Singing-Oriented Language and Music Education (SOLME)

Singing-Oriented Language and Music Education (SOLME) is an accessible, low-resource pedagogical and cognitive framework in which singing serves as the primary interface through which musical activities support both first and foreign language acquisition processes. Early vocalizations in infancy make the overlap between singing and speech highly perceptible, forming a continuum rather than clearly separable domains. Child-directed speech similarly shares key features with singing—such as repetition, emotional engagement, exaggerated pitch variation and rhythm—and both input forms inherently combine musical and linguistic elements. Research has shown that the overlap between singing and language abilities persists throughout the lifespan, positioning singing as a valuable facilitator of language learning processes. Singing, integrated as a musical tool, has proven effective in enhancing key abilities for (foreign) language learning—including phonological awareness, pronunciation, and verbal memory, among others—and in supporting language functioning across diverse communication disorders, from developmental fluency challenges to acquired impairments. This entry outlines the benefits of singing as an integrated means to support musical development as well as first and second language acquisition processes. It outlines functional and structural similarities between singing and language development, from early caregiver–infant interaction to formal foreign-language instruction, and then discusses the many advantages of embedding singing as a musical tool in the (foreign) language learning process.