Comprehensive review of the effect of using music in second language learning

Abstract

The present chapter reviews the application of music to teaching and learning a second language (L2). Conversations about the potential effect of music on brain function have widely circulated among the general public since Rauscher, Robinson, and Jens’ (1998) study examining the impact of Mozart’s music on listeners’ spatial reasoning, finding that those who listened to ten minutes of a piece for two pianos performed better on a shape-predicting task than in situations where they listened to a relaxation tape or worked in silence. Although their study had a small number of participants (n=36), and the music’s positive effect on participants’ spatial reasoning lasted only 10–15 minutes after the treatment, an oversimplification of the experiment results led people to believe that classical works by Bach or Mozart could help listeners enhance their memory and boost brain functions in the areas of mathematical analysis, analytical reasoning, or spatial reasoning