Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice

Advisor

David Weintraub

Committee Member

Matthew Delaney

Committee Member

Kimberly Durham

Keywords

multiple intelligences, phonics, music activities, music videos

Abstract

Kindergarten English language learners (ELLs) in Florida have historically scored well below grade level on a standardized reading assessment, and an intervention is recommended to address the academic gap. The purpose of this quantitative study was to use i-Ready reading assessment scores to examine the effects of an intervention involving the use of folk music to improve the phonemic awareness (i.e., the ability to hear letter sounds that are the smallest components of words) among ELLs at a Florida elementary school kindergarten.

The gains in phonemic awareness of an experimental group (n = 14) who were taught using folk music were compared with the gains in phonemic awareness of a control group (n = 17) who were not taught using folk music. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance provided statistical significance (p < .05) with adequate power (> .80) to support the hypothesis that the mean gain score of the experimental group (M = 73.93 [95% CI = 55.66, 92.19]) was significantly greater than the mean gain score of the control group (M = 44.84 [95% CI = 35.11, 54.53]). The effect sizes reflected practical significance.

The conclusions were consistent with previous researchers revealing that the incorporation of musical activities into language teaching could result in significant improvements in the performance of language learners. An educational policy decision to implement the intervention to improve the phonemic awareness of kindergarten ELLs in Florida is warranted. An explanatory qualitative study is recommended to further explore the use of music as an intervention to improve the language skills of kindergarten ELLs in the classroom.

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Dissertation of Distinction