Music and motivation in the second language college classroom

This research study investigates qualitative and quantitative data from college students concerning their perceptions of the language learning context and of the affective and cognitive effects of musical modes of instruction in a required intermediate second language course. The study was conducted in two college intermediate-level Spanish classes of which I was the instructor.;The specific focus of the study centered on student perceptions of four issues: (1) the current context for second language study; (2) student motivations for second language learning; (3) the value of music activities in building second language skills; and (4) the value of music activities for student participation in second language learning. Music activities used in the class included listening to recorded songs, singing songs, and composing lyrics in the target language to a familiar tune. There were four phases to the data collection: an initial student survey on second language background; a series of daily evaluations of class activities; a motivation questionnaire; and interviews with individual students.;The findings from this study indicate that these students live in a society with minimal support for or modeling of second language fluency. For this population second language learning began later than any other core subject in their formal education, usually during middle school or high school. The students have had few opportunities to need or use a second language through travel or everyday experience and there are very few adults in their immediate or extended family that are fluent in a second language.;The students showed some consensus in regard to motivations for second language learning. The majority of the students admitted that they would not be taking the class if it were not to fulfill a college requirement. Even though they saw some importance for immigrants to learn English as a second language and believed that Spanish is an important language in the U.S., they did not agree that learning a second language was important for everyone.;Although students perceived some value in the music activities for building second language skills, there was a stronger support for the affective effects of the music activities in the classroom. The majority of the students perceived value in the music activities for lowering the anxiety they felt in the class. A higher percentage of students indicated appreciation for the music activities than for the study of second language in general. When asked for the three activities that they most enjoyed throughout the semester, students listed a music activity more than any other classroom activity.;The results from this population strongly support the current context for second language learning, including the monolingual nature of the society in which they live, that is set forth in the literature review. The results also show a low level of personal motivation for second language learning on the part of the students. The students indicated strong support for the positive effects of the use of music activities in the second language classroom to encourage student participation in second language reception and production.