Lucía Herrera

Effects of phonological and musical training on the reading readiness of native- and foreign-Spanish-speaking children

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a music training program on children’s phonological awareness and naming speed in Spanish. Participants were preschool children whose first language was either Spanish (n = 45) or Tamazight ( n = 52), a Berber dialect spoken in Morocco’s Rif area. The two-year pretest/posttest study showed that the children who received phonological training with or without music performed significantly better in a naming speed posttest and a series of phonological processing tasks than those who did not participate in specialized training. The phonological training that included music activities was particularly effective for the development of phonological awareness of ending sounds and naming speed. The benefits of the training on children’s phonological awareness and naming speed, two strong predictors of reading acquisition, were significant regardless of the native language of the children.

Una Aproximación al Procesamiento Fonológico de los Niños Prelectores: Conciencia Fonológica, Memoria Verbal a Corto Plazo y Denominación

Este trabajo trata de profundizar en el conocimiento de las habilidades de memoria y conciencia fonologicas de los ninos prelectores para determinar los factores tempranos que se relacionan con el aprendizaje de la lectura. Otro objetivo es analizar si las habilidades de conciencia fonologica, en particular las de segmentacion silabica, se ven afectadas por factores relacionados con las caracteristicas propias del sistema linguistico espanol. Se utilizo una muestra de 95 ninos de educacion infantil a los que se midio su conocimiento de las letras y distintas habilidades fonologicas. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que la tarea de segmentacion silabica es la que mejor realizan los ninos y que todas las pruebas fonologicas correlacionan con el conocimiento prelector. Por otra parte, las caracteristicas fonologicas del lenguaje (tipo de palabra y de silaba) afectan a las habilidades de segmentacion. En la discusion se considera el valor discriminatorio de las diferentes pruebas, su conexion con el conocimiento de las letras y se apunta la posibilidad de que las unidades intrasilabicas pertinentes al espanol sean distintas a las del ingles

Preferencias musicales de los estudiantes de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria: influencia de la educación formal e informal

Resumen Los adolescentes se encuentran inmersos en un entorno sociocultural repleto de manifestaciones musicales en los diferentes contextos en los que se desenvuelven: familia, escuela, amigos, medios de comunicación…, siendo estos últimos protagonistas indiscutibles en la sociedad actual. El presente trabajo pretende analizar, en una muestra formada por 667 alumnos de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, la influencia que ejercen la educación formal e informal en las preferencias musicales de los estudiantes. Los principales resultados ponen de manifiesto que los estilos musicales más escuchados son el Pop, el Reggaeton, el Hip-Hop y el Rap. Además, mientras que la educación informal influye directamente en los estilos musicales más consumidos por los adolescentes, la educación formal lo hace en los estilos musicales menos consumidos.

Intervención educativa en conciencia fonológica en niños prelectores de lengua materna española y tamazight. Comparación de dos programas de entrenamiento

Resumen El presente trabajo evalúa la eficacia de dos programas de entrenamiento en conciencia fonológica, uno de los cuales incluye actividades musicales, en función de la lengua materna de los niños. Participaron 97 niños de educación infantil, el 46.39% de lengua materna española y el 53.60% tamazight (un dialecto bereber, de transmisión oral, de la zona del Rif de Marruecos). Se diseñó un estudio pretest-postest durante dos años, contres grupos de comparación (dos grupos de intervención y un grupo control). Se tomaron medidas tanto de lectura de letras como de conciencia fonológica, memoria verbal a corto plazo y velocidad de denominación. De forma general, los resultados indican que después de la fase de intervención los dos grupos experimentales obtenían resultados superiores al grupo control en todas las medidas de procesamiento fonológico y lectura. Además, la intervención del grupo que combinaba fonología y música era mejor para incrementar la conciencia o sensibilidad a las rimas. Se encuentran, también, diferentes efectos de los programas de entrenamiento en función de la lengua maternal.

Gender and religion as factors of individual differences in musical preference

The goal of this article is to analyse the musical preferences of Brazilian students by considering the variables of gender and religion. Using random sampling, a class was selected from each high school year group of 10 public schools in the city of São Luís (Brazil).The total study sample consisted of 658 students: 358 females (54.4%) and 300 males (45.6%). Of these, 343 (52.1%) were Protestants and 315 (47.9%) were Catholics, and their ages ranged from 14 to 19 years (M = 16.24 years old, SD = 1.14). For the data collection, a version of the Questionnaire on Musical Style Preferences by Lorenzo, Herrera, and Cremades (2008) was used; however, it was shortened and culturally adapted to the Brazilian context. The participants were asked to evaluate how often they listened to 19 different styles of music. The overall results indicated that the participants’ musical preferences were heavily influenced by mass media. However, ANOVA results indicated significant differences and a variety of size effects in the frequency of musical listening based on gender and religion. Females had a greater preference for styles with emotional content, dance music and music with a strong connection to mass culture, while males preferred more vigorous styles. Regarding religion, Protestants had a stronger preference for gospel music, while Catholic preferences were more diverse.

Music Preferences and Personality in Brazilians

This article analyzes the relationship between musical preference and type of personality in a large group of Brazilian young and adult participants (N = 1050). The study included 25 of 27 states of Brazil and individuals aged between 16 and 71 years (M = 30.87; SD = 10.50). Of these, 500 were male (47.6%) and 550 were female (52.4%). A correlational study was carried out applying two online questionnaires with quality parameters (content-construct validity and reliability), one on musical preference and the other on personality. The results indicate four main findings: (1) the musical listening of the participants is limited to a reduced number of styles, mainly Pop music and others, typical of Brazilian culture; (2) the Brazilian context supposes a determining aspect in the low preference of non-Brazilian music; (3) there is a positive correlation between most personality types analyzed and the Latin, Brazilian, Classical and Ethnic musical styles. A negative correlation between these types of personality and the consumption of Rock music was also observed; (4) musical preferences are driven not only by personality but in some cases they are also driven by socio-demographic variables (i.e., age and gender). Likewise, this work shows how participants make use of music in personality aspects that may be of interest for the analysis of socio-affective behavior (personality) as well as according to different socio-demographic variables (e.g., age and gender). More cross-cultural research on musical preference and personality would need to be carried out from a global perspective, framed in the context of social psychology and studies of mass communication.

La música y sus significados en los audiovisuales preferidos por los niños

Los audiovisuales forman parte de la vida cotidiana de la infancia, construyendo con ellos una parte de la realidad que muchas veces se anticipa y otras sustituye. Este articulo se interesa por una de las partes del binomio audiovisual, la banda sonora, con la finalidad de conocer su significado y sentido desde la propia interpretacion infantil. Sus objetivos son determinar si los ninos perciben de modo diferente los clips audiovisuales a los que son expuestos (sonido, imagen y todo); establecer las posibles diferencias en la valoracion que realizan comparando las modalidades de presentacion sonido e imagen. Se identificaron 14 audiovisuales preferidos (peliculas, series, dibujos animados y reportajes) por parte de 115 ninos de 10 a 12 anos. Fueron editados en tres modalidades (solo sonido, solo imagen y todo) y agrupados en series de tres clips, que fueron visionados en sesiones grupales por 547 ninos, espanoles y argentinos, con una edad media de 11 anos. Se diseno y utilizo un cuestionario de valoracion de clips audiovisuales. Los resultados mostraron diferencias sobre el significado de la banda sonora en tres de las cinco categorias del cuestionario, destacando el predominio significativo del sonido en series, reportajes y, de manera destacada, en peliculas. Se perciben por el sonido (la musica) elementos contextuales espacio-tiempo, la implicacion afectiva, sentimientos y empatia asi como la valoracion de la experiencia.

Music and Its Significance in Children Favourite Audiovisuals.

Audiovisual media are part of children´s daily life. They build and/or replace a part of the reality that is sometimes preceded. This paper is interested in one of the elements of the audiovisual binomial, the soundtrack, in order to analyse its meaning and sense from the children’s point of view. The objectives are: to determine if the audiovisual media clips to which children are exposed (sound, image and all) are perceived differently, to establish the possible differences in the assessment they make when comparing the sound and image presentation modalities. Fourteen audiovisual media (movies, series, cartoons and documentaries) were identified by 115 children (10-12 years old) as preferred. Audiovisuals were edited in three modalities (sound, image, and all) and grouped into different series of three clips, which were watched in group sessions by 547 Spanish and Argentinian children (mean age: 11 years old). An Assessment Questionnaire of audiovisual clips was designed and implemented. Results showed differences in the meaning of the soundtrack in three of the five categories of the questionnaire. The significant predominance of the sound in series, documentaries and, especially, movies is highlighted. Contextual space-time elements, affective implications, feelings, and empathy as well as assessment of the experience are all perceived by means of the sound (the music).