名古屋外国語大学論集第1号

2017年7月

ArticleTeaching History through Music:
A Practical Approach for Content Courses
Etienne MARCEAU

Introduction
Content-based education is getting momentum in Japanese universities
as a way to offer both knowledge in a field and second language instruction.
Traditionally, English education in Japan has been seen more as a goal than as atool to learn information or to communicate with others. While making language
the main focus of a course allows a deeper linguistic analysis, explicit knowledgeof the form of a language has hardly any use for students outside of the classroom(and after graduation). After spending a four-year degree mostly learning theEnglish language, Japanese graduates have little more to offer and are not very
competitive with the job market. This is problematic in a global context where
English is not the information needed but the tool used to communicate theinformation in any field.
In university, aware that students with insufficient language skills cannot
simply be thrown into a course designed for fluent speakers, a gradual (butdemanding) approach is necessary to bring students up to a level where they canhandle content in an all-English environment. Content-based approaches covera wide spectrum of different degrees of language instruction, also referred to as
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Content and Language Integrated learning (CLIL), a term attributed to David
Marsh (1994). It ranges from a traditional foreign language course with a strong
focus on form (grammar) that uses some topics to increase students’ interests,
to a “pure” content approach that is comparable to a regular course offered in
an English-speaking university. CLIL has been the subject of numerous studies
in the European Union because of its use in a multilingual context (European
Commission, 2002). This article will make an attempt at using CLIL to bridge
students between traditional EFL courses and an immersion experience.
The case study presented here is a course in American culture, namely
American music and history. This article does not intend to prove the benefitsof listening to music while performing another task, also known as the “Mozart
Effect”. Rather, the idea is that music and history can enhance each other whentaught together to second-language students in an environment that resembles
the one of an English-speaking university.

Rationale
The primary objective of this course is to prepare students who will study
abroad in the near future (both short and long stays) to be able to handle regularcourses in English-speaking universities. While some students may attend a
special “bridging” or “preparatory” program offered to students whose English
skills are not high enough to join regular courses, many will take regular classes
and will find themselves in a sink or swim situation. In that case, the style ofteaching and what is expected from students abroad can be challenging forJapanese students, especially if the language constitutes an additional barrier.
With this in mind, the idea for a course that would focus on the content
while being accessible and motivating started to emerge. Reflecting on myown experience as a French speaker learning English at an English university,
I tried to understand those successful conditions: when my English skills wereinsufficient, as a music major, my understanding of music would provide me192

Teaching History through Music ■with the context clues necessary to understand the professors’ or maestro’s
explanations. The role that music played in my language learning experience
was so benevolent (since regular classes and rehearsals offered no language
support for second language learners) that I thought of recreating this context
in my class. Music would be the crutch to support students, providing a relief
from the monotonous lectures and giving students a chance to make connections
between language and music. The clear social and historical context that music
offers has potential in a course designed for language learners (Brewer, 1995;
Wesche & Skehan, 2002).
Many foreign English teachers in Japan have a background as an ALT(Assistant Language Teacher) in public schools, or as an instructor in English
conversation schools (Eikaiwa). They often use music to: review a grammar
point; show how grammar is used in a sentence; provide an example of authentic
language; expose students to foreign culture; provide entertainment or a recess
between two demanding activities. These ways of using music offer varying
degrees of success and provide limited educational benefits: the lyrics are often
beyond the students’ capacity to understand, and authentic language does notnecessarily mean common, or a good example of everyday language, or evengrammatically correct. The language used in popular music is most likely casual,and might not reflect the kind of language taught and assessed in class. In theend, the songs used in class might offer little to no connection with the course, so
there might be no real purpose to use music in this situation. Of course music isfun, and because it breaks the monotony of a lesson it plays a role in motivating
the students (Hidi, S., Renninger, K.A., Krapp, A., 2004). Many of us see musicin a lesson as a way to provide a lighter activity; on the other hand, it is possible
to tap more into the different resources that music can provide. Teachers shouldmake a meaningful and pedagogical usage of music in their daily practice.
During the first lesson of this American culture course, students took a music
appreciation survey. Its results confirmed the need to teach not only language and193

cultural facts (to be memorised, then retrieved for the test, then forgotten), butalso to guide students towards opening their minds to a wider range of influences
and towards making their own informed opinion. A large number of students,
despite being English majors, confessed only listening to music sung in Japanese,mostly j-pop. A few students who do listen to music sung in English answered“Disney songs”, and a few rare exceptions answered “pop stars” like Justin
Bieber, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, etc. The lack of diversity in musical taste andthe lack of interest toward foreign music in general was disappointing considering that the students are English majors. Therefore, exposing the students todifferent musical influences became a secondary goal in this course, on top ofproviding an interesting content course taught in English.

What the Research Says
As previously stated, the argument here is not to prove the benefits of listening to music while performing a task (listening to classical music to improvecreative writing, for example). Of course music can serve a teacher in many
ways, from warm-ups to classroom management, but the goal here is to see how
music can enhance learning in a content-based course. Studies on the use ofmusic as a medium of instruction are scarce, possibly because of the difficulty tofind appropriate music to relate to content in different fields. In addition, perhaps
the circumstances here are somehow unique: a teacher who has learned English
through music, using music to teach EFL in a history course. Nonetheless,important factors such as student engagement and different ways of conveying
the information have been examined.
The original inspiration to use music to facilitate learning, on top of my own
learning experience, was Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Intelligenceis split into different ‘modalities’ and sensory skills rather than one uniqueability, namely memorisation (Gardner, 1983). Aware that Gardner’s theory
has faced some criticism such as a lack or empirical evidence (Allix, 2000)
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Teaching History through Music ■and that the validity of testing intelligence and its components is still debatable(Waterhouse, 2006), the idea is not to restrict learners to a unique ability (or tolabel them), but to experiment with different activities that addresses the whole
spectrum of learners’ aptitudes. For example, using video clips (instead of only
audio recordings) when providing musical examples will stimulate both students’musical-rhythmic and visual-spatial intelligences. When teaching in the Japanesepublic education system, I witnessed too many occurrences when students were
expected to fit a single way of learning rather than recognising individual talent
and aptitudes. This musical approach is not meant to be a panacea, but rather achance for students to experiment with a different class dynamic.
Music helps learning because it provides contextual clues and presents theinformation differently. Pauline Gibbons refers to this as message abundancy(p.44, 2015), an example of pedagogical scaffolding; by presenting visual andmusical examples of the content, students have more than one chance to accessthe information. Another parallel with music is an orchestra rehearsal that, while
resembling a teacher-centered classroom, is a demonstration of Vygotsky’s
Zone of Proximal Development; the difference between what a learner can learn
independently versus with the help of a mentor (Vygotsky, 1978). In a more
traditional classroom setting, this means that if a student cannot understand theteacher’s presentation, then the teacher should become aware of the situationand provide an alternative medium.
An obvious reason teachers play music in their classroom is to establish astimulating learning atmosphere. It can improve concentration and memory(Brewer, 1995; Wesche & Skehan, 2002) if used as background music, creating
a constant “noise” that can cover up other distracting noises (teacher’s speechfrom the adjacent classroom, someone playing with their pencil, etc.). However,
the effect of background music can backfire and disrupt concentration if students
enjoy the song more than the task they have to do! For this reason, instrumental
music can be effective, at the risk of being a little monotonous.
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Berk (2008) advocates that teachers should not limit the usage of music toenergise a class; music has the potential to influence teaching styles and methods
altogether. Of course motivation is a deciding factor, because when students areactive and interested in what they are learning, they make better connections
with other elements (Krapp, Hidi, & Renninger, 2004), and it is more stimulating
for the teacher as well. With this generation of Internet and smartphone users(also known as digital natives (Prensky, 2001)), grabbing and keeping students’attention constitutes a real challenge for more traditional teachers who are used
to a lecture format. Technology in the classroom has been getting a lot of attention recently, but unfortunately it has become the end rather than the mean forsome. Teachers who have just started using technology in their lessons (Prensky
calls them digital immigrants (2001)) might be impressed by this revolution in
their teaching method and expect a strong impact on students, but for the digital
natives sitting in class, it is nothing more than another video. Therefore, there
must be a purpose behind the use of technology.
Masters in the art of getting our attention, advertising companies have longunderstood the power of upbeat music combined with short, catchy segments(Berk, 2008, p.49). Commercials on TV are repeated ad nauseam, and theirjingles (a mix of simple music and simple slogan) stay in our head for years.
Maybe not everybody has a musical ear, but many people can remember andsing dozens of company jingles and slogans. In psychology, those concepts arecalled encoding (how information is “written” in our memory) and retrieval(recalling the information) (Lightbown, 2014, pp.55–56). The same goes with
TV programs for children; songs are used to teach children how to count or
memorize the alphabet. The Alphabet Song is itself based on Twinkle Twinkle
Little Star, which is based on Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, an old French children
song. It is why many mnemonic tricks involve songs or nursery rhymes; we canremember full songs but rarely full texts. Many countries in the world produce
TV programs and advertisements as such, even teaching foreign languages to196

Teaching History through Music ■children, yet many teachers do not apply these principles in second language
education.
Finally, it is hoped that this course will have an effect on improving both
listening skills and content knowledge. Moriyoshi (2010) suggests that in orderto fully benefit from CLIL, students and teachers should be aware of the goalsof the course, both regarding language and content. While goals were mentioned
at the beginning of the course, students most likely forgot over time, and could
have benefitted from regular reminders. If students are sold on the idea of CLIL,
it is more likely to give positive results (Hanna, 2002, p.73).

Study Case: An American Story
There are two different ways of approaching a course about music and history
like this one. The first way is to go through each decade and address historical,
social, and musical events of that period. The second approach is to visit eachgenre of music and to learn about its evolution through history, its social influences, significant contributors, etc. The first approach focuses on history, while
the second focuses on music. An historical approach presents the challenge thatstudents would have to deal with several genres of music at once (for example, alesson on the 1970s would have to cover rock, pop, disco, fusion jazz, Motown,
hip-hop, etc.), which can only be confusing. The second approach (focus oneach genre of music), on the other hand, would mean restarting the historicalcontinuum each lesson. Moreover, taking each genre of music independently
seems a bit artificial since they evolved influencing and being influenced byeach other (for example, rock n’ roll uses a blues chord progression, the backbeat
inherited from gospel, the guitar from country music, etc.). In the end, I decided
that each lesson would be dedicated to a decade of American history, and besides
non-musical historical events, the focus would be on the most meaningful musical genre(s) of the decade. Hopefully this will be interesting and simple enoughfor students to follow and get a good grasp of the content.
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Overview of the Course: Origins and Gospel
The first lesson is dedicated to the origins of the United States: Native
Americans, Europeans, the Independence War, the Slave Trade, etc. Racial
discrimination and the contributions of African-Americans are recurrent themes
throughout this course since they are ubiquitous in American history and music.
Work songs and gospel music are used to illustrate the connection between earlyAmerican history and music. In a speech at the White House, Barack Obama
explains the origins and the importance of gospel music: “even though they were
often forbidden to read, or write, or even speak freely, slaves were permitted
to sing” (2015). Gospel songs were also used to convey information, playing
an important role in the Underground Railroad toward safety and ultimately
freedom. Gospel is “the music that influenced all the other genres” continues
Obama. This is therefore the logical beginning of this course. Examples ofsongs include John the Revelator as a classic example of gospel music (call andanswer, hand clapping, backbeat, participation from the audience, etc.), Follow
the Drinking Gourd to illustrate the Underground Railroad, or Shirley Caesar
singing Sweeping Through the City with passion and energy for Obama at theWhite House (PBS, 2015).

The 1950s: Rock n’ Roll
Meaningful historical events of the 1950s include the post-World War II
economic expansion, the Civil Rights Movement, the beginning of the Cold
War, the opening of Disneyland (a favourite with the students), etc. Musically,rock n’ roll, influenced by gospel, blues, and country music, is the dominantgenre. Elvis Presley becomes the “King”, a veritable cultural icon of the 20th
century. Electric guitar becomes the main instrument, and young couples danceon its syncopated beat without listening much to the lyrics about parties andyoung love. Soon there will be a transition into rock music, with a strong influence from the United Kingdom, unfortunately beyond the scope of this course.
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Teaching History through Music ■Rocking in the 60s
The 1960s saw so much in terms of social and musical novelty that it would
be impossible to cover it all in one lesson. Segregation (especially school segregation) is an important topic again, with the musical Hairspray (2007) illustrating those racial tensions. The musical introduces the Civil Rights Movement,with which students should already be familiar thanks to the famous I Havea Dream speech of Martin Luther King Jr. Next, the Vietnam war is possibly
what has influenced artists the most in the 1960s. The number of songs that havebeen written in protest against that war is endless. If rock n’ roll was music todance to, rock music of the 60s and 70s will be used to convey social messages.
Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) made a hit with Fortunate Son, a difficult
but beautiful text which explains that in America, sons of wealthy families can
avoid going to war.
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Oh, they’re red, white and blue
And when the band plays “Hail to the Chief”
Oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no (CCR, 1969)
An expression often associated with the Vietnam War is “rich man’s war,poor man’s fight”. For the students, this example of anti-establishment culture
is a trigger for a conversation about social inequalities, especially if related toJapan. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On? shows another kind of message, thistime an artist’s call for peace. Last in this decade is the Space Race including themoon landing (1969), which launched a technological revolution. Interestingly,
it did not make an impact on American artists as much as on British pop singers;
space exploration is ubiquitous in David Bowie’s Space Oddity (1969), Life on
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Mars (1971), and Starman (1972), without forgetting Elton John’s Rocket Man(1972).

The Fecund 1970s: Rock, Pop, Disco, Motown
The 1970s are upbeat musically and more positive than the 1960s. Discobecame the night club’s answer to rock music as a catchy dancing genre. A
classic example that comes to mind is Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive, which
has all the ingredients of disco music: four uniformly accented beats, a dancing
tempo with an open high-hat on the up-beat, a prominent melodic bass line
(sometimes in octaves), violins, etc. Disco is still used in TV commercials andstill influences artists today, for example Daft Punk and Bruno Mars in the West,while AKB48’s hit Koi Suru Fortune Cookie (2014) proves that disco is not deadin Japan either. As an example, many students have heard Can’t Take my Eyes
off You in a cellphone TV commercial. The song is a pedagogical example of adisco (or pop) song since each instrument comes in one after another and eachsections of the song are clearly distinct. Next, a key figure of pop music for the
next 20 years, Michael Jackson became famous with his siblings as the Jackson
5, who will dominate the charts from 1965 until the late 1980s. The Jackson 5sang soul, disco, and funk music, all ingredients of what will be called Motown,
after the name of an African-American-owned music label. Motown played
an important role in the integration of African-American music into the mainstream of pop music, and as disco, often featured African-American women as
lead singers (Walser, 1998, p.372).

1980s: Pop, Classic Rock
After the disco party is over, the 1980s are a bit sobering. People start opening
to the world and become aware of global problems. The world learns about the“new” disease AIDS, and the last decade of the Cold War keeps people worried
about a possible annihilating nuclear war. A devastating famine in Ethiopia
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Teaching History through Music ■(1983–1985) mobilises international relief aid, including Harry Belafonte who
has an idea to record a song with many famous singers and to use the profits to
help Ethiopia (and Africa in general). Two singers are assigned with writing thesong: Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. This is how the hit song We Are theWorld was born (Taraborrelli, 2009, p.341). Other emblematic pop singers of the
1980s include Madonna, the New Kids on the Block, Prince, while rock artists
like Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi are favourites. In discothèques (nightclubs),
electronic music is replacing disco, and DJs are becoming the norm instead oflive bands.

1990s: Grunge, Punk, Electro, and Power Ballads
The 1990s actually start in November 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall,indicator of the decade to come: the reunification of Germany, the fall of theSoviet Union, and eventually the end of the Cold War. Other noteworthy events
include the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 (800 000 killed in 100 days1), theChernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 (sure to trigger conversations and comparisons with the 2011 disaster in Fukushima), the end of Apartheid in South Africawith Nelson Mandela, youths embracing tattoos and piercing, the technology
revolution of video games and personal computers (students suddenly become
interested here), etc. Musically, despite the feeling of hope in power ballads suchas Wind of Change by Scorpions, music has a dark, fatalist, sometimes angry
flavour to it. Grunge music, featuring Nirvana and songs like Smells Like Teen
Spirit sets a rather negative tone for this generation of teenagers. Punk music,
although not new, makes a short come-back as punk-rock in the United States,
thanks to bands like Green Day and their album Dookie (1993). Many students
enjoy the upbeat tempo and the energy driven by the drums, but as an educator,
it is not a simple task to find punk music with lyrics suitable for an educational
context. In pop music, Madonna and Michael Jackson continue to dominate thecharts, and groups of singers are becoming increasingly popular: The Backstreet
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Boys, NSYNC, Destiny’s Child, etc.

Jazz
Because of my background as a jazz major, I decided to dedicate a lesson
to its history, independently from the timeline of the rest of the course. Thisfavouritism has very little scientific ground, I must admit, but I feel that jazzremains largely unknown even though it played a key role in American history. Unlike other genres, jazz has a significant instrumental facet, and so it
has evolved a bit differently than pop and rock music, the main focus of thiscourse. Its rejection of perfection in favour of free individual expression, too, is
not always pleasing to the ears of new listeners. Since many students admitted
in the music appreciation survey (see annex 1) only listening to the perfectly
crafted marketing product that j-pop often is, I felt I should try to engage theminto diversifying their musical interests.
Jazz is unlike other genres as it was “made in America”. “[…] perhaps morethan any other form of art, jazz is driven by an unmistakably American spirit”
affirmed Barack Obama at the International Jazz Day concert at the White Housein 2016. “It is in so many ways the story of our nation’s progress” (Obama,2016). The history of Jazz is directly connected to the African-American community; “before schools and sports, it was jazz that desegregated [our nation]”adds Obama (2016). Racial discrimination is a theme that is ubiquitous in thiscourse, but jazz brings in a bit of hope. Born in New Orleans, it benefitted fromthe spreading popularity of the radio to become mainstream. More importantly,
this predominantly African-American art became welcomed in many white
American households. Popularity of African-American artists such as Louis
Armstrong and Duke Ellington opened doors until then reserved to white people(Johnson, 2014, p.92). Another example of how jazz can unite people is Dizzy
Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra in the 1980s that included musicians frommany different countries, including Cuba (during the Cold War!) (Gillespie,
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Teaching History through Music ■1990). In addition, aware that students are language majors, it seemed evident
to present vocal jazz; Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Tony
Bennett to name a few. Students were delighted by Lady Gaga’s duos with Tony
Bennett. Teachers beware however, some jazz songs use a language that sounds
dated today.

Rap / Hip-Hop
The lesson about hip-hop also required stepping back in time in order tocover its history and evolution from the beginning, namely the 1970s. Just
like jazz, hip-hop was born in the streets, in predominantly African-Americanneighbourhoods. If New Orleans gave birth to jazz, then Harlem and the Bronx
in New York saw the development of hip-hop, first during block parties, andhas been attributed to DJ Kool Herc (Karon, 2000). With lyrics ranging fromminimalist to poetic, narrating slices of life or denouncing social inequalities,
carefully orchestrated or improvised, its influence on the North American society
is indisputable. Its use of the voice to imitate a drum beat, or beatboxing, became
a genre in itself and found its way into a cappella groups such as Pentatonix, afavourite among students.
Considered the first commercial success of hip-hop music, the song Rapper’s
Delight from The Sugar Hill Gang is essentially two men talking over a disco
beat played on a loop. The word hip-hop is heard many times and is used for its
rhyme more than for its semantic value.
I said a hip, hop,
The hippie, the hippie,
To the hip, hip hop, and you don’t stop, a rock it
To the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie,
To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.
Now, what you hear is not a test – I’m rappin’ to the beat,
And me, the groove, and my friends are gonna try to move your feet.
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(The Sugar Hill Gang, 1979)
From there, rap/hip-hop has evolved into many sub-genres and has massively
integrated elements of electronic music into their sound (turntables, synthesiser,sampling, etc.) (Toop, 2000). Successful artists include Tupac, Snoop Dogg,
Jay-Z, Rakim, etc. Hip-hop has also been the voice of a generation to denounce
racism, poverty, class struggle, and other social issues. In popular culture, theTV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996) starring a young Will Smith
had a primarily African-American cast, mixed rap music with humour, andaddressed typical issues that African-American teenagers faced in the UnitedStates (Coker, 1996). The show followed in the footsteps of other sitcoms suchas The Jeffersons and All in the Family for addressing racism. More recently,
the sung-through musical Hamilton has been a major success in the UnitedStates and has attracted a lot of attention, teaching the story of founding father
Alexander Hamilton and communicating through rap music (Hamilton, 2015).
As a modern opera that is a rap battle about 18th century history, not only doesit entertain the audience, but it also makes educators reconsider how they teachand connect with their students.

Students’ Perceptions
During the last lesson, students were asked to give their opinion on the course
in an anonymous survey (see annex 2). The survey was given to four different
groups of students, all second or third-year English majors. In total, fifty-two
students filled in the survey. The format followed a classic five-level Likert scale,from strongly disagree to strongly agree, including the middle option neutral.
If this questionnaire would have to be done again, removing the central neutral
option would gently push students to choose between a positive or negative
answer, although the results to the present questionnaire are quite clear.
The first statement on the questionnaire, this course was interesting, triggered
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Teaching History through Music ■49 students out of 52 (94%) to answer agree or strongly agree. It can therefore
be said that students were on board and engaged with the topics. The thirdstatement, I enjoyed the mix of music and history, prompted 51 students (98%)
to answer agree or strongly agree, which supports the idea to combine music
and historical events. In fact, 48 students (92%) agreed that (statement 4) talking
about music made learning about history more interesting. Same results (92%)
with the next statement, music helped me to understand history. The students’
perception is therefore that music contributed to lighten the learning burden that
only history would have represented. Item 6, only history (no music) would havebeen better, had 29 students (56%) answering disagree or strongly disagree.
This shows that students recognised that music enhanced the history course.
However, it should be noticed that this statement was the most nuanced, andthat 13 students (25%) answered agree or strongly agree (10 answered neutral).
This means that a quarter of the students might have preferred a more traditional
approach to this history course. Possibly some students do not share the same
passion as the instructor for some genres of music. Statements 7 and 8 are about
improving English and music listening skills. Students have a neutral opinion(48%) about improving their English listening skills, perhaps because they were
not formally assessed in this course. On the other hand, 46 students (88%) thinkthey have improved their music listening skills thanks to this course. Lastly, 49
out of 52 students (94%) agree or strongly agree that they would recommend
this class to other students. Overall, a success for the initial objectives that thiscourse had.
At the end of the questionnaire, students were free to write additional comments. Here are some examples, which have been transcribed as written by thestudents:“I began to listen to music in North America (Jackson 5 / Can’t Take my Eyes
Off You) after the class!!”“These days, I listen “It’s my Life” every day.”205

These comments seem to show that the course did help some students to discoverdifferent genres of music and to spark their interest. Other comments include:“It was easy to understand and interesting for me”“Thank you, class is interesting”“I recommend this class for others strongly”
All these positive answers and comments are convincing that the students’experience in this course was enjoyable and successful.

Additional Possibilities
The historical events, artists, and songs mentioned in this article are only a
few examples of what can be used in class. Because it is impossible to covera whole decade of history and music in one lesson, the selection was madeconsidering possible links between content and music. Broadway musicals, forexample, could have been used to a greater extent as they have a lot to offer:social and historical contexts, musical influences, plots, song lyrics, etc. Aware
that not all students would be thrilled by old-fashioned musicals, I decided touse them scarcely.
Teachers who are not familiar with popular music or “what the young generation is listening to” should not be afraid to experiment in their classroom. A
simple search on the Internet can provide the musical examples needed. Neither
should anybody be embarrassed to bring an “old song” to class, as students
might not have heard classics of the past decades, especially from foreign artists.
Alternatively, teachers could make small groups of students and ask each group
to be responsible for providing musical examples in relation with a class topic(if possible) each week. While it might not always be easy or even possible torelate the class content to a song, any attempt can enrich a lesson.
Throughout this course, the focus was primarily on content, with little
attention to the form of language (grammar, syntax). However, if a teacher
judges that students need more explicit language instruction, it would be pos206

Teaching History through Music ■sible to dedicate a part of each lesson to language activities, using song lyrics,
historical texts, magazine articles, famous speeches, etc. Furthermore, different
skills such as note-taking, summarising, retelling stories, essay writing, etc.
could be addressed. Content-based education offers many possibilities between
language and content, and should be customised around students’ needs andinterests (Nation, 2010). A focus on content is not an excuse to lecture without
consideration for the students’ capacity to follow the lesson, claiming to offer
an immersion experience. “After decades of research on language acquisitionin CLBT in a variety of educational and social contexts, it is clear that language
acquisition does not ‘take care of itself’”, reminds us Patsy Lightbown (2014,p.129). Teachers must keep in mind that both content and language can present challenges for learners. Scaffolding at each step is key, and it is beneficial
to pause the lesson to explain the meaning of a word or clarify the content if
necessary (Gibbons, 2015).

Conclusion
The aim of this course was to provide a learning environment similar to theone of a regular course in an English-speaking university, simulating a study
abroad experience. A content-based approach with a slight focus on language(according to the students’ English abilities) seemed the most appropriate way
to scaffold students’ learning, and the topics of American history combined with
American music were thought to be rich in content and interesting. Feedback
collected from students at the end of the course (annex 2) were substantially
positive in that matter.
Finally, it must be conceded that the success of using music in the classroom
depends on how much students enjoy the music. Diversifying musical taste
requires time, and teachers should not be discouraged in case of a lack of reaction
from the students. Maybe they will not tap their foot or nod their head while
listening to music in class, but as seen in the comment section, some of them will207

go home and listen to it again. Hetland (2000), while reviewing studies about
the Mozart Effect, concluded that results can be greatly influenced by gender,
ethnicity, musical preference, training, and spatial ability. Not everybody likes
the same music, but if it can be used to improve a lesson, then it should be
adopted as a regular practice.

Note1

Africa Recovery (now Africa Renewal, a magazine published by the United Nations), August
1998, 12 (1), 4.

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Coker, C. H. (1996, May 20). Good Night, ‘Prince’. Los Angeles Times.
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Annex 1    Music Appreciation Survey (lesson 1)
1. What’s your gender?
2. What kind of music do you enjoy?
3. What kind of music do you dislike?
4. Do you go to live concerts sometimes?   Yes / No
5. Which do you pay attention to, the lyrics (words) or the instruments?
6. Do you buy CDs or digital music?
7. Do you play music?   Yes / No   If yes, which instruments?
8. Does music influence your mood?   Yes / No
9. Do you listen to music in English? If yes, give an example.   Yes / No
10. Any music recommendation for this course (singer, band, etc.)?

Annex 2    Music in North America Survey (last lesson)n = 52Strongly
disagreeDisagree Neutral

Agree

Strongly
agree

1. This course was interesting.

2

20

29

2. I enjoyed learning about
American history.

1

25

26

1

24

27

3. I enjoyed the mix of music andhistory.

1

4. Talking about music madelearning about history moreinteresting.

2

2

26

22

5. Music helped me to understandhistory.

2

2

26

22

20

10

10

3

1

25

20

6

6

26

20

2

23

26

6. Only history (no music) would
have been better.

9

7. In this class, I improved myEnglish listening skills.
8. In this class, I improved mymusic listening skills.
9. I would recommend otherstudents to take this class.

1

210