Effects of Live Music Groups versus an Educational Children's Television Program on the Emergent Literacy of Young Children

Research suggests that music is beneficial in teaching both social and academic skills to young children. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a music therapy program designed to teach reading skills versus The "Between the Lions" television program on the early literacy behaviors of Kindergarten children from a low socio-economic background. Subjects (n=86) were children, aged 5-7 years, enrolled in one of four different Kindergarten classes at a public elementary school in Northwest Florida. Each class was assigned one of four treatment conditions: Music/Video (sequential presentation of each condition), Music-Only, Video-Only and no contact Control group. Growth in early literacy skills was measured using the Dynamic Indicator's of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and three sub-tests of the Test of Early reading Ability-3rd edition (TERA-3). Teachers' perceptions of classroom literacy behaviors were measured using a pre- and post-study survey. This study also compared on- and off-task behavior of students during video versus music conditions. Results of the seven sub-tests measuring early literacy were varied. The Music/Video and Music-Only groups achieved the highest increases in mean scores from pre- to post-test on four of the seven sub-tests. Students in the Video-Only group scored significantly better on the phonemic segmentation portion of the DIBELS than peers in the Music/Video condition. Furthermore, strong correlations were found between the Letter Naming, Initial Sounds Fluency tests and total raw score of the TERA-3 tests for both pre- and post-testing. Additionally, graphic analysis of mean off-task behavior per session indicated that students were more off-task during both video conditions (video alone and video portion of Music/Video condition) than during the music conditions. Off-task behavior was consistently lower during music sessions for the duration of the study. This study confirmed that music increases the on-task behavior of students. Additionally, the combination of music and video enrichment showed gains in four of the eight tests used to measure students' progress. This pattern supports the need for further investigation regarding benefits of enrichment programs specifically designed to enhance curricula for students from low socio-economic backgrounds, particularly programs that incorporate music.