Poster #79 - Music and Art for Bilingual Children: The Effects on Language, Aural, and Spatial Reasoning Skill Development

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

While past research has documented the many benefits of arts-rich schools for children including the development of increased social skills, creativity and higher-order thinking skills (Anderson et al., 2001; Burton et al., 1999; Catterall, 2009), increased engagement in school (Achbacher, 1991), and gains in spatial-temporal reasoning and auditory skills (e.g., Cutietta et al, 1995; Johnson & Davis, 2016) very few have investigated elements of bilingualism. Thus, the present study (1) compared outcomes of learners enrolled in a newly developed arts-infused bilingual education program with those from learners taught using standard curriculum and (2) investigated the interrelations among sociodemographic variables, language comprehension, aural discrimination, and spatial reasoning skills among bilingual learners. Participants who completed all measures of the pilot program included 33 Latino Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children (14 girls and 19 boys), ages ranging from 6 to 8 years (M = 7.71, S.D. = .63).
The bilingual arts-rich program was integrated with the sequential music curriculum already offered at the school by a certified music teacher. A trained music educator, a graduate student in the School of Music, and an undergraduate student assistant were placed into classrooms of second and third grade children to facilitate an opera composition and performance program. The program offered a curriculum that ensured that children were involved in writing, composing, and performing an original opera composed in Spanish and English. Facilitators presented bilingual lessons throughout the process to one classroom, while another classroom of children within the same elementary school served as an experimental control. Prior to implementing the program, students were tested on picture vocabulary in English and Spanish, basic and advanced aural processing skills, and visual-spatial skills. Pre- and post-test scores were compared. Table 1 shows the pre- and post-test range, means, and standard deviations of scores for all variables. Multivariate analyses of variance were conducted to examine mean differences between pre- and posttest scores on picture vocabulary in English and Spanish, basic and advanced aural processing skills and visual-spatial skills. Results revealed that children improved in their English [F (1,32) = 23.60, p < .01, ηp2 = .43], and Spanish vocabulary [F (1,32) = 22.05, p < .001, ηp2 = .42]; advanced aural processing skills [but not quite basic, FBasic (1,31) = 3.60, p > .05, d = .35; FAdvanced (1,31) = 14.68, p < .001, ηp2 = .32] and visual-spatial skills [F (1,32) = 10.29, p < .01, ηp2 = .25] from Time 1 to Time 2.
There were several significant interrelations among sociodemographic variables, language comprehension, aural discrimination, and spatial reasoning skills, shown in Table 2. Of interest, children’s English (but not Spanish) vocabulary correlated positively and significantly with advanced aural discrimination skills, which in turn related to both basic aural skills and visual-spatial skills. These findings and comparisons with control group scores will be discussed. Results can be applied toward understanding the academic development of Latino bilingual learners and may also serve as the basis for future research focused on expanding music and arts-rich programs.

Authors

• Amy Weimer, Texas State University
  Presenting Author

• Daniel Salinas, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
  Non-Presenting Author

• Virginia W Davis, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
  Non-Presenting Author