The Effects of Musical Aptitude and Musical Training on Phonological Production in Foreign Languages

Abstract

This study investigates 128 Chinese college students to examine the effects of their musical aptitude and musical training on phonological production in four foreign languages. Results show that musically-trained students remarkably possessed stronger musical aptitude than those without musical training and performed better than their counterpart in foreign language suprasegmental production. Students of high musical aptitude performed significantly better in suprasegmental production and Russian production as compared with those of low musical aptitude. Musical aptitude could exert some effects on foreign language phonological production. With the music-phonology link confirmed in this study, pedagogical implications for teaching and learning of foreign language phonology are discussed.