Psychol Stud (April–June 2013) 58(2):164–170
DOI 10.1007/s12646-013-0180-3
ASSESSMENT
Music Training and Second-Language English Comprehension
and Vocabulary Skills in Indian Children
Swathi Swaminathan & Jini K. Gopinath
Received: 15 September 2012 / Accepted: 12 March 2013 / Published online: 18 April 2013
# National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) India 2013
Abstract This study examined the second-language (L2)
English abilities of musically trained and untrained primary
school children. Participants were tested on the verbal sub-
scales of the Malin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian Children
(MISIC) and an English word-reading test. The musically
trained participants performed significantly better on the tests
of comprehension and vocabulary. This result is in line with
the view that music and language share processing resources,
as a result of which transfer of learning takes place. When the
scores of participants with Indian Classical music training
were compared with the scores of the untrained group, the
comprehension and vocabulary advantage persisted, indicat-
ing that the L2 advantage was not simply an artefact of
increased language familiarity that is likely to arise from
Western music training.
Keywords Music training . Music . Child language . Second
language . Vocabulary . Comprehension . Cognitive transfer
Introduction
Both music and language are dynamic systems of sound
units with rule-governed structure. Like language, musical
systems are also sometimes thought of as communicative
tools. Given the perceptual and functional similarities, an
overlap in the cognitive resources required for processing
music and language is plausible. One way to test the overlap
S. Swaminathan : J. K. Gopinath
Department of Psychology, Christ University, Hosur Road,
Bangalore 560029, India
Present Address:
S. Swaminathan (*)
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga
L5L 1C6, Canada
e-mail: swathi.swaminathan@mail.utoronto.ca
hypothesis is to examine whether musically trained and
untrained participants differ on measures of linguistic skill.
If processing music and language involves shared resources,
then musically trained participants, who presumably have
additional opportunities to exercise and sharpen these cog-
nitive resources, will show enhanced language skill.
There is evidence for an association between music training
and listening skills. Musically trained participants can detect
differences in pitch better than untrained controls
(Schellenberg and Moreno 2010) and this advantage has also
been documented for the processing of pitch changes during
speech perception (Besson et al. 2007; Magne et al. 2006;
Marques et al. 2007; Moreno and Besson 2005; Schon et al.
2004; Wong et al. 2007). Musically trained participants are
better at detecting sounds in noisy environments compared to
untrained participants (Parbery-Clark et al. 2009a) and this
hearing in noise advantage also extends to speech perception
in noise (Parbery-Clark et al. 2009b; Strait and Kraus 2011).
Beyond enhanced listening skills, the transfer of benefits
from music training to higher order language skills have
been documented. Adults and children with music training
recall lists of words (Chan et al. 1998; Ho et al. 2003), and
sequences of sounds (Tierney et al. 2008) better than par-
ticipants with no training. Musical ability as well as music
training are associated with higher first-language (L1) read-
ing scores (Anvari et al. 2002; Butzlaff 2000; Corrigall and
Trainor 2011; Standley 2008). In early readers, training
strengthens phonological awareness, the knowledge that
words are made up of component sounds (Dege and
Schwarzer 2011; Gromko 2005; Moreno et al. 2011b), as
well as visual sign-sound mapping (Moreno et al. 2011b).
Higher scores have also been reported in musically trained
children in tests of L1 vocabulary (Forgeard et al. 2008; Piro
and Oritz 2009), verbal sequencing (Piro and Oritz 2009)
and speech prosody decoding (Thompson et al. 2004).
Finally, one experimental study found enhancements to
vocabulary in preschool-age children after 20 days of music
Psychol Stud (April–June 2013) 58(2):164–170
training but not after training in visual art (Moreno et al.
2011a), suggesting a causal role of music lessons in lan-
guage enhancements.
There is some evidence for an association between second-
language (L2) skill and musical experience. Participants scor-
ing higher on tests of musical aptitude are better at perceiving
and producing single L2 speech sounds (Milovanov et al.
2008, 2010; Slevc and Miyake 2006). In adults, L2 learning
advantages are associated with extensive music training in
childhood. In one study, monolingual Canadian undergradu-
ate students with English as L1 who were enrolled in intro-
ductory Spanish and Italian courses were grouped based on
self-reports of music training (Petitto 2008). Highly musically
trained undergraduates outperformed untrained controls on L2
expressive proficiency and competence as judged by native
Spanish- and Itaian-speaking raters. Another recent study re-
ports an association between music training and L2 pronun-
ciation skill in a sample of undergraduates (Posedel et al.
2012).
Whether music training is associated with better L2 skills
in children has never been tested. Furthermore, it is not
known whether associations extend to higher level L2 skills
such as vocabulary, comprehension and reading. The pres-
ent study explores the association between music training
and L2 verbal and reading skills in children. Many children
in India speak languages other than English at home, but
enter English-medium schools. As a result, any achievement
test taken by the student in school will be in English. This
means that the child’s success in school, and perhaps later in
life, will depend on early proficiency in English. Therefore,
studies documenting early L2 advantages are especially
relevant to the Indian context.
So far, only participants reporting Western music training
have been studied. Music forms an important part of cul-
tures within India and is tied inextricably to religious prac-
tice and rituals. Like the Western musical system, there are
two well-developed, organized systems in India – the
Hindustani and the Carnatic. Both systems have highly
nuanced melodic concepts. For example, a well-accepted
theory in Carnatic music is that there are 72 melakartas or
parent scales from which innumerable scales can further be
derived (Subramaniam and Subramaniam 1999). The pres-
ent study examines whether Indian Classical music training
is associated with English skill. Carnatic and Hindustani
songs are never written in English. Finding the English
language advantage in Indian music-trained participants
would provide more convincing support for cognitive
transfer.
The present study, therefore, tested whether musically
trained children perform better than untrained children in
tests of L2 ability. Furthermore, it was also investigated
whether Indian Classical music-trained children showed an
English L2 advantage over their untrained counterparts.
165
Methods
Participants
A sample of 76 children studying in second, third and fourth
standard participated in the study (37 trained). There were 21
males (10 trained) and 55 females (27 trained). An additional
four participants (3 trained) were tested but their data were not
included in the analysis because they did not complete all tests
(n=1), learned to play the tabla, a percussion instrument
(n= 1), or had less than 3 months of training (n =2).
Participants were located through two English-medium
schools situated within the same locality of Bangalore.
Although the schools did not provide formal music training
as part of the curriculum, both conducted annual cultural days
in which the students could take part in singing events.
Further, both schools emphasized the reciting of Sanskrit
prayers at set times during school hours. The study was
conducted after obtaining informed consent from the schools
and parents, and assent from the children participating.
All participants reported a language other than English as
first language (L1). L1 was defined as the language spoken
most often at home. All participants learnt English predom-
inantly due to entry into school. It must be noted that some
children were familiar with languages other than their L1
and English, which is unsurprising in a multilingual country
such as India. It is possible that some of these children learnt
other non-L1 languages before English. However, for the
sake of simplicity and convenience, we refer to English as
the L2 in this paper. Children in the sample were familiar
with between 2 and 4 languages including their L1 and
English. The following eight L1s were present in the sam-
ple: Marathi (n=3), Kannada (n=26), Tamil (n=6), Telugu
(n=17), Malayalam (n=20), Thulu (n=2), Konkani (n=1),
and Hindi (n=1). For all participants, English formed the
second language.
Participants reporting at least 3 months of music train-
ing and speaking a language other than English at home
formed the trained group. This group included children
with Carnatic (n = 24), Hindustani (n = 5), Western
Classical (n=3) and non-classical music training (n=5).
Instruction in classical music paradigms (Carnatic,
Hindustani and Western Classical) involve rigorous com-
mitment to a style of music or tradition. Forms of training
that do not neatly fit into the three Classical music cate-
gories but involve private music lessons (for example,
training in bhajans or devotional songs and pop music)
were labelled non-classical music training. The primary
instruments of training in the group were voice (n=31),
and keyboard (n=6). All children reported training on a
single instrument. Mean length of training (± SD) was
found to be 17.63 months (±14.16), with a range of
3–58 months.
166
The musically untrained group was obtained by taking
the first 40 untrained students who matched the grade,
gender and school profile of the trained participants.
Because one student dropped out, the untrained group
consisted of 39 students.
Measures
A background questionnaire was used to obtain the
socio-demographic (net annual household income and
highest educational attainment of the participant’s mother
and father), language and music background of each
child. This questionnaire was sent to parents along with
the information sheet and informed consent forms.
Parents who agreed to their child’s participation in the
study were instructed to fill out the questionnaire and
return it along with the signed consent form. Children
with and without training were identified from parent
responses on the background questionnaire. Once a list
of participants was finalised, all participants’ parents
were informed by telephone. Additionally, the informa-
tion provided on the questionnaire was re-checked with
the parents on telephone.
The Malin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian Children verbal
subscales (MISIC 1969) is the Indian adaptation of the
Wecshler’s Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), and
was used in the present study as a measure of English L2
verbal skills. The WISC has been used in past studies
investigating the link between music training and cognitive
abilities (e.g., Schellenberg 2004). Music training has been
found related to small improvements on all WISC subscales
(Schellenberg 2004). It has also been found that musically
trained children perform better than controls on the
Vocabulary subscale of the WISC (Piro and Oritz 2009).
The MISIC assesses verbal intelligence along the same
subscales as the WISC (Information, Comprehension,
Arithmetic, Similarities, Vocabulary, and forward and back-
wards Digit Span). These MISIC items have been standard-
ized to Indian children between the ages of 5 to 15 years. The
test has been found suitable for administration to children all
over India without the need for regional norms because chil-
dren across India studying in English-medium schools do not
show regional differences in English abilities. The standard-
ized administration procedure of the MISIC made it possible
to employ multiple test administrators.
The Word list from the Schonell Reading Test was used to
test English reading proficiency in the participants. This test
was chosen as it is easy to administer and provides a ready
list of words that can be used to measure reading ability. The
original test (Schonell and Schonell 1950) gives a graded
reading age. However, for the purpose of this study, the
reading age was not calculated. Instead, the number of
words correctly read was taken to be the score for each
Psychol Stud (April–June 2013) 58(2):164–170
participant. The reading test contained 100 words to be read
by the participant.
During the test, the test administrator pointed to a word
and the participant read it aloud. The participant was
allowed to take as much time as he/she wanted to read a
word. Participants were asked to read all 100 words, work-
ing row-wise (five words per row) from the top left corner of
the sheet down to the bottom right. The participant was
allowed to self-correct when he/she got the pronunciation
wrong. Additionally, if the participant mispronounced a
word, but the word read out sounded similar to the correct
pronunciation, the test administrator asked the participant to
try again. Only those words read out correctly were given a
mark. Words read correctly after participants’ self-correction
were also given a mark. Words mispronounced or left out by
the participant were given a score of zero. The sum of points
obtained on the list formed the reading score.
In addition to the verbal tests, all participants were asked to
indicate their interest in music-related activities. Responses
were obtained as simple yes/no answers to the question “Are
you interested in participating in music activities including
music training?”
Testing Procedure
Participants were tested in their own schools during allotted
school hours. Testing took place over a period of 3 weeks in
January 2010. Six postgraduate psychology students were
trained to administer the MISIC verbal subtests and the
word-reading test. The MISIC verbal subscales were admin-
istered before the reading test for all participants. On aver-
age, testing lasted 75 min.
Demographic Variables The demographic characteristics of
the trained and untrained group were first compared. An
independent-samples t test was used to compare the mean
age of the musically trained and untrained groups.
Socioeconomic status (SES) was assessed using reported
household annual income, and the higherst educational at-
tainment of the participant’s mother and father. The educa-
tional attainment of each participant’s mother and father was
coded as follows: a score of 1 was given when the highest
attainment was primary education, incomplete secondary
education, or complete secondary schooling; a score of 2
was given for vocational diplomas, undergratuate degrees,
or postgraduate degrees. The mean household annual in-
come for the trained and untrained groups was compared
using an independent-samples t test. The Pearson Chi-
Square test was used to compare parental education distri-
butions of the trained and untrained groups.
Music Training and English L2 Skills The raw MISIC subtest
scores were first converted to standardized IQ scores according
Psychol Stud (April–June 2013) 58(2):164–170
to the MISIC norms. Two sets of analyses were then carried out
to examine differences between the two groups on English L2
tests. In the first analysis, the mean language scores of the
trained group included the scores of all children reporting
music training, ie., children with Carnatic, Hindustani,
Western Classical and Non-Classical music training. Seven
independent-samples t tests were used to compare the trained
and untrained groups on mean Information, Comprehension,
Arithmetic, Similarities, Vocabulary, Digit Span and Reading
test scores. The second set of analyses was indentical except
that the mean scores of the trained group only included scores
of children reporting Carnatic and Hindustani (Indian
Classical) music training. These additional analyses were
conducted after excluding the scores of the Western Classical
and Non-Classically trained participants because these styles
are likely to involve English language songs and learning
material. On the other hand, Indian Classical music training
never involves English material. Therefore, if an English L2
advantage is found in the trained group in the second set of
analyses, it is not likely to be because the group is more familiar
with English-language material.
Interest in Music The percentage of children, regardless of
training status, reporting interest in music-related activities
and music training was calculated.
Results
The musically trained [M=100.55 months, SD=13.09]
and untrained [M = 98.89, SD = 11.89] groups did not
differ in age (p > .50). No significant difference in
reported household annual income of the trained [M=
Rs. 254269.23, SD =237238.03] and untrained groups
[M = 172629.63, SD = 126115.68] was found (p > .10).
Similarly, no differences were found in the educational
attainment of the participants’ mothers (p>.95) and fa-
thers (p>.70). Because the trained and untrained groups
did not differ significantly on sociodemographic vari-
ables, these variables were not considered in further
analyses.
The performance of the untrained participants was first
compared with participants reporting all forms of music train-
ing, including Western and non-classical styles (Fig. 1a.). The
trained group [M=110.25, SD=15.92] and the untrained
group [M=104.44, SD =13.50] did not differ on overall
verbal IQ (p>.05). On two verbal subtests of the MISIC,
the Comprehension [ t(74) = 2.33, p = .02; d = 0.54], and
Vocabulary [t(74)=2.13, p=.04; d=0.52] subtests, the musi-
cally trained group [Comprehension: M=116.70, SD=20.73;
Vocabulary: M=96.65, SD=21.26] performed significantly
better than the untrained group [Comprehension: M=106.39,
SD =17.81; Vocabulary: M=87.51, SD=15.86]. The two
167
groups did not differ in their performance on the Information
(p>.10), Arithmetic (p>.40), Similarities (p>.70) and Digit
Span (p>.30) subtests of the MISIC, or in their reading
performance (p>.50).
In a second analysis (Fig. 1b.), after removing the scores
of participants trained in Western and non-Classical musical
styles, the trained group [Comprehension: M=118.24, SD=
20.58; Vocabulary: M=97.34, SD=21.82] still performed
better than the untrained group on the Comprehension
subtest [t(66)=2.54, p=.01; d=0.63] and the vocabulary
subtest[t(66) = 2.056, p = 0.05; d = 0.59]. The Indian
Classical music-trained group did not differ from the
untrained group on overall verbal IQ (p>.05), Information
(p>.05), Arithmetic (p>.50), Similarities (p>.50), Digit
Span (p>.50), and reading (p>.80) scores.
Majority (85.53 %) of the participants reported being
interested in engaging in music-related activities including
training, making it likely that school-based music instruc-
tion and other musical activities will be well-received.
Discussion
The present study found that primary-school children with
music training perform better than untrained children in
English L2 comprehension and vocabulary. The advantage
persists even when the trained group only consisted of
participants trained in Indian Classical music. This suggests
the English L2 advantage is not merely because of an
increased opportunity to learn new words from songs as
Indian Classical music is written in Indian languages. The
vocabulary and comprehension advantage in the musically
trained participants is congruent with the results of studies
of L1 vocabulary and comprehension (Forgeard et al. 2008;
Moreno et al. 2009; Piro and Oritz 2009). However, unlike
other studies (e.g., Butzlaff 2000; Standley 2008), we found
no evidence for difference in the reading scores of trained
and untrained participants. This may be because whereas
past studies examined L1 reading skills, the present study
investigated the association between music training and L2
reading. It is possible that participants did not have enough
L2 experience for the differences in skill to become appar-
ent. Children in the musically trained group had a wide
range of training durations, with five participants reporting
less than 6 months of training. Thus, it is also possible that
no differences in reading scores were found due to low
levels of musical experience in some children. Still, recent
evidence suggests that even 20 days of listening-based com-
puterized music training can improve pre-lieracy skills in
preschool-age children (Moreno et al. 2011b). Furthermore,
even in studies of L1 reading skill, the evidence appears to
be mixed (Butzlaff 2000). A systematic comparison of the
168
Fig. 1 Mean scores of the musically trained and untrained participants
on the verbal subtests of the Malin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian
Children, and the reading test. In a the mean scores of the trained
group include the scores of participants reporting Western Classical,
Carnatic, Hindustani and Non-Classical systems of music training. In b
associations between music training and L1 and L2 skill is a
promising avenue for future work.
Because the present study employed a quasi-experimental
design, it is not possible to know whether music training
caused L2 skills to improve in the trained group. The question
of what drove the association has a number of possible an-
swers. A first possiblility is that music training did in fact
improve L2 ability, and did so because a special link between
music and language processing exists.
Psychol Stud (April–June 2013) 58(2):164–170
the mean scores of the trained group reflects the scores of participants
reporting Carnatic and Hindustani (Indian Classical) music training.
Error bars represent the standard errors of mean. Asterisks denote
significant difference between the trained and untrained groups on a
test (*p≤.05, **p=.01)
A second possibility is that training facilitated the devel-
opment of an intermediate variable, which in turn facilitated
language learning. One such candidate variable is listening
skill. It is possible that music training enhances listening
skill, thereby elevating the child’s sensitivity to changes in
pitch, rhythm, and loudness in speech, prosodic markers
which aid comprehension. General cognitive abilities are
another possible set of mediating variables that drive the
association between music training and language. For
Psychol Stud (April–June 2013) 58(2):164–170
example, an experiment by Schellenberg (2004) showed
small, significant increases in IQ in children after a year of
music training. Increases in IQ may promote adapting to a
new language environment and learning rapidly. Similarly,
executive functions are another set of potential intermediate
variables (Hannon and Trainor 2007; Schellenberg and
Peretz 2008). Training is associated positively with verbal
short-term and working memory (e.g., Brandler and
Rammsayer 2003; Franklin et al. 2008; Ho et al. 2003;
Jakobson et al. 2003), which may drive the association with
language skill. Attention, is similarly associated positively
with music training (Bialystok and DePape 2009; Degé et al.
2011; Moreno et al. 2011a), and language skills (Moreno et
al. 2011a, b), thereby potentially mediating the music and
language association. It is also possible that music training
makes better students. The format of music training is quite
similar to classroom instruction, requiring periods of fo-
cused attention, practice, and taking tests. In line with this,
music training is associated with better school performance
(e.g., Schellenberg 2006; Vaughn and Winner 2000). It must
be noted that in this case, it is also possible that other forms
of focused training, such as art classes, will promote lan-
guage learning. Indeed it has been found that children en-
rolled in music lessons and focused painting classes do not
significantly differ on the Verbal Comprehension Index of
the WISC (Moreno et al. 2009). Similarly, participating in
any artistic activity at high school (drama, music, art or
dance) was found to be associated with higher scores on
the Scholastic Aptitude Test in American students (Vaughn
and Winner 2000)
A third posibility is that music training does not improve
language skill. Instead, individual differences that lead chil-
dren to seek music training may also drive the child to excel
in learning environments. For example, children already
performing well at school are more likely to be encouraged
by their parents and teachers to pursue music training.
Indeed early academic achievement predicts later decisions
to begin and continue participating in musical activities
(Kinney 2008, 2010; Klinedinst 1991). Furthermore, SES
is known to predict academic attainment (e.g., White 1982).
Although the present study found no statistically significant
differences in SES between the trained and untrained
groups, the mean annual income and SD in the musically
trained group was higher. Thus, a possible role of SES in
language scores cannot be ruled out. Certain personality
traits, such as openness-to-experience and conscientious-
ness, which predict intellectual ability and school perfor-
mance (Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham 2005), may
predict whether a child seeks and continues music training
(Schellenberg 2011). A recent study reports an association
between duration of music training and the openness and
conscientious dimensions (Schellenberg and Corrigall
2012). In fact, the associoation between training and
169
cognitive skills disappears once personality variables are
controlled for.
The results of the present study add to a growing body of
work supporting an association between music and language
processing. However, the drivers of this association still
need further clarification; longitudinal and experimental
studies hold future promise in this regard. Longer periods
of music training are associated with higher scores on tests
of L1 skill and general cognition (e.g., Corrigall and Trainor
2011; Schellenberg 2006). It remains to be seen whether a
similar dose–response association exists between training
and receptive L2 skills. Nevertheless, the present study pro-
vides new evidence for the link using participants with non-
Western music training and testing them on their second
language. Furthermore, the result of children’s self-reported
interest in music-related activities indicates that school-
based music instruction programmes are likely to be re-
ceived well.
Acknowledgments We thank Shitika Chowdhary, Angela Joseph,
Nisha Rao, Raisa Romer and Soumya Tharien for assistance with data
collection; the schools, parents and children for their participation; and
Sumathi Swaminathan and Miriam Ittyerah for helpful comments.
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