Investigating the Effect of Melodic Components of the literary Text in Teaching Persian Language; Case study Shahnameh of Ferdowsi

Modern attitudes in language teaching, has created new approaches, such as use of literature. There is some researches in Persian, which most, endorse the function of cultural transmission. Some, have also studied the effect of literature on language ability. The main question is which text and what features can be effective. By researching the literary background, many texts can be found that in addition to cultural function, they have been able to preserve the vocabulary and grammatical structure over time. But since the influence of Shahnameh, was before and more than any other text, it is the reference of this research. One of the main features of Shahnameh is its music. Therefore, the question is: Does the use of musical elements of Shahnameh in the educational content, make a significant difference in the comprehension of the language learners of the experimental and control groups"? For this purpose, the music elements were collected in 500 random verses and the reliability of the data was confirmed by SPSS (22). Then, for groups of 15 middle-level adult learners from different nations, parts of the Shahnameh were selected and transcribed. For the experimental group, the rewritten text and the original text, and for the control group, only the rewritten text was taught in 16 hours. The results of the initial and final evaluation showed the process of intervention in education based on the musical elements, had a significant effect on increasing the rate of vocabulary learning and comprehension of the experimental group.
Extended Abstract:
The use of literature in language teaching is an approach that is no longer in doubt today. Literary texts with their many linguistic and cultural capabilities provide appropriate tools and content for language learners and teachers. In addition, by presenting the authentic text, they expose the language learners to indirect contact with the culture of the second language community and increase their interest and motivation to learn (Khaleghizadeh, 2019). In Persian, many texts can be found that have these linguistic and cultural capabilities and can provide a rich content for learners, including Ferdowsi's Shahnameh.
No none can doubt the influence of Shahnameh, more than any other text, on the language, history, and culture of Iran. That is because, as it is well known, Ferdowsi’s work is vital in the flourishing of Persian in the post-Islamic era of Iran. The presence made the founding martial of Persian, which was rather strong and ready for the best use in 4^th century AH, well fortified in Shahnameh. Therefore, all eloquent speaker after Ferdowsi used the material and made their works on the basis on Ferdowsi’s tryouts (Yahaghi, 2015).
The words and terms selection and organization pof Shahnameh have made some believe that the feature is the main reason for the protection of Persian. Researches working on Persian language believe that the most fundamental function of Shahnameh in Iranian culture is its influence on Persian. The influence is so huge that it wouldn’t be exaggeration if we say Shahnemeh was the reason for the protection and proliferation of Persian (Kazazi, 2008). The vast and deep influence of Shahnameh on other books which makes it a “hypo text” and as Namar Motlagh (2008) calls it a “legend text”, needs to be examined in terms of its language, literariness, content and thoughtfulness. For example, the skillful word usage and word formation of the work have made some believe that the features are the main reason that Persian was saved. So, the influence of Shahnameh in saving and prevalence of Persian makes us think that the valuable and rich work can be used in teaching Persian.
Some studies conducted on the use of literary capacities in teaching Persian, approved the function of literature in culture transferring of language. Some others focused on the influence of literature in improving language competence and skills. An under-researched topic in this regard on which the study focuses, is the function of literary language in teaching Persian. Since Shahnameh is known to be a literary rather than a teaching text, and one of the main elements of literary language is music (Shafiei Kadkani, 2016), and also since Ferdowsi has paid special and purposeful attention in his work to using elements of music in speech, the study pays close attention to the function of the musical elements of Shahnameh in teaching Persian. 
Without any doubt using musical elements is not limited to poetry, but they are used in prose too. Ibn Sina (1954) discusses the metre of speech in Shafa and believes that if speech have metre and Saj’ (a sort of figure of speech) will be more memorable. It is because “the enjoy of using words based on an order and meter makes mind save the attention and makes the perception easier, and as a result, it decreases the attempt needed for the retaining and memorizing a set of words to understand their relations and meaning” (Khanlari, 1958, p. 5).
Regarding the abovementioned the following question will be answered: What effects do have the musical elements of Shahnameh on learning vocabulary and comprehension of Persian learners?
Considering the repeating meter, the epic genre, and stylistic features of the period when Shahnameh was written, that is, simple language in terms of literacy and vocabulary, it seems there is not a specific feature in Shahnameh different from other poems of the period, Daghighi’s poems for example.
The hypothesis of the research was that using literary language of Shahnameh not only do not help non-Persian language learners in learning vocabulary and comprehension but because of its literary features (including music) impedes learning.
To do this, using Shafiei Kadkani’s definition of music of poem, musical elements of poetry were randomly extracted from 500 verses of 5 books of Shahnameh. The reliability of the data was approved by SPSS software. Then some parts of Shahnameh were selected and rephrased into prose for two groups of 15 adult language learners of different countries at intermediate level. The experimental group were taught using the rephrased and original texts, emphasizing musical elements and the control group were taught only rephrased text. Results of data analysis shows that the intervention has a significant effect on the development of the learning of experimental group. That is, using original literary texts, with an emphasis on the musical elements, improves vocabulary learning and comprehension of language learners.