How musical aptitude helps to learn a foreign language?

Multiple studies have demonstrated that proficiency in foreign languages is influenced by musical perception, singing, and cadence and that musical training facilitates the development of phonological abilities essential for foreign language learning. Furthermore, research has been conducted on the impact of music on particular learning disorders, most notably dyslexia: it appears that individuals with learning disabilities exhibit a disruption in rhythm perception, in addition to the well-documented deficiencies in visual-spatial abilities. Musical instruction could enhance the performance of these children on assessments assessing phonological segmentation and spelling.

Language and Music Study

One study was limited to seventh and eighth-grade Italian pupils who achieved low (LA) or high (HA) proficiency levels in English learning. The evaluation of foreign language proficiency was conducted utilising a PMA (Primary Mental Aptitude Battery) test that had been previously validated and an ELT (English Learning task). In two separate investigations, students were evaluated using tests that assessed native language reading skills, text comprehension, calculation, attention, and self-regulation control (as perceived by both parents and teachers). Attentional control issues and poor performance on native language reading comprehension assessments were identified as outcomes for LA pupils. Students who struggled to acquire a foreign language were hypothesised to be more susceptible to developing attention-deficit disorders rather than learning disorders.

Neurophysiological aspects associated with music perception have been the focus of extensive research. Considerable research has been devoted to analysing the relationship between linguistic and musical elements. Music is comparable to language, comprising distinct components and particular regulations. Research has demonstrated that specific brain circuits are shared by language and music; this disproves the notion that the two domains are specific regions, with the right hemisphere devoted to music and the left to language.