USE OF MELODIES AS STRUCTURAL PROMPTS FOR LEARNING AND RETENTION OF SEQUENTIAL VERBAL INFORMATION BY PRESCHOOL STUDENTS

The present investigation examined the effects of particular combinati ons of spoken and sung stimulus input using both familiar and unfamili ar melodies on immediate recall and retention of sequential verbal mat erial. Twenty-one 5-year-old students enrolled in a Head Start program initially participated in learning six individually selected telephon e numbers, four of which were incorporated within melodic phrases, two of which were spoken. Ten of these students completed the entire trai ning. Using a within-subjects, repeated-measures design in which the t raining phases were counterbalanced across subjects, students progress ed through each of the following training phases (TP): TPI (a) telepho ne number with familiar melody, (b) telephone number with speech; TPII (a) telephone number with unfamiliar melody, (b) telephone number wit h speech and contingent music; TPIII (a) telephone number with familia r melody and contingent music, (b) telephone number with unfamiliar me lody and contingent music. A reverse chaining procedure was used to te ach each number. Both telephone numbers within each training phase had to be repeated three times in a row for three consecutive sessions be fore the student was ready to progress to the next training phase. Dur ing the contingent music conditions, the student received the continge ncy (was allowed to select and play one of the following: maraca, jing le stick, drum, omnichord) when he or she reached acquisition with any of the digits being worked on that particular session. The total numb er of trials it took for each student to learn each of the six telepho ne numbers was recorded along with each student's instrument selection . Post-rehearsal checks and post-test scores were also recorded. Stati stical analyses revealed that the mean number of trials it took studen ts to learn telephone numbers couched within familiar melodies was sig nificantly less than for the unfamiliar and spoken conditions. However , there was no significant difference in trials to criterion among the contingent and noncontingent conditions. Results also showed nonsigni ficant differences in the number of digits remembered during post-rehe arsal checks (immediate recall) and the posttest (retention) across th e experimental phases. Further statistical analyses are given with imp lications for music therapy/education discussed.