This study set out to determine if English can be taught effectively to Japanese children through a content-based instruction program that uses vocal music as the content area. A total of 240 children participated in the study. The treatment group at a private elementary school in Tokyo received weekly vocal music lessons taught in English for one academic year modeled after the Kodaly approach to music education. In addition to the classes being taught in English, all of the songs taught to the children had English lyrics. The control group at a private elementary school in Nagoya received standard introductory English lessons during the same period, also taught in English, but without any music instruction. All children were given a standardized music aptitude pretest and posttest. As hypothesized, the children in the treatment group advanced at a statistically significant rate in comparison to the control group in terms of their command of the sound system of the English language. It was concluded that vocal music classes taught in English with English lyric songs as the sole content is an effective approach to teaching English as a second language to Japanese children. Based on the outcome of this study, further investigation of the same research question is indicated that employs alternative research paradigms in order to overcome the limitations of the purely quantitative model. Two promising candidates are empirical phenomenological research and heuristic research, in that they regard the subjective experience of the participants and the researcher as valid experimental data. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]