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.

No abstract

A review of the scientific literature shows that many studies have analyzed the relationship between academic achievement and different psychological constructs, such as self-concept, personality, and emotional intelligence. The present work has two main objectives. First, to analyze the academic achievement, as well as the selfconcept, personality and emotional intelligence, according to gender and cultural origin of the participants (European vs. Amazigh). Secondly, to identify what dimensions of selfconcept, personality and emotional intelligence predict academic achievement. For this, a final sample consisting of 407 students enrolled in the last 2 years of Primary Education were utilized for the study. By gender, 192 were boys (47.2%) and 215 girls (52.8%), with an average age of 10.74 years old. By cultural group, 142 were of European origin (34.9%) and 265 of Amazigh origin (65.1%). The academic achievements were evaluated from the grades obtained in three school subjects: Natural Sciences, Spanish Language and Literature, and Mathematics, and the instruments used for data collection of the psychological constructs analyzed were the Self-Concept Test-Form 5, the Short-Form Big Five Questionnaire for Children, and the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version-Short. Based on the objectives set, first, the grades in the subject of Spanish Language and Literature varied depending on the gender of the students. Likewise, differences were found in self-concept, personality, and emotional intelligence according to gender. Also, the physical self-concept varied according to the cultural group. Regarding the second objective, in the predictive analysis for each of the subjects of the curriculum of Primary Education, the academic self-concept showed a greater predictive value. However, so did other dimensions of self-concept, personality and emotional intelligence. The need to carry out a comprehensive education in schools that addresses the promotion of not only academic but also personal and social competences is discussed. Also, that the study of the variables that affect gender differences must be deepened.

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.

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, con tres 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 materna. Palabras clave: Habilidades de procesamiento fonológico, habilidades musicales, conocimiento prelector, lengua materna, educación infantil.