Songs as a teaching tool in Second-Language Acquisition

Abstract

This thesis is intended to give an overview of the effects of music in second-language (L2) acquisition. The research investigates the benefits of musical patterns for cognitive mechanisms and it focuses on the use of songs as teaching tools designed for foreign students. The first part of the paper deals with an introduction in general terms of what is called “the immigrants’ profile”, which represents my group of study. In the second part I analyse the most recent studies concerning the advantages of music deriving from affective, cognitive and linguistic factors. In the third part, I firstly introduce my work experience from which I have drawn inspiration for this paper and secondly I take into consideration all the materials I have created to teach Italian to my students. In the final part of the research I examine the data, about the use of songs in classrooms, obtained thanks to assessment questionnaires administered to my foreign students and to their school teachers.