussion for
Experiment #1, the pilot study. Attention will be paid to the set up and treatment
conducted. The results of the t—test and Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)
will be presented and analyzed. Finally, a general discussion and conclusion of
Experiment #1 will follow.

In Chapter 4, I will present the methodology, results, and discussion for
Experiment #2. In addition, the differences in set up and procedures between Experiment

#1 and #2 will be discussed to expfajo‘yvflhytheresultsmay havediffered. The results,

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having been analyzed using t-test and MAN OVA, will be presented followed by a
general conclusion of Experiment #2.

In Chapter 5, I will present general concluding remarks that will address the
theoretical and pedagogical implications of the studies. Secondly, the limitations to these
experiments and areas for potential research conducted on the implementation of songs in
the FL classroom will be presented. Although articles have been written that claim the
many benefits of songs, these two experiments provide empirical evidence on songs’

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limitations. Students may enjoy listening to music outside of the classroom, but songs

 

may not serve as the best tool through which to teach verb forms.

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
J 2.1 Music in the learning environment I” "f“ 5: ‘fl ‘ h: : Y1 \

Implementing music in the foreign language classroom is not a new concept. In
fact, Suggestive-Accelerative Learning and Teaching (SALT), more commonly referred
to as Suggestopedia, introduced by psychiatrist-educator Georgi Lozanov in 1978, claims
that relaxation techniques, concentration, and music will help learners tap their
subconscious resources and retain greater amounts of vocabulary and structures.
Suggestopedia features soft lighting, Baroque music, comfortable seating and dramatic
teacher techniques in an attempt to totally relax the learners, allowing them to open their
minds to learning the language in an unencumbered fashion. Although there are
researchers who refute the claims of Suggestopedia, there are others who support the use
of music in order tolewfier anxiefyro Research has shown that music can serve to lower
affective filters in the classroom and make adult students more relaxed and open to
language instruction (Fonseca Mora, 2000; Guerroro, 1987; Horwitz & Young, 1991;
Merriam, 1964). r}

In her 2000 senescence discussed the importance of acknowledging
various learner intelligences (verbal, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, etc), that is, different
capacities that could be stimulated in the classroom. She suggested that by having
knowledge of our language learners’ preferences, teachers should provide a wide variety
of activities, including music-centered activities in order to reach different types of
learners. In addition, F onseca Mora (2000) distinguished music from song, stating that

music (without lyrics) encourages students to be quiet because it avoids other auditory

distractions. Thus, music “is especially helpful to create the relaxing classroom

atmosphere needed to deyelop written compositionactivities’: (p. 151). She discussed her
reasons for including both song and music in the classroom, citing her previous work

' from 1997, which demonstrated that incorporating instrumental music into the classroom
provided an atmosphere in which the participants were able to produce more language.
The participants (adult native speakers of Spanish learning English) were given a picture
and asked to tell a story (in English or Spanish) with a beginning, climax, and ending.
Before the second narration of the same picture, the participants listened to instrumental
music for three rrrinutes. During their second narration, they included more description;
they began verbalizing information that was not coded visually in the picture, but rather
had proceeded from musical input according to F onseca Mora. Some participants took
on the narrator’s role, and talked about characters’ feelings. In this way, visual, auditory-
musical, and emotional information were encoded linguistically. We cannot know for

certain if it was mimusio’s influence that enabled the participants to give more detail, Or

 

if they chose during the second narration, to be more descriptive in an effort to change _

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then focus on descriptions throughout their stories. Would Fonseca Mora have received
the same results had she given the students three minutes of silence instead of the
instrumental music? In addition, would the results have differed had the students only
been allowed to write in the target language (English)? Eonseca Mora did notnatdhdie‘ss
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Therefore, it is difficult to say whether or not her experiment attests to the contribution of

instrumental music for language learning or production. Finally, F onseca Mora

investigated the effect of instrumental music on language production, using music as a

 

 

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of the many claims that music has a positive influence on language learning, it is
necessary to study the relationship between music and language.
\f2.2 Relationship between music and language ;

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phenomena and display hierarchical structures wherein larger unitsc be parsed into ,
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smaller “units. For example, linguiStic units could be categorized into large d1scourse
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categorized into a piece of music, sections, ph_raSes, and individual nOtes(Ar1eo, 2000).
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In addition to their common structure, “recent empirical work has shown that music and
language share behavioural as well as formal features” (Sloboda, 1985, p.11). According
to Sloboda’s research, many similarities can be seen between the theories developed by
linguist N. Chomsky and musicologist H. Schenker. Both language and music are seen to

be universal to athumans and specificto humans. Children have the natural ability to

 

learn the rules of language and music through exposure to examples, and the natural
medium for both constructs is auditory-vocal. Sloboda (1985) and Heller and Campbell
(1981) demonstrated that music and language are both methods of communication
resulting from organized and developmental needs of the brain. Even though language
and music are go distinct forms of communication, both share the same audito_ry,fl__
perceptive, and cognitive mechanisms that impose a structure on auditory information
received by the senses.

According to Springer and Deutsch (1993), music is full of repetitions, which can

be useful to students when learning unfamiliar structures. There are also similarities in

10

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the processing of both language and music. While music is often equated wi_tlr1_th_ewright~ .-
13.332.39.339me brainvand ‘languagegwith the left,‘evidence from clinical cases suggests
tthmS not process language exclusively in thelefi hemispheresfurthermore,
music, like language, consists of a complex set of skills that are not necessarily confined
to one hemisphere. Although the right hemisphere appears to be dominant for music,
there is evidence that trained musicians also use their left hemisphere for certain aspects
of musical skill, such as reproducing rhythmic patterns (Springer & Deutsch, 1993).

Jackendoff and Lerdahl (1980) believe there is garalgljagyefp @95193991
139ng They stated that the stress and length of phonemes function as markers of
meter in both language and music patterns. The way in which music and speech mark the
differences is with strong (S) and weak (w) syllables that serve to set a pattern. This
pattern becomes the framework for the parallel between music and language. J ackendoff
and Lerdahl further stated that “the total repetition of phrases is the strongest form of
parallelism” (1980, p. 67), and that the grouping by meter helps establish memory
patterns. Repetition through music allows input to be retrieved as language output. In
addition, melody may aid in direction and focus for retrieval from memory. These
memory cues come from the music, as it cues or leads to the next linear segment or word.
Stringing together these memory chunks is facilitated by the prosodic pattern or
framework of the music. 9

2. 2. 1 Music and memory.

In their article, “Episodic memory for musical prosody,” Palmer, Jungers and
Jusczyk (2001) tested whether musical training (in adults) or experience (in infants) is a

prerequisite for prosodic features to be incorporated in memory for music. The

11

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experiments provided evidence as to whether prosodic features of music performances
could be stored in memory and later identified by a variety of listeners. The researchers
set up three experiments to test their hypotheses. In the first experiment, musically

W were compared with listeners who had no musical training. These

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listeners were familiarized with performances of short musical excerpts and later heard
the farniliarized performances as well as novel performances of the same music. After
the familiarization period, the subjects were asked to listen to musical performances, and
were instructed to respond to whether the test trial was identical to one of the sequences
they had heard during the familiarization stages. No significant differences were found
between the two groups (musically trained and untrained listeners). These results
indicate that musical training is not a requirement for high performance levels and that no
musical training is necessary for prosodic feature recognition. In the second experiment,
lO-month-old infants were farniliarized with the same musical performances. In a head-
tum procedure, infants oriented longer to the farniliarized performances than to the novel
performances. Finally, in the third experiment, musically experienced listeners identified
familiarized excerpts placed in different melodic contexts; identification was more
accurate for excerpts whose prosodic cues conflicted with the structure of the melodic
context. / Based on the researchers’ findings, prosodic features in music performance were
useful for memory retention for a wide range of listeners and could be encoded and later
used to identify particular musical sequences/These results support episodic memory
(memory defined as a recollection of a specific experience that preserves spatial and/or
temporal properties of the experience) for music that incorporates stimulus-specific

acoustic features as well as abstract structural features.

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A study conducted by Condon and Sander (1974) on memory and the influence of
prosody in speech showed that from the first day of life, newboryns can recognize
articulatory segments of adult speech and demonstrate their recognition through the
synchronization of their movements with certain patterns of organized, melodic speech.
Because of the rhythm and ‘prosody’ of the adult speech, babies become familiar with
certain spoken patterns and will move their bodies according to which rhythms they hear.
This study demonstrated the role of prosodic speech and its impact on memory. If
newborns can react to certain prosodic articulations, is it also possible for adult language
learners to react to prosodic structures because these will be ingrained in their memory?

J 2. 3 Relationship between songs and language

According to Jolly (1975), “songs might be looked upon as occupying the middle
ground between the disciplines oflinguistics and musicology,_possessing both the
communicative aspect of language and the entertainment aspect of music” (p. 11).

Songs, then, are “distortions” of normal speech patterns of a language, and they have
rhythmic and melodic content, and represent forms of communication in a linguistic
sense. Jolly (1975) suggested that the use of songs in the foreign language classroom
reflects the inherent rhythmic nature of life itself, because our language is also
rhythmically controlled. As we gain more insight into rhythmic elements of language, “it
mfifimvmt fiat. songs have a more important and. sophisticated plagim
language teaching than we have previously accorded them” (p. 12). However, Jolly did
not provide the theoretical framework or experimental evidence supporting these
statements in his article, so we cannot know for certain that song influences foreign

language acquisition.

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In their search for theoretical justification for the use of song in second-language
teaching, Zola and Sandvoss (1976), sought to formulate a definition of what songs, to
demonstrate a case for its optimal use namely as an integral component of second-
language learning, and to provide other teachers/readers with a base from which to
generate other types of song material. Further, they noted the relationship between song ‘
and speech. “Song and speech are both produced in some form, structure, or organization
through time, with rhythm and tone, and express and communicate some content through
language” (p. 73). Zola and Sandvoss believe that song does not materially differ from
speech linguistically, that is, as a linguistically authentic and culturally reliable text, it
represents a valid material for language study and for language learning. Song differs
from speech quantitatively, in terms of its distortion or affectedness. Zola and Sandvoss
described this difference in terms of a continuum of human produced vocal sound, which
includes various forms of conversational speech on one end, heightened speech, dramatic
speech, poetry and finally song on the other end of the continuum. They do not believe
that this quantita/tive difference diminishes the value of songs used in the classroom. In
fact, song calls for its own particular use and exploitation according to one’s view of the
function of the song. Stated in terms of the use of songs in a language class, this would
require that a song be meaningful to the child (Zola and Sandvoss worked with
elementary children 1n an immersion program). Likewise, Fonseca Mora (2020)

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2. 3. 1 Songs and memory.

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Many studies focusedgntheimnortanceofsongsandmemory. Because songs

have repeated lyrics and rhythm, learners may be able, through repetition, to use songs as
tools for learning because of their memory stimuli (Abrate, 1983; Fonseca Mora, 2000;
Hyman & Rubin, 1990; Jackendoff & Lerdahl, 1980; Kramer, 2001; Krumhansl, 1990;
Palmer & Kelly, 1992; Rubin, 1995; Serafine, Crowder, & Repp, 1984; Sloboda, 1985;
Speer, Crowder, & Thomas, 1993).

2 Paivio (1971) discussed the importance of rhymes and rhythm as mnemonic
devices, contributing to the ease of memorizing songs. The rhymes and rhythm of songs
provide organizational cues to the listener. With rhymes in both poetry and songs, the
listener anticipates what may be heard next, and the addition of melody in the song
facilitates learning. Paivio proposed a dual-code theory, in which a word stimulates both
a visual and verbal memory system. When a word is introduced to a learner, a visual
image of what the word refers to can appear that may enable the learner to remember the
word. Upon hearing this word and then stating it, the learner may also store this
vocabulary item verbally. Québécois researcher, Poliquin (1988) adds to Paivio’s dual-

code theory, stating that songs are even easier to memorize than poems because .Qf. their

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triple codage (‘triple code’). This theory states that songs have three memory systems: ..l,)_
a verbal system, from the oral words, 2)a visual system, from the written words from the
text, 3) an audio-rhyming-verbal system, dependent on the music of the melody, the
rhymes, and the rhythm.

In a study conducted by Crowder, Serafine, and Repp (1990), the aim was to
detem1ine how songs were represented in memory: independently (so that words and

melody were separate entities uninfluenced by each other), holistically (wherein the two

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components are connected in perception and memory for one can be remembered only in
the presence of the other), or integrative (in which the one component is better
recognized in the presence of the other than in its absence). The subjects of the study
heard a serial presentation of up to 24 unfamiliar folksong excerpts, each presented one
time. A recognition test followed, in which the subjects were asked if, for each excerpt,
they had heard exactly that melody (or text) before, ignoring the current text (or melody).
The test excerpts were made up of old songs (that is, identical to what they heard during
the familiarization period), new songs (old melodies with new words), and mismatch
songs (old melodies with old words that had been paired with a different melody in the
original presentation). The results of their experiment showed that melodies of songs
were better recognized when they were heard with the same words than when they were
heard with different words, even when the different words fit the melody and were
equally familiar to the subjects. This is better known as the integration effect. Crowder,
Serafme, and Repp (1990) provided explanations for these findings with the support of
two hypotheses. First, the physical interaction hypothesis states that one component of a
song exerts a subtle but memorable physical change on the other component making the
latter different from what it would be with a different companion. The second hypothesis
which supports the integration effect is known as the association-by-contiguity
hypothesis, wherein two events experienced in close temporal proximity may become
connected in memory such that one component recalls the other. It would appear then,
that when songs are presented, listeners would store the melody and text together as one

unit in their memories.

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When we allow students to listen to repeated melodies, we give them more time
to process new auditory information, which in turn uses their working memories. If a
song features repeated grammatical structures or rhythmic intonation patterns, the song
will be stored in the leamer’s memory (Fonseca Mora, 2000). This is what Murphey
(1990b) describes as the ‘song-stuck-in-my-head’ (SSIMH) phenomenon. In his pilot
study conducted on 49 subjects (30 native speakers of English and 19 of other
languages), all subjects reported that they had experienced the SSIMH in some language.
From his studies, Murphey has concluded that the melody usually gets “stuck” first, and
then some of the lyrics from the songs may follow, becoming stored in the leamer’s mind
until needed for certain language contexts. “Cognitively, because songs stick in our
heads. . .it suggests that it plays a role in our short- and long-terrn memory” (Murphey,
1992, p. 7). The repetitive lyrics in songs may have a positive effect on students’
language acquisition (Arleo, 2000; Murphey, 1990b). “Songs can be easily remembered,
and are therefore an effective way of providing students with lexical patterns that are
stored in their minds and that can be effortlessly retrieved during oral interaction”
(Fonseca Mora, 2000, p. 151). Furthermore, Rubin (1995) has demonstrated at length
how the respective features of song and poetic language combine to create a powerful
memory aid. Therefore, Arleo (2000) suggested combining song and language in an
effort to provide a neurologically enriching activity. He stated, however, that further
work needs to be done in order to confirm this suggestion.

2. 3.2 How to use songs.

During the 1970’s, little research focused on the influence of songs on language

acquisition. Rather, educators discussed the How To’s of using songs in the classroom.

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chanson fiancaise (‘French song’) into the foreign language classroom. The history of

the chansonfianeaise dates back to the 8"I centuryhand is a gombination of music and

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WChamberlain (1974) believed that songs were not properly integrated into the
classroom in the past because, as he observed, they were only used as a fill-in rather than
as a pedagogical tool to teach a specific aspect of the language. Therefore, he suggested
using the chanson francaise because this musical genre is considered an essential part of
France’s artistic heritage; thus, through its use, students will become aware of French
cultural traditions. One of Chamberlain’s biggest concerns regarding the implementation
of song in the classroom is that not all songs are appropriate for a group, and in addition,
songs may not be properly presented. In order for a song to be effective, teachers should
present it carefully with a general introduction, discussing the author and themes,
followed by a detailed study of the text, and finally a period of exploitation Iibre (‘free
discovery’), in which students can engage more fully in the language use or literary
content (1974). More recent researchers (Abrate, 1983; Arleo, 2000) further support this
notion of using songs to teach culture and traditions, and Arleo stated “music is an
integral part of the foreign culture; songs in particular reflect and comment on key social,
political and historical issues” (p. 11). Similar to the chanson fiancaise, the chanson
québécoise (‘Québécois song’) was used during the 1960’s and 1970’s because it
afforded students the opportunity to better understand the socio-economic and political
situation of Quebec (Poliquin, 1988). According to the author, songs have always been
the mirror of a people because they reflect the way of life and the atmosphere of a given

place. In this way, the chanson québécoise was used to teach content that focused first on

18

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Quebec’s political and social history during the 1960-1970’8 and secondly on less
nationalistic attitudes when songwriters focused on the quality of life, human
relationships, and love.

In his article, “A Blueprint for Teaching Foreign Languages and Cultures through
Music in the Classroom and on the Web,” Kramer (2001) discussed his methods for
including songs in his German foreign language classroom. After selecting an
appropriate song for a given level, he recommended focusing on one grammatical point
or theme. In this way, songs can be used to present new grammar material or to stress a
point that has already been covered in class. He found that students so appreciated the
use of songs that they often sung along once a melody became familiar, and that the oral
discussion was usually lively afier listening to the songs. Similarly, Nuessel and Cicogna
(1991) discussed at length the process that they used for song selection and how to
incorporate songs into foreign language classrooms. Consistent with the advice of
Kramer (2001), the researchers suggested selecting songs with clear enunciation, that
focus on one element at a time so as to avoid overloading the students, and finally they
suggested including songs that reinforce what was being taught in the classroom.
Because of many assumed benefits that come from implementing songs (comprehension
skills, speaking skills, reading skills and writing skills), Nuessel and Cicogna (1991)
supported the notion that song constitutes an excellent source of “aural and written
acquisition stimuli” (p. 475). Despite the clear presentations of how to implement songs,
the before-mentioned educators provided no empirical evidence.

Nuessel and Cicogna (1991) and Kramer (2001) discussed the link of songs to

Krashen and Terrell’s (1983) Input Hypothesis. Krashen and Terrell developed the Input

19

Hypothesis, which indicates that increased comprehensible input leads to language
acquisition and the development of linguistic competency. Nuessel and Cigogna (1991),
and Kramer (2001) believe that songs serve as a type of comprehensible input because
they encapsulate a coherent context suitable for understanding vocabulary and grammar.
Although many researchers and foreign language instructors believe that comprehensible
input is a crucial factor in language acquisition, others believe input alone is not
sufficient (Long, 1990), but that form and its correct use is an important factor (Spada &
Lightbrown, 1993; Van Patten & Cadiemo, 1993).

Educators by and large agree that in order to make the implementation of songs a
benefit to learning, a lesson plan should be carefully designed. Songs should be selected
with caution. For instance, it is important to select songs that do not contain an excessive
amomt of slang, which may be incomprehensible to students. Although students enjoy
learning slang expressions used by native speakers, the inclusion of too much slang can
serve as a deterrent to learning. However, if a song introduces a limited amount of slang
or vocabulary used primarily in casual speech, it can serve as a useful tool to teach
students the differences between what is acceptable for written and spoken forms (Loew,
1979; Melpignano, 1980). Secondly, songs should not detract from textbook learning.
When selecting a song, one should be careful to complement the course content (Fisher,
2001).

Other educators have selected songs because of their ability to teach certain
aspects of grammar. Urbancic and Vismuller (1981) focused on Italian pop songs, which
could be included to teach pronouns (subject, direct and indirect object) in the foreign

language classroom. By carefully choosing songs that target a structure that has already

20

been introduced in class, Urbancic and Vismuller believe that songs can be useful to
teach a variety of levels. No empirical findings were mentioned by Urbancic and
Vismuller, but they included an extensive ‘how to’ list regarding the implementation of
one song in particular, Raffaella Carra’s version of E salutaIa per me. They selected this
song because of its slow tempo, the singer’s clear enunciation, and because of its
popularity on the Italian hit parade. For their lesson with both beginning- and advanced-
level language learners, the researchers chose to delete pronouns from the lyric sheet, and
the students were expected to fill in the forms as they listened to the song. Because
pronouns had already been taught during class time, the students felt that the song served
as a good source for reviewing the grammar material. In addition to the grammatical
content that songs can present or reiterate, Urbancic and Vismuller suggested including
songs in oral conversation classes in which students discuss the content of the songs, the
singing style, or the differences between the target language song style and that of any
given American singer. Whatever activity is used to coincide with the songs, it should be
structured and complement the material that is presented in the classroom.

In the early 1990’s, Milano (1994) introduced a new way of implementing song
into the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom through the use of Broadway
musicals, an art form with broad appeal that can reach a large audience. Milano believes
that musicals can provide opportunities to expand vocabulary and gain familiarity with
colloquial expressions and certain grammatical structures. Milano summarizes the
storyline of a given musical and introduces the characters to the students. Then, the class
listens to one or two of the songs from the musical while completing activities such as

arranging the phrases of the songs in order based on what they heard. Finally, students

21

are asked to write about their personal lives relating to the theme of any given song.
Based on her experiences with musicals, it is possible to state that the students enjoyed
the inclusion of song in the classroom; however, no empirical evidence was available on
songs impact on language learning.

2. 3.3 Benefits of song use.

Many researchers (Abrate, 1983; Arleo, 2000; Chamberlain, 1974; Claerr &
Gargan, 1984; Coe, 1972; Cooper, 1979; Hamblin, 1993; Karsenti, 1996; Kramer, 2001;
Loew, 1979; Melpignano, 1980; Murphey, 1990a; Nuessel & Cicogna, 1991; Parker,
1969; Poliquin, 1988; Zola & Sandvoss, 1976) discussed the benefits of the
implementation of songs in the foreign language classroom. Several educators (Abrate,
1983; Arleo, 2000; Claerr & Gargan, 1984; Failoni, 1993; Karsenti, 1996) viewed songs
as beneficial to language learning because of what they can teach. They agree that if
selected andgintegratedproperlfisongs can contribute to the. learning of pronunciation,”
fluidity of speech, aural comprehension, vocabulary, and grammatical structures. Loew
(1979) believes that teaching a foreign language implies teaching about the culture. In
this way, he views songs as a medium with which to teach culture. These educators and
researchers used song because of its ability to teach different elements and also because
of the students’ receptiveness to it. Educators have experienced first-hand in the
classroom the student response to the inclusion of songs. Karsenti (1996) and Loew
(1979) used songs because of the positive classroom atmosphere that was created from
their implementation. Students view songs as familiar territory, and therefore, “are more
at ease to accumulate new knowledge in the second language” (Loew, 1979, p. 15).

Cooper (1979) stated that he included teaching strategies for implementing songs because

22

of their ability to motivate students’ interests. Despite the positive benefits mentioned by
these educators, no experimental evidence is provided. All of the claims are based on
classroom observations.

2. 3.4 Studies that focus on songs.

Murphey (1990b) suggested that din, or involuntary verbal rehearsal, is set off by
comprehensible input and that immersion in language activities (songs) activates din
more. Based on Murphey’s knowledge of din, he found great similarities between din
and the SSIMH phenomenon. In order to get a response to his research question of
whether SSIMH is widespread, Murphey administered a questionnaire to his subjects.
Based on the results, Murphey concluded that the SSIMH experience is common to many
people. In fact, he discussed the contribution of song in language acquisition, citing the
therapeutic capacities of both instrumental music and song, and the phenomenon that
songs can stick in our head all day long after just a few minutes of exposure to them.

Guerrero (1987) researched whether Spanish-speaking students experience din in
their L2 (English). Guerrero reported the results of a survey in which 52 Spanish
speaking ESL college students responded to questions concerning their experience with
din. Guerrero further tried to find out if students in the study could voluntarily activate
din. She found that 55% of her subjects could activate “mental rehearsal” to rehearse for
future situations or to playback conversations they had had recently. Therefore, from her
study, it can be concluded that mental rehearsal in the L2 can either be spontaneous or
voluntary. Sounds and words pop up in the student’s head and may be deliberately
retrieved, repeated, analyzed, and associated with certain situations. This study brought

to light the importance of comprehensible input in the production of din phenomena.

23

Lowe (1998) researched song and language acquisition, with the goal of teaching
song and illustrating song’s influence on linguistics. The students in the control group
received regular French lessons using pedagogical approaches with the inclusion of oral-
visual aids, while the experimental group received 15 minutes of French instruction
through the integration of songs. In her study on second grade French immersion
students in New Brunswick, Lowe found that the experimental group- those who received
song lessons that were fully integrated into the course’s language component- performed
significantly better than the control group on tonal-rhythmic patterns, vocabulary, and
oral grammar exercises. Additionally, the teachers who took part in the study
commented on the nice change of pace from the daily routine of learning. The students
liked the song activities and were motivated by their inclusion during the study.

Fisher (2001) used songs to teach literacy. He wanted to determine if the use of
songs resulted in increased literacy performance in Kindergarten and first-grade students
of bilingual education. Eighty students who spoke Spanish at home were randomly
assigned to one of four teachers; two of the teachers used a great deal of songs in their
classroom while the other two did not. Students who were given music lessons and the
song component over a 19-month period outperformed the students who did not receive
music on oral language development. Of course, many other factors could have
contributed to the performance of the song groups (i.e. instructor, maturation, motivation
etc.).

2.4 Motivation and SLA
Mollica (1994) argued that “[m]otivation is one of the prime tasks of teaching.

Motivation should be constant and should not stop at any given point. Motivation is

24

\.

important at the beginning of the lesson as a means of introducing the material,
stimulating interest, arousing curiosity and developing the specific aim; but it is equally
important for teachers to provide motivational activities which will arouse and retain the
interest of the students” (p. 15). Therefore, as Karsenti (1996) pointed out, it is important
that language activities be motivating to students. Fortliis reason, he cited song-use as a
key component in the foreign language classroom. In the same way, many educators and
researchers (Braem, 1977; Fonseca Mora, 2000; Jolly, 1975; Kramer, 2001; Loew, 1979;
Parker, 1969; Poliquin, 1988) view songs as motivational; they help to create a relaxed
atmosphere, and students respond positively to the implementation of songs. Brown
(1994) highlighted motivation as one of the most important principles of language
teaching.

2. 4. 1 Collaborative activities and motivation.

D6myei (2001) has researched at great length the issue of motivation and
motivation strategies in the foreign language classroom. “[S]tudent motivation tends to
increase in cohesive class groups. This is due to the fact that in such groups students
share an increased responsibility for achieving the group goals, they ‘pull each other
along’ and the positive relations among them make the learning process more enjoyable
in general” (p. 43). Domyei suggested 10 factors that may contribute to a feeling of
group cohesiveness, among which promoting interaction and cooperation, using ice-
breakers, encouraging regular small group activities, and preventing rigid seating
patterns. In this way, students may begin to feel more comfortable and at ease with
others around them and with whom they interact regularly. According to Dornyei,

students in cooperative environments have more positive attitudes toward learning and

25

develop higher self-esteem and self-confidence than in other classroom structures.
Therefore, educational theory has proposed a teaching approach called cooperative
learning, built on the concept of peer collaboration. Slavin (1996) has called this
cooperative learning “one of the greatest success stories in the history of educational
research” (p.43). This cooperative learning style is seen in modern language teaching
methodologies as a necessary element to building learners’ communicative competence
(Ehrman & Dornyei, 1998; Oxford & Nyikos, 1997). Group cooperation leads to
motivation and additionally, the cooperation fosters group cohesiveness. Students
become dependent on each other and share common goals, which in turn creates a feeling
of solidarity and supportiveness. Because of the sense of obligation produced by
cooperative learning situations, peers are likely to help each other out when motivation
would be otherwise low according to Domyei (2001). Finally, cooperative situations
generally have a positive emotional tone, which means that they generate less anxiety and
stress than other learning formats.

In a study conducted by Kowal and Swain (1994), collaborative language
production tasks were used to promote students’ language awareness. Grade 8
immersion students were placed in pairs (dyads) and asked to complete a dictogloss that
focused on the present tense and a theme recently covered in class. After listening to the
text, the students were required to rewrite the text using familiar words they had heard
during the dictation. They were given 25 minutes for the task. Based on the results and
discussion of this study, students in collaborative settings were able to work together to
construct meaningful and grammatical messages. The authors mentioned that when

students trust each other in collaborative group work, learning can take place. Students

26

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became aware of their own language gaps, and by working with a peer, they were able to
raise their awareness of the links between the form, function, and meaning of words as
they worked to construct their message. Klein (1993) also mentioned that learning will
take place in collaborative settings because peer work is ideal for students to be able to
share their discoveries and test their grasp of information among their peers. As Klein
stated, “. . .collaboration encourages students to dare to think critically and provides the
incentive for their taking ownership of their learning—the key to academic success” (p.
91). Students feel motivated to learn, according to Klein, because of the ownership they
feel toward their learning environment. In fact, they appear to retain what they discover
themselves better than a series of seemingly unrelated or meaningless facts and
grammatical structures. In the collaborative setting, Klein stated that students felt
comfortable working with peers as helpers. Her article, however, was written as a
teacher observation of class and did not provide any empirical findings.

2. 4. 2 Songs and motivation.

Lowe (2002) researched the effects of implementing a multilinterdisciplinary arts
program, including songs, dance, and art on French language. Lowe and the teacher of
the second-grade students who participated in the study decided that the inclusion of the
multidisciplinary approach would take place over a one-month period, with three sessions
of an hour per week. They selected a topic related to the time of year: snowmen and the
winter season. The instructor of the class focused the French lessons on the
reinforcement of vocabulary associated with winter and on oral and written skills. The
dance/song segment of the study focused on the rhythm of songs, singing, dancing, and

drawing. The students sang songs related to winter, danced and used theatre as a method

27

of acquiring vocabulary and musical knowledge (style, rhythm, rhyme). Lowe stated that
the inclusion of the interdisciplinary program benefited the second-grade students; their
knowledge of pitch, rhyme, instrument use, and rhythm was expanded. The students
comprehended the benefits of artistic expression and were able to acquire a better
comprehension of a literary text. Students felt motivated to learn because of the inclusion
of the interdisciplinary program (See Table results in Lowe pp. 115-16). In addition to
the motivating factor, students’ attitudes toward learning were positive, and their
enthusiasm for learning was heightened because of the inclusion of the multidisciplinary
program. However, the lack of empirical studies related to the incorporation of song in
adult/college foreign language classrooms inspired me to further this area of research.
2.5 Conclusion

It appears that songs are a positive addition to foreign language classrooms based
onthe previous‘qualitativeflstudiefisfiand teacher classroom observations. Educators have
mentioned student interest in songs. Song-use in the classroom appears to provide a non-
threatening learning environment. Although some research has involved music and/or
song with young learners (i.e. elementary school as seen with Lowe, 1998 and Fisher,
2001), flg‘flgfi, @Lthc. university level has been neglected or ignored, Are adult learners
not inclined to benefit from song use? As noted earlier, college students at universities
nationwide can be seen walking through campus with headphones gripping their ears.
MTV is a popular station for many college students. Radios, CD players, and MP3’s play
beats while students drive, study, and even sleep. It appears that songs may be useful as a
way to spark students’ interest in foreign language learning at the college level as well.

Therefore, the present studies will investigate songs’ effect on verb forms in college-level

28

French

learned

 

French classrooms, and to determine if grammatical structures (verb forms) can be

learned through the implementation of songs.

29

CHAPTER 3: EXPERIMENT 1- PILOT STUDY
3.1 Experimental Design

This pilot study, which took place during the spring semester of the academic year
2002-2003 at Michigan State University, examined the effects of song on theacquisition
of verb forms through the use of written pre- and posttests. The verb forms for this
experiment (present, firture (fittur simple), and conditional) were those introduced in the
textbook, A Votre Tour (V alette & Valette, 1995), and were taught to the students during
the semester. A written survey was administered to the students of the song group that
investigated the impact of the songs on verb acquisition. An oral survey was
administered to the students of the poem group that examined the impact of the poems.

The students in the study took a pretest at the onset of the experiment in order to
determine what they already knew before the treatment began. After the treatment, an
immediate posttest was administered to the students. The immediate posttest was similar
to the pretest, except that the order of the sentences was altered in order to discourage any
memorization from the pre- to posttest. In addition, some of the subject pronouns were
modified so that, although the students were required to conjugate the same verbs, most
of the forms were altered. There was no difference between the materials used for the
immediate and delayed posttest because they were separated by a span of three weeks,
and there was little reason to believe that the students could memorize the order and
content of the posttests, especially since they did not know when the delayed posttest
would take place. For each of the tests (one pretest and both posttests), there were 6
sentences that focused on the present tense, 6 on the future, and 6 on the conditional. The

11 remaining sentences served as distracters.

30

3.2 Method
3. 2. 1 Participants

It was not feasible to obtain a random sampling for this study, so I opted for a
convenience sample, my French 202 classes. These students were enrolled in a fourth
semester French class offered at Michigan State University. The students ranged in age
from 18 to 24 years. Out of the 42 students in the two classes, 42 volunteered to
participate in the experiment. Their participation did not influence the grade in the
course, and students who did not participate were not penalized. Of the 42 students who
volunteered, 36 students completed all three phases of the study (pretest, immediate
posttest, and delayed posttest). English was the native language for all of the students.
There were 29 females and 7 males in the study totaling a sample size of 36 students (16
in Group A (poem group) and 20 in Group B (song group)). Both groups were taught in
the same classroom at 11:30am and 12:40pm respectively.

3. 2. 2 Materials

3. 2. 2. 1 Pretest-Posttest and Delayed Posttest.

The students in the study took three tests: a pretest (Appendix A), an immediate
posttest (Appendix B) following the treatment, and a delayed posttest (Appendix B)
approximately three weeks following the immediate posttest. The three tests focused on
grammatical structures, specifically the choice and conjugation of the present, future,
conditional, compound past (passe’ compose), and subjunctive. The compound past and
subjunctive forms were included as distracters. The sentences were developed based on
the lyrics of the songs to which the students listened. The vocabulary items were at a

level that was familiar to students of fourth semester French. Prior to administering the

31

pretest to my students, I had asked several native speakers of French to take the test in
order to insure accuracy in the tests’ language choice.

3. 2. 2. 2 Treatment.

Three authentic French songs were selected for the treatment of this study. The
songs were used as poems, i.e. without music, for one of the groups. These poems were
actually the lyrics to the three songs, recited by a male native speaker of French.
Although research suggests that speech produced by women, in general, is more
intelligible (Bradlow, Torretta, & Pisoni, 1996), a male speaker was selected on the basis
of availability. He was an instructor in the same department, a native of Paris and a
fluent speaker of English. In this manner, both groups (poems and songs) listened to
authentic French voices, whether in poetic verse or song form. The distinguishing factor
between the poems and songs was the absence of musical accompaniment (instruments,
rhythm, melody, harmony). The three songs were Le Bane des Délaissés (‘The Bench of
the Abandoned’) by Isabelle Boulay (Appendix C), which concentrates exclusively on the
present tense, Octobre (‘October’) by Francis Cabrel (Appendix D), a song that focuses
primarily on simple firture constructions, and Si j ’étais un homme (‘If I were a man’) by
Diane Tell (Appendix E), which focuses on the conditional. Group B (songs) listened to
these songs, while Group A (poems) listened to the lyrics without musical

accompaniment, recited by the male native speaker. Thus,_b§th_gopps_§geivedq E139§flllle

Wquhgmmmjmmalyahdimandl administered
the treatment to both groups.

32

3. 2. 2.3 Surveys. '

Students in the song group were required to fill out a survey that focused on the
impact of the songs (Appendix F) while the poem group discussed orally their likes and
dislikes of listening to poems. The written survey was designed in a manner so that
students responded to statements about the song-use on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Because this study focused on the
implementation of songs and its effect on verb acquisition, I was more interested in
students’ reactions to the songs than to the poems. Therefore, the written survey was
only administered to the students in the song group. Both surveys were administered in
English, the native language of all of the students. In this manner, students could express
themselves fully in their native tongue, without feeling the pressure of producing in the
target language.

3. 2. 3 Procedure

3. 2. 3.1 Pretest.

The students took the pretest prior to any implementation of the treatment in order
to determine what they had or had not learned about different verb forms. Students were
asked to conjugate the verb given in parentheses after the blank by choosing the correct
form based on the context of the sentences. The time limit for this exercise was 15
minutes, and its aim was to determine if the students knew how to correctly choose
among and conjugate the verb forms prior to formal instruction in fourth-semester
French. If the students had enrolled in any previous French courses at Michigan State
University or elsewhere, they should have already been familiar with several of the

forms. However, because the students had not yet been formally introduced to these

33

." ‘4’ '2‘Wt-xi‘fij’5 '.

.-n'2

 

 

forms during the semester in which the experiment took place, they may not have
remembered these conjugations from a previous class.

Following the pretest, yet prior to the treatment period, both French classes were
taught two chapters from the textbook, A Votre Tour (Valette & Valette, 1995) that
focused on the present, future, and conditional. A1193 the, students received the same
irgptlduiinmgflthipresentationof material from the text during the regularly scheduled
class instruction. This instruction took place over 4 weeks.

WW...

3. 2. 3.2 Treatment.

I randomly selected one class of students to be Group A, and the other to serve as
Group B. On the day of treatment, Group A listened to a recording of a French native
speaker recite the lyrics of the three songs chosen for this study in poetic form, while
Group B actually listened to the authentic French songs on compact disk played in the
classroom. Both groups received the same language content (i.e. listened to the same
words, vocabulary items, and verb forms) and performed the same activities on treatment
day. The input was auditory as the students were required to listen to either the poems or
the songs. However, an additional component of reading and writing was added because
as the students listened to the recordings, they were instructed to fill in the verb forms
they heard. On the treatment day, the students were given three separate worksheets,
each with the lyrics to the poems excluding the verb forms under test. I instructed them
to listen for the verbs in the poems and to write these verbs in the blanks provided,
conjugated in their correct forms.

For Group A (poem), each poem was played three times, while each song was

only played once. Because of the way in which the treatment period was set up (during

34

the 50 minute class period), there was not sufficient time to listen to each song three
times. The presentations of each poem lasted only 1-2 minutes, while each song varied
between 3-5 minutes because of the rhythm, musical accompaniment, and speed.

The following format explains the process of listening to the poems, and this
procedure was repeated for each of the three poems.

3.2.3.2.] First Listening.

Prior to receiving the lyric sheet, Group A listened to the poem (Le Banc des
Délaissés) that focused on the present tense. The students were asked to listen for the
verbs and to try to recognize the verb tenses and conjugations.

3. 2. 3. 2. 2 Second Listening.

The second time, the students were given the lyric sheet to the poem that focused
on the present tense. While the students listened, they were required to fill in the verb
forms they heard, and they were asked to pay close attention to the conjugation of the
present tense.

After the second listening, the students worked in pairs for 5 minutes to discuss
what they had heard and to share their responses. This pair work provided the students
with an opportunity to ask their peers questions about unfamiliar or unclear verb forms.
After the pair work, students volunteered their responses and all of the proper
conj ugations were written on the overhead projector so that students could check their
responses with the correct responses.

3. 2.3.2.3 Third Listening.
Finally, the students listened to the same poem for a third time in order to identify

the known verbs with the native speaker’s reading of the poem. All of this work was

35

 

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completed in French except for the occasional few words the students used during pair
work. These same exercises were repeated for the future and conditional poems.
3. 2. 3. 2.4 Differences in Treatment for Song Group.

The students in Group B (song) performed the same activities; however, due to
time constraints, the students in the song group listened to each song only one time.
Therefore, the students received the lyric sheet prior to listening to the song. As they
listened to the song for the first and only time, they completed the lyric sheet. After
listening to the song, students worked in pairs in order to share their responses with one
another. Finally, the class discussed the correct responses for the song, and the correct
responses were written on the overhead projector. This procedure was repeated for the
future and conditional forms, too. The students in Group B were presented with the same
language content (i.e. lyrics), but differed in times of input frequency.

3. 2. 3.3 Posttests.

The day following the treatment, a written posttest was administered to both
groups (Appendix B). This test focused on the present, future, and conditional forms, but
also included the compound past and subjunctive. These additional verb forms served as
distracters. The students were given 15 minutes to complete this posttest.

Three weeks following the immediate posttest, a delayed posttest was
administered to the students (Appendix B). This posttest was exactly the same as the
immediate posttest. The students in both groups were given 15 minutes to complete this
test. During the span of three weeks between the immediate and delayed posttests, the
instruction of French shifted from traditional grammar and vocabulary to a 6-week

historical and cultural content course. Although the students still used the same textbook,

36

No 1
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a

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tier

 

 

A Votre Tour (V alette & Valette, 1995), the class focused on the French civilization and
cultural content that was presented in the text on the pages that separated the chapters.
No explicit grammar was taught during the three weeks between the immediate and
delayed posttest, and the verb forms provided during the historical content tended to be
on past tense conjugations, namely the compound past and the imperfect. Therefore,
students were no longer learning explicit grammar or conjugations relating to the posttest
material.

Some may question the task type chosen for the study because songs are generally
viewed as a form of introducing listening comprehension, focusing on students’ aural
skills. However, the students were not asked to respond to the songs orally. In fact, there
was no component of oral production included in this experiment. The reason for which
written tests (pretest, immediate and delayed posttests) were selected as basis of grammar
comprehension was because of the nature of the treatment period. Although the students
did in fact listen to the poems and songs, they were additionally required to write the verb
forms in the blanks provided on the lyric sheets. Therefore, the tasks for the tests and the
treatment were comparable.

3. 2. 3.4 Surveys.

Students in Group B (song) responded to a survey (Appendix F) upon completion
of the study. The students received this survey during a class period, and were asked to
fill out the survey according to their experience with the inclusion of songs in the
classroom. They were required to hand in the survey on the following day. In this way,

the students could respond anonymously to the statements.

37

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scar.

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C

 

The students in Group A (poem) were asked questions in English upon
completion of the study based on their feelings toward the use of poems. They were
asked if they enjoyed poetry, if they often read poetry, and if they would have preferred
to listen to songs instead of the poems.

3.3 Results of Experiment 1
3. 3.1 Scoring

Before presenting and discussing the results, I would like to address briefly the
scoring of the tests. A conservative picture approach was selected for the scoring of the
three tests. Because the infinitive of the verb was provided in parentheses for each

sentence on the pre- and posttests, I considered a response correct if the tense and
conjugation were appropriate for the infinitive provided in parentheses. However, if the

tense selected was correct but the conjugation was incorrect or vice versa, the response
was counted as incorrect. In addition, if an accent was omitted or simply unclear (accent
grave or aigu), the response was marked incorrect. For example, with the verb espérer,
if the student had responded with espére for the first person singular instead of espére,
the response was marked as incorrect. Even if an accent was added to the root of the verb
and did not affect the endings of the verb form in question, the response was also
considered incorrect. For example, using espérer again, had a student written espére for
the first person singular, the response would have still been marked incorrect because of
the inclusion of the accent aigu when it was not needed. Although French diacritics may
not always serve a phonetic function, they are part of the French orthography, and
students should be responsible for using them correctly. During the treatment in which

the students listened and wrote what they heard, correct orthography was emphasized, so

38

 

from

6011

was;

that attention was focused not only on spelling but on accents as well. Similarly, on
chapter examinations, students are penalized for incorrect usage of accents. Additionally,
as described in the treatment procedure (Section 3.2.3.2), the correct conjugations
(including accent marks) were provided on the overhead projector. It was, therefore,
important for this experiment that student scores reflected correct spelling and diacritic
use. For each of the three forms (present, future, conditional), student scores could range
from 0-6 because 6 of the 29 sentences focused on the present tense, 6 on the future, and

6 on the conditional. The 11 remaining sentences served as distracters. No partial credit
was awarded on any of the tests.

3. 3. 2 Tabulation of Results
1 graded all of the pre- and posttests of the study and performed the statistical

analysis of the results. A t—test was added to determine if the two groups (poem and
song) were comparable prior to the study (results from the pretest). The latestis a

@3919. "statistical test used to see whether a difference between the means of two
samples is significant, and Wei of “05. was used for all statistical tests.
Following the study, raw scores were tabulated from both of the posttests (immediate and
delayed) and from each of the three verb forms (present, future, and conditional) in order
to determine if Group B (song) performed with more grammatical accuracy than Group A
(poem). In this manner, I was able to determine if songs significantly impacted grammar
acquisition, and specifically the acquisition of the three forms chosen as the focus for this
study. Additionally, the data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance

(MANOVA), a statistical test used when there are more than one dependant measures

(i.e. scores from the 3 different verb forms), to explore differences among the groups.

39

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Because of the design of the experiment with a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest
(time as a 3-level factor), two groups, Group A (poem) and Group B (song) (group as a 2-
level factor), and the forms under study: present, future, and conditional (form as a 3
dependant measures), it was essential to investigate the factor of time, and to determine if
either group’s performance changed significantly over time or whether or not the changes
differed significantly between the groups. Results of the t-test will be presented first,
followed by results of the MANOVA.

3. 3. 2.1 Pretest.

Table 1 displays mean scores, standard deviations, and results of tests of
significance (t-test) for the poem and song groups on all three verb forms (present, future,
and conditional).

Research hypothesis 1: Prior to treatment, there are statistically significant
differences between the groups on the three verb forms of the pretest.
Statistical (null) hypothesis: There are no statistically significant differences

between the groups on the three verb forms of the pretest.

40

 

 

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Table 1:

Mean scores of present, future, and conditional pretest for two groups

 

Form Group N M SD t-value

Present 3:183:21 :3 12.887 1:: .10 (n.s.)
222 22:22:: :3 12:13:
Conditional 313:: :8 (1):; (1):: .053 (n.s.)

 

Note. N - Number of students in each group;
Level of significance: p<.05

Based on the mean scores of the two groups (A and B) on all three forms (present,
future, and conditional) of the pretest, it is possible to state that the two groups were
comparable. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups,
although as one can observe, the t- value of .053 for the conditional pretest was
considered marginal significance. For the other two forms, it is clear that the groups
were indeed similar prior to the treatment period. Table 1 indicates a failure to reject the
null hypothesis: for present [df—‘ 34, t= -1.65, p= .10 (n.s.)], for future [df= 34, t= -1.01,
p= .32 (n.s.)], and for conditional [df= 34, t= -2.00, p= .053 (n.s.)].

As shown in Table 1, the points possible on each of the three verb forms of the
pretest ranged on a scale from 0-6. On each of the three verb forms at the pretest level,
and in both groups except Group B present tense, all mean scores were below 2.00/6.00.
These scores indicated that the students’ ability to use the tenses accurately and
productively was around 30%. Several of the students in both groups also scored 0 for

many of the verb forms on the pretest. In Group A, 26 of 48 sentences (or 54%) were

41

 

111

Cu:

scored as a 0. Fifteen of 60 sentences (25%) were scored as 0 for Group B. I chose to
keep these students’ scores in the experiment because of my limited sample size and
because of their improvement on immediate and delayed posttests.

3. 3. 2. 2 Immediate Posttest.

Research hypothesis 2: The groups are different on the three verb forms on the
immediate posttest.

Null hypothesis 2: There are no differences between the means of the three verb
forms of the immediate posttest for the two groups.

Table 2 shows the means, significant difference and t- values for Groups A and B

on the immediate posttest for each of the three verb forms.

Table 2:

Mean scores of present, future, and conditional immediate posttest for two groups

 

Form Group N M SD t—value

22222222 3133’: 53 i133 3:33 202-22
22222222 3135;“ 53 21:32 113? 2302-22-2
Conditional 313:: 58 ii; 13’? .26 (n.s.)

 

Note. N - Number of students in each group
Level of significance: p<.05

As one can observe, all of the mean scores increased for both groups and for all three
verb forms. For example on the pretest, the mean scores for the poem group were 1.87,
1.18, and 0.43 for the present, future, and conditional forms respectively. On the

immediate posttest, their mean scores were 3.62, 4.00, and 3.81 for the respective verb

42

forms. In addition, all of the mean scores for the song group increased; from 2.80, 1.75,
and 1.15 to 3.95, 3.95, and 4.45 respectively for the three verb forms. However, based on
the t- values shown in Table 2, there were no statistically significant differences between
the two groups on any of the verb forms. Although the scores showed no statistical
significance, the mean scores for the present and conditional for Group A and B were
dissimilar. The mean scores for the present and conditional were slightly higher for
Group B (song) than the mean scores for Group A (poem), demonstrating a mean of .33
points higher for the present tense and a mean of .64 points higher for the conditional
form. It is interesting to note the t-value of the conditional posttest (.26) was not
significant, yet at the pretest level, the t-value (.053) bordered statistical significance.
This means that prior to the study, the students in Group B (song) had a better
understanding of the conditional mood, and were able to used it more correctly than the
students of Group A (poem). After the introduction of the conditional mood in the
textbook, and with the regular practice of the verb form during class time prior to the
treatment and posttest, it is possible that the students in Group A were able to improve
their comprehension of the verb form, thereby increasing their raw scores on the
immediate posttest, and demonstrating comparable mean scores with the students in
Group B.

At this point in the experiment, inspection of mean scores suggests the following
possible tendencies. These slight differences reveal a tendency that songs may allow
students to retain grammatical structures and perform with more accuracy on written
tests. However, with a lack of statistical significance, no claims can be made. It is

interesting to note the mean scores of both groups on the future posttest. Group A’s

43

 

mean score was .05 points higher than that of Group B’s mean score. Though the
difference is small, it is noteworthy to point out that the poem group (A) did score
slightly higher on the future posttest than the song group (B). One reason for which
students’ scores could have been more similar on the future form could be the simplicity
of the structure. Students have a general comprehension that the future is formed from
the infinitive of the verb with avoir (‘to have’) endings added onto the stem. Adverbs
also direct the students to choosing the future tense more easily than choosing the
conditional mood after a clause introduced by Si (‘If’) + imperfect. For this structure,
students must first recognize the imperfect before realizing that the conditional mood is
needed. Secondly, the students must then correctly conjugate the conditional in order to
receive full credit on the posttests. In this manner, it is perhaps understandable that the
students scored more similarly on the future form.

Although I had thought that the present tense served as the beginner tense (since it
is generally the first tense presented in introductory level textbooks), perhaps the future
tense is the more basic tense because of the simplicity in its formation with the infinitive
and avoir (‘to have’) endings. In addition, avoir (‘to have’) is a verb presented early on
in introductory French classes because with étre (‘to be’), it is the most used verb in
French. By fourth semester French, these students had been using avoir (‘to have’) to a
regular extent, and were familiar with its conjugation. The students of both groups
scored more similarly on the future form on all three tests (pretest, immediate posttest,
and delayed posttest) than on the present tense or conditional. The present tense may
have been the intermediate tense because of many irregular verb formations provided on

the tests (at least more irregularity than the future verbs). The conditional may have been

44

d:

d:

it

the most advanced form because of the necessity to recognize both the imperfect in the Si
(‘If’) phrases and the conditional. It is also presented much later in most textbooks.

3. 3. 2. 3 Delayed Posttest.

It was important to test the students’ knowledge after the treatment period to
determine whether or not the material that was presented was actually retained by the
students. Three weeks following the treatment, I administered the delayed posttest.

Research hypothesis 3: The groups are different on the three verb forms on the
delayed posttest.

Null hypothesis 3: The two groups are similar on the three verb forms of the
delayed posttest.

Table 3 shows the results of t-test for the three verb forms, and indicates that the
null hypothesis may be rejected for the present tense [df= 34, t= -2.18, p= .03] and for
the conditional [df= 34, t= -2.14, p= .03]. For the future tense, the t-test [df= 34, t= -

.52, p= .60 (n.s.)] fails to reject the null hypothesis.

Table 3:

Mean scores of present, future, and conditional delayed posttest for two groups

 

Form Group N M SD t-value
P2222222 31333;“ 33 3:33 3:33 223*
22222222 3:333? 33 3:33 3:33 2002-22
2:22;: 23:21::

 

Note. N - Number of students in each group
Level of significance: p< .05*

45

 

Sig

51g

Again, as with the immediate posttest on the future tense, the scores for the
delayed future posttest demonstrated extremely similar groups. However, on the delayed
posttest, Group B (song) scored slightly higher than Group A (poem), with only a
difference of .35 in their mean scores whereas they had a slightly lower score on the
immediate posttest. Based on these scores, there was a statistically significant difference
between Groups A and B on both the present and conditional delayed posttest with
significant probability values. These scores demonstrate that Group B (song) scored
significantly better than Group A (poem) on two of the verb forms on the delayed
posttest. With both groups being exposed to the same language input and activities,
although different treatments, it is possible that the differences were due to the use of
songs, especially since Group A (poem) heard the poems three times whereas Group B
(song) only heard each song one time. In fact, it must be reiterated that during the three
weeks between the immediate and delayed posttest, no explicit grammar was taught. The
students were introduced to a six-week historical and cultural content portion of the
course that shifted attention away from grammar and verb conj ugations related to the
study. It appears, then, that the results of the delayed posttest, which showed statistical
significance on two of the three verb forms, may be related to the retention aspect of the
songs with their melody, repeated lyrics, and rhythm as suggested by Fonseca Mora
(2000), Murphey (1990), Paivio (1971), and Serafine, Crowder, & Repp (1984).

The process of listening to poetry or songs and completing exercises proved to be
beneficial to grammar learning. On the pretest, a total of 41 groups of sentences (37%)
that focused on one of the verb forms received a score of zero versus only 12 verb form

groups of sentences (5%) on the combined posttests (immediate and delayed). It is also

46

clear that those who listened to the songs had better performance of the verb forms, as
shown in the results in Table 3. There was improvement on the present and conditional
on the delayed posttest, and the students showed a tendency for better retention when the
songs were used. Perhaps this is a demonstration of Murphey’s SSIMH phenomenon, in
which the melody, lyrics, and rhythm of the music get stuck in the students’ heads and
will allow them to retain the grammatical structures with more case than for those
students who listened to the poetry.

3. 3. 2.4 MANOVA Results.

Although a t-test determined whether or not the groups were different from one
another at the three different times of testing (pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed
posttest), it was also important to look at the changes in scores across the entire study as
well as within the study. In other words, it was important to look at the results from
pretest to immediate posttest, from immediate posttest to delayed posttest, and from
pretest to delayed posttest in an effort to get an overall sense of the changes that took
place in students’ scores. The t-test can, in fact, indicate differences between the means
of two groups at isolated or static moments of the experiment, but it is limited to just that,
a static comparison. Therefore, the MANOVA test was used to look at the overall
experiment, to analyze the trends and interactions between time, group, and form. A
MANOVA is used when the design of an experiment has more than one dependant
variable, in this case, the accuracy rates for the different forms (present, future, and
conditional).

According to the MAN OVA, there were no significant differences that existed

between the groups [F= .27, df= 1, p = .27] from pretest to immediate posttest. However,

47

there were significant values for the factors of time (p<.001) and form (p<.01), as well as
the interaction between time and form (p<.001). What this means is that time of the
pretest and time of the posttest are significantly different from one another. In addition,
the forms are different from one another (i.e. present at future :6 conditional). These
significant values tell us that performance on the three forms was mediated by time, that
is, the scores changed significantly over the course of time.

When analyzing the changes that occurred from the immediate posttest to the
delayed posttest, the differences between the groups were not significant [F = 1.31, df= 1,
p= .26]. One can observe that the value of p<.001 indicated statistical significance for
time. This means that time was indeed a significant factor for the scores from the
immediate posttest to delayed posttest. The changes over time (i.e. instruction) differed
according to verb forms. In addition, there was an interaction between time and form
(p<.001), however form alone did not show significant values. Therefore, time has a
main effect because the performance differed significantly from immediate to delayed
posttest, but there was no significance between Groups A (poem) and B (song).

Finally, the data from the pretest to the delayed posttest, that is from the onset of
the study, prior to formal instruction of the three verb forms, and until the completion of
the study with the second posttest, did not show significant values for the differences
between the groups, although the statistical results demonstrated the values were nearing
significance [F= 3.47, df= l, p= .07]. The MANOVA did demonstrate significant values
for time (p<.001) and for form (p<.001).

This MANOVA analysis, therefore, demonstrated statistically significant

interactions between time and form. In addition, the isolated factor of time showed

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statistical significance at the three periods of testing: pretest, immediate posttest, and
delayed posttest. The individual factor of form demonstrated statistical significance at
the pretest and delayed posttest.

3. 3.2.5 Observations.

Although it is noteworthy to discuss the quantitative analysis for the study in an
effort to demonstrate that songs impacted grammar acquisition in a foreign language
setting, it is equally important to discuss the qualitative approach. The students from
Group B (song) appeared to enjoy the treatment period. While they listened to the songs,
I observed their body language. Some closed their eyes, swayed in their seats, and tapped
their pens on their desk or their feet on the floor. These actions appeared to demonstrate
an appeal for the music to which they were listening. While they listened, the students
seemed to understand the verb forms they heard because they nodded as they heard the
target structure. However, because of the native singer’s voice and the volume of the
instrumental music accompanying the lyrics, there were instances when a verb form was
not understood by all of the students. This is why it was so important to work in pairs
after listening to the songs. In this manner, the students were able to exchange their
responses and discuss the problems they faced while listening. Once finished with pair
work, the whole class discussed the correct responses. The students were eager to
volunteer and share their responses with the class. Because of the implementation of the
music, the atmosphere in class that day was relaxed and non-threatening. The students
participated with energy and without hesitation, unlike traditional class days when they
fear giving an incorrect response. As previously mentioned, researchers (F onseca Mora,

2000; Guerroro, 1987; Horwitz & Young, 1991; Kramer, 2001; Merriam, 1964) have

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suggested that introducing music in the foreign language classroom can decrease the
anxiety students may feel, and will provide the students with a non-threatening
environment for foreign language learning. In class on that day, it seemed that the
environment, facilitated through the use of song, enabled the students to learn
grammatical structures.

The students in Group A (poem) were not as quick to participate as the students in
Group B (song). Because the pace at which the poems were read, the students had less
time to write the verbs in the blanks on the lyrics sheets, and therefore appeared more
frustrated during the treatment period. Some students sighed deeply as they listened to
the poems. Some looked away from their lyrics sheets with blank stares as if not able to
comprehend the verb forms. When working with pairs, tensions seemed to lessen as
sharing responses with other students appeared to put the students at ease. Once one
student participated in group work and shared a response (whether correct or not), the
others joined in and were more willing to respond with their own answers. It is possible,
then, that pair work allowed the students to feel comfortable with one another, sharing
answers, and participating without the fear of making errors just as Domyei (2001)
stated. By working in pairs, researchers believe that students will become aware of their
own language gaps, and that learning will take place (Ehnnan & Domyei, 1998; Klein,
1993; Kowal & Swain, 1994, Oxford & Nyikos, 1997).

3. 3. 2.6 Surveys.

Students’ responses to the survey statements are provided in Appendix F,
although some results are highlighted here with group means from the 5-point Likert

scale in parentheses. Based on the statements on the survey, students demonstrated an

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interest in listening to more songs during class time (4.66). The students in Group B felt
that the song use was a positive experience (4.27). When asked if the songs aided in
vocabulary or with pronunciation, they did not think the songs taught these skills (3.88
and 3.61 respectively). Although researchers (Abrate, 1983; Coe, 1972; Jolly, 1975;
Melpignano, 1980; Nuessel & Cicogna, 1991) believe songs can teach these skills, this
was not the focus of the present study. I did not have the students sing or repeat the
lyrics. We did not discuss the vocabulary in great detail. Therefore, it was not surprising
that the students felt the songs did not teach these skills. When asked if the songs
improved grammar, student response was not overwhelmingly high (3.22). In fact, the
mean score of the grammar improvement was less than the means of pronunciation,
vocabulary, listening comprehension, and cultural knowledge improvement. There are
several explanations for this lower mean score. College students, in general, have a sense
that their English grammar is poor. They are aware that they do not always speak
correctly or with accurate grammar. This feeling is often carried over to a second
language, whose grammar rules are quite different from the first language. In addition,
the students in the two groups were never explicitly told what the purpose of the study
was. That is, they were not told that the inclusion of poems/songs would be used to test
their grammar skills, i.e. verb tenses and form conjugations. Because of this, it is quite
possible that the students, although they may have enjoyed listening to songs (4.55) did
not feel that the songs taught them grammar, (an umbrella term that is quite vague, and
could encompass other aspects of grammar: pronouns, negation, word order, sentence

structure, etc.).

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Group A (poem) felt very differently about their treatment period. Although the
students did not spend time working with textbook exercises during the treatment period,
they did not appear to enjoy the poetry session from the responses of the oral survey.
Most felt that the native speaker read the poems too quickly and that there was not
sufficient time to write the verbs in the blanks. The CD was not paused to permit
additional time to write the verb forms. Because of the native speaker’s rate of speech
and lack of musical accompaniment, there was significantly less time for Group A to
write in the verb forms on the worksheets. When asked if they were interested in poetry,
the majority stated that they had no interest. When asked if they would have preferred to
listen to songs, all students admitted that the songs would have been more interesting and
more fun to use.

3.4 Discussion- Experiment 1

It appears that the inclusion of songs in this fourth-semester French class was
beneficial both quantitatively and qualitatively. From the results of the t-tests on the
delayed posttest, the song group had higher mean scores on two of the three verb forms,
and to a statistically significant degree. It may be that the songs stuck in the Students’
heads so that the students of the song group were able to remember the verb forms they
had heard in the songs. It is also possible that the melody, rhythm, repetition played a
role in the students’ retention as suggested by Crowder, Serafine, and Repp (1990),
Kramer (2001), Krurnhansl (1990), and Murphey (1990). The data from the three tests
(pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest) indicate that students learned the verb
forms under study as a result of the instruction and the experiment. At the onset of the

study, students’ scores on the pretest were quite low, and many students in both groups

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had a score of 0 on the three verb forms. The students were presented two chapters from
the text that focused on the three verb forms. As a complement to the textbook material,
the songs and poems were used to provide additional input to the students that aided
student comprehension of the grammatical structures (present, future, and conditional).
By the immediate posttest and delayed posttest, the students’ scores had increased.
Students of the song group demonstrated a better understanding of the verb forms than
the students of the poem group.

It is clear from the lyrics (Appendix E) that the song chosen for the conditional
mood had fewer blanks than did the songs for the present and future forms. In fact, the
song that presented the conditional only had 12 blanks, (i.e. 12 opportunities for the
students to form the conditional mood). However, the songs selected for the present and
for the future forms had 25 and 17 blanks respectively. This means that there was more
opportunity to practice these two latter verb forms than for the conditional. However, the
students in Group B (song) still outperformed the students in Group A (poem) on the
conditional form on the delayed posttest, so it did not appear that less practice hindered
the acquisition of this verb form. It is also important to take into consideration the
equality of the verbs selected, that is, the number of times it is presented in each
song/poem. In order to make each verb form receive an equal amount of practice and in
order to control the validity of the study, songs should be selected on the basis of the
number of verbs and the variety of conjugations (i.e., different subject pronouns so that
students produce different forms of the same tense) presented in the lyrics.

In addition to the quantitative aspect, there were qualitative advantages to this

experiment. Because the content of the songs and poetry was directly related to the

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material presented in class, this alternative form of teaching complemented the course,
and appealed to the students (especially those in the song group). All of the students
enjoyed working outside of the textbook. In fact, although the students in the poem
group did not necessarily enjoy the poems, they did respond that listening to poems was
more enjoyable than always doing textbook activities. For all the students, this different
form of input brought diversity into the classroom, and allowed students to learn
language using non-traditional teaching methods.

Additionally, the atmosphere in the classroom was positive during the
implementation of songs. Students volunteered without hesitation. They shared
responses with each other and were more talkative in small groups than on traditional
days in the classroom. It seems, then, that group work fostered class cohesion, and that
students felt comfortable working with one another. Again, researchers believe that if
students work in pairs, they will demonstrate positive attitudes toward language learning,
and they will become aware of their own language gaps (Domyei, 2001; Klein, 1993;
Kowal & Swain, 1994). The survey results showed less frustration when listening to
songs, that the songs had taught the students something, and that there was a desire for
more songs in future classes. Based on these positive responses alone, it seems logical to
include songs as support to classroom material. Since the students enjoy the alternative
forms of learning and their comprehension of the material following the use of songs,
they appear to facilitate language learning.

3.5 Conclusion
Introducing alternative forms of teaching proved to be beneficial to foreign

language learning. Both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the experiment

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demonstrated positive results. First, the students in Group B (song) did outperform the
students in Group A (poem) on two of the verb forms (present and conditional) on the
delayed posttest, and perhaps demonstrated Murphey’s SSIMH phenomenon. Both
groups were comparable at the onset of the study. After the treatment period, which
included listening to poems or songs, the students took an immediate posttest. Although
the raw scores did not demonstrate statistical significance at the immediate posttest level,
the scores differed significantly on the delayed posttest. The raw scores were lower on
the delayed posttest than on the immediate posttest, however, statistical significance was
achieved on the present and conditional forms. Again, it must be reiterated that after the
immediate posttest, a 6-week cultural and historical content unit was implemented so that
the students were no longer focusing explicitly on grammar (i.e. the verb forms under
study). Therefore, this decline in raw scores could be explained because of the shift away
from grammar (verb forms) and the focus on culture and history.

Additionally, the students’ reactions to the alternative forms of teaching grammar
were positive. In general, students complain about grammar and find the exercises in the
textbook to be boring. However, it is not clear whether students would still view the
textbook as boring even if songs were included in the text itself. It is not possible to
distinguish the fact that students may prefer songs because they simply dislike the
textbook or that they prefer songs even if they thought the textbook was ideal. By
incorporating songs (and poems) into the classroom, students received different forms of
input and were able to learn fiom them. Because of the environment created from the
inclusion of popular songs, the students did not necessarily feel like they were sitting

through a grammar lesson. In fact, the focus was taken off the grammar and shifted onto

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the ‘different’ method of introducing grammar elements. In this way, students were able
to process the verb forms, to learn from them, and to enjoy learning a foreign language
through the use of songs in the classroom. Since this study, students have asked for
names of French pop artists and musical groups. They want to know who is ‘in’ and who
is ‘out’ as far as French pop icons are concerned. Their questions about French pop
culture and their interest in the songs emphasize the need to continually bring other forms
of realia into the foreign language classroom. Students are receptive to change,
especially when the change stems from outside of the textbook. If teachers are willing to
bring alternative forms of teaching into their classes that still complement the textbook,
they will see that students will not only appreciate the change in pace, but they will learn
from these alternative teaching methods. It must be emphasized, however, that whatever
additional material is introduced in the classroom it should serve some pedagogical goal.
It is not enough to simply play games or listen to music so that students attend class or
pay attention more. It is important to be selective in our teaching methods and to choose

options that promote student learning.

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CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT 2
4.1 Experimental Design

Like Experiment 1, this study examined the effects of song on verb form
acquisition through the use of written pre- and post—tests. The verb forms that were
selected were those taught to the students during the semester: present, compound past
(passé compose’), and imperfect. Surveys that investigated the impact of the poems and
songs were administered to the students and an additional motivational survey was
administered to all of the participants following the study.

Because this study took place during the fall semester of the academic year 2003
and additionally because the participants were enrolled in French 201 (third-semester
college French), it was necessary to set up the study so that it complemented the
predetermined syllabus used by all sections of the same level of French. As a teaching
assistant, I was responsible for following a specific course-syllabus that required
completion of the material on a schedule. Because of these conditions, the present study
was conducted during the chapters that introduced the target grammar structures: present,
compound past, and imperfect. Not only do these three forms provide an important
foundation for firrther study of the French language, but also all three of these forms were
presented in the text for third-semester French, Interaction (St. Onge, St. Onge & Kulick,
2003). By selecting grammatical structures for this experiment that were introduced in
the textbook, the subjects of this study received additional input on the three verb forms.
Fisher (2001) pointed out the necessity to choose activities that complement the course
material. As with games, videos, or songs, the exercises should serve as support to the

classroom, rather than an arbitrary addition to fill time.

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The three tests (pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest) were made up of
sentences that focused on verb forms. For each of the tests, 8 sentences focused on the
present tense, 8 on the compound past, and 8 on the imperfect. The remaining 5 served
as distracters. As in Experiment 1, the sentences were developed based on the lyrics of
the songs to which the students listened. The immediate posttest was modified by
changing the order in which the sentences were presented and by providing the students
with different subject pronouns so that they would be required to conjugate the same
verbs, although in different forms. There was no difference between the immediate and
delayed posttest because a period of three weeks separated the date of the immediate
posttest and the delayed posttest.

4.1.1 Modifications for Experiment 2

There were several modifications made to this second experiment compared to
Experiment 1. Because Experiment 1 served as a pilot study, it was necessary to make
changes to Experiment 2 in order to have more validity in the study. First, students in
both groups responded to a motivation survey. It is important to be aware of students’
motivations for learning a second language, and the inclusion of a motivation survey may
indicate why students choose to take foreign language classes. In addition, the
motivation survey’s aim was to determine if the songs or poems in the classroom
impacted students’ attitudes toward French, whether positively or negatively.

The second change was the number of times students listened to the songs. In
Experiment 1, the students of Group B (song) were limited to one listening of each song
due to time constraints of the normal class period (50 minutes). Despite this limitation,

the students in Group B were still able to outperform the students of Group A (poem). In

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fact, on the delayed posttest, the students in Group B scored significantly higher on two
of the three verb forms (present and conditional). Despite the result, in Experiment 2,
two class periods were set aside for the treatment so that Group B could listen to each of
the songs three times just as Group A listened to each of the poems three times.

The third change was the selection of the verb forms. In Experiment 1, which
focused on French 202 students (fourth-semester students), the present, future, and
conditional forms were studied. Experiment 2 involved students of French 201 (third-
semester students), so verb forms were selected for the study that had already been
introduced to the students during the semester (present, compound past, imperfect).

4.2 Method
4. 2. 1 Participants

It was not possible to obtain a random sampling for this experiment, so a
convenience sample was chosen, two classes of French 201 students. These students
were enrolled in 2-third semester French classes offered at Michigan State University.
Out of the 53 students enrolled in both classes, 46 students participated in the study and
completed the entire study: 20 in Group A (poem) and 26 in Group B (song).
Participation was voluntary, and students were not penalized for not taking part in the
experiment. There were 16 males, 8 in each of the groups, and 30 females (12 in Group
A and 18 in Group B). The students ranged in age from 18 to 24 years, with a mean age
of 19.54 years for the students of Group A and a mean age of 20.26 years for the students
of Group B. Both classes were taught in the same classroom at 12:40pm and 1:30pm

respectively. English was the native language for all of the students but one whose native

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language was Arabic. This student had been speaking English for 16 years and was
considered a fluent speaker of English.

Most students of both groups had previous classes in French at the high school
level. The mean duration of high school French study for both groups was 2.90 years,
while the mean of college French was 2.16 semesters and 2.20 semesters for Groups A
and B (poem and song) respectively, which included the semester of French 201 that was
taught at the time of the experiment. Some students took French 101 and 102 at the
university, while others passed into an advanced elementary class and only took French
150 prior to their placement in French 201. Of the 20 students in Group A (poem), 13
students had traveled in a Francophone country with a mean time of 17.9 days. Of the 26
students in Group B (song), 7 students had traveled in a Francophone country for a mean
time of 13 days. The students responded to a demographic survey (Appendix M) that
was used as a basis for this information.

4. 2.2 Materials

4. 2. 2. I Pretest-Posttest and Delayed Posttest.

As seen in Experiment 1, the students in Experiment 2 took three tests: a pretest
(Appendix G), an immediate posttest (Appendix H) following the treatment, and a
delayed posttest (Appendix H). The pretest focused on grammatical structures,
specifically the choice and conjugation among the present, compound past, imperfect,
and future. The future form served as a distracter. The immediate posttest contained the
same verbs as the pretest in Experiment 2, however the order of the sentences was altered
and 44% (13/29) ofthe subject pronouns were changed. The reason for which some

subject pronouns were changed while others left the same was because of the nature of

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the sentences. Because the sentences were pulled from the lyrics of the song, it did not
make sense to change the subject pronoun of impersonal or weather expressions. As with
Experiment 1, the sentences were randomly reordered and subject pronouns were altered
so that meaning remained intact. The delayed posttest was exactly the same as the
immediate posttest. It was not changed because three weeks was expected to reduce test
effect.

4. 2. 2.2 Treatment.

Three authentic French songs were selected for the treatment of this experiment.
The songs were used as poems for one of the groups. These poems were actually the
lyrics to the three songs, recited by the same male native speaker of French who also
recited the poems for Experiment 1. In this manner, the vocal characteristics were
controlled for both experiments. The three songs selected for Experiment 2 were Le
Banc des Délaissés (‘The Bench of the Abandoned’) by Isabelle Boulay (Appendix C)
which concentrates exclusively on the present tense, Un Jour on L ’Autre (‘One Day or
the Other’) by Isabelle Boulay (Appendix I), a song that focuses primarily on compound
past constructions, and II changeait la vie (‘He Changed his Life’) by Jean-Jacques
Goldman (Appendix J), which focuses on the imperfect.

These songs were selected for several reasons. It was important to choose songs
so that the musical accompaniment was not overpowering and that the lyrics were
comprehensible to second language learners. In addition, the pace of the song was taken
into consideration. Since the students would be required to write as they listened to them,
it was crucial to select songs whose tempos were not too fast. Finally, it was necessary to

find songs whose vocabulary structures were at a level that was comprehensible to the

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students. At the same time, the use of slang was limited so that the students could better
understand the lyrics. Group B (song) listened to the above songs, while Group A
(poem) listened to the lyrics without musical accompaniment, recited by the male native
speaker. Both groups received the same language input, in order to control for threats to
internal validity, and I administered the treatment to both groups.

4. 2. 2.3 Surveys.

Students in the study were required to fill out two different types of surveys: one
that focused on the impact of the poems (Appendix K) or the impact of songs (Appendix
F), and the other that focused on the motivational aspect of second language learning
(Appendix L). This motivational survey was two-fold: one part focused on the students’
attitudes, feelings, and motivation toward French prior to the study, and the second part
focused on the students’ attitudes, feelings, and motivation toward French upon
completion of the study. It is important to be aware of students’ motivations for learning
a second language, therefore the inclusion of a motivation survey may indicate why
students choose to or not to take foreign language classes. In addition, the survey’s aim
was to determine if the treatment (song/poem) impacted student attitudes toward French,
either positively or negatively.

The additional motivation survey and the inclusion of the written attitude survey
for the poem group were not conducted in Experiment 1. It was determined crucial to
include them in the Experiment 2 so that each student of both groups had the opportunity

to voice his/her feelings about the study.

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4. 2.3 Procedure

4. 2.3.1 Pretest.

The students took the pretest thirteen weeks prior (i.e. at the beginning of the
semester) to any implementation of the treatment in order to determine what they already
knew about different verb forms. As with the pretest in Experiment 1, the students were
asked to conjugate the verb given in parentheses choosing the correct tense based on the
context of the sentences. The time limit for this exercise was 15 minutes, and its aim was
to determine if the students knew how to correctly choose and conjugate the verb forms
prior to formal instruction in third-semester French. As was the case for Experiment 1, if
the students had enrolled in any previous French courses at Michigan State University or
elsewhere, they should have already been familiar with the present and compound past
forms. For many, it was the first time they were introduced to the imperfect.

Following the pretest, yet prior to the treatment period, both French classes were
taught multiple chapters from the textbook, Interaction (St. Onge et al., 2003) that
focused on the present, compound past, and imperfect. All of the students received the
same input during the presentation of material from the text during the regularly
scheduled class instruction. A span of thirteen weeks was used to teach the five chapters
from the textbook that contained these three verb forms.

4. 2. 3.2 Treatment.

I randomly selected one class to be members of Group A (poem) and the other
class to be Group B (song). On the days of treatment, Group A listened to three different
poems, recorded by a native French speaker on compact disk. These poems were actually

the song lyrics to which Group B listened. The students in Group B listened to the three

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songs all sung by different native speakers of French. Thus both groups received the
same language content and performed the same activities on treatment days. The input
was primarily auditory because the students were required to listen to either the poems or
the songs. However, as in Experiment 1, an additional component of reading and writing
was added because as the students listened to the recordings, they wrote the verb forms
they heard.

On the treatment days, the students in Group A were given three separate lyric
sheets, with the verb forms under study omitted. Similar to Experiment 1, students
listened to the poem one time without looking at the lyrics. During the second listening,
students were asked to fill in the verb forms they heard. After the second listening,
students worked in pairs to discuss their responses. Following pair work, the entire class
shared responses, and the correct conjugations of the verb forms were provided on the
overhead projector. Finally, students listened a third time to the poem. This procedure
was then repeated for the other two poems. The third poem was played on the second
day of treatment, after which the students used the rest of the hour to review for the
chapter examination that included the verb forms under study.

4. 2. 3. 2.1 Group B Treatment.

The students in Group B (song) performed the same activities. Just as Group A
listened to the poems prior to receiving the lyrics sheet, Group B also listened to each
song prior to receiving the lyrics sheet. Following Paivio (1971), the students were
allowed to first listen to the song without presenting the lyrics. “[Empirically]...words
are better remembered when presented auditorily rather than visually” (p. 241).

Following the first listening, the students then received the lyrics sheets and were

required to write the verb forms they heard. Paivio recommended presenting the song
without lyrics, then presenting the song with the words/lyrics, and finally listening to the
song multiple times. So, the students completed the lyrics sheets during the second
listening of each song, followed by pair work, and finally a whole class discussion of the
correct responses for each of the three songs. After the class discussion, the students of
Group B listened to the song for the third time. Recall that in Experiment 1, the students
in Group B did not listen to three recordings of each song. It was imperative to the
design of Experiment 2 to have equal amounts of each form of input in order to avoid
threats to intemal validity of the study. Therefore, the students in Group B listened to
each song three times, as did the students in Group A. In this manner, treatment for
Experiment 2 spanned two class periods. The songs and poems for the present and
compound past were presented on Day 1 of the treatment, while the song and poem for
the imperfect was presented on Day 2 of the treatment.

4. 2. 3.3 Posttests.

One day following the treatment, students completed a written posttest (Appendix
H). The students were given 15 minutes to complete this posttest.

Three weeks following the immediate posttest, a delayed posttest was
administered to the students (Appendix H). This posttest was exactly the same as the
immediate posttest. The students in both groups received 15 minutes to complete this
test. During the three weeks that separated the immediate posttest from the delayed
posttest, the students continued working in the textbook, Interaction (Onge et al., 2003).
The focus of the following chapter was not on verb forms, but rather centered on

interrogative pronouns: qui, que, quel, lequel (‘who/that’, ‘that’, ‘which’, ‘which one’).

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Students also reviewed for oral examinations that focused on the vocabulary and
grammar structures introduced throughout the semester.

4. 2. 3.4 Surveys.

Students responded to the two surveys upon completion of the study, on the day
of the delayed posttest. The surveys were written in English, the native language of all
but one of the students, so that they could fully understand the questions posed to them.
In addition, if they wanted to add any further comments, they could do so more easily in
English than in the target language, French.

4.3 Results of Experiment 2
4.3.1 Scoring

Just as with Experiment 1, a conservative picture approach was used to score the
tests. Because the infinitive was provided in parenthesis for each of the sentences on the
pre- and posttests, a response was considered correct if the tense and conjugation were
appropriate for the infinitive provided in parentheses. However, if the tense selected was
correct but the conjugation was incorrect or vice versa, the response was counted as
incorrect. In addition, if an accent was omitted or simply unclear (accent grave or aigu),

the response was marked incorrect. Refer to Section 3.3.1 for further details on scoring.

Therefore, for each of the three forms (present, compound past, imperfect), student scores
could range from 0-8. No partial credit was awarded on any of the tests.
4. 3.2 Tabulation of Results

I graded all of the pre- and posttests of the study and performed the statistical

analysis of the results. A t-test was performed in an effort to determine if the two groups

(poem and song) were comparable prior to the study (results from the pretest). Following

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the study, raw scores were tabulated from both of the posttests and from each of the three
verb forms (present, compound past, and imperfect) in order to determine if one group
performed with more grammatical accuracy than the other. In this manner, the study
would determine if songs or poems significantly impacted verb acquisition, and
specifically the acquisition of the three forms chosen as the focus for this study. In
addition to the t-tests, the raw scores were analyzed using a MANOVA. It was crucial to
inspect the factors of time, form, and group individually, and also to look at the
interactions across these variables using the MANOVA. As with Experiment 1, the alpha
level was set at p<.05 for Experiment 2.

4. 3. 2.1 Pretest.

Research hypothesis 1: Prior to treatment, there are statistically significant
differences between the two groups on the three verb forms of the pretest.

Null hypothesis 1: Prior to treatment, there are no differences between the two

groups on the three verb forms of the pretest.

67

2 '6 My?

Table 4 displays mean scores, standard deviations, and results of t-tests.

Table 4:

Mean scores of present, compound past, and imperfect pretests for two groups

 

Form Group N M SD t-value
Present 3:32: fig :32 1:; .95(n.s.)
Compound Past g:gg:rgn 32 :23 i :21; .98 (n.s.)
322:: :2 :2: 1::

 

Note. N - Number of students in each group
Level of significance: p<.05

Table 4 indicates a failure to reject the null hypothesis: for the present [df= 44, F = 0.00,
p= .95 (n.s.)], for the compound past [df= 44, F = 0.0, p= .98 (n.s.)], and for the imperfect
[dF 44, F = 0.06, p= .81 (n.s.)]. Therefore, based on the mean scores of the two groups
(A and B) on all three verb forms of the pretest, it is possible to state that the two groups
were comparable. There were no statistically significant differences between the two
groups. For all three forms, it is clear that the groups were indeed similar prior to the
treatment period.

As shown in Table 4, the scores possible on each of the verb forms of the pretest
ranged on a scale from 0-8. For all three verb forms and in both groups, all mean scores
were below 4.00/8.00, with the mean scores of the compound past and the imperfect
below 2.00/8.00. These scores indicated that the students’ ability to use the tenses
accurately and productively was less than 50%. Several of the students in both groups

also scored 0 on many of the sentences on the pretest. In Group A, 17 of 60 sentences

68

(28%) received a score of 0. Twenty of 78 sentences (25%) were scored as 0 for Group
B. I chose to keep these students’ scores in the experiment because of the limited sample
size and because of their improvement on immediate and delayed posttests. Because of
the regression of their scores to the mean afier the treatment period, the data was included
in all statistical testing. However, there were two students, one from each group, who
received a score of 0 on several of the sentences on the pre- and posttests, demonstrating
no acquisition of verb forms throughout the study, or for that matter, throughout the
semester. For this reason, neither of the two students’ scores was taken into
consideration for the statistical testing. These two students were not included in the
sample size provided in Section 4.2.1.

4. 3. 2.2 Immediate Posttest.

Research hypothesis 2: The groups are different on the three verb forms on the
immediate posttest.

Null hypothesis 2: The two groups are similar on the three verb forms on the

immediate posttest.

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Table 5 shows the means, standard deviations and t- values for Groups A and B

on the immediate posttest for each of the three verb forms.

Table 5:

Mean scores of present, compound past, and imperfect immediate posttest for two groups

 

Form Group N M SD t-value

Present 3:832:21 32 :23 2(2); .49 (n.s.)
Compound Past 3:181:32 3(6) 2'3; 1;; .08 (n.s.)
Imperfect 333:? 32 2'13 1133 .500...)

 

Note. N - Number of students in each group
Level of significance: p<.05

As one can observe, all of the mean scores increased from the pretest mean scores for
both groups and for all three verb forms. One may recall that the mean scores for Group
A (poem) for the three verb forms were 3.80, 1.70, 1.05 for present, compound past and
imperfect. On the immediate posttest, their mean scores increased for the respective verb
forms: 5.05, 3.85, and 4.85. Similar increases were seen for Group B (song) whose mean
scores on the present, compound past, and imperfect increased from 3.76, 1.69, 1.15 to
5.50, 4.77, and 5.19 respectively. However, based on the t- values shown above, there
were no statistically significant differences between the two groups on any of the verb
forms. The mean scores for each of the forms (present, compound past, and imperfect)
were slightly higher for the song group (B) than the mean scores for the poem group (A).
There was a mean difference of .45 points for the present, .92 points for the compound

past, and .34 points for the imperfect. At this point in the experiment and as was the case

70

for Experiment 1, there was not significant differences at the time of the immediate
posttest. However the inspection of the mean scores suggested the following possible
trends. These slight differences of raw scores revealed a tendency that song may allow
students to retain grammatical structures and perform with more accuracy on written
tests. However, with lack of statistical significance, no claims can be made. It is
interesting to note the mean scores of Group B for the compound past on the immediate
posttest. Group B’s mean score was nearly 1.00 point higher than that of Group A’s
mean score. Though the difference was small, it is noteworthy to point out that the I-

value was nearing statistical significance with a value of .08.

 

4. 3. 2.3 Delayed Posttest.

It was important to test the students’ knowledge afier the treatment period to
determine whether or not the material that was presented was actually retained by the
students. Three weeks following the treatment, the delayed posttest was administered.

Research hypothesis 3: The groups are different on the three verb forms on the
delayed posttest.

Null hypothesis 3: Mean scores on the three verb forms show no statistically

significant differences between groups.

71

Table 6 shows the results of t-tests for the three verb forms.

Table 6:

Mean scores of present, compound past, and imperfect delayed posttest for two groups

 

Form Group N M SD t-value
Present 3133;“ 32 3:33 1133 9501-8)
Compound Past 3:33;: 32 :2? :2: .47 (n.s.)
Imperfect 3133;“ 32 2:22 1:23 .22....)

 

Note. N — Number of students in each group
Level of significance: p<.05

The scores for the three verb forms on the delayed posttest indicated a failure to reject the
null hypothesis. In fact, what is surprising about the results of the delayed posttests was
the mean scores of Group A (poem). Where a significant difference was nearly seen in
the mean scores of the compound past on the immediate posttest (Table 5) with a
probability value of .08, on the delayed posttest, the mean score of Group A surpassed the
mean score of Group B (song) by .34 points on the compound past. In addition, the mean
score of Group A was higher than that of Group B by .66 points on the imperfect form as
well.

Based on these scores, there are no statistically significant differences between
Groups A and B on any of the three verb forms on the delayed posttest. The raw scores
demonstrated that Group A improved from their immediate posttest on all three verb
forms, whereas the scores of Group B improved only on the present test. With both

groups being exposed to the same language input and activities, although different

72

treatments, it is possible to suggest that the songs did not have an effect on the
acquisition of the different verb forms.

4. 3. 2.4 MANOVA Results.

Although it was essential to analyze the raw scores and means using a t-test, it
was additionally important to look at the changes in scores across the entire study as well
as within the study. Therefore a MANOVA was used to analyze more fully the results
from pretest to immediate posttest, from immediate posttest to delayed posttest, and from
pretest to delayed posttest. As seen in Experiment 1, the t-test can indicate differences
between the means of two groups, but is limited to an isolated or static comparison. The
MANOVA test, then, was used to look at the overall experiment, to analyze the trends
and interactions between time, group, and form. According to the MAN OVA results,
looking at the changes that occurred from the pretest to immediate posttest, there were no
significant differences that existed between the groups [F= .61, df; 1, p= .44]. There
were significant values for the factors of time (p<.001) and form (p<.001), as well as the
interaction between time and form (p<.001). These results mean that the time of the
pretest and time of the posttest were significantly different from one another. In addition,
the forms under study were different from one another (i.e. present at compound past at
imperfect). These two significant values of time and form indicated that performance on
the verb forms was mediated by time, meaning that the scores changed differently over
the course of time.

When analyzing the changes that occurred from the immediate posttest to the
delayed posttest, the differences between the groups were not significant [F =.09, df= 1,

p= .76]. One can observe, however, that the value for time effect was at .055, which

73

 

borders statistical significance. This means that time may have been a factor in the scores
from the immediate posttest to delayed posttest. In addition, there was a time and group
interaction (p<.01) and again, the differences in form showed significant values (p<.001).

Finally, the data from the pretest to the delayed posttest, that is from the
beginning of this experiment prior to the introduction of the treatment, and until the
completion of the study with the delayed posttest, showed no significant values for group
differences [F =.21, df= l, p= .64]. Again, there were significant values for the factors of
time (p<.001), for form (p<.001), and for the interaction between time and form
(p<.001).

The results of the MANOVA indicated that this experiment had two significant
main effects (time and form) and one significant interaction (time and form) at each time
period (pretest to immediate posttest, immediate posttest to delayed posttest, and pretest
to delayed posttest), which means that the effects of the factors of time and form were
mediated by each other and by group.

1. Main effect of time means that both groups showed a significant change from
pretest to immediate posttest, from immediate posttest to delayed posttest, and from
pretest to delayed posttest.

2. Main effect of form means that the groups’ performance differed significantly
according to the verb form, but because there was no Group X F orrn interaction, the
difference was consistent for both groups. That is, the treatment did not affect the

differences in groups to a significant degree.

74

3. The absence of a main effect of group or interactions involving group means
that the two groups did not perform differently to a significant degree either in terms of
their accuracy with verb forms or in their degree of change over time.

As with Experiment 1, there were statistically significant values found for the
factors of time and form. However there was no significance found in the interactions of
the variables with relation to group.

4. 3. 2.5 Observations.

Although it is noteworthy to discuss the quantitative analysis for the study in an
effort to demonstrate songs’ impact on grammar acquisition in a FL setting, it is equally
important to discuss the qualitative findings. The students from Group B (song) appeared
to enjoy the treatment period. As with the students of Experiment 1, those involved in
Experiment 2 also closed their eyes and swayed in their seats as they listened to the
songs. One student even hummed through the chorus of a song after he had heard it the
first time. These actions demonstrated an appeal for the music to which they were
listening. Students enjoyed working in pairs in order to verify their responses or to
clarify a verb conjugation they did not understand. Once finished with pair work, the
whole class discussed the correct responses. Students participated more and with more
energy than on traditional class days. The nature of the class and the activities related to
the songs as well as the inclusion of the songs themselves provided a positive atmosphere
for language learning. Researchers (F onseca Mora, 2000; Guerroro, 1987; Horwitz &
Young, 1991; Kramer, 2001; Merriam, 1964) have supported the notion that introducing

music and songs in the foreign language classroom can decrease the anxiety students may

75

feel, and will provide them with a non-threatening environment for foreign language
learning.

The students in Group A (poem) appeared frustrated at times during the treatment
period. Just as the students in Experiment I felt the speaker had recited the poems too
quickly, the students in Experiment 2 felt the same way. However, once working in
pairs, the students seemed to set their feelings of frustration aside, because as one student
began to share answers, others became uninhibited and shared their responses too.
Similar to the students in Experiment 1, the students in Experiment 2 appeared more at
ease when in groups and participated with one another. The group work, then, created a
sense of solidarity among the students and fostered a productive work environment in
which students appeared to feel comfortable with one another (Domyei, 2001; Ehrman &
Dornyei, 1998; Klein, 1993; Kowal & Swain, 1994).

4. 3. 2.6 Surveys.

Research hypothesis 4: The students who listen to songs will feel that the songs
were more beneficial to language learning than the students who listen to poems will feel
about the poetry.

The attitude survey was designed so that students responded to statements
concerning song/poem use on a 5-point Likert scale. Based on the results from
statements on the survey (presented as group means), students in Group B (song) thought
that listening to songs was a very positive experience (4.46). The students felt that the
songs and textbook activities complemented each other well (4.53), and that it was
beneficial to perform the activities (lyric sheets) (4.64). When asked if they preferred

listening to songs to the textbook, student response was high (4.03). It is not clear from

76

the survey why students preferred the songs to the textbook. Perhaps they disliked the
textbook, or they thought it was boring or poorly organized. They may not have liked the
activities presented in the text or the structure of the chapters. Would their responses
have been any different if songs had been presented in the textbook? Or would they have
still thought the text was boring even if popular songs had been a part of their
‘traditional’ textbook? What is most surprising is the mean score attributed to the
improvement in grammar (3.67). As in Experiment 1, this grammar score is lower than
mean scores for vocabulary (4.14), listening comprehension (4.57), pronunciation (4.10),
and cultural knowledge (4.35). There may be several explanations for this difference in
scores. First, the students were not told that grammar acquisition (i.e. verb forms) was
the central focus of the experiment. As seen in Experiment 1, the students were asked to
participate in a study that introduced songs into the foreign language classroom. They
were never told that the songs were being used to help increase student comprehension of
grammar, and more specifically of verb forms. In addition, as stated in Section 3.3.2.6 of
Experiment 1, students have a general feeling that their grammar in English, their L1, is
quite poor. This feeling is often transferred to the L2 (French). So it is not nearly as
surprising why they felt their grammar did not improve from the songs as much as the
other factors (vocabulary, listening comprehension, pronunciation, and cultural
knowledge). In fact, since grammar is a blanket term that could pertain to other
grammatical components (i.e. sentence structure, agreement, gender etc.), the lower mean
scores could be indicative of these factors and not necessarily of students’ comprehension
of verb forms. For a complete listing of mean scores on the 5-point Likert scale, see

Appendix F.

77

Group A (poem) also received a survey, and unlike the oral survey for the poem
group in Experiment 1, the students in Group A of Experiment 2 demonstrated an appeal
for the poems. The students in Group A thought that the inclusion of poems was a very
positive experience (4.00 versus 4.46 for Group B). They also agreed that the poems
aided with vocabulary (3.92 versus 4.14 for Group B), listening comprehension (4.36
versus 4.57 for Group B), pronunciation (3.64 versus 4.10 for Group B), and cultural
knowledge (3.40 versus 4.35 for Group B). As was the case for Group B (song), Group
A also had a lower mean score for grammar (3.24 versus 3.67 for Group B) than for these
other factors. Students on the whole believed that listening to the poems was enjoyable
(4.16 versus 4.46) and demonstrated a desire to listen to other poems in future classes
(4.24 versus 4.57). Mean scores of the poem group (A) of a 5-point Likert scale are
presented in Appendix K.

Group B responded to all but 2 of the 19 survey statements with higher mean
scores than those of Group A. The two statements that received lower mean scores
pertained to tension and frustration during the song/poem inclusion and the students’
feelings on remaining exclusively with textbook exercises. Statement #2 referred to the
students feeling tense and frustrated; the lower the mean score, the less tension. The
students in Group B had a mean score of 2.00, while the students in Group A had a mean
score of 2.72, which means that frustration and tension were reported as lower in Group
B than in Group A. This supports the claims made by Fonseca Mora (2000), Guerroro
(1987), Horwitz and Young (1991), and Merriam (1964) that music can serve to lower
anxiety. Statement #6 referred to the desire to work with the textbook rather than with

the songs/poems. The students in Group B had a mean score of 2.00, while the students

78

in Group A had a mean score of 2.16. Therefore, the lower values of the two statements
for the song group indicated more appreciation for the songs and a greater desire to use
the songs than for the textbook. On the remaining 17 statements included in the survey,
Group B had higher mean scores than those of Group A.

The results of the motivation survey showed that both the poems and the songs
were responsible for the students’ positive attitudes toward French.

Research hypothesis 5: The use of songs in the foreign language classroom will
motivate learners to enjoy their French studies.

Thirteen of the 23 (56%) completed surveys for Group A showed that there was a
change in attitude toward learning French. All 13 of these changes were a positive
change. When asked if the students would enjoy French if more poems were used, 15
(65%) responded yes, while only 4 (17%) responded no. One of the surveys warrants
special mention because of the dramatic change in the leamer’s attitude. Prior to the
inclusion of poems in the class, the students were given this survey that asked whether
they enjoyed French or not. This particular student responded with negative answers. On
his/her second survey, administered afier the inclusion of poems and related activities,
including both immediate and delayed posttests, this student responded that the poems
changed his/her attitude toward learning French. In fact, the student believed that the
poems were the cause of this positive change.

In a similar manner, the survey results for the song group demonstrated a positive
appeal for the inclusion of songs, and the changes in attitudes were positive. Twenty-five
of the 29 surveys (86%) demonstrated a change in attitude toward French, and this

change was positive. No student thought that his/her attitude was negative because of the

79

 

inclusion of songs. When asked if the students would enjoy French more if they had the
opportunity to listen to more songs, 26 students (89%) responded with yes. Only 3
students (10%) responded that they did not think they would enjoy French more if more
songs were implemented in the classroom.

From the motivation survey, it is clear that both groups benefited from the
inclusion of poem or song in the classroom. Attitudes were generally positive, and the
desire for more poems/ songs was high. It is apparent that the implementation of different
forms of authentic materials of different media into the classroom sparked students’
interests, caused their attitudes to be positive, and that there was an overall sense of
enjoyment in the classroom due to the inclusion of poems/songs.

4.4 Discussion

All of the students benefited from this study (whether part of the poem or song
group) because all of the students demonstrated a better understanding of the uses and
conjugations of the verb forms. The process of listening to poetry or songs and
completing exercises in addition to the classroom instruction proved to be beneficial to
grammar learning (i.e. verb forms). On the pretest, a total of 37 groups of sentences
(26%) received a score of zero versus only 3 groups of sentences (1%) on the combined
posttests (immediate and delayed). This was a dramatic decline in the number of
sentence groups that scored 0.

Unlike the results of Experiment 1, which demonstrated significant differences
between groups on two of the three verb forms (present and conditional), the results from
the t-test of Experiment 2 did not show statistical significance. Several factors may

Provide some insight on this matter. The pretest for this study was administered on the

80

 

Day 2 of the fall semester, during Week 1 of a 16-week semester as opposed to during
Week 8 for Experiment 1. This means that there was a thirteen week span between the
pretest and the treatment period for this study. Because the present tense was presented
during the first chapter of the text, it was necessary to administer the pretest prior to any
formal introduction of the grammar elements of the experiment. Therefore, the students
took the pretest on Day 2 of the semester, so that by the time they were introduced to the
treatment (poem/song), there had been a great opportunity for much change and
maturation to take place in both groups. By the time the students were introduced to the
treatment thirteen weeks following the initial pretest, too much deviation may have taken
place. Perhaps the students were at different levels by the time the treatment came about.
This time factor could have influenced the scores of the immediate and delayed posttests. I.
The time factor was not relevant for Experiment 1. Recall that for Experiment 1, the
pretest was administered during Week 8 of the semester and the treatment was introduced
two weeks later. Because of the shorter amount of time between the pretest and
immediate posttest for Experiment 1, there was less opportunity for maturation of
learning levels on the part of the students. By the time the students were introduced to
the treatment, it is safe to assume that the groups were still comparable and at a similar
level of grammar comprehension with regard to verb forms. In addition, the three verb
for-111$ (present, future, and conditional) of Experiment 1 were introduced in the same
Chapter, whereas the verb forms of Experiment 2 spanned five chapters. Therefore, the
students in Experiment 1 were more likely to have been at same grammatical level at the \,

onset of the treatment than those students in Experiment 2.

81

In addition to the time factor, there were social factors that need to be addressed.
The two groups of students were very much different from one another socially. On Day
2 of the semester, it was far too early to make any conclusions about the social tendencies
of either group, but by Week 13, it was obvious to me that the two groups were very
different from one another. Group A (poem) was more subdued during class time. The
students in this class were generally more shy and timid during class periods. They
appeared more serious about their French learning, whereas the students of Group B
(song) were outgoing, talkative, and less serious during class time. They were constantly
speaking in English during group work or getting off topic from what was presented in
class. In this way, perhaps the students in Group B did not acquire as much because of
their social behavior and attitudes during class time. Because there was more English
used in group and partner work, the students may not have been at the same level as those
students in Group A. Therefore, it may be possible that the students in Group A were at a
more advanced level by the time the treatment was introduced into the study although
according to the pretest results, they were similar groups.

Additionally, Experiment 2 focused on learners of third-semester French, whereas
Experiment I focused on learners of fourth-semester French. The difference in level may
have played a role in the results of the study. The students of third-semester French may
“Ot have been as ready for oral input via songs and poems as were the students of fourth-
Smnester French. In addition, the selection of songs differed from those in Experiment 1-
‘ pilot study. It is possible that the choice of songs or the verb forms selected impacted V
the results of the study. One of the research questions asked early on for both

experiments was whether or not there was a limitation to what the songs could teach. It

82

,/ 9

may be that Experiment 1 demonstrated significance in the present and conditional, not

only because of the verb forms, but also because of the level of learner (fourth-semester
compared to third-semester). What is most interesting is that the same song (Le Bane des
Délaissés) (‘The Bench of the Abandoned’) was used for both studies, but it was only
with Experiment 1 that the present tense had significant differences between the song and
poem group. With the present tense for Experiment 2, Group B (song) did outperform
Group A (poem), but not to a significant degree. This result indicates that the level of
learner may be an important factor when implementing song into the foreign language
classroom.

In addition, the choice between compound past and impeffect is a challenging
concept to master for non-native speakers, and especially for those in intermediate French
classes. There may not have been significant results on Experiment 2 because of the

inherent nature of these two verb forms. Students struggle with the formation of the

compound past, having to choose correctly between the auxiliary verbs étre (‘to be’) and
avoir (‘to have’). However, when the imperfect form is added into the choice, students
demonstrate a further misunderstanding of the verb forms and ofien make errors when
choosing between the compound past and the imperfect. Again, with Experiment 1,
Which focused on present, future, and conditional, the use of adverbs for the future form
and the Si (‘If’) + imperfect constructions to indicate the conditional mood may have
aided students in choosing the correct verb form. Had Experiment 1 tested the difference
beMeen the future and future perfect (futur ante’rieur) or the difference between the
conditional and the past conditional, perhaps the results of the study would have differed.

Because the three verb forms selected for Experiment 1 were very different from one

83

another (present, future, conditional), it may have been easier for the students to separate
these verb forms. However, had the future and future perfect been part of the study,
would the students have been able to distinguish between the two forms as easily? Or
had the conditional and past conditional been used on the tests, would students have been
able to correctly identify the imperfect or pluperfect (‘pIus-que-parfait’) in the Si (‘If’)
clause? Since there were no similarities in the nature of the verb forms (present, future,
conditional) in Experiment 1, the significant results may have been obtained from the
exclusivity of the different verb forms. However, because of the similarity in nature

(past) for the compound past and imperfect, it is possible that students struggled to

distinguish these verb forms in Experiment 2.

Finally, as was the case in Experiment 1 for the conditional form, the song which
featured the compound past in Experiment 2 only provided 7 opportunities to form this
tense (Appendix I). As you may recall, the song for the conditional form had 12 blanks.
For the present and the imperfect, there were 25 and 18 blanks respectively. This means

that on a whole, students had over three times the amount of practice on the present than
the compound past and over twice as many opportunities to practice the imperfect. This
Smaller amount of practice with the compound past may have been a factor for which the
mean scores were consistently lower on this tense. Given fewer opportunities to listen to
this form and fewer opportunities to write this form, the students performed worse on this

font) than on the other two (present and imperfect), and perhaps why no significance was

seen in the statistical tests.

84

4.5 Conclusion
Experiment 2 did not demonstrate statistically significant results for the impact of
songs on foreign language learning. In fact, the mean scores of Group A (poem) were
slightly higher than those of Group B (song) on the delayed posttest for the compound
past and the imperfect forms. This experiment demonstrated that songs did not help the
retention of verb forms as much as poems and did not improve grammar acquisition (i.e.
verb forms and conjugations). Despite what educators have written in articles that center
on teacher observations and How To’s of implementing songs in the classroom, this
experiment demonstrated that no significance was found when introducing songs in the
classroom. Although educators may feel that songs create a relaxed and non-threatening
environment in which language learning takes place, this study showed that music did not
seem to provide benefits. In addition, although students responded positively to the
implementation of songs in the classroom, and did request more songs for future use, this
does not mean that the songs were beneficial to learning. One cannot implement
materials that students like simply because of their student appeal if the material does not
benefit learning. If this were the case, all teachers of foreign languages would be using
the L1 in class because students generally like it when the teacher speaks the L1. Just
because the L1 appeals to students does not necessarily mean the L1 benefits L2 learning.
HOW can teachers expect students to produce in the target language if the target language
is 110t used during class? In the same way, songs cannot be used to teach verb forms
Sin‘lply because of positive student response. Of course, songs may still be used in the

forei gn language classroom, but one should recognize their limits.

85

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 General Concluding Remarks.
The purpose of these experiments was to establish whether or not songs can
facilitate grammar acquisition of verb forms. Based on the previous research cited above
(Fonseca Mora, 2000; Lozanov, 1959), instrumental music appears to create a
comfortable and relaxed environment in the classroom. Perhaps the music allows
students to feel uninhibited and more sure of themselves to produce language. However,
it is not clear from either of the two authors mentioned above that the musical influence
was the source of ‘better’ or more accurate language production. With song (melody and
text) as opposed to simply the instrumental music, it appeared from previous research
(Abrate, 1983; Arleo, 2000; Failoni, 1993; Kramer, 2001; Urbancic & Vismuller, 1983)
that students were better able to perform in the foreign language classroom and were
capable of producing proper structures. In fact, many of the teachers and researchers
claimed that songs taught their students vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural
information, however they neglected to include empirical findings for these claims. The
purpose of the present experiments was to test these sorts of claims, to determine if songs
could hold up in the foreign language classroom, and to assess their ‘benefits’. These
StUdies were set up in such a manner so that through a pretest/posttest design, it would be

Possible to determine songs’ effectiveness on grammar acquisition, more specifically on

Verb form choice and conjugation.

Experiment 1 did demonstrate that students who listened to songs performed

Sigil'lificantly better on the delayed posttest compared to the group who listened to poems.

Additionally, the students involved in that study reacted positively to the incorporation of

86

songs through the use of the attitude survey. However, it must be remembered that
Experiment 1 served as a pilot study and that in order to truly determine songs’
effectiveness, it was necessary to conduct a second study, Experiment 2.

The results differed greatly for Experiment 2. No significant differences could be
seen between the learners of the two groups (poem and song) on either of the posttests
(immediate or delayed). In fact, the students in Group A (poem) scored higher on two of
the three verb forms of the delayed posttest. This means that songs did not have an effect

on grammar acquisition, or specifically the verb form acquisition under question. The
purpose of the study was to determine if songs could help the students learn these
elements of grammar, not whether or not the students appreciated the change in
classroom pace, or whether or not they would have preferred to listen to more songs in
fixture classes. Despite the positive qualitative results of the study, which indicated
student appreciation of song and poem use and the fact that students felt that the
implementation of songs and poems made learning French more fun, the results of the
two experiments indicated no significant results for the scores of the song group. The

qualitative results alone should not be weighed if the students did not benefit

quantitatively from the experiment. If the students did not learn above and beyond what

the text alone could have taught them, then song-use in the classroom proved to be a

failure. Despite the articles written that mentioned the how to’s and the many benefits of
Song-use in the foreign language classroom, Experiment 2 demonstrated the opposite,

that songs did not aid the students in the acquisition of verb forms.

Using songs may be an alternative approach to presenting and teaching foreign

language material (grammar, vocabulary, and culture). Students enjoy listening to music

87

both inside and outside the classroom. According to the surveys from Experiment 1 and
Experiment 2, most students spend time listening to music outside of the classroom.
Through the incorporation of authentic language into the classroom through song,
students’ interests could be sparked and language learning could take place. It is true that
the songs appealed to the students, but appeal for songs was not the focus of these
experiments. These studies asked the question of whether or not verb forms could be
acquired because of the inclusion of songs in the foreign language classroom. Many
educators have written articles claiming success from the implementation of song, so it
was necessary to test song’s effectiveness, to determine if it could teach what many have
claimed it could do. The fact of the matter is that song did not help with verb form
acquisition. Students may have liked the change of pace in the classroom, but the
material was not effective, and therefore should not be categorized as the successful and
innovative method for teaching foreign languages. If teachers want to introduce a variety
of teaching methods in their classrooms, they may find that incorporating songs may hold
students’ attention not only because there are multiple learner styles but also that the
change in classroom teaching will have an impact on the variety of learner styles. But
one must recognize that‘song-useflhas its limitations, and teachers should be cautious
when! relying too heavily on songs to teach language.
5. 2 Limitations
There was no true control group for either of the experiments. It is difficult to say
whether songs impacted grammar acquisition over and beyond traditional textbook
teaching because neither group used only the textbook. In fact, both groups worked

outside of the text and were ‘experimental’ in nature. In order to isolate the forms of

88

input to a truly control-experimental design, it would be necessary to have a group
included in the study that received no alternative teaching method. In this way, the songs
could be used as the treatment for the experimental group to determine if they impact
grammar acquisition. This could not be accomplished for the present studies because I
was limited to teaching two classes each semester. To avoid a threat to the internal
validity of the experiments (the element of instructor), I chose not to use another
instructor’s class for the control group of either study.

Secondly, because of the design of the treatment period (one 50 minute class
period for Experiment 1 and two-50 minute class periods for Experiment 2), the students
were somewhat overloaded with different grammatical elements. Each poem and/or song
was played three times, and three different verb forms were presented for each
experiment. This means that the students were required to get associated rather quickly
with the next verb form. However, because of the nature of the studies and the desire to
analyze retention with the delayed posttest, it was necessary to set up the studies so that
the treatment period did not span a long time frame. It could be possible, however, to
design an experiment in which songs, in general, would be used throughout the semester

as an added form of input and as a support to the textbook, and to see if students’ scores
on chapter tests and final examinations differed significantly from the performance of the
students who did not receive the additional song input throughout the semester.
5. 3 Areas for Future Research
It could also be interesting to test songs against another form of input: textbook
exercises (that students generally view as boring and uninteresting), CD-ROM exercises,

web activities, or video (that combines both the song and the visual element) that target

89

 

similar structures. I think it is important to spark the interests of our students-- to
introduce them to the varied ways one can learn a foreign language, and also because of
the variation in learning styles.

In addition to the written language that is tested, it could be beneficial to test
students’ spoken language. This is an important factor to consider because on any
written assignment, students can reflect on the structure they should be incorporating.
However, in spoken language, the aim is to speak spontaneously, without much ‘down-
time’ compared to written language. Therefore, it would be interesting to test students’
knowledge of these structures in the form of oral examinations. On the other hand, songs
are oral and students may have an easier time staying within the same task type (aural-
oral), rather than transferring it (oral-written).

One other factor to consider from these experiments was the design of the pre-
and posttests, which treated tense choice and conjugation. One additional way to test
students’ grammar acquisition is to use open-ended exercises testing actual usage.
However, students would then have the option of limiting their language choice by
selecting verb forms they knew or felt were easy to conjugate. For the purpose of

internal validity, it was necessary to standardize the tests used in the experiments to
ertsure that each student was required to use all of the conjugations and verbs as every
other student.
These factors could be of interest to others looking to work with and research

music in the foreign language classroom.

90

APPENDICES

91

Appendix A

Pretest for Experiment 1

Choisissez la forme approprie'e du verbe en parenthese pour compléter la phrase.
Choisissez parmi le present, le passé compose, l’imparfait, le futur, le conditionnel ou le
subjonctif. Conjuguez le verbe dans le blanc donné.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Hier a la plage, je/j’ (lever) les yeux au ciel.
2. Je deviendrai tout muet pour que tu me/m’ (oublier).
3. L’automne prochain, 1e vent (faire) craquer les branches.
4. Quand je suis entre’e chez moi, je/j’ (voir) une lumiere.
5. I] y a trente ans, mon grand-pere (étre) un cordonnier.
6. Hier soir, je te/t’ (dire) n’importe quoi.
7. A l’église, les grandes cloches (sonner) encore.
8. Quand elle était petite, elle (se croire) inutile.
9. Je veux que tu (ne jamais avoir) mal.
10. Le soleil (sortir) a peine demain.
ll. Je/J’ (entendre) ta voix qui m’appelle.
12. Si j’e'tais stricte, je (étre) professeur.
l3. Demain, je/j’ (oublier).
14. [Is (savoir) la re'ponse s’ils étudiaient.
15. Les arnants (se retrouver) maintenant sur les quais sous le
pont.
16. Je/j’ (avoir) une voiture de sport si j’avais un bon emploi.
l7. Pour ton prochain anniversaire, je te/t’ (offrir) des fleurs.
l8. Aujourd’hui, il fait beau. I] y (avoir) plus de soleil.
19. Elle (recevoir) une mauvaise note une fois dans sa vie.
20. Pas aujourd’hui, mais demain, vous (jouer) dehors avec vos
amis.
21- Je/J ’ k (attendre) sur le banc.
22- A Chaque instant, je/j’ (espérer) te trouver.

 

92

23. Si j’étais gentil, je te/t’ (offrir) des bijoux.

 

 

 

 

 

 

24. Pour ses prochaines vacances, on (aller) en haut des collines.
25. Dans un mois, nos corps (se cacher) sous des bouts de laine.
26. La semaine demiere, vous (accompagner) votre smur a l’école.
27. Tu (s’amuser) au restaurant avec tes amis hier ?

28. Si on avait de l’argent, on (aller) en Europe.

29. Nous (faire) un voyage si nous avions le temps.

 

93

 

Appendix A

Pretest for Experiment 1 (English)

Choose the appropriate form of the verb in parenthesis to complete the sentence. Choose
among the present, the past tense, the imperfect, the future, the conditional, or the
subjunctive. Conjugate the verb in the blank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Yesterday at the beach, I (to raise) my eyes at the sky.

2. I will become mute so that you (to forget) me. n
3. Next fall, the wind (to make/do) crack the branches. .
4. When I entered my home, I (to see) a light.

5. For thirty years, my grandpa (to be) a shoemaker.

6. Last night, I (to see) some big stars.
7. At the church, the bells (to ring) again. 5' ""
8. When she was little, she (to believe herself) useless.

9. I (to want) to become a doctor when l was small.

10. The sun (to come out) hardly tomorrow.

11. I (to hear) your voice that calls me.

12. If I was strict, I (to be) a professor.

13. Tomorrow, I (to forget).

14. They (to know) the response if they studied.

15. The lovers (to meet) now on the platforms under the bridge.

16. I (to have) a sports car if I had a good job.

17. For your next birthday, I (to offer) to you some flowers.

18. Today it’s nice. There (to have) lots of sunshine.

19. She (to receive) a bad grade once in her life.

20. Not today, but tomorrow, you (to play) outside with your

friends.

21. I (to wait) on the bench.

22. At each moment, I (to hope) to find you.

23. If I were nice, I (to offer) to you some jewelry.
24. For our next vacation, we (to go) high in the hills.

 

94

25. In a month, our bodies (to hide oneself) under pieces of wool.

 

 

 

 

26. Last week, you (to accompany) your sister to school.

27. You (to amuse oneself) at the restaurant with your friends
yesterday?

28. If we had some money, we (to go) to Europe.

29. We (to make/do) a trip if we had the time.

 

95

 

Appendix B

Posttest (Immediate and Delayed) for Experiment 1

Choisissez la forme approprie’e du verbe en parenthése pour compléter la phrase.
Choisissez parrni le pre'sent, 1e passé compose, l’imparfait, le futur, le conditionnel, ou le
subjonctif. Conjuguez le verbe dans le blanc donné.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Demain, tu/t’ (oublier).
2. Elles (savoir) la réponse si elles étudiaient.
3. Pour ton prochain anniversaire, je te/t’ (offrir) des fleurs.
4. Aujourd’hui, il fait froid. I] y (ne plus avoir) de soleil.
5. Hier a la mer, je/j’ (lever) les yeux au ciel.
6. Je deviendrai tout muet pour que tu me/m’ (oublier).
7. L’automne prochain, le vent (faire) craquer les branches.
8. Tu (s’amuser) au restaurant avec tes amis hier ?
9. Si on avait de l’argent, on (aller) a New York.
10. 113 (faire) un voyage s’ils avaient le temps.
11. Quandje suis entree chez moi, je/j’ (voir) une lumiere.
12. 11 y a trente ans, ma grand-mere (étre) une institutrice.
l3. Hier soir, vous me/m’ (dire) n’importe quoi.
14. A la cathe'drale, les grandes cloches (sonner) encore.
15. Quand il était petit, il (se croire) inutile.
16. Je veux que tu (ne jamais avoir) mal.
17. Le soleil (sortir) a peine demain.
l8. Nous (entendre) votre voix qui nous appelle.
19. S’il était strict, il (étre) professeur.
20. Elle (recevoir) une mauvaise note une fois dans sa vie.
21. Pas aujourd’hui, mais demain, nous (jouer) dehors avec nos
amis.
22. Je/J’ (attendre) sur le banc.
23. A chaque instant, tu (espérer) me trouver.

 

96

24. Si j’e'tais gentil, je te/t’ (offrir) des cadeaux.

 

25. Pour ses prochaines vacances, on (aller) a la plage.

 

26. Dans un mois, nos corps (se cacher) sous des couvertures.

 

27. La semaine demiere, vous (accompagner) votre smur a l’école.

 

28. Les arnants (se retrouver) maintenant au restaurant.

 

29. Je/j’ (avoir) une voiture de sport si j’avais un bon emploi.

 

 

97

Appendix B

Posttest (Immediate and Delayed) for Experiment 1 (English)

Choose the appropriate form of the verb in parenthesis to complete the sentence. Choose
among the present, the past tense, the imperfect, the future, the conditional, or the
subjunctive. Conjugate the verb in the blank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Tomorrow, you (to forget).

2. They (to know) the response if they studied.

3. For your next birthday, I (to offer) to you some flowers.

4. Today, it’s cold. There (to have no more) sunshine.

5. Yesterday at the sea, I (to raise) my eyes to the sky.

6. I will become mute so that you (to forget) me.

7. Next fall, the wind (to make crack) the branches.

8. You (to amuse oneself) at the restaurant with your friends
yesterday?

9. If we had some money, we (to go) to New York.

10. They (to do/make) a trip if they had the time.

1 1. When I came home, I (to see) a light.

12. For thirty years, my grandma (to be) a schoolteacher.

13. Last night, you (to tell) me no matter what.

14. At the cathedral, the bells (to ring) again.

15. When he was small, he (to believe oneself) useless.

16. I want that you (to never have) hurt.

17. The sun (to come out) hardly tomorrow.

18. We (to hear) your voice that calls us.

19. If he were strict, he (to be) a professor.

20. She (to receive) a bad grade one time in her life.

21. Not today, but tomorrow, we (to play) outside with our
friends.

22. I (to wait) on the bench.

 

98

23. At each moment, you (to hope) to find me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

24. If I were nice, I (to offer) to you some presents.

25. For our next vacation, we (to go) to the beach.

26. In one month, our bodies (to hide oneself) under blankets.
27. Last week, you (to accompany) your sister to school.

28. The lovers (to meet) now at the restaurant.

29. I (to have) a sports car if I had a good job.

 

99

Appendix C

Le Banc des Délaissés par Isabelle Boulay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vendredi heures devant la cathédrale
Dans le clocher les grandes cloches encore
Au rendez-vous en dessous les remparts

Chaque minute une éternite’

J’ ta voix qui m’appelle

Je dans la foule sans trouver

J’ sur le banc des de'laisse's

J’ toute seule parmi les milliers

A chaque instant j’ te trouver

 

A mes cotés sur le banc des de’laisse’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vendredi heures les gens presse’s
Seuls les pigeons et les touristes restés
Les arnants sur les quais sous 1e pont
Ils s’entrelacent serre's et en partant
J’ ta voix qui
J e dans la foule sans trouver
J’ sur le banc des délaisse’s
J’ toute seule parmi les milliers
A chaque instant j’ te trouver
A mes cotés sur le banc des délaisse’s
Vendredi heures la place vide’e
Y’a plus de soleil dans les vallées de cette cité
Les ombres des arbres a mes pieds
J’ ta voix qui
J e dans la foule sans trouver
J’_ sur le banc des délaisse’s
J’_ toute seule parmi les milliers
A chaque instant j’ te trouver

 

A mes cotés sur le banc des délaissés

100

 

Appendix D

Octobre par Francis C abrel

 

 

 

 

 

 

Le vent craquer les branches

La brume dans sa robe blanche
Y’ des feuilles partout

Couchées sur les cailloux

Octobre sa revanche

Le soleil a peine

Nos corps sous des bouts de laine
Perdue dans tes foulards

Tu le soir

 

Octobre endonni aux fontaines

I] y certainement,
Sur les tables en fer blanc

Quelques vases vides qui trainent

Et des nuages pris aux antennes

Jet’ des fleurs

Et des nappes en couleurs

Pour ne pas qu’Octobre nous prenne

 

 

On tout en haut des collines
Regarder tout ce qu’Octobre illumine

Mes mains sur tes cheveux

Des écharpes pour deux

Devant le monde qui s’incline

 

Certainement appuyés sur des bancs

 

I] y quelques hommes qui se souviennent
Et des nuages pris sur les antennes
Jet’ des fleurs

 

Et des nappes en couleurs
Pour ne pas qu’Octobre nous prenne

 

Et sans doute on apparaitre
Quelques dessins sur la bue'e des fenétres
Vous, vous dehors

 

Comme les enfants du nord
Octobre peut-étre.

 

101

 

Vous, vous dehors
Comme les enfants du nord
Octobre peut-étre

 

 

102

 

Appendix E

Si j’étais un homme par Diane Tell

 

Moi, si j'étais un homme,

je capitaine

D'un bateau vert et blanc,

D'une élégance rare et plus fort que l'ébene
Pour les trop mauvais temps.

 

 

Je en voyage
Voir les plus beaux pays du monde.

Je te l'arnour sur
la plage

En savourant chaque seconde

Oir mon corps engourdi s'enflamme
Jusqu'a s'endormir dans tes bras,
Mais je suis femme et, quand on est
femme,

On ne dit pas ces choses-la.

 

Je de beaux bijoux,
Des fleurs pour ton appartement,

Des parfums a vous rendre fou

Et, juste a cote de Milan,

Dans une ville qu'on appelle Bergarne,
I e construire une
villa,
Mais je suis femme et, quand on est
fernme,
0n n'achete pas ces choses-la.

Il faut dire que les temps ont change.
De nos jours, c'est chacun pour soi.
Ces histoires d'amour démodées
N'arrivent qu'au cine'ma.

0n devient e’conome.

C'est dommage :

moi j' bien aimé
UP peu plus d'humour et de tendresse.
SI les hommes n'étaient pas si presses

prendre maitresse...

Mu j'étais un homme

 

 

 

 

Je tous les jours
Rien que pour entendre ta voix.
Je "mon
amour",

pour qu'on se voie
Et un programme
A l'allure d'un soir de gala,

Mais je suis femme et, quand on est
femme,
Ces choses-la ne se font pas.

Il faut dire que les temps ont change.
De nos jours, c'est chacun pour soi.
Ces histoires d'amour démodées
N'arrivent qu'au cinema.

On devient économe.

C'est dommage, moi

j' bien airné
Un peu plus d'humour et de tendresse.
Si les hommes n'étaient pas si presses
De prendre maitresse...

Ah ! si j'étais un homme,

Je romantique...

 

 

 

 

 

 

103

owsowswwr

10.
ll.

12.
13.
14.
15.
l6.
17.
18.
19.

9‘91“pr

Appendix F

Survey for Experiment 1 and Experiment 2

1= strongly disagree
2= mildly disagree
3= neutral
4= mildly agree
5= strongly agree

In general, listening to songs in class has been a very positive experience.

 

I felt tense/frustrated at times when listening to music in class.

 

Work with the songs prepared me well for written exams.

 

Work with the songs prepared me well for oral exams.

 

The songs and classroom activities complemented each other.

 

Time listening to songs would be more effectively spent working in the text.
The songs have improved my reading comprehension.

 

 

The songs have improved my writing skills.

 

Th.e songs have improved my vocabulary.

 

The songs have improved my grammar.

 

The songs have improved my pronunciation.

 

The songs have improved my listening comprehension.

 

The songs have improved my cultural knowledge.

 

The songs have improved my speaking ability.

 

I often listen to music.

 

I prefer the songs to the traditional textbook exercises.

 

I liked listening to the songs.

 

The follow-up exercises were beneficial.

 

I would like to listen to other songs in class.

 

Results of Survey from Experiment 1
1= strongly disagree
2= mildly disagree
3= neutral
4= mildly agree
5= strongly agree

In general, listening to songs in class has been a very positive experience. 4.27

I felt tense/fi'ustrated at times when listening to music in class. 2.11
Work with the songs prepared me well for written exams. 2.88
Work with the songs prepared me well for oral exams. 2.88
The songs and classroom activities complemented each other. 3.55

Time listening to songs would be more effectively spent working in the text. 2.00

104

7. The songs have improved my reading comprehension. 3.22

8. The songs have improved my writing skills. 2.83
9. The songs have improved my vocabulary. 3.88
10. The songs have improved my grammar. 3.22
11. The songs have improved my pronunciation. 3.61
12. The songs have improved my listening comprehension. 3.94
13. The songs have improved my cultural knowledge. 3.61
14. The songs have improved my speaking ability. 3.33
15. I often listen to music. 4.88
16. I prefer the songs to the traditional textbook exercises. 3.77
17. I liked listening to the songs. 4.55
18. The follow-up exercises were beneficial. 4.00
19. I would like to listen to other songs in class. 4.66

Results of Survey from Experiment 2
l= strongly disagree
2: mildly disagree
3: neutral
4= mildly agree
5= strongly agree

 

1. In general, listening to songs in class has been a very positive experience. 4.46
2. I felt tense/fi'ustrated at times when listening to music in class. 2.00
3. Work with the songs prepared me well for written exams. 3.35
4. Work with the songs prepared me well for oral exams. 3.92
5. The songs and classroom activities complemented each other. 4.53
6. Time listening to songs would be more effectively spent working in the text. 2.00
7. The songs have improved my reading comprehension. 3.60
8. The songs have improved my writing skills. 3.32
9. The songs have improved my vocabulary. 4.14
10. The songs have improved my grammar. 3.67
11. The songs have improved my pronunciation. 4.10
12. The songs have improved my listening comprehension. 4.57
13. The songs have improved my cultural knowledge. 4.35
14. The songs have improved my speaking ability. 3.71
15. I often listen to music. 4.92
16. I prefer the songs to the traditional textbook exercises. 4.03
17. I liked listening to the songs. 4.64
18. The follow-up exercises were beneficial. 4.64
19. I would like to listen to other songs in class. 4.57

105

Appendix G

Pretest for Experiment 2

Choisissez la forme approprie'e du verbe en parenthese pour compléter la phrase.
Choisissez parmi le pre’sent, le passé compose, l’imparfait et le firtur. Conjuguez le verbe
dans le blanc donné.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

l. Hier a la plage, je/j’ (lever) les yeux au ciel. IPA-L.
2. Maintenant au centre commercial les gens (étre) presses.
3. L’automne prochain, le vent (faire) craquer les branches.
4. Quand je suis entree chez moi, il me/m’ (falloir) ranger ma _
chambre. I: ..
5. I] y a trente ans, mon grand-pere (étre) cordonnier.
6. Hier soir, je/j’ (voir) de grandes étoiles.
7. Maintenant a l’e’glise, les grandes cloches (sonner) encore.
8. Quand elle était petite, elle (se croire) inutile.
9. Je (vouloir) étre médecin quand j’étais petit.
10. Le soleil (sortir) a peine demain.
ll. Je/J’ (entendre) ta voix qui m’appelle.
12. Quand nous étions jeunes, nous (avoir) un chien.
l3. Demain, je/j’ (oublier).
14. Ils (pleurer) quand ils se faisaient mal.
15. Les amants (se retrouver) maintenant sur les quais sous 1e
pont.
16. Tu me/m’ (suivre) dans ta voiture de sport hier.
l7. Pour ton prochain anniversaire, je te/t’ (offrir) des fleurs.
18. Aujourd’hui, il fait beau. 11 y (avoir) plus de soleil.
l9. Elle (recevoir) une mauvaise note une fois dans sa vie.
20. Pas aujourd’hui, mais demain, vous (jouer) dehors avec vos
amis.
21. Maintenant, je/j’ (attendre) sur le banc.

 

106

22. Je/J’ (espérer) te trouver en ce moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

23. Cela faisait 30 ans qu’il (étre) cordonnier.

24. Quand je leur ai donné un cadeau, ils (sourire).

25. Aujourd’hui, la place (étre) vide.

26. La semaine derniere, vous (accompagner) votre sceur a l’e’cole.
27. Tu (s’amuser) au restaurant avec tes amis hier ?

28. Elle (changer) souvent de spécialités quand elle était a la fac.
29. Quand vous (étre) petits, vous sortiez souvent.

 

107

 

Appendix G

Pretest for Experiment 2 (English)

Choose the appropriate form of the verb in parenthesis to complete the sentence. Choose
among the present, the past tense, the imperfect, the future, the conditional, or the
subjunctive. Conjugate the verb in the blank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Yesterday at the beach, I (to raise) my eyes at the sky.

2. Now at the mall the people (to be) in a hurry.

3. Next fall, the wind (to make/do) crack the branches.

4. When I entered my home, I (to see) a light.

5. For thirty years, my grandpa (to be) a shoemaker.

6. Last night, I (to see) some big stars.

7. Now at the church, the bells (to ring).

8. When she was little, she (to believe herself) useless.

9. I (to want) to become a doctor when I was small.

10. The sun (to come out) hardly tomorrow.

11. I (to hear) your voice that calls me.

12. When we were young, we (to have) a dog.

13. Tomorrow, I (to forget).

14. They (to cry) when they were getting hurt.

15. The lovers (to meet) now on the platforms under the bridge.

16. You (to follow) me in your sports car yesterday.

17. For your next birthday, I (to offer) to you some flowers.

18. Today it’s nice. There (to have) lots of sunshine.

19. She (to receive) a bad grade once in her life.

20. Not today, but tomorrow, you (to play) outside with your
friends.

21. Now I (to wait) on the bench.

22. I (to hope) to find you at this moment.

23. I was 30 years that he (to be) a shoemaker.

 

108

 

24. When I gave them a gift, they (to smile).

 

 

 

 

 

25. Today the plaza (to be) empty.

26. Last week, you (to accompany) your sister to school.

27. You (to amuse oneself) at the restaurant with your friends
yesterday?

28. She (to change) often her major when she was in college.

29. When you (to be) little, you went out often.

 

iP—fi

 

I
lf‘j

109

Appendix H

Posttest (Immediate and Delayed) for Experiment 2

Choisissez la forme appropriée du verbe en parenthese pour comple’ter la phrase.
Choisissez parmi le present, le passe' compose', l’imparfait, 1e futur, 1e conditionnel, ou le
subjonctif. Conjuguez le verbe dans le blanc donné.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

l. Demain, tu/t’ (oublier).

2. La semaine demiere il me/m’ (falloir) ranger ma chambre.

3. Pour ton prochain anniversaire, je te/t’ (offiir) des fleurs.

4. Aujourd’hui, il fait chaud. I] y (avoir) de soleil.

5. Hier a la mer, il (lever) les yeux au ciel.

6. Quand nous (étre) petits, nous sortions souvent.

7. L’automne prochain, le vent (faire) craquer les branches.

8. Tu (s’amuser) au restaurant avec tes amis hier ?

9. ll (changer) souvent de spécialités quand il était a la fac.

10. Quand je suis entre'e chez moi, je/j’ (voir) une lumiére.

11. I] y a trente ans, ma grand-mere (étre) institutrice.

12. Hier soir, vous (voir) de grandes étoiles.

13. A la cathédrale, les grandes cloches (sonner) maintenant.

14. Quand i1 e'tait petit, il (se croire) inutile.

15. Je (vouloir) étre pompier quand j’étais jeune.

16. Le soleil (sortir) a peine demain.

l7. Nous (entendre) votre voix qui nous appelle.

l8. Quand vous étiez jeunes, vous (avoir) un chien.

l9. Elle (recevoir) une mauvaise note une fois dans sa vie.

20. Pas aujourd’hui, mais demain, nous (jouer) dehors avec nos
amis.

21. Maintenant je/ j’ (attendre) sur le bane.

22. Tu (espérer) me trouver en ce moment.

23. Cela faisait 20 ans qu’elle (étre) professeur.

 

110

 

 

 

24. Quand je lui ai donné un cadeau, elle (sourire).

 

25. Maintenant au cinéma les gens (étre) presses.

 

26. La semaine derniere, vous (accompagner) votre soeur a l’e'cole.

 

27. Les amants (se retrouver) maintenant au restaurant.

 

28. Elles (pleurer) quand elles se faisaient mal.

 

29. Aujourd’hui la place (étre) vide.

 

tmx‘

 

111

 

Appendix H

Posttest (Immediate and Delayed) for Experiment 2 (English)

Choose the appropriate form of the verb in parenthesis to complete the sentence. Choose
among the present, the past tense, the imperfect, the future, the conditional, or the
subjunctive. Conjugate the verb in the blank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Tomorrow, you (to forget).

2. Last week it me (to be necessary) to clean my room.

3. For your next birthday, I (to offer) to you some flowers.

4. Today, it’s hot. There (to have) sunshine.

5. Yesterday at the sea, he (to raise) his eyes to the sky.

6. When we (to be) little, we went out often.

7. Next fall, the wind (to make crack) the branches.

8. You (to amuse oneself) at the restaurant with your friends
yesterday?

9. He (to change) often his major when he went to college.

10. When I came home, I (to see) a light.

11. For 30 years, my grandma (to be) a schoolteacher.

12. Last night, you (to see) big stars.

13. At the cathedral, the bells (to ring) now.

14. When he was small, he (to believe oneself) useless.

15. I (to want) to be a fireman when I was young.

16. The sun (to come out) hardly tomorrow.

17. We (to hear) your voice that calls us.

18. When you were young, you (to have) a dog.

19. She (to receive) a bad grade one time in her life.

20. Not today, but tomorrow, we (to play) outside with our
friends.

21. Now, I (to wait) on the bench.

22. You (to hope) to find me at this moment.

 

112

23. For 20 years, she (to be) a professor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

24. When I gave her a present, she (to smile).

25. Now at the cinema, the people (to be) in a hurry.

26. Last week, you (to accompany) your sister to school.
27. The lovers (to meet) now at the restaurant.

28. They (to cry) when they were hurting themselves.
29. Today the plaza (to be) empty.

 

113

 

Appendix I

Un Jour ou L’autre par Isabelle Boulay

Puisque tu sais le temps qu'il
Pour arriver au coin de ta rue
Puisque derriere tes paupieres baissées

Tu les routes 01)

Puisque tu vois la couleur de mes nuages

Et les photos qui rient dans mes bagages

Je garderais tous ces morceaux de nous

Que cassés un peu partout...

 

 

 

 

Un jour ou l'autre, on se retrouvera
Comme un matin d'enfance

Un jour tout autre, on se reconnaitra
Pour une autre danse...

 

 

Tu des soleils endormis
Entre tes cils, ils
Par tes yeux clairs, des arcs-en-ciel

 

La ou j'avais laissé fondre mes ailes

Meme si tu vis dans d'autres vies que moi
Si chaque nuit nous éloigne pas a pas
Méme si j'ai peur des ombres qui s'avancent
Dans cette charnbre qui part vers le silence

Un jour ou l'autre, on se retrouvera
Comme un matin d'enfance

Un jour tout autre, on se reconnaitra
Au-dela du silence...

Un jour ou l'autre, on se retrouvera
Comme un matin d'enfance

Un jour tout autre, on se retrouvera
Au-dela du silence...

114

 

Appendix J

11 changeait la vie par Jean-Jacques Goldman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C' un cordonnier, sans rien de particulier
Dans un village dont le nom m'a échappé

Qui des souliers si jolis, si légers

Que nos vies un peu moins lourdes a porter
11 y du temps, du talent et du cmur

Ainsi sa vie au milieu de nos heures

Et loin des beaux discours, des grandes the'ories

A sa tache chaque jour, on dire de lui

I] la vie

0 un professeur, un simple professeur

Qui que savoir e'tait un grand trésor

Que tous les moins que rien n' pour s'en sortir

 

Que l'école et le droit qu'a chacun de s'instruire

 

 

 

 

I] y du temps, du talent et du coeur

Ainsi sa vie au milieu de nos heures

Et loin des beaux discours, des grandes theories

A sa tache chaque jour, on dire de lui

I] la vie

0 un petit bonhomme, rien qu'un tout petit bonhomme

 

Malhabile et réveur, un peu loupé en somme
inutile, banni des autres homes
11 sur son saxophone

 

 

11 y mit tant de temps, de larmes et de douleur
Les réves de sa vie, les prisons de son cmur

Et loin des beaux discours, des grandes theories
Inspiré jour apres jour de son souffle et de ses cris
I] la vie

 

115

 

I’m

PWNQMPP’NT‘

10. The poems have improved my grammar.

ll
12
l3

14.
15.
16.
17.
l8.
l9.

P‘P‘PP’NT‘

Appendix K

Survey

l= strongly disagree
2= mildly disagree
3= neutral
4= mildly agree
5= strongly agree

In general, listening to poems in class has been a very positive experience.
I felt tense/fi'ustrated at times when listening to poems in class.

 

Work with the poems prepared me well for written exams.

 

Work with the poems prepared me well for oral exams.

 

The poems and classroom activities complemented each other.

 

 

Time listening to poems would be more effectively spent working in the text.
The poems have improved my reading comprehension.

 

The poems have improved my writing skills.

 

The poems have improved my vocabulary.

 

 

. The poems have improved my pronunciation.

 

. The poems have improved my listening comprehension.

 

. The poems have improved my cultural knowledge.

 

The poems have improved my speaking ability.

 

I ofien read poetry.

 

I prefer the poems to the traditional textbook exercises.

 

I liked listening to the poems.

 

The follow-up exercises were beneficial.

 

I would like to listen to other poems in class.

 

Results of Survey from Experiment 2
1= strongly disagree
2= mildly disagree
3= neutral
4= mildly agree
5= strongly agree

In general, listening to poems in class has been a very positive experience.4.00
I felt tense/frustrated at times when listening to poems in class. 2.72
Work with the poems prepared me well for written exams. 3.20
Work with the poems prepared me well for oral exams. 3.40
The poems and classroom activities complemented each other. 4.20

Time listening to poems would be more effectively spent working in the text. 2.16

116

9::

7. The poems have improved my reading comprehension.
8. The poems have improved my writing skills.

9. The poems have improved my vocabulary.

10. The poems have improved my grammar.

11. The poems have improved my pronunciation.

12. The poems have improved my listening comprehension.

13. The poems have improved my cultural knowledge.
14. The poems have improved my speaking ability.
15. I often read poetry.

16. I prefer the poems to the traditional textbook exercises.

17. I liked listening to the poems.
18. The follow-up exercises were beneficial.
19. I would like to listen to other poems in class.

117

3._52__

3.12

3.92

3.24

L

4.36

3.40

2.96

3.04

3.40

4.16

4.00

4.24

 

 

 

Appendix L

Motivation Survey for Poems

Administered prior to treatment

. Was FRN 201 a requirement for your degree completion? Y

If it were not a requirement, would you still have taken it? Y
Do you have a positive attitude toward French language learning? Y
Do you enjoy learning French from the textbook? Y

Do you think you would enjoy listening to authentic French poems
that target grammatical structures that you will learn in FRN 201? Y

Motivation Survey
Administered after treatment

. Was FRN 201 a requirement for your degree completion? Y
If it were not a requirement, would you still have taken it? Y
Do you enjoy learning French from the textbook? Y

Do you think you would enjoy listening to authentic French poems
that target grammatical structures that you will learn in FRN 201? Y

After listening to poems, do you see a change in your attitude
towards French? Y

2222

N

6. If you see a change, circle the change that describes your personal situation.

More positive toward learning French

More negative toward learning French

7. Do you think the poems impacted your attitude? Y
This impact was: positive negative
8. If more poems were used, do you think you would enjoy

French more? Y

118

N

b)

A

U!

05

\1

Appendix L

Motivation Survey for Songs
Administered prior to treatment
. Was FRN 201 a requirement for your degree completion?
. If it were not a requirement, would you still have taken it?

. Do you have a positive attitude toward French language learning?

-< -< ~< r<

. Do you enjoy learning French from the textbook?

. Do you think you would enjoy listening to authentic French songs
that target grammatical structures that you will learn in F RN 201? Y

Motivation Survey
Administered after treatment

2222

N

. Was F RN 201 a requirement for your degree completion? Y
If it were not a requirement, would you still have taken it? Y
. Do you enjoy learning French from the textbook? Y
Do you think you would enjoy listening to authentic French songs
that target grammatical structures that you will learn in FRN 201? Y
After listening to songs, do you see a change in your attitude
towards French? Y
. If you see a change, circle the change that describes your personal situation.

More positive toward learning French
More negative toward learning French

. Do you think the songs impacted your attitude? Y
This impact was: positive negative

. If more songs were used, do you think you would enjoy

French more? Y

119

Appendix M

Demographic Survey

Gender: M F
Age:
Native language: English Other If other, please indicate:

 

How many years of English have you had?
High school French Y N

How many years?

College French Y N

How many semesters?

Overseas Travel in French speaking country Y N

How long?

 

Other French input? Y N

Explain

 

120

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121

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