Harmonizing Literacy and language Learning
Enhancing Intermediate French Immersion Literacy Skills through Musical Engagement
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As an intermediate teacher, I often assume that students have acquired the necessary foundational skills to be competent readers, but what happens when there are gaps and students struggle to keep up with increasingly challenging content and texts? When parents come to me asking “What should we work on to help my child’s reading?”, I want to be able to communicate areas of weakness. Wouldn’t it be helpful to have specific skills and interventions to help identify areas in which your readers are struggling? Structured Literacy identifies clear and concise interventions to support readers in any language and at any age.
Structured Literacy (SL) is an explicit, systematic and sequential approach to reading instruction (Spear-Swirling, 2019). SL is a broad term that encompasses various interventions that can support new and struggling readers. It not only provides foundational literacy skills but can extend into higher levels of reading comprehension. While there are multiple categories and subcategories involved in reading intervention, The International Dyslexia Association (2023), in combination with Scarborough’s (2021) reading rope model, identified phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension as being the foundational elements of effective reading instruction.
What is Structured Literacy?
The Misalignment of Age-appropriate FI Interventions
Wise and Chen (2009) point out the glaring problem that “reading difficulties are one of the most important factors influencing parents to transfer their children from French immersion to the regular English program”(p. 2). Since the early years of French Immersion instruction are focused more on language acquisition, reading difficulties are not often identified until much later. This often results in students struggling to keep up with course material, disliking school and ultimately choosing to leave the program.
“Motivation and engagement are indeed important. Even the best intervention cannot be successful if the teacher is unable to engage the students’ attention”
(Spear-Swerling, 2022, pp. 6-7)
The lack of French Immersion learning assistance teachers also complicates matters. Access to learning support can be dependent on government funding or be determined by the number of qualified bilingual teachers employed by the district (Wise & Chen, 2009). It is then the responsibility of teachers to source resources for struggling readers. Finding engaging French Immersion resources is a challenge in and of itself, thus finding engaging foundational resources can prove additionally challenging. Resources that would typically be used to teach foundational literacy skills at a kindergarten- grade 2 level were never designed for students in intermediate grades. While the necessary interventions are skill appropriate, they are not age-appropriate which can often cause immediate resistance from students. Intermediate students do not want to be seen completing “baby” work. Reading difficulties influence not only a student’s academic success but also play a major role in a student's social/emotional health and they will lose self-confidence if they feel that they are being belittled by the supports offered (Archer et al., 2009). These struggling readers will become disengaged, unmotivated and reluctant to accept support. Luckily “SL interventions can be implemented in ways that are not only effective and efficient but also highly engaging”(Spear-Swerling, 2022, p. 7).
Harmonizing Literacy instruction
Teaching SL through music
Finding meaningful and engaging ways to motivate adolescents is one of the greatest challenges facing educators (Moore, 2007). So how then can we explicitly teach Structured Literacy interventions in an age-appropriate and motivating manner? Using music as a conduit to teach reading strategies promises to be a powerful teaching tool as it incorporates student interests in a playful manner. “Music has the potential to serve both as a play-based pedagogical strategy facilitating positive classroom engagement and as an experience that directly affects oral language and literacy development” (Rowe et al., 2023, p.494). So much of the language
that we hear and engage with daily revolves around songs and music, so why not use that to our advantage? (Iwasaki et al., 2013). French Immersion students are not often exposed to modern French music so this becomes a wonderful way to incorporate second language learning, reading strategies and cultural lessons. Khaghaninejad and Fahandejsaadi (2016) emphasize the importance that music plays in everyday life and culture. Evidence also shows that music supports early language acquisition and improves language learning since music and language interpretation is processed similarly in the brain (Khaghaninejad & Fahandejsaadi, 2016).
While music can serve as entertainment and connects language learning processing centers within the brain, it also helps to stimulate a supportive learning environment. When students are stressed and overwhelmed, it can be near impossible to engage in tasks that are already challenging and induce anxiety.
"Music also creates an environment that is conducive to learning. It can reduce stress, increase interest, and set the stage for listening and learning. The similarities between literacy acquisition and musical development are many. Therefore, teaching that combines music with language arts instruction can be the most effective" (Khaghaninejad & Fahandejsaadi, 2016, p. 40)
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Having fun with language through authentic means naturally piques student interest. The songs that we analyze during the year become a part of our class culture. Students start to request songs during work blocks and look forward to our weekly music analysis. Parents have emailed informing me that the weekly songs have become a part of their personal playlists and families listen to French music while commuting. Students have started to seek out French artists and make class recommendations. The best part is that they need to read and analyze the lyrics to ensure that they are school appropriate. Many students refuse to read French texts at home and yet they are voluntarily reading music lyrics in their spare time. This proves that “the joyfulness embedded in singing may motivate students to want to sing (and read) even more” (Iwasaki et al., 2013, p. 138).
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“While early intervention is the best way to help students get on track with their reading and writing, it is never too late to help older students and adults make progress and succeed.”
(Wilson, 2012, p. 2)