“We found that it did have a negative effect”: How Background Music Affects Foreign Language Learning

(Photo provided by Kimberly Mazerolle)

“My favourite parts of my research, and what I consider to be the most interesting parts, all have to do with the language aspect of the study. Due to New Brunswick being the only officially bilingual province in Canada and the study's population being undergraduate students, over half of the sample identified as bi- or multilinguals. This diversity gave me insights into New Brunswick’s language culture.” ~ Kimberly Mazerolle

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*In the following interview, TS refers to The Synapse and KM refers to Kimberly Mazerolle;

TS: Could you briefly introduce yourself, your supervisor, the topic of your thesis, and the field it contributes to?

KM: My name is Kimberly Mazerolle and I'm currently in the Certificate of Applied Behaviour Analysis Program at UNB-Fredericton. However, at the time that I was doing my honours, I was completing my BSc in Psychology with a minor in biology at UNB-SJ. While I was studying in Saint John, I worked with Dr. Jonathan Wilbiks for my thesis, which looked at how background music affects foreign language learning - a topic of study in educational psychology.

TS: What was the inspiration for your study, your research question, and the main results?

KM: I chose to look at music within foreign language learning due to a course that I took during my third year of undergrad - Psychology of Music - which was taught by Dr. Wilbiks. Additionally, I am from a bilingual family and went through French immersion in school, so that - along with the predominantly bilingual population that I would be working with for my research - also inspired me to look into language learning.

Specifically, my study looked at whether foreign language learning is negatively affected by the learner listening to background music during the learning process. We found that it did have a negative effect, but to different extents depending on the language of the music that the learner listened to.

TS: Could you provide a brief summary of the methods and experimental procedure used in this study?

KM: For this study, I had 60 undergraduate students from UNB-SJ complete three questionnaires:

1) a demographics questionnaire (including questions on bi- and multilingualism);

2) the EPQR-S (an extraversion questionnaire); and

3) an internally-devised song recognition/preference questionnaire.

These questionnaires were used because previous research showed that these factors (bi/multilingualism, extraversion, and song recognition/ preference) affected language learning in settings with background music. Our study, however, did not discern the same effects.

The experimental aspect of our research was broken down into two phases:

1)the learning phase; and

2)the recall phase.

In the learning phase, participants were asked to learn Estonian words by associating them with their English equivalents while instrumental or vocal (English and Estonian) music played in the background. When the learning phase finished, the participants entered the recall phase, where they were asked to type out the English translation to the previously-learned Estonian words.

TS: Are there any future studies that will be conducted based on your method or results?

KM: Currently, I have no plans to conduct any follow-up research from this study and I have yet to hear about anyone else looking into this specific topic. If, however, you're interested in this research and have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at kmazerol@unb.ca.

TS: What would you consider the most intriguing part of your research?

KM: My favourite parts of my research, and what I consider to be the most interesting parts, all have to do with the language aspect of the study. Due to New Brunswick being the only officially bilingual province in Canada and the study's population being undergraduate students, over half of the sample identified as bi- or multilinguals. This diversity gave me insights into New Brunswick’s language culture.

Additionally, by selecting Estonian as the foreign language in the study, I was able to learn a few Estonian words and facts, and listen to some great Estonian music - I never would have explored those without this research.

TS: Is there anything else you wish to share about the research experience/ study?

KM: I'm truly so grateful that I had the opportunity to complete an honours thesis. Though it is quite a bit of work, I do not regret doing it. Completing a thesis is not only a great way to really delve into a topic that interests you, but also to get to know your supervisor and gain experience in the world of research. I would recommend it to any student who is interested in completing an honours. It is truly worth it to see the final thesis that you wrote. Ψ

Created for The Synapse by Incé Husain.