An Empirical Investigation of the Association between Musical

363 Pages·2006·2.32 MB·English

An Empirical Investigation of the Association between
Musical Aptitude and Foreign Language Aptitude

Lorraine Frances Gilleece

Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Centre for Language and Communication Studies
University of Dublin
Trinity College

2006
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
Declaration

I hereby declare that this thesis, submitted in candidature for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin, is entirely my own work and has not been
previously submitted for a degree at this or any other university. I agree that the
Library may lend or copy the thesis upon request.

____________________________________
Lorraine Gilleece, 30th September 2005

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Abstract

Given the joint ubiquity of music and language, and pre-theoretic similarities between
the two, it is relevant to consider the relationship between musical ability and
linguistic ability, specifically in relation to second language acquisition. The specific
question of musical aptitude and its relationship to foreign language aptitude is the
central focus of this thesis. In Chapter 2, the dissertation reviews classical and recent
research on individual differences, in particular those individual differences which are
known to have a major impact on the second language learning process. This review
reveals a complex relationship between language aptitude, intelligence and working
memory. Chapter 3 examines the relationship between music and other cognitive
abilities, focussing primarily on the relationship between music and language ability.
This suggests that further analysis of the music-language relationship is indeed
justified. From the analysis of past research reported in Chapters 2 and 3, open
questions emerge about two important issues: the extent to which music and language
aptitude are related, and the extent to which that relationship is mediated by general
intelligence. Empirical investigations are carried out to investigate these issues
quantitatively and qualitatively.

Phase I of the study examines receptive aptitude in music and language. A sample of
149 subjects completes the Bentley Measures of Musical Aptitude and a language
aptitude test based on the Modern Language Aptitude Test, in addition to the Raven
Progressive Matrices Test. Phase II of the study examines productive aptitude in
music and language. Forty one of the original subjects imitate foreign language
words and sentences and short rhythm patterns. Results of both experiments reveal a
significant relationship between music and language aptitude, independent of general
intelligence. Correlations may be considered small to moderate.
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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my supervisor Professor David Singleton for all his
encouragement and kind words throughout my postgraduate studies. I would also
like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Carl Vogel for his assistance throughout my
time in Trinity, particularly for taking the time to offer advice and suggestions on
this thesis. I am very grateful to Marie Moran in the Royal Irish Academy of Music
for her assistance, especially for so willingly spending a weekend correcting all the
productive music tests. I cannot over emphasise how much this is appreciated. Dr.
Cathal Walsh in the Department of Statistics was also very generous with his time
and I deeply appreciate the prompt replies to my numerous emails.

A very big thank you must go to all the pupils and staff of the schools where I
carried out my field work, particularly to the following teachers and principals: Mr.
Johnson, St. Benildus College, Stillorgan; Ms. Eileen O’Donnell, St. Raphaela’s
Secondary School, Stillorgan; Mr. John Gildea, St. Bricin’s Vocational School,
Belturbet; Mr. Ken Duggan, CBS Westland Row; Mr. Sean Casey, Dundrum
College and Mr. Brendan Doyle, St. Conleth’s College, Ballsbridge. I would also
like to thank the language schools who recruited native speakers of various foreign
languages for me – Alpha College, North Great George’s St.; Mr. Noel Gardner,
Centre for English Studies, Dame St. and Mr. Ciaran McCarthy, EF International
Language School, Fitzwilliam Square.

Thank you very much to the native speakers of Chinese, Czech, Korean and Spanish
who helped me prepare and correct the language aptitude tests. Thanks to Benji for
help with Chinese, also to Nam, Ko and Namhee, and Namsook in the Korean
Embassy, for help with Korean, Lucie, and also Petra in the Czech Embassy, for
help with Czech, and finally, Susana, Nuria and Alma for help with Spanish. I also
appreciate the helpful comments of Jeong-Young Kim, University of Helsinki, on
the Korean stimuli used in Phase II.

Thanks to Martha Dalton for teaching me how to use the Praat software and for
answering any phonetics questions. Thank you also to Dr. Ann Devitt and Brian
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Murphy in the Computational Linguistics Group for help with Perl and general
computer queries! I also appreciate the help of Denise O’Leary in reading earlier
drafts of this thesis. Thanks to Drs. Colm O’Reilly and Sheila Gilheany in the
Centre for Talented Youth, DCU for providing me with the Raven Progressive
Matrices Test booklets.

This research was made possible through various sources of funding. I am very
grateful for the financial support of Trinity College, from whom I have received the
following funding: Foundation Scholarship, Trinity College Postgraduate Award,
Trinity Trust Travel Grant. I also appreciate being awarded the Dr. A. J. Leventhal
Scholarship. Finally, I would like to acknowledge receipt of a postgraduate
scholarship from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social
Sciences.

Finally and most especially, I must thank my family. Thank you very much to mum
and dad for everything over the years – from finding digs in first year, to advice on
buying a lap-top, from frozen dinners to advice on teaching, I am very grateful for
everything. Thank you Richard for all your help – posters in Powerpoint, statistics,
neuroanatomy, …., but more than anything, for chocolate and ice-cream at times
when the relationship between music and language seemed particularly elusive!
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Table of Contents
Declaration.....................................................................................................................i
Abstract..........................................................................................................................ii
Acknowledgments.........................................................................................................iii
Table of Contents...........................................................................................................v
List of Figures................................................................................................................x
List of Tables................................................................................................................xii
List of Equations.........................................................................................................xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction................................................................................................1
Chapter 2 Individual Differences.............................................................................19
2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................19
2.2 Individual Differences in Psychological Research................................................20
2.3 Individual Differences in First Language Acquisition...........................................26
2.4 Differences between Second Language Learners..................................................28
2.5 General Aptitude....................................................................................................33
2.5.1 Stability of Aptitude........................................................................................33
2.5.2 Components of Aptitude.................................................................................34
2.5.3 Other Approaches to Aptitude........................................................................38
2.5.4 Aptitude and Age............................................................................................40
2.5.5 Language Aptitude Tests................................................................................41
2.5.6 Relationship between Language Aptitude and Other Cognitive Skills..........43
2.5.7 Importance of Aptitude in Different Contexts................................................45
2.5.8 Conclusion......................................................................................................46
2.6 Intelligence.............................................................................................................48
2.6.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................48
2.6.2 Early Measurements of Intelligence...............................................................53
2.6.3 Current Views on Intelligence........................................................................57
2.6.4 Conclusion......................................................................................................60
2.7 Working Memory...................................................................................................61
2.7.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................62
2.7.2 Phonological Loop and Language Acquisition...............................................65
2.7.2.1 Capacity of Phonological Loop...............................................................66
2.7.2.2 Phonological Store or Rehearsal System.................................................68
2.7.3 Working Memory & Intelligence....................................................................71
2.7.4 Other Working Memory Components............................................................75
2.7.5 Summary of Discussion of Working Memory................................................79
2.8 Conclusion.............................................................................................................80
Chapter 3 Music, Language and the Brain.............................................................82
3.1 Introduction............................................................................................................82
3.2 Music and Spatial Reasoning.................................................................................83
3.2.1 Explaining the “Mozart Effect”......................................................................84
3.2.2 Replication of the “Mozart Effect” Experiments............................................86
3.2.3 Extension of Findings.....................................................................................88
3.2.4 Conclusion......................................................................................................90
3.3 Music and Linguistic Intelligence..........................................................................90
3.3.1 Music and First Language Acquisition...........................................................92
3.3.2 Music and Second Language Acquisition.......................................................94
3.3.3 Other Recent Research..................................................................................103
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3.4 The Brain, Music and Cognition..........................................................................109
3.4.1 Introduction...................................................................................................109
3.4.2 Anatomical Differences Arising From Musical Training.............................111
3.4.4 Music and Language in the Brain.................................................................112
3.5 Conclusion...........................................................................................................118
Chapter 4 Methodology...........................................................................................120
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................120
4.2 Phase I - Receptive Skills....................................................................................121
4.2.1 Introduction...................................................................................................121
4.2.2 Design of Test Battery..................................................................................122
4.2.2.1 Music......................................................................................................122
4.2.2.2 Language................................................................................................124
4.2.2.3 Non-verbal Intelligence (gF)..................................................................127
4.2.3 Scoring of Tests............................................................................................128
4.2.4 Subjects.........................................................................................................128
4.2.5 Administration of Tests.................................................................................130
4.2.6 Analysis.........................................................................................................131
4.3. Phase II - Productive Skills.................................................................................132
4.3.1 Introduction...................................................................................................132
4.3.2 Design of Test Battery..................................................................................135
4.3.2.1 Music......................................................................................................135
4.3.2.2 Language................................................................................................136
4.3.3 Scoring of Tests............................................................................................139
4.3.3.1 Music......................................................................................................139
4.3.3.2 Language................................................................................................141
4.3.4 Subjects.........................................................................................................145
4.3.5 Administration of Tests.................................................................................146
4.3.6 Analysis.........................................................................................................146
4.4 Phase III –Receptive & Productive......................................................................147
4.5 Reliability.............................................................................................................147
4.5.1 Inter Rater Reliability...................................................................................148
4.5.1.1 Korean....................................................................................................148
4.5.1.2 Spanish...................................................................................................150
4.5.1.3 Kappa Statistic.......................................................................................152
4.5.1.4 Conclusion.............................................................................................153
4.5.2 Intra Rater Reliability...................................................................................153
4.5.2.1 Korean....................................................................................................153
4.5.2.2 Spanish...................................................................................................155
4.5.2.3 Kappa Statistic.......................................................................................156
4.5.2.4 Conclusion.............................................................................................158
4.5.3 Reliability of Scale Analysis.........................................................................158
4.5.3.1 Korean....................................................................................................159
4.5.3.2 Spanish...................................................................................................159
4.5.3.3 Music (Prod)..........................................................................................159
4.5.3.4 Summary................................................................................................159
4.6 Conclusion...........................................................................................................159
Chapter 5 Results and Discussion..........................................................................161
5.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................161
5.2 Phase I – Examination of Receptive Skills in Music and Language...................161
5.2.1 Distribution of scores....................................................................................161
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5.2.2 Correlations...................................................................................................166
5.2.2.1 Correlations between components of tests.............................................168
5.2.2.2 Correlations between tests.....................................................................171
5.2.3 Subjects divided by Raven scores.................................................................179
5.2.3.1 Correlations within high and low Raven groups....................................186
5.2.3.2 Summary and conclusion of Raven groups...........................................187
5.2.4 Subjects divided by gender...........................................................................188
5.2.5 Partial Correlation.........................................................................................191
5.2.6 Regression.....................................................................................................192
5.2.6.1 Introduction............................................................................................192
5.2.6.2 Multiple Regression...............................................................................195
5.3 Phase II – Examination of Productive Skills.......................................................200
5.3.1 Subjects.........................................................................................................201
5.3.2 Distribution of scores....................................................................................201
5.3.3 Correlations...................................................................................................203
5.3.3.1 Correlations between components of Language test.............................204
5.3.3.2 Correlations between tests.....................................................................204
5.3.4 Subjects divided by Raven scores.................................................................208
5.3.4.1 Correlations within high and low Raven groups....................................211
5.3.4.2 Summary of Low/High Raven split for Phase II...................................213
5.3.5 Subjects divided by gender...........................................................................214
5.3.6 Partial Correlations.......................................................................................215
5.3.7 Regression.....................................................................................................215
5.3.8 Comparison of PVI measures with Native Speaker scores...........................217
5.3.8.1 Why the differences?.............................................................................219
5.3.8.2 Why values are not near English or Spanish values?............................221
5.3.8.3 Comparison with Native Speaker Scores for Rhythm...........................221
5.3.8.4 PVI scores vs. ns scores.........................................................................223
5.3.9 Conclusion....................................................................................................224
5.4 Phase III: Links between Receptive and Productive Skills................................224
5.4.1 Correlations...................................................................................................225
5.4.1.1 Correlations Between Tests...................................................................225
5.4.2 Subjects divided by Raven scores.................................................................228
5.4.2.1 Correlations within high and low Raven groups....................................228
5.5 Multiple Testing...................................................................................................229
5.6 Korean and Spanish as tests of Language Aptitude.............................................230
5.7 Conclusion...........................................................................................................235
Chapter 6 Conclusion..............................................................................................236
6.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................236
6.2 Summary of research...........................................................................................236
6.3 New approaches and findings..............................................................................237
6.4 Relationship to existing literature........................................................................240
6.5 Limitations of this study......................................................................................241
6.6 Suggestions for future work.................................................................................241
6.7 Summary..............................................................................................................243
Bibliography.............................................................................................................244
Appendix 1................................................................................................................275
Correlations............................................................................................................275
Pearson Correlations..........................................................................................275
Spearman’s Rho.................................................................................................276
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Groups divided by Raven scores............................................................................277
Groups divided by gender......................................................................................278
Regression..............................................................................................................280
Outliers omitted.................................................................................................280
Gender as predictor............................................................................................282
Stepwise regression............................................................................................283
Appendix 2................................................................................................................285
Normal Q-Q Plots..................................................................................................285
Correlations............................................................................................................288
Pearson Correlations..........................................................................................288
Spearman’s Rho.................................................................................................290
Group divided by Raven scores.............................................................................292
Regression..............................................................................................................293
Outliers omitted.................................................................................................294
Stepwise regression............................................................................................295
Appendix 3................................................................................................................297
Correlations............................................................................................................297
Pearson Correlations..........................................................................................297
Spearman’s Rho.................................................................................................298
Group divided by Raven scores.............................................................................299
Appendix 4................................................................................................................300
Bentley Measures of Musical Aptitude..................................................................300
Test items...........................................................................................................300
Answer sheet......................................................................................................304
Transcript of Instructions...................................................................................305
Receptive Language Aptitude Test........................................................................308
Test items...........................................................................................................308
Answer sheet......................................................................................................314
Transcript of Instructions...................................................................................318
Appendix 5................................................................................................................320
Music productive test.............................................................................................320
Spanish sentences...................................................................................................322
Korean Words........................................................................................................322
Appendix 6................................................................................................................324
Korean rater instructions........................................................................................324
Spanish rater instructions.......................................................................................325
Appendix 7................................................................................................................326
Calculation of Kappa statistic for Korean raters....................................................326
Korean rater 1........................................................................................................326
Algorithm...........................................................................................................326
Items examined..................................................................................................329
Output of algorithm............................................................................................329
Korean rater 2........................................................................................................330
Algorithm...........................................................................................................330
Items examined..................................................................................................334
Output................................................................................................................335
Spanish rater 1........................................................................................................335
Items examined..................................................................................................335
Output................................................................................................................336
Spanish rater 2........................................................................................................337
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