Singing and arts activities in support of foreign language learning: an exploratory study*

Abstract

Educators have reported that incorporating the arts into the classroom can support foreign language (FL) learning. However, there is very little empirical evidence from the classroom to support this claim. This exploratory, quasi-experimental arts intervention study was conducted with native English speakers aged 12–13 years old as part of their beginning-level French instruction. For a total of 8.5 hours over a 6-week period, 1 group had their French lessons supplemented with singing and song activities, while the second had their French lessons supplemented with visual art and drama activities. French language performance was assessed by comparing each student’s scores on curriculum-based language tests that were administered before and after the arts intervention program. Both groups showed large gains in overall French test scores, p