tailieunhanh - ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS: USING MUSIC TO ENHANCE THE LISTENING ABILITIES OF GRADE ONES

These adult ESOL learners may reside in the United States perma- nently, or in some cases for indefi nite but long periods of time (in contrast to international university students who are typically expected to return to their home countries). Also included here are the adult children of these immigrants and refugees—children who arrived in the United States late enough in life that their own spoken English is noticeably nonnative and not their dominant language. 2 The vast majority of second-language acquisition research has been done with elementary and secondary school children or with university- based adult learners with generally high levels of. | ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS USING MUSIC TO ENHANCE THE LISTENING ABILITIES OF GRADE ONES by CATHARINA ALETTA HORN submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION in the subject INCLUSIVE EDUCATION at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR PROF A J HUGO FEBRUARY 2007 PREFACE I have been fortunate in my teaching career to have taught young learners both in learner home language and in a second language in that order. This has led me to realize that home language learners have a great advantage over their second language counterparts in acquiring education in general. This phenomenon instilled in me the inspiration to seek a deeper understanding of the relationship between second language education and learning proficiency also using my background of music education to instill the use of music as a valuable communication medium. One of the earliest written accounts of European encounters with African music may be found in The Periplus of Hanno by C. Simonedes which describes a naval expedition down the coast of West Africa by Hanno the Carthaginian in about 500 . Having taken in water we sailed thence straight forwards until we came to Freater Gulf which the interpreter said was called Hespreron Keras the Horn of the West . By night we saw many fires burning and heard the sound of flutes and cymbals and the beating of drums and an immense shouting Petersen 1981 1-2 . Hearing this musical message which Hanno interpreted as hostile he ordered the fleet to avoid the island. Many circumstances in which music had and has been used as a tool of communication have arisen since Hanno s expedition. The essence of this form of communication is the stimulation of the hearing sense by a sound produced by an instrument specifically created for this purpose. Universal recognition of messages conveyed thus had become possible. ii Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe wings to the mind flight to the imagination a charm to