El proceso de toma de conciencia de la lengua oral, escrita y musical en un aula de educación infantil

Abstract

Music was, is and will be present in human life permanently. In our condition of researchers and teachers, we intended to introduce the music curriculum into regular lessons in order to develop the whole potential this area may offer when presented together, in an interdisciplinary form, with other areas. Our objective was to design an innovative educational context to facilitate the awareness-raising process of the linguistic fact. In this context we wanted to achieve an approach where language and music could show their complementarity and mutual enrichment. The studies reviewed showed that musical learning favors the development of different skills of children, especially in relation to mathematics and language. Our initial research refuted these findings. Musical learning outcomes showed a high correlation with linguistic and mathematical abilities. This correlation was higher if the learning began at an early age, the more extended in time and the greater use of music learning. The results from this initial framework led us to propose an extension of such framework, looking deeper into the field of education and curriculum from a qualitative perspective. Our research was based on the theoretical and methodological principles of action research. From this framework, we have proposed an interdisciplinary curriculum project developed by a collaborative team of teachers to implement a process of teaching and learning, truly meaningful, in the educational setting. The experiment was conducted in a public school in Zaragoza. The researcher was the teacher of music education and worked in a collaborative team with the three teachers of Third Year of the Second Cycle of Elementary Education. The classroom selected for the experiment was composed of 20 students, 10 girls and 10 boys, aged between 5 and 6. The teachers designed a project around the song, used as a tool that naturally includes verbal and musical discourse. Its implementation was carried out over nine sessions. Each popular song was worked during two sessions using sequenced activities to reflect on the linguistic discourse, oral and written. Our study reconstructed, described and analyzed this action research experience. In order to conduct a thorough analysis of the experience, we distinguished three dimensions that explain the process of linguistic awareness followed. Through them we observed the development of reflective process on the linguistic discourse, finding an evolutionary process that moves from the automatic regulation and the active regulation to reach a more complex awareness. This represented a cyclical process in which the previous awareness was the basis for further development so that reflective knowledge that at one time was in the zone of proximal development was going to be assimilated as knowledge. The also cyclic structure of the sessions was essential for the coherence and the sequenced evolution of the process. The experience also allowed to examine the relations between language and music and to plan sequenced activities that promote reflection on the teaching and learning process experienced. We obtained a large shared content as both oral and reading/writing learning. Additionally, we studied the strategies used in the process. We analyzed their importance as facilitators of the awareness-raising process. To sum up, this experience opens the door to new experiences of action research that can be carried out in the natural context of the class. It has proved to be an example of a successful musical integration in early childhood education. It should not be implemented as described in this study, because we have to ponder the influence of the context and its participants, but understood as a model that encourages the construction of new innovative educational experiences where music can develop their whole potential in an interdisciplinary project with other areas and have a greater presence in the educational field.