Music, Sound and Brainwave Activity: Using Music for English or Foreign Language Learning

Music, Sound and Brainwave Activity
Scientists have discovered that there is a definite relationship between brain wave activity, visual stimulation (light) and auditory or sound input. (Kandel, Schwartz, Jessel 1985) That is to say in part, that sound – in this case music – can be used to alter or control the state of activity in the brain. For the English or foreign language teacher, this means that we can induce a more relaxed, receptive state of input acquisition in our learners using music. Communication between the brain’s millions of nerve cells can be registered by measuring the frequency of these electrical impulses. Researcher Gray Walter discovered in the 1940s brainwave activity tends to mirror visual or auditory frequencies most particularly in the Alpha and Theta brain wave ranges.

To better understand this phenomena and its relationship to learning, first let us look at the four principal frequency ranges of the human brain, Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta.

The Four Brain Wave Types
Brain wave patterns are determined by the frequency of their oscillations. Each range of brain wave activity can be associated with a particular mental state.

Beta
From 15 to 30 Hertz (oscillations per second is called Hertz) characterizes a brain in the normal, conscious state actively problem-solving, thinking or otherwise consciously involved with your environment. You are in this state right now while you are reading this. (I hope!)

Alpha
From nine to 14 hertz is the Alpha range during which your brain activity is slowed down from the Beta state. You’re calm, relaxed and peaceful. This is also the beginning of the brain’s most creative states just below active consciousness and entry into the brain’s meditative states.

Theta
At four to eight hertz, you have deepened your relaxed, meditative state. Memories from long ago, dreamlike images and fantasy begin to flow in this state. You are almost, but not quite asleep. One of the most extraordinary states of consciousness, it’s also known as the “twilight” sleep you briefly experience upon awakening or just before drifting off into a deep sleep. In the Theta state we can also be receptive to input beyond our normal conscious awareness. It is widely believed that a state of Theta meditation stimulates intuition and activates extra-sensory perception.

Delta
From one to three hertz or oscillations per second, this is normally the slowest of brain wave activity that occurs during a deep, dreamless state of sleep or a very deep state meditation in some cases.

Considering this, when we can induce a more relaxed or receptive state in our learners, they are better able to successfully mentally input, process and retain whatever information, i.e., learning, that we provide. This can well be especially true of language-related input which is seated in the brain’s left hemisphere and cross-linked through the Corpus Callosum to the right hemisphere where music and rhythmic abilities are seated. This essential cross-link dramatically aids in both acquisition and retention.

Application in Teaching and Learning Practice

Try teaching a grammar lesson or segment while playing a soft Mozart selection in the background at a low but recognizable volume. Have the learners practice dialogues with low-volume vocals playing at the same time. Use a song in an unrelated foreign language to “time” a mill or mingle activity. Try having the learners complete a concept-checking or other written exercise while giving them the interval it takes to play musical selection all the way through. Even if they balk at first, they’ll adjust without further complaint within a month of your first using these processes. Within a semester, the learners will be complaining if you DON’T use music with their learning activities.

Using these techniques, the learners’ motivation will rise, overall learning should improve, your English or foreign language learners most likely will be happier and so, my dear pedagogue, will you.


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.

Part 1 The English-Speaking Ex-Pat’s Guide to Making Money Abroad

Are You an Ex-Pat or Gap-Year Traveler?
So you’ve done it. You’ve decided to escape the rat race once and for all. Gone are 60-hour work weeks. Gone are the 5am wake-ups to brave a hard overnight snow and sub-freezing temperatures to get to an office where corporate back-stabbing and vile gossip flow like polluted drops from a leaking roof. Criticism and complains are squeezed forth like the juice from a bitter lemon. Forget making lemonade advice – you just got the freak out of the whole situation.

Or are you taking a year-long gap year break from your studies to refresh and revitalize your body and spirit before once again resuming the mind-altering plunge into academic life?

Could it be your imagination or does the air smell sweeter, the grass look greener and the food taste better in your new environs? Everything is new and interesting. You’re stimulated on every side. Life seems fresh and new again. Whatever it is, the die is cast. You have a new home. You may be working on a new language, making new friends, savoring new tastes and having a few financial problems with getting the steady income you’d envisioned. Extensive travel and expat living are most frequently life-altering experiences.

Without the family, professional and social networks you build after years growing up and living in your native land, suitable income streams can often be much harder to establish. You won’t qualify for “unemployment compensation” if there’s even such a thing in your new home. Sure you have your “main” occupation – you know, the one you studied in the university for, worked in for umpteen years or even retired from.

But many countries place an “embargo” on foreign nationals working in key, often high-paying, occupations. It promotes unemployment among their own citizens, they say. That’s absolute balderdash – but no matter. Let’s look at a number of highly viable options that you – the English-speaking ex-pat can apply to not only survive, but even grow and prosper.

Native English Speakers
If you’re a native English language speaker you have a mountain of options available to you right there, in more ways than you might think. What might those be? We’ll take a peek at some of them now.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language
This is large, broad category which encompasses several opportunities, so don’t pooh-pooh it just yet. Many people where you now live want to or need to communicate better in English for work, future employment, education and study, travel, romance and a myriad of other personal reasons. It can be as simple as you “conversing” informally with someone on a regular basis to allow them to improve their listening and speaking skills, up to more formal employment as an English teacher at a school, company or institute. There are more options than just these available however.

In the next of this multi-part post series we’ll look at several additional money-making opportunities you can seek out or create for yourself while living or traveling extensively abroad whether you teach English as a foreign language or not.

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "Making Money Abroad" in the subject line. Contact the author directly if you need professional, original content for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website, want more information, have a comment or special request.

More of What's to Do and See for English Language Teachers in Acapulco

More in Acapulco

So, you want even more of what’s to see and do in Acapulco during your travels? A weekend retreat in Acapulco is just what the doctor ordered after a hectic week of teaching English as a foreign language in Mexico City or environs, Cuernavaca, Taxco or Chilpancingo Guerrero state’s capitol city.

What else to do?

You can get WET, that’s what!

Photo: Here’s a quick look at the AKA TIKI cruise vessel in Acapulco harbor.

Besides the miles of picture-perfect beaches fronting the city, Acapulco is a water sports and activities capitol. There are numerous cruises, tours, outings, day excursions and fishing trips to be had.

For instance:
The touring yacht “AKA TIKI” has Margarita, Sunset and moonlight cruises around Acapulco Bay. Daytime “Margarita” cruises begin at 11:00 am, lasting to around three in the afternoon. Sunset cruises shove off about 4:00 pm, staying out until 7:00 pm. The “Moonlight” cruise for true nightowls (or romantics) departs at 10:30 pm, creeping back in as the clock strikes one. Reservations: 484 – 6140 or 484 – 6786, 484 – 3893 FAX

Then there’s the delightful Parque Aquatico CICI along La Costera near Playa Icacos. Here you can get wet in any number of imaginative – or not so imaginative – ways. Dive in, jump in, slide in, swing in or just fall into the crystalline blue waters to cool off and have fun. There are performing dolphins you can play with, swim with and touch, and the “Sky Coaster” that lets you experience “a sensation similar to a dive from the cliffs of La Quebrada”. Your body starts from 100 feet up and reaches speeds of nearly 80 miles an hour! For a preview check out their website at: www.cici-acapulco.com.mx

The park’s open 365 days a year and from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. You can also call for the latest, and seasonal, prices at 484 – 1970 or 481 – 0294.

Acapulco’s Cliff Divers
It virtually goes without saying you’ll go to see the world-famous “Clavistas” of Acapulco: the men and boys who risk life and limb to dive from dizzying heights into waters of uncertain depth for the adulation of the crowds (and a few pesos in hand). Yes, divers can be injured or even killed, but fortunately, this is rare.

Several day and weekend trips are possible from “fun city”, should you need some extra diversion. Pie De La Cuesta is among the foremost for those who genuinely need to relax and escape the hustle and bustle Acapulco’s heavy tourist traffic generates. You can swim, sail or languish on an empty, sugar-colored beach, scuba dive, water ski and even go fishing in salt or fresh water – minus the crowds and stratospheric prices. And all this, mind you, for the price of a large bag of potato chips back home. Interested?

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Contact the author for no-obligation quote and rates. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com