The effect of instrumental music and songs on vocabulary learning, reading comprehension and motivation in English as a foreign language: A quasi-experimental study with Turkish high school students

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to measure the statistical significance and effect size of the relationship between different instructional methods (instrumental music and songs) and subsequent changes in performance on vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. Second, it examines the possible mediating role of motivation in vocabulary learning and reading comprehension performance in relation to the implementation of music-based language instruction. This quasi-experimental study was conducted over a period of six weeks among 203 Turkish high school students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Participants were divided into two groups: instrumental music group (n=102) and songs group (n=101). One group (n=102) was taught the target vocabulary items by using instrumental music; and the other group (n=101) was taught the vocabulary items by means of English language songs. The pre-tests were applied right before the interventions and the post tests were conducted one week later. The results showed that the music-based pedagogy integrating both instrumental music and songs into English language classes contributed to the improvement of students' vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. Moreover, high levels of improvement in both vocabulary learning and reading comprehension performances were significantly associated with the implementation of song-based language teaching. Finally, motivation was found not to have a mediating role in vocabulary learning and reading comprehension in both groups. The study concluded that incorporating musical, specifically authentic songs, activities into the foreign language classroom can help raising students' achievement in vocabulary learning and reading comprehension.