Applying Ecomusicology to Foreign Language Education

Abstract

      This paper examines ecomusicology from the perspective of foreign language education. As a relatively new field of research, ecomusicology can generally be described as an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on topics related to the environment, music, and culture. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, it offers new research directions for foreign language education, mostly within the fields of eco-pedagogy and global education. To identify points of application, the variety of thematic foci examined by scholars investigating ecomusicology are identified and subsequently applied to foreign language education. The focus thereby is on four major ecomusicological publications. The outcome of the analysis of these publications is a conceptual model of ecomusicology applied to foreign language education on four domains: 1) musicians, 2) music artefacts, 3) music in action, and 4) the environment. Given the current lack of research into the potential of ecomusicology for foreign language education, this paper therefore aims to fill a research gap. Reasons for integrating theoretical considerations in ecomusicology are discussed from the perspective of foreign language teaching and learning and thus conceptualised for a practical application. An example that focuses on the analysis of eco-songs through a categorised list of questions based on the four ecomusicological domains illustrates how the conceptual model can be applied in practice and serve as a pool of ideas for teaching activities.