‘Keep talking’: using music during

small group discussions in EAP

Clare Cunningham

EAP tutors are increasingly aware of the issue of reticence in the classroom,
especially during small group discussions. They note students’ reluctance
to begin discussions in a quiet environment and observe short student
contributions in group work. This study captured the perspectives of
international postgraduate students studying on pre-sessional EAP
programmes before pursuing Masters level studies in TESOL or Applied
Linguistics, focusing on small group discussions and the use of background
music during lessons, especially during those discussions. The findings
indicated positive attitudes towards using background music in these settings,
with more than half saying that it should or could be used during group
discussions and almost two-thirds saying that they would adopt background
music in future in their own language teaching classrooms. The findings
of this exploratory study are useful for language teachers as well as tutors
in other disciplines and with other age groups. Further research is required
in order to consider tutors’ viewpoints and to study the actual effects of
background music on group interaction during discussions in classrooms.

Introduction Student reticence during small group discussions is a commonly cited

and increasingly researched issue in many EFL classes internationally
(Liu 2009; Lee and Ng 2010; Zhang and Head 2010), but is perhaps
an even more pressing concern for EAP tutors. Students sometimes
complain of feeling intimidated by the ‘serious’ nature of the content,
and the focus on reading and writing may curb their willingness to
speak freely when that opportunity is given. This paper aims to discuss
the potential benefits of using music in the EAP classroom to lower
students’ ‘affective filter’ (Krashen 1982), which is perhaps unusually
high for many learners in these classes. The results of an exploratory
practitioner-research study conducted amongst international EAP
students (principally studying on TESOL Masters programmes) drawn
from two universities in England and Scotland will shed light on the
students’ (i.e. prospective EFL teachers’) perspective. This will allow
us to draw conclusions about the extent to which students feel there is
potential for music to stimulate small group discussion and enhance
learning at tertiary level. A proposal for the strategic use of music to
enhance small group discussions will be made, and a future research

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 agenda will be outlined that will move beyond this study on student
attitudes to suggest developing an experimental approach examining
correlations between student opinion and classroom practice.

Context Music use in language classrooms has been steadily increasing over the
Music in language last 30 years and there is now a strong literature base on the perceived
learning benefits for memorization, vocabulary learning, increased creativity,
and boredom alleviation. Despite the potential use of music in language
teaching being discussed much earlier (cf. Gravenall 1949), the current
focus probably stems from the impact of Lozanov’s ‘Suggestopedia’
(1979) as an EFL teaching method which claimed that the intense use
of baroque music in the language classroom increased memorization
capacity amongst the students. Whilst being heavily criticized for
a limited use of learning theory embedded in this methodological
decision, many teachers felt that there was a lot to be said for the
inherent focus on relaxation. As Schoepp (2001) notes, the knowledge
of what happens in a language classroom and teachers’ perceptions
on effectiveness are important, and his work to map this experience
and motives on to learning theory was beneficial in demonstrating
that music is valuable in these classrooms, for affective, cognitive, and
linguistic reasons.
Music is principally used in EFL teaching in the form of song-based
activities. The music itself is a key focus of the classroom activity, with
tasks being designed around the content and vocabulary within the
songs (cf. Domoney and Harris 1993). Generally, research has focused
on cognitive and linguistic reasons for using music (Lieb 2005) but the
affective benefits of optimal learning conditions are also well known by
pedagogues.
Background music in the classroom is not directly related to the
teaching itself, but is present as a subliminal tool, which could be
seen to be almost wholly concerned with the ‘affective filter’ (Krashen
op.cit.). However, it has also been observed to have cognitive and
linguistic benefits. Khalfa, Dalla Bella, Roy, Peretz, and Lupien (2003)
observed that music can play a significant role in decreasing the
physical and psychological symptoms of stress through their study
conducted on foreign language students performing orally in a test, and
Ockba (2013) has also recently observed a strong correlation between
background music and cognitive performance. Recent research from
the field of music therapy demonstrates a strong correlation between
music use and a drop in anxiety or amelioration of mood, even for those
afflicted with serious emotional, anxiety, or degenerative disorders
(cf. Elefant, Baker, Lotan, Lagesen, and Skeie 2012; Gardstrom and
Diestelkamp 2013). In more standard classroom settings, Krashen
(op.cit.) notes that lowering the affective filter leads to greater fluency
in students and less employment of what he terms the ‘monitor’.
Increased fluency allows for a greater linguistic repertoire use, thereby
providing greater language learning opportunities.

Reticence in the Reticence and a reluctance to get involved in small group discussions
EAP classroom are not by any means teaching problems only related to EAP teaching,

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 and much of what is discussed in this article derives from and is
relevant to EFL/ESL classes in general. Reticence, of course, has many
causes and it is not claimed here that the use of music can tackle them
all. Reticence can be due to individual differences like introversion
(Jordan 1997); it also can be related to poor task choice or task design
on the part of the teacher. Poorly motivated students may be reticent
due to lack of engagement, and students perceiving their language
proficiency to be insufficient may also choose to remain silent (Johns
and Johns 1977, cited in Jordan op.cit.).
In the high-pressure environment of an EAP classroom, however,
reticence and anxiety are often present, with much research focused on
Asian students’, particularly Chinese students’, concerns about losing
‘face’ in a scenario where one is required to demonstrate knowledge
orally (Liu op.cit.). A survey undertaken by Jordan and Mackay (1973:
45, cited in Jordan op.cit.) of international students from many
backgrounds reported that students found ‘expressing themselves in
speech’ became the biggest problem for almost half of them (42 per
cent) after six months in the United Kingdom, once their ability to
understand spoken English increased after arrival.
Reticence can also be related to the classroom environment and the
learners feeling uncomfortable and stressed, and it is this that the use
of music discussed here seeks to address. Tudor (2001: 22) states that
‘methodological choices need to be made in the light of the human and
contextual factors which are specific to each teaching situation’. This,
of course, means that not every teacher will wish to use music in the
classroom in the exact manner the author of this paper uses it, nor that
their students will react to that music in the same way. The classroom
environment, as well as the tasks and topics under discussion, needs
to be well thought out for the particular group in question, as far as the
teacher has the capacity and power to do so.

Background to For a number of years, I have been using background music to attempt
the study to create a positive environment for learning. I have done this in
a number of ways over the years, using CDs, YouTube videos, and
playlists during various stages of the class, for example playing music
only as students enter the room or when they leave. During much of
the time I have been involved in EFL teaching, I only used music in
the form of songs for specific language work in the way that has been
discussed above. However, with a shift into EAP work, I had fewer
opportunities to use songs pedagogically, which perhaps reflects the
common EAP student complaint about the ‘serious’ EAP classroom
mentioned in the introduction to this paper.
Since becoming an EAP tutor, I have developed a subtle approach to
using music, involving relatively low volume levels, a range of musical
genres, and clear guidelines as to when and how I will use it. Students
are always to be consulted and told that music is never used when
reading or writing tasks are set, as, in my experience, they can struggle
to concentrate with music in the background on those occasions. Rather,
I limit the playing of music to the entry to and exit from a classroom

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The study
The participants
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and to providing background noise for small group discussion. Music,
essentially being used as the ‘warmer’ and ‘cooler’ for sessions, can be
taken from a wide range of genres; it can be energetic or calm and it can
contain references to the content of the session or simply be for fun. The
focus of the current study is music use during small group discussion,
and the way that this is approached needs to be carefully controlled. The
mood needs to be set appropriately as the aim is to create an environment
in which students feel able to speak even when others in the classroom
are silent; it needs to allow for slow starts, fluent conversation, and
heated debate. Essentially, the intention is to create a mood akin to a
coffee bar, a genteel public house, or some other establishment where
conversation flows, rather than attempting to kick-start a vibrant small
group discussion on a difficult topic in an environment initially not
dissimilar to a library. This mood setting has been made simpler by
technological advances and the opportunity for many EAP teachers to use
internet radio, or similar applications and websites, in their classrooms.
I use www.musicovery.com as a free online resource and I choose it
specifically because it allows for something rather unusual, which is
the stipulation of an automatically, semi-randomly generated playlist
encompassing songs all of which fit an intended mood (on a quadrant
with axes named ‘Dark’, ‘Calm’, ‘Positive’, and ‘Energetic’), rather than
a whole album or playlist from one artist or group of similar artists. This
means that the range of genres is quite wide (thereby not alienating any
group members), but the musical and emotional feel of the pieces is
quite similar. For small group discussions, I opt for a setting between
‘Dark’ and ‘Calm’, which generally creates the ambience I aim for,
although other settings can be more appropriate depending on the energy
levels required for the particular task or discussion underway. Potentially,
background music could be a stimulation for discussion amongst reticent
students whilst also being a relaxing and calming influence on those
students less prone to reticence.
In manipulating the classroom environment in this way, I consider the
small group discussions in my classrooms to have improved (both in
terms of individual contributions and in terms of length of engagement
in the conversation) as well as the topics under discussion. However,
apart from positive comments made in passing, students’ feedback
directly on the choice to use music in this way was limited. The need to
understand students’ opinions on, and perceptions of, the use of music
for this purpose led to the current exploratory study, the methodology
for which is discussed below. This is then followed by a discussion of
some of the findings and comments made about future practitioner-
research projects that lead on naturally from this one.
The study’s 18 participants (from a total of 22 students) comprised two
EAP classes drawn from short-term, intensive summer programmes
taken by two groups of international students before the start of their
Masters level studies in TESOL or Applied Linguistics. One group
was studying at a university in Scotland, the second at a university in
northern England. They experienced EAP classes with the researcher
and author of this paper every day for either a three-week period in
 summer 2011 (the Scottish group) or a four-week period in summer
2012 (the English group). These classes incorporated the use of music
(as detailed above) during small group discussions in many of the
sessions, with the individual student’s permission for this study sought
and given.
The participants were all from Asia, 13 being Chinese, two Japanese,
two Taiwanese, and one Malaysian. The overwhelming majority fell into
the 20–30 age-group bracket, with only one student older than this. All
the participants were in subject-specific classes, pertaining to TESOL
(15 participants), English (two), or Applied Linguistics (one), and this
allowed for an interesting additional exploration of the prospective and
junior EFL teachers’ perspectives on the use of music, with only 27
per cent of the group having had more than one year’s experience of
teaching.

The research The questions informing this current study are:

questions
■■ To what extent do EAP students say that the use of music was
beneficial to them in small group discussions in the classroom, and
for what reasons?
■■ As prospective teachers, do they believe that using music in the EAP
classroom to facilitate small group discussions is something that they
would do as a teacher and why?

The research An online questionnaire was designed and distributed electronically

instruments to all students in these two classes. Eighteen out of the 22 students
responded, thereby achieving a participation rate of 82 per cent. The
questionnaire approach was the only practical methodology to adopt
under these circumstances, as the Scottish group had completed their
Masters studies by the time of the start of the study and had returned
home or departed to destinations all over the world. The English group
were nearing the end of their studies but were based some distance
from the researcher. An additional benefit of this decision, however,
was that in an online survey, anonymity is perhaps even more protected
than in other forms of data collection.
Whilst there may be some disadvantages in using questionnaires
as a research tool (cf. Munn and Drever 1990), many of these were
mitigated through the use of open-ended questions and the opportunity
to make comments throughout, an opportunity which was fully
taken up by the majority of the participants. For further mitigation of
potential problems in the research design, a pilot study was undertaken
with an international student taking a Masters in TESOL degree at a
third British university. This ensured that the questions were refined in
advance, and that the survey accurately reflected the issues I hoped to
address in the study.
Students were initially asked their opinions on creating a positive
atmosphere for small group discussion and subsequently asked about
the use of the music in the EAP classroom. These two sections were
separated by an online page break, with the questions on page one

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 being obligatory. This is another important benefit of using online
survey instruments, as this approach prevented students from being
aware of my precise focus until the second page and allowed for fewer
researcher-imposed responses. The full questionnaire is given in the
Appendix. The ‘distance’ between researcher and student, both in terms
of time (since one of the courses had finished) and space (due to the
web-based nature of the questionnaire), is useful in that it is likely that
there is distinctly less chance that students felt pressured into giving the
answers they thought the researcher (their teacher) would want to hear.
This could certainly have been more of a problem if the questionnaire
had been issued in class.
The sample size in this study is limited to two classes due to the
typical practical time constraints of a practitioner-research-type study.
Therefore, the results can only claim to offer a reflection of the opinion
of these two particular cohorts. However, it seems possible, with
many cohorts of a similar nature now present in EAP classes, that
tutors choosing to replicate this study using the questionnaire in the
Appendix, might discover similar results.

The findings The participants in this study were high-achieving, international

students, as evidenced by their attendance at UK universities for study
at postgraduate level. However, only two-thirds considered themselves
to be either usually or always a confident speaker in small group
discussions, offering a clear rationale for practitioner-researchers
to look into ways of improving this statistic. Reasons for this lack of
confidence ranged from unfamiliarity with the topic (cited by seven
participants), concern about language proficiency (six participants),
not being sure of the answers or having no ideas (four participants),
feeling dominated by other group members (three participants), and
becoming irritated by lack of participation of others (two participants).
These factors echo closely the responses of students in a study from
Johns and Johns (op.cit., cited in Jordan op.cit.).
Asked what would encourage greater participation, the topic of
discussion was, naturally, important to participants. Being interested in
the topic or having a good opportunity to prepare and plan in advance
of the discussion was cited by nine participants as the key to an increase
in participation. However, eight participants also highlighted the
importance of their fellow group members in leading to an increase in
their own participation, with comments such as:
■■ ‘with more engaged classmates around’
■■ ‘everyone can have the equal opportunity to speak or share ideas’
■■ ‘all my group members have team spirit’
■■ ‘there is a rapport atmosphere within the group’
■■ ‘when the group members are all energetic and participate actively’
■■ ‘if all the members collaborate’
■■ ‘partners’ interaction’.
With the confirmation that many students felt that rapport and
engagement with others in their group would enhance their own

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 participation, we can now consider the participants’ views on music in
the classroom. An important finding was that none of the participants
considered background music in the EAP classroom to have been a
negative experience, with almost half of them claiming it was entirely
a positive experience, citing its mood-changing potential, and the fact
that ‘there is always a background sound, so I don’t have to make the
“silent moment” if I really have nothing to say’. Other participants,
who considered background music as neither positive nor negative,
commented that they simply had not thought about it at all. Notes
of caution were sounded from two participants that music could be
distracting and that volume levels needed to be monitored carefully.

Only five participants actively stated that they considered background

music in EAP classrooms to be useful. However, the open-ended
comments here were interesting in that from nine responses, five
mentioned that ‘music can help people relax’ picking up on the mood-
enhancing possibilities of music (Gardstrom and Diestelkamp 2013)
and directly referencing key aspects of lowering the ‘affective filter’
(Krashen op.cit.). Among the student comments, some stated that if
‘we are having group discussion, it may create a great atmosphere for
students’ and
the talking sound of one group won’t disturb another group. If all the
other groups have finished their discussion and become silent, I can
still speak out in my group if I have an idea. I won’t feel awkward,
being the only person who is talking in the classroom at that
moment, because of the music.
This is borne out by the responses to the question: ‘For what kinds
of classroom activity do you think background music could or should
be used?’ (see Figure 1). Unsurprisingly, the majority of students
supported using music in games (13), doubtless influenced by their EFL

figure 1
Positive responses
to item 8: “For what
kinds of classroom
activity do you think
background music
could or should be
used?”

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 experiences in communicative language teaching classrooms. However,
ten participants expressed the opinion that background music could or
should be used in small group discussions and six felt that this was also
true for project work sessions. The consistency of response regarding
participants’ sense of appropriate tasks in which to use music was
extremely high, with no more than two of the students rating any of the
other tasks as appropriate for playing background music.
The final two items asked the participants to consider themselves
as future teachers. As prospective or current EFL teachers, this
was more appropriate for this group of participants than it would
have been for other groups of international postgraduate students.
The participants were generally reluctant to recommend teaching
styles to other teachers, with the majority saying that they did not
know whether they would recommend the use of music or not.
However, a very high percentage (61 per cent) said that they would
use background music in the classroom if they had a choice in their
teaching career. The practical, classroom management aspect was
considered in that

it may be useful to tell the students that the time for one activity has been
finished without teachers telling it directly by themselves. (For example,
when the music it played it is still the time for group discussion and
when the music is stopped the time for discussion is over.)
The respondents acknowledged that context and setting were important,
that the needs of the student group would dictate their decision
around music use, and that music could be a distraction during certain
classroom tasks. However, they also commented that it created a good
atmosphere, raised the mood in a classroom, made students relax, and
‘seem[ed] humanistic to the students’.

Pedagogical This exploratory study suggests that there is good reason to use well-
implications and thought through and carefully employed background music in EAP
conclusion classrooms. Revisiting the research questions we can see that the
majority of the participants state that they feel that music is useful
during group discussions, project work, and games (limited though
games are in an EAP classroom). Participants feel it is important to
increase participation in group discussions in these classrooms and
many remark that background music during discussions creates
a relaxed atmosphere, as Lieb (op.cit.) notes, and avoids the ‘silent
moment’, especially at the start of the discussion. The fact that the
vast majority of participants intend to use background music in their
own teaching is a significant endorsement of the idea and suggests
that the benefits outweigh the concerns. Additionally, although only
around a third of participants here stated they were active supporters
of background music in the classroom, there were no participants who
claimed to be strongly against its use, with more neutral opinions such
as ‘I don’t care about music’ or ‘I never thought about it deeply’ being
expressed. Therefore, it seems likely that teachers can be confident in
using music in the classroom without alienating students within it,
whilst, of course, monitoring its effects.

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 In adopting background music, the results of this survey, as well as
anecdotal experience from the EAP classroom, suggest that teachers
should carefully consider the following:
■■ the genre and volume of the music (it should not be music that could
be offensive to students in terms of lyrical content, for example, or
distracting in terms of beat, lyrics, or volume);
■■ the nature of the task at hand (group discussion and project work
only);
■■ awareness of the specific classroom ecology as Tudor (op.cit.) advises;
and
■■ gaining the permission of students in the classroom.
EAP tutors could adopt a questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of
background music in their classrooms, and, as an active practitioner-
researcher, I intend to continue monitoring and evaluating my own
music use with future EAP classes to corroborate the findings of this
data set. Future practitioner-research projects are planned on this topic
to conduct experimental research on the actual impact of background
music during discussion group activities. I intend to monitor the delay
in onset of discussion in small groups and the duration and density
of the talk during discussion across two or three groups, including a
control group. Further research considering teachers’ views on using
music in language learning situations will also be useful in building on
this exploratory study.
As a final note, it is highly probable that the benefits of background
music extend beyond the EAP classroom into other areas of language
teaching including adults and younger learners. It would be useful for
future research to explore these domains.
Final version received November 2013

References Jordan, R. R. 1997. English for Academic Purposes:

Domoney, L. and S. Harris. 1993. ‘Justified and
ancient: pop music in EFL classrooms’. ELT
Journal 47/3: 234–41.
Elefant, C., F. A. Baker, M. Lotan, S. K. Lagesen,
and G. O. Skeie. 2012. ‘The effect of group
music therapy on mood, speech and singing in
individuals with Parkinson’s disease—a feasibility
study’. Journal of Music Therapy 49/3: 278–302.
Gardstrom, S. C. and W. S. Diestelkamp. 2013.
‘Women with addictions report reduced anxiety
after group music therapy: a quasi-experimental
study’. Voices: a World Forum for Music Therapy 13/2.
Available at https://voices.no/index.php/voices/
article/view/681 (accessed on 1 November 2013).
Gravenall, B. 1949. ‘Music in language teaching’.
ELT Journal III/5: 123–7.
A Guide and Resource Book for Teachers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Khalfa, S., S. Dalla Bella, M. Roy, I. Peretz, and
S. J. Lupien. 2003. ‘Effects of relaxing music on
salivary cortisol level after psychological stress’.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 999:
374–6.
Krashen, S. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second
Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Lee, W. and S. Ng. 2010. ‘Reducing student
reticence through teacher interaction strategy’.
ELT Journal 64/3: 302–13.
Lieb, M. M. 2005. ‘Popular music and its role
in the EFL classroom’. Proceedings of the 13th
Annual KOTESOL International Conference,
Seoul, Korea.

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 Liu, M. 2009. Reticence and Anxiety in Oral English
Lessons. Bern: Peter Lang.
Lozanov, G. 1979. ‘Accelerated learning and
individual potential’ Prospects: Quarterly Review of
Education 9/4: 414–25.
Munn, P. and E. Drever. 1990. Using
Questionnaires in Small-scale Research: A Teachers’
Guide. Edinburgh: Scottish Council for Research
in Education.
Ockba, S. 2013. Psychology: Music Influence on
Cognition. Munich: GRIN Verlag.
Schoepp, K. 2001. ‘Reasons for using songs in the
ESL/ EFL classroom’. The Internet TESL Journal
7/2. Available at http://iteslj.org/Articles/Schoepp-
Songs.html (accessed on 1 November 2013).
Tudor, I. 2001. The Dynamics of the Language
Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zhang, X. and K. Head. 2010. ‘Dealing with
learner reticence in the speaking class’. ELT
Journal 64/1: 1–9.
The author
Clare Cunningham has taught EAP at a number of
Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom
and is now a Language and Linguistics lecturer at
York St John University, specializing in TESOL,
Multilingualism, and World Englishes. She also
researches and publishes about bilingual children’s
educational experiences and those of their teachers.
Email: c.cunningham@yorksj.ac.uk

Appendix Creating a positive atmosphere for small group discussion

English for Thank you for completing this questionnaire on your opinions about
Academic Purposes how teachers can create a good atmosphere for discussion in the
questionnaire classroom. Please answer all questions fully.

Completing the questionnaire is taken as your consent to participate

in this research project.

1 Basic information (section omitted for space reasons. Full details

given in text.)

2 Would you consider yourself to be a confident speaker in small

group discussions in your EAP classes?

Yes, always
Yes, usually
Sometimes
No, not normally
No, never
Other (please specify)

3 What stops/stopped you participating in small group discussions

in your EAP classes?

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 4 What would make you more likely to participate actively in small
group discussions in the EAP classroom?

5 Is it the teachers’ responsibility to create a good atmosphere for small

group discussions to take place?

Yes, 100%
Yes, but it is also partly the students’ responsibility
No, the students should take this responsibility in their groups
Don’t know
If yes, please say below how teachers should achieve this. If no, please
say what you think students should do.

Music in the EAP classroom

6 When you have experienced background music in the EAP classroom,
has this been positive, neither positive nor negative, or negative?

Positive
Neither positive nor negative
Negative
Please state any other feelings that you had at the time this happened:

7 How useful is background music in EAP classrooms?

Very useful
Quite useful

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 Neutral
Not particularly useful
Not at all useful
Please indicate why you chose your answer. In what way is
background music either useful or not?

8 For what kinds of classroom activity do you think background

music could or should be used?

 Never
Whole class discussion
Reading tasks
Small group discussion
Writing tasks
 Games
Close language work
Project working
Other activities (please specify):

9 Would you use background music as a teacher if you had the

choice?

 Yes
 No
Don’t know
Why? Why not?

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 10 Would you recommend other teachers to use background music in
their classrooms?

 Yes
 No
Don’t know
Why? Why not?

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