This essay will involve a critical discussion of a relevant issue in language teaching methodology based on the theory and research evidence from second language acquisition and teaching literature speaking

Speaking is difficult skill to teach in a second language. According to literature and research, how could a teacher go about it. You can address the following areas in your answer

Apart from pronunciation what are the main elements involved in speaking a second language competently

What considerations are important in designing a course or module for the reaching of speaking skills in a second language?

What classroom management problems may arise in the teaching of speaking in a second language and how might they be addresses by the teachers?

Music improves the phonemic and phonological awareness

Phonological awareness refers to the acknowledgement of distinct nature of sounds of speech as different in their meaning. On the other hand, phonemic awareness refers to the understanding and appreciation that words can be divided into distinct units of speech sound. According to Dalagna, Lã and Welch (2013) the level of phonological and phonemic awareness that a child has determines his/her success in learning to read. In order to learn how to read, the children must have the knowledge that words are made of sounds.

Music experience improves the phonological awareness of the children. Music consists of a series of discrete musical tones and notes. On the other hand, to understand a spoken word, one is required to process the distinct phonemes and intonation communicated through pitch. The similarities observed between listening to words as they are communicated and music justifies the assertion that human brain processes music and language in a similar manner. As such, integration of music in the early literacy instructions is an effective strategy in building their phonemic awareness.

The parents involved in the study indicated that integrating music in teaching if the children in pre-school contributes positively towards their brain development functioning. The improvement in brain functioning have positive implications on the growth of phonemic awareness. The findings that music improves phonemic awareness in children have also received significant support in literature. According to Creech et al (2013) building proper understandings of sounds that are within words begin with the ability to differentiate similarities and differences in the sounds. This can only be achieved when a child listen to a lyric that clearly differentiate the sounds. As such, music does not only influence the growth of phonemic awareness in children but also influences their ability to be successful in learning how to read.

Music improves reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is referred to as the probable outcome of reading instructions. On the other hand, comprehension is defined as the deliberate thinking where relevant meaning is constructed through the interactions observed between the reader and the text. The practitioners engaged in the interview indicated that the children who tend to take part in music classes develop effective text reading comprehension than those who do not participate. It is also reported that children who attend music classes and are taught through music instructions tend to score more in the reading comprehension texts. As such, music has positive implications on the reading comprehension of the children.

The parents that were involved in the study also indicated that the young children had an improved reading comprehension when taught through musical instruction. The children tend to have an effective reading comprehension after going through a process of listening to the rhythmic and melodic elements of different forms of music. Similar findings were obtained by Megggan (2014) when they subjected a group of individuals to receive musical instructions that mainly focused on listening to music with emphasis laid on the melodic and the rhythmic elements of the said music presented. The control group was not subjected to any form of music instruction. The researchers obtained that those  who were subjected to the musical instructions had scored higher in the reading comprehension texts in comparison to the  control group that were not subjected to any form of musical instructions. Exposing the young children to music and using the musical instruction in teaching is effective in improving their reading comprehension skills to the better.