The aim of the study was to examine the effect of rehearsal through singing on the

learning of Finnish locatives for students at a beginning level of language proficiency.

The participants in this exploratory study included 10 children in a preparatory

class for immigrant students ages 10–12. Over a period of four weeks, the

students practised singing Finnish children’s and pop songs with the help of the

researcher. Pretest, post-test and delayed post-test data were collected through

oral stories the children told about pictures, as well as a test of reading comprehension.

In addition, the children and their teacher were asked their opinions

about singing as a teaching method. The children actively participated in singing

from the beginning and they indicated that the method was fun for them. Receptive

skills related to locatives increased in 9 of the 10 students in the singing group.

Productive skills were enhanced only in children who already used locatives to

some extent in the pre-test.