The Effect of a Music Curriculum on the Reading Performance of Preschoolers in Singapore

This study explores from an intervention perspective what many believe - that music contributes to preschool-age children's awakening to different subject matters, particularly to reading and writing.

Music can be a very powerful tool for evoking emotions; therefore its use as a stimulus for positive emotions makes it an incubator for children's growth in literacy concepts that are weaved into it. Thus, a quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the effect of a pre-school music curriculum on children's reading aptitude. Post-tests showed that the reading age of the experimental group receiving the music curriculum was significantly higher than a control group with a very large effect size.

The implication is that a music curriculum can be used as an efficient complementary educational approach to facilitate the development of word recognition abilities in pre-school. This may eventually help reduce reading difficulties when children enter primary school.

This one-year research study was funded by the Early Childhood Development Agency.

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AUTHORS

Dr Carol Boon Peng Loy-Ee
Early Childhood Curriculum Department, Kinderland Educare Services

Dr Noel Kok Hwee Chia
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

Ms Patricia Mui Hoon Ng
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University