A Study of the Effectiveness of Music Technology Integration on the Development of Language and Literacy Skills
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness on an integrated music curriculum within a preschool setting on language and literacy skills. A year-long, multi-state study employed a pre-post treatment-control group design in which all students took a pre and posttest of language skills. Students in the treatment group received instruction using an integrated music curriculum as part of their preschool instruction while students in the control group did not receive the music curriculum. ANCOVA was used to compare the performance on the posttest between the treatment and control groups while controlling for any initial differences in ability. The findings of the study show that the preschool students who were in classes using the integrated music curriculum showed significantly greater gains in language and literacy than a comparable group of preschool students who did not use the treatment. An effect size of .24 was found.