Abstract
Research on correlations between musicality and language aptitude have been predominantly investigating the phonetic aspect of language processing. The current state of research suggests a strong and stable link between musicality and receptive language abilities, such as recognition of sounds, intonation and stress patterns, as well as productive skills. Relatively fewer studies have explored relations of musicality and grammar aptitude, despite neurological studies highlighting similar brain regions involved in the processing of musical, especially rhythmic, as well as grammatical patterns. This paper thus aims to investigate if musical training and musicality does indeed relate to grammatical skills. It is hypothesised that extensive musical training does not only impact the musical ear but also the ability to de- and encode structures, as well as the capacity to recognise and retain complex sequences. These specific skills are widely recognised to be involved in the acquisition of novel grammar. Research was conducted by testing a sample of 25 participants, which was split into two groups, musicians and non-musicians. Musicality of all participants was assessed and a grammar achievement test was issued. The results suggest a strong correlation between musical training, musicality and grammatical aptitude.
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- 1.
Event-related potential, which refers to the brain response as direct result of a stimulus. Regularly, EEGs are used to measure ERP.
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The Common European Framework of Reference has been used as basis, for more details on the respective levels of proficiency see: Council of Europe 2011. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: CUP.
- 3.
Universität Innsbruck 2017. “Mini-Proms”. https://www.uibk.ac.at/psychologie/fachbereiche/pdd/personality_assessment/proms/take-the-test/mini-proms/ . (25 Jul. 2017).
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It has to be noted however, that the Oxford Classics Language Aptitude Test is not validated and generally not used for language aptitude testing. Moreover, while a solution sheet was provided, the scoring of the tests is still subject of personal assessment and consideration. Thus, intra- and inter-rater reliability may be considered average. Despite these reliability issues, construct and content validity and the relative authenticity of the language processing situations do outweigh, in the opinion of the author, the downsides of the scoring.
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Malzer, D. (2018). Making Music and Learning Languages – Musicality and Grammar Aptitude. In: Reiterer, S. (eds) Exploring Language Aptitude: Views from Psychology, the Language Sciences, and Cognitive Neuroscience. English Language Education, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91917-1_11
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