How listening to music influences English language teaching, learning, and everyday life

Benefits of listening to music for English and foreign language learners

How can you use music effectively in your English or foreign language learning classroom? Listening to certain types of music has a number of additional benefits that go far beyond teaching and learning, as we examined in a previous article. The impact of music and songs on ELT is well documented. Now let’s continue our brief overview with five additional benefits of listening to music.

Additional benefits of listening to music

o Reduce errors

With the improved integration and function of the brain and its two hemispheres, you get better concentration and thinking ability. This immediately affects our normal operation by reducing the number of incorrect resolutions and responses to problems. Regardless of what you are thinking or doing, you will just make it better.

o Helps in digestion

Imagine the most beautiful, elegant and expensive restaurant you can. The food will be exquisite of course. Are they playing music in the restaurant? It is very likely yes, but is the music Heavy Metal Rock, Rap, Hip Hop or Acid Jazz? It is almost certainly not. The music played will be of a type designed to promote a pleasant digestive and emotional state. Music has long been used to enhance the dining experience in one way or another.

o Helps regulate moods

As briefly mentioned a bit earlier, our mood and state of mind can be influenced or altered by the use of music. To help relax people in the elevators, music is included. The same is true in doctor’s offices, waiting areas at medical and dental clinics, and even at airports. People who have a fear of heights, falls, flying, or dentists are helped to calm down a bit and relax.

or moderate the tempo of the activity

Do you work with music? I and many other professionals do it often. When I write, Beethoven’s music station usually plays in the background. At other times, I could put soft jazz in the CD-ROM drive because of the softness effect it has on me. When I’m on the deadline and need to focus and work quickly, faster-paced salsa music enters my CD player. Fast food restaurants want you to eat fast, so they play background music at a faster tempo.

o Helps isolate noise and distractions

When you can’t control outside sounds and noise, you can try putting on some music to help mentally “drown out” the distraction. Our ears can be selective, not in what we can hear, but in what we choose to actually hear. Playing something you like will cancel out distractions and background noise.

Many other benefits of listening to music

These are just a few of the hundreds of individual benefits that researchers have found related to listening to certain types of music. Listening to music has benefits, not only in the English as a Foreign Language or foreign language learning classroom, but also in other aspects of our daily lives.