Impacts of music on disadvantaged foreign language learning contexts. Multimodal insights from Bataan

Abstract

This paper deals with one main research question: Can music serve as an adequate pedagogical tool when teaching foreign languages in a socio-economically disadvantaged area? The answers to this question will be based on the outcomes of the Multimodal advantages: The Bataan Case study, an ongoing sub-project of the Multimodality in Practice research project . To answer this question, the paper adopts a socio-semiotic theoretical framework based on Multimodal principles . This framework is used for the analysis of a set of qualitative empirical data i.e. fieldnotes, observations, teacher interviews and lesson plans designed and used to teach foreign languages to students attending the Jose De Piro Education Centre for Arts in the poverty-stricken town of Pagalanggang in the Bataan region of the Philippines . The paper as its main results (and as a sound answer to the research question) presents five insights derived from the socio-semiotic evaluation of a set of practical student-centered music-related task-based pedagogical activities which were used during lessons conducted in this disadvantaged learning context. Later, as its main conclusion, the paper suggests that notwithstanding the limitations encountered in similar disadvantaged learning contexts, even the teachers working in seemingly advantaged contexts can learn a lot from the way teachers and students use music while teaching and learning foreign languages in these at-first-glance disadvantaged and deprived situations.