Analyzing the effects of preschool musical education on reading skills of children 1

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1 Available Online at (c) EJRE published by International Association of Social Science Research - IASSR ISSN: European Journal of Research on Education, 2013, Special Issue: Art in Education, European Journal of Research on Education Analyzing the effects of preschool musical education on reading skills of children 1 Işıl Yaman Baydar a *, Adalet Kandır b a Tarhuncu Ahmet Paşa Secondary School, Keçiören, Ankara, 06300, Turkey b Gazi University Faculty of Education Pre-School Education Department, Beşevler,Ankara, 06500, Turkey Abstract This research aimed at examining the effects of music on reading skills of children during preschool period. The team of the research as made up of totally 46 children and 24 of these children were from the test group and 22 children were from the control group. During the research, as a part of the daily education routine of a ten-week-program, the children of the test group were applied the program called The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children for 30 minutes every day. The control group were applied the current existing daily education program. The data of the research were collected through The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children. The data obtained in the research were analysed with software package program of the SPSS. In the evaluation of the related to data, for the independent two-group-comparisons Mann-Whitney U test, one of the Non-Parametric tests was used while Wilcoxon Rank Sum Tests were applied for the dependent groups. The significance level was considered as p<0,05. As a result of the research, compared with the control group, the test group, which was applied The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children was noted as distinguished in a positive way, contrary to the control group (p<0.05). According to this result, it was determined that The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children has a positive effect on the reading skills of the children European Journal of Research on Education by IASSR Keywords: Preschool Music Education, Music Activities, Reading Skills 1. Introduction During the preschool period, pediatric development shows a very significant quick change. In this period, since children have a high curiosity level, the learning rate is also notably high. Apart from that, children come from different social classes, families and life standards, and also from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Thus, each child starts its preschool period with different experiences and skills. These experiences are also affected by the conditions of musical skills, games they play and learning rate. Since the early childhood stage is the period when the brain and neural development process is fast, it is an important period for musical education, as well. (Dartt, 2009; Garcia, 2011). Music elicits enhancing the concentration skills of children. Especially, academic cognitive skills such as mathematics and reading efficiently and other skills like focusing and social-emotional skills are the important keys of readiness for school. At the times of failure showing up the data patterns in brain, the reminder power of music steps in and this shows the significance of music on brain development of a child, considering all development fields as a whole. Well-planned musical activities help children to have early musical experiences such 1 This research was produced with the consultancy of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adalet KANDIR and analysing her master s thesis The Effect of Reading Skills Supportive Musical Activities on the Reading Skills of Children * address: isil.yaman.baydar@gmail.com

2 Işıl Yaman Baydar, Adalet Kandır as listening to music, singing or dancing, creating basic sounds and rhythmic words. With the help of substantial environments where teachers who have various intense musical experiences and proper pedagogical techniques, children make progress on speaking skills, reading skills and vocabulary. (Darrow et al., 2009; Etopio, 2009; Foran, 2009; Hayward & Gromko, 2009; Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010). Reading is a process of turning the series of visual motor symbols into verbal or non-verbal sound series. The first stage of the process in literacy is to be a curious researcher. Children learn how to create new stories or express themselves using or creating new words, what s more, how to communicate through sounds using their reading skills with the help of books they choose on their own (Bay, 2008; Diffily,Donaldson & Sassman, 2001). Many skills like paying attention, listening, vocabulary, pronunciation and reading skills as well are meant to be given along with musical activities. Thus, the linguistic skills integrated with musical education would be helpful to children for speaking skills and rhythm. In this case, music is a multifunctional tool which is used in the development of speaking and literacy skills. (Barr & Johnston, 1989; Wellman, 2007; Darrow, 2008). A kid gains many important skills like hearing what he/she listens, understanding what he/she hears during the period of preliteracy. Any sort of musical activities bring in auditory sense development, phonological core memory and upper cognitive data skills. The key of a successful reading skill is to develop the listening skills in efficient levels. Thus, many researchers have observed that musical education for pre-school kids has a deep impact on various different fields, especially effective at literacy skills of them. Hence, the high parallelism between music and reading stands out significantly. Symbols are defined both as visual and auditory. (Bolduc, 2008; Erdawrds, Bayless & Ramsey, 2005; Mizener, 2008; Wiggins, 2007). Based on the relationship between reading and writing skills development, this research aims at analysing the effects of musical activities on reading skills of children in pre-school period. 2. Methods In the research, a preliminary test/ beta test/ trail making test and experimental design method was used with the control group, in order to measure the effects of The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children on reading skills of children. In the design, the dependent variable was the Reading Skills of kindergarten kids who are months old, while the independent variable, which measures the effect of reading skill developing was The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children. In the research, the kids who are chosen for the test group were applied The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children whereas the kids of control group were left at their regular environment Sampling The sampling of the research was constituted of two randomly chose primary schools which have a special education program and are chosen by random sampling method. In the research sample, 46 children were included, 24 in the test group and 22 in the control group Data Collection In order to determine the alphabet knowledge, phonological sensitivity, vocabulary and pronunciation levels of preschool kids, The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children (Ankara Sample) by Yazıcı (2010), the reliability of which is still being carried, was used efficiently. The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children was consisted of totally 70 clauses with 3 different dimensions; 30 clauses of Alphabet Knowledge, 21 clauses of Phonological Sensitivity and 19 clauses of Vocabulary and Pronunciation. 26

3 Analyzing the Effects of Preschool Musical Education on Reading Skills of Children 2.3. The Educational Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old The Educational Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children which was developed by the researcher is based on supporting the reading skills of months old preschool kids. This is a program which can provide an atmosphere away from any sort of bias and make them eager to join, not only fulfil their needs of interests but also consider the structure of the environment where the program is applied. The program aims at entertaining and teaching children one since it consists of reading-skills- supportive activities such as acknowledgement, differentiation practices, singing, rhythm, dance and musical stories practices. The musical activities which aim at developing reading skills in The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children focus on readiness of children watching out the principle of hard-easy effect (cognitive bias) and they are formed by the following topics: Recognition and differentiation of voices, Singing practices, Rhythm practices, Creative dance studies, Musical story studies. In this sense, The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children is an extensive and functional educational program, intriguing and integrated with musical activities, supporting the reading skills of children and oriented to measure the musical talent and interest of children. It provides an opportunity of learning thorough the trial-and-error technique and it focuses on the developmental process of children which is totally based on children s interests. The program does not only enable analysing the musical activities in a systematic and sequential way but also integrates music with reading skills, which is actually considered to be academic. Children are given an opportunity to learn in groups which are categorized as large, small or individual. The program gives a chance for repetition while it also provides presenting words and monographs through musical activities. The researcher primarily analysed the national and international texts about musical sensitivity and preschool music activities. In accordance with the analysed international texts about the musical education programs and parallelism with them, the activities in The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children were chosen meticulously. The activities were planned as in sections in a 10-week-period and out of them, 3 days include 30-minute musical activities such as recognizing and differentiating sounds, singing, rhythm, creative dancing, musical story practices and this supports the reading skills of children. The program was composed of 30 unique musical activities which had the mentioned features Data Collection Method Before collecting the research data, the teachers of the children in the test or control group, were informed about content, purpose and the application methods of The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children. In this contact meeting, The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children was presented and the possible effects of the program on reading skills of children, the techniques and the system of the program were discussed. The general information about how to organize the materials and the techniques were shared with the teacher of the test group. On the other hand, the teacher of the control group was notified that they would go on applying the regular schedule and the program. Both of the teachers were informed about the preliminary test and the proof-test (proof positive) which would be applied at the end of the program The First Stage: Application of The Preliminary Test In order to measure the reading skills of the children, both of the groups were subjected to The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children (Ankara Sample) as a preliminary test The Second Stage: Applying The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children 27

4 Işıl Yaman Baydar, Adalet Kandır After the application of the preliminary tests, The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children was applied to the test group by the researcher, as well. On the other hand, the control group kept going on with the regular program of the Ministry of Education: The Preschool Education Program for Months Old Children. The researcher organized the environment of the test group properly just before each activity from The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children. In accordance with the principles of The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children; the program was applied for 10 weeks; 3 days in a week, for about 30 minutes a day. The process of the experiment was completed without encountering any sort of problem The Third Stage: Application of the Proof Positive After the whole program was accomplished, the test and control groups took The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children as a proof positive The Fourth Stage: Application of the Trail Test In order to determine the permanence effect of The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children, The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children were carried into action again to the test group about 4 weeks later than the last test Data Analysis Statistical analyses were made by evaluating the collected data in line with the purpose of research. The kindergarten students at the age of months took The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children and the collected data was computerized. Then, the results were evaluated with the help of SPSS package software. In the obtained data analysis, due to the uneven distribution of datum, Mann- Whitney U Test was preferred for the preliminary test, while Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was the right choice for the proof positive. In the evaluation session of the all tests applied, the significance level was achieved as 0.05 (in the case of p<0.05, it was regarded that there is a semantic change while in the case of p>0.05, there is not any sort of semantic change.) 3. Indications and Discussion Table 1. The results of Mann-Whitney U-Test related to the average of preliminary The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children for the test group which was applied The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children and the control group Groups Mann Whitney U Test N Mean Median Minimum Maximum SS Rate Ave. U p Preliminary Test Total Test 24 36, ,08 24,46 Control 22 34, ,14 22,45 Total 46 35,35 35, , ,613 As given in Table 1, No statistically significant difference was found between the test and control groups on the results of The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children (p>0.05). In terms of the results of The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children of 28

5 Analyzing the Effects of Preschool Musical Education on Reading Skills of Children both the test and control groups, it can be inferred that before The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children proceeds, both of the groups had same levels in common. Table 2. The results of Mann-Whitney U-Test related to the average of proof positive The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children for the test group which was applied The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Month Old Children and the control group Groups Mann Whitney U Test N Mean Median Minimum Maximum SS Rate Ave. U p Proof Positive Total Experiment 24 54, ,79 31,23 Control 22 34,55 31, ,75 15,07 Total 46 44,74 49, , ,000 As shown in Table 2, a significant difference was found between the test and control groups in terms of the proof positive scores of The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children. (p<0.05). Considering the means and totals, it was observed that this difference was in favour of the test group. According to this result, the children who was applied Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children performed a significant success (p<0.05). The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children is based on children and draws their attention, provides them analysing the basic subjects of reading skills in systematic and sequential way, creates an atmosphere where children can make repetitions and practices, gives them the chance of learning in an entertaining way in which they integrate their knowledge of music with reading skills with the guidance of an instructor. This can be thought as the reason why the test group became successful. Table 3. The results of the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test showing the comparative average of the test group s preliminary test and proof positive of The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children Test group Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test n Mean Median Minimum Maximum SS z p Alphabet Knowledge 24 10,88 9, ,81 Alphabet Knowledge (Proof) 24 21,50 24, ,15 Phonological Sensitivity 24 9, ,60 Phonological Sensitivity (Proof) 24 14, ,98 Vocabulary-Pronunciation 24 15, ,81 Vocabulary-Pronunciation (Proof) 24 18, ,92 Sub total 24 36, ,08 Final total 24 54, ,79-4,117 0,000-4,207 0,000-4,226 0,000-4,199 0,000 As given in Table 3, a significant change was found in the test group in terms of the results of preliminary and proof positive tests of The Literacy Skills Research Tests / Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children (p<0.05). It was statistically proved that this change was in favour of the children at the ground of alphabet knowledge, phonological sensitivity, vocabulary and pronunciation. In the research, it was found that The Education 29

6 Işıl Yaman Baydar, Adalet Kandır Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children, which was applied on the test group, integrates the daily activities with musical activities, considers the children as a whole, focuses on the differences between each child, entertains them during the process mixing up the reading skills and musical ability. For all these features of the program, the children of the test group showed a difference to a considerable extent with the results of preliminary and proof positive tests of The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children. (p<0,05) Table 4. The results of the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test showing the comparative average of the test group s preliminary test and proof positive of The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children Control Group Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test n Mean Median Minimum Maximum SS z p Alphabet Knowledge 22 10, ,63 Alphabet Knowledge (Proof) 22 11,18 8, ,22 Phonological Sensitivity 22 8,95 10, ,56 Phonological Sensitivity (Proof) 22 7, ,70 Vocabulary and Pronunciation 22 14, ,00 Vocabulary and Pronunciation(Proof) 22 15, ,29 Sub Total 22 34, ,14 Final Total 22 34,55 31, ,75-0,839 0,401-1,552 0,121-2,237 0,025-0,087 0,931 As shown in Table 4, the control group did not have a significant difference in the sense of alphabet knowledge, phonological sensitivity on the preliminary and the proof positive tests (p>0.05). However, a significant difference was found between the preliminary and the proof positive tests of vocabulary and pronunciation. (p<0,05). The proof positive tests of vocabulary and pronunciation was observed higher than the preliminary tests. This difference might arise from the Ministry of Education program called The Preschool Education Program for Months Old Children which also focuses on reading skills, and the performance of the teacher who basically applies the traditional methods and the children s background which can vary. Apart from that, the reason why there was no significant change on the other subtitles about vocabulary and pronunciations of the control group might be causing by the fact that the Ministry of Education s The Preschool Education Program for Months Old Children and The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children have very different methods of teaching; one follows the basic traditional methods and teacher might not be enough at teaching with the current material while the other one keeps creative methods to teach effectively. Thus, this entire element might be the reason for the difference between the test group and control groups. Table 5. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test results related to Trail Test/Preliminary Test/ Proof Positive Test Averages Test group Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test n Mean Median Minimum Maximum SS z p Alphabet Knowledge (preliminary) 24 10,88 9, ,81 Alphabet Knowledge Trail Test 24 22, ,75-4,145 0,000 30

7 Analyzing the Effects of Preschool Musical Education on Reading Skills of Children Alphabet Knowledge (proof) 24 21,5 24, ,15 Alphabet Knowledge Trail Test 24 22, ,75 Phonological Sensitivity (preliminary) 24 9, ,6 Phonological Sensitivity Trail Test 24 15, ,41 Phonological Sensitivity (proof) 24 14, ,98 Phonological Sensitivity Trail Test 24 15, ,41 Vocabulary-Pronunciation (preliminary) 24 15, ,81 Vocabulary-Pronunciation Trail Test 24 18, ,83 Vocabulary-Pronunciation (proof) 24 18, ,92 Vocabulary-Pronunciation Trail Test 24 18, ,83 Preliminary Test Total 24 36, ,08 Trail Test Total 24 56,63 61, ,75 Proof Total 24 54, ,79 Trail Test Total 24 56,63 61, ,75-1,476 0,14-4,203 0,000-1,625 0,104-4,226 0, ,046-4,289 0,000-2,302 0,021 As shown in the Table 5, a significant difference was found on the average of alphabet knowledge, phonological sensitivity, pronunciation and vocabulary sub-dimensions on the basis of the preliminary/trail comparison of the test group which was applied The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children (p<0.05). The scores of the trail test for The Literacy Skills Research Tests/ Reading Skills Subtests for Months Old Children seems noticeably high, compared to the preliminary test results. A big difference was found between the preliminary and the trail test results (p<0,05). Statistically, the results were observed in the favour of the trail test. It shows that even though The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children was completed, there was an increase in the vocabulary and pronunciation graphics of the children continuously. The proof positive and the trail test total showed that there was a significant difference between the groups (p<0,05). This difference was explained in favour of the trail test final total. 4. Comments and Suggestions As a result of the research, it was statistically proved that the development of the reading skills are in favour of the test group which was applied The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children. With the data obtained from the research, the following suggestions could be made: In order to prove the efficiency of The Education Program of Music Activities Supporting Reading Skills for Months Old Children, some test schools will be chosen thus, there will be more extensive groups who will have the opportunity of this new education system and the program will be tested efficiently. The program can be tested in details, depending on children from different socio-economic classes and the data obtained would help to develop the program for the future. In addition, the program can be applied with different variances such as gender, age, educational status of parents, preschool education history and then the children can be observed during their first grade in primary school in order to see the outcomes of the program. Since the kindergarten teachers have a significant role with their efficient knowledge on extensive musical activities for children and enriching the context of activities with their creativity, the kindergarten teachers can study on specifying the needs and levels of children. Apart from that, in order to enhance the operating methods of musical activities, with involvement of parents, the kindergarten teachers can organize seminars, conferences etc. for parents to inform the parents about the program and its content. Thus, the teachers would be able to 31

8 Işıl Yaman Baydar, Adalet Kandır examine the attitudes of the parents towards the musical tendencies of their children and this would led to another research topic which can also create and run projects like music based reading education. References Barr, K. W. & Johnston, J. M. (1989).Listening: The Key to Early Childhood Music. Early Chıldhood Education Journal, 16(3), Bay, D. N. (2008). Determining the Proficiency Perception of Preschool Teachers with regard to Preparatory Studies for Reading and Writing. Master Thesis. Gazi University, Institute of Educational Sciences, Ankara. Bolduc, J. (2009).Effects of a Music Programme on Kindergartners' Phonological Awareness Skills 1 [abstract]. International Journal of Music Education, 27(1), Dartt, K. M. (2009).Effects of Background Music on Preschoolers Attention. Doctorate Thesis, University of North Texas, UMI Number: Darrow, A. A. (2008).Music and Literacy.General Music Today, 21(2). Darrow, A. A. Cassidy, J. W., Flowers, P. J., Register, D., Sims, W., Standley, J. M., Menard, E. & Swedberg, O. (2009).Enhancing Literacy in the Second Grade: Five Related Studies Using the Register Music/Reading Curriculum. Applications of Research in Music Education, 27(2), Diffily, D., Donaldson, E. & Sassman, C. (2001).The Schdastic Book of Early Childhood Learning Centers, Complete How-to s Management Tips Photos and Activities for Delightful Learning Writing Math and More!. Scholastic Professional Books. Edwards, L. C., Bayless, K. M. & Ramsey, M. E. (2005).Music a Way of Life for the Young Child. (Fifth Edition), Ohio: Pearson Meerill Prentice Hall. Etopio, E. A. (2009). Characteristics of Early Musical Environments Associated with Preschool Children s Music Skills. Doctorate Thesis, The State University of New York, UMI Number: Foran, L. M. (2009). Listening to Music: Helping Children Regulate Their Emotions and Improve Learning in the Classroom. Educational Horizons, 88(1), Garcia, Y. (2011).Early Education in California: Communicative Action in The Public Sphere, Doctorate Thesis, The University of San Francisco, UMI Number: Hayward, C. M. & Gromko, J. E. (2009).Relationships Among Music Sight-Reading and Technical Proficiency, Spatial Visualization, and Aural Discrimination. Journal of Research in Music Education, 57(1), Kirschner, S. & Tomasello, M. (2010).Joint music making promotes pro-social behaviour in 4-year-old children. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 31, Mizener, C. P. (2008).Enhancing Language Skills through Music. General Music Today, 21(2), Wellman, R. L. (2007). Music as a pre-reading education tool for non-music preschool teachers. Doctorate Thesis, Capella University, UMI Number: Wiggins, D. G. (2007). Pre-K Music and the Emergent Reader: Promoting Literacy in a Music-Enhanced Environment. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(1),