The Handbook of Informal Language Learning

13Songs and Music

KAREN M. LUDKE

Introduction

My original interest in the use of songs and music to support foreign language learning arose during my undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, where I attempted to learn four different foreign languages in addition to my native tongue (American English). I had always enjoyed listening to and playing different kinds of music, and it seemed natural to extend my out‐of‐class language learning to finding songs from singers and bands that I liked who were singing in the languages that I was trying to learn. One of my professors was impressed by the level of listening comprehension and speaking skills in Spanish that I attained in just one semester and was surprised when I explained that outside of class I had been learning through singing along to CDs by Shakira and other musicians to practice the new sound patterns, discover the meaning of new words, and reinforce useful grammatical structures.

After I graduated and began volunteering as an English and additional language tutor at the public library in Harlem, New York, I encouraged my adult learners to learn English through music, building on song activities I introduced to them during our sessions. Over time there was a noticeable improvement in their English pronunciation and speaking fluency. I was also singing in a women's choir that showed me that “incidental” language learning can happen through singing a multilingual musical repertoire.

I came to suspect that ...