It Is Music to My Ears! Teaching English to High School Students Through Song
Keywords:
ELT, teaching through music, high school students
Abstract
Songs have been used in teaching English as a foreign language for several decades with considerable positive results. The purpose of our study was to assess the benefits of using songs in the EFL classroom. The study was conducted throughout the first semester of academic year 2020-2021, precisely between the months October-January, at Samuil Micu High School of Sărmașu, Romania and involved two groups of participants. The participants were divided into the study group represented by students in class 10 B, while the control group consisted of students in class 10 A. Pre- and post-tests were administered to assess students’ knowledge of the investigated elements: grammar and vocabulary. Following the study, the post-test results of the study group were assessed and showed a significant increase in language acquisition.
Keywords: ELT, Teaching Through Music, High School Student
References
Alinte, Camelia. (2013). Teaching Grammar through Music, JoLIE 6/2013: 8-27
Bebout, Johanna, and Eva Belke. (2017). Language Play Facilitates Language Learning: Optimizing the Input for Gender-like Category Induction. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications 2(1): 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-016-0038-z.
Bokiev, Daler, and Lilliati Ismail. (2021). Malaysian ESL Teachers Beliefs and Practices Regarding the Use of Music and Songs in Second Language Teaching. The Qualitative Report, May. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4350.
Busse, Vera, Jana Jungclaus, Ingo Roden, Frank A. Russo, and Gunter Kreutz. (2018). Combining Song—And Speech-Based Language Teaching: An Intervention With Recently Migrated Children. Frontiers in Psychology 9 (November): 2386. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02386.
Cifuentes, Marlén Cuestas. (2006). Songs in the English Class: A Strategy to Encourage Tenth Graders’ Oral Production, Profile 7: 47-57.
Dolean, Dacian Dorin. (2016). The Effects of Teaching Songs during Foreign Language Classes on Students’ Foreign Language Anxiety. Language Teaching Research 20(5): 638–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168815606151.
Euser, Anne Margriet, Menno Oosterhoff, and Ingrid van Balkom. (2016). Stuck Song Syndrome: Musical Obsessions — When to Look for OCD. British Journal of General Practice 66(643): 90–90. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16X683629.
Feng, Teng. (2016). Development of Morphological Awareness through English Songs: A Case Study. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics 39(2). https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2016-0011.
Jabak, Omar. (2021). The Role of English Songs in Saudi Students’ Self-Learning of English. Theory and Practice in
Language Studies 11(11): 1405–15. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1111.07.
Keskin, Funda. (2011). Using Songs As Audio Materials In Teaching Turkish As A Foreign Language. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology 10(4): 6.
Kocaman, Orhan. (2016). The Effects of Songs on Foreign Language Vocabulary Acquisition. ICLEL 2016 Conference Proceedings Book, Simões Formosinho & Maria das Dores (eds.).
Neisa, Camilo Morales. (2008). Using Rock Music as a Teaching-Learning Tool Profile 9: 163-180
Rahbar, Samira, and Samaneh Khodabakhsh. (2013). English Songs as an Effective Asset to Improve Listening Comprehension Ability; Evidence from Iranian EFL Learners. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature 2(6): 63–66. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.2n.6p.63.
Samiullah, Muhammad. (2018). Effect of Teaching through Songs on Speaking Skills in English among Early Graders of Pakistan, Journal of Early Childhood Care and Education Vol. 2, 51–60
Sukirmiyadi. (2018). Teaching English to Young Learners Through Indonesian - Translated Songs. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 953 (January): 012236. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/953/1/012236.
Tomczak, Ewa, and Robert Lew. (2019). “The Song of Words”: Teaching Multi-Word Units with Songs. 3L The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies 25(4): 16–33. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2019-2504-02.
Torras-Vila, Berta. (2021). Music as a Tool for Foreign Language Learning in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education. Proposing Innovative CLIL Music Teaching Approaches. CLIL. Journal of Innovation and Research in Plurilingual and Pluricultural Education 4(1): 35. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/clil.60.
Yung, Kevin Wai-Ho. (2021). Engaging Exam-Oriented Students in Communicative Language Teaching by “Packaging” Learning English Through Songs as Exam Practice. RELC Journal, January, 003368822097854. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220978542.
Bebout, Johanna, and Eva Belke. (2017). Language Play Facilitates Language Learning: Optimizing the Input for Gender-like Category Induction. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications 2(1): 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-016-0038-z.
Bokiev, Daler, and Lilliati Ismail. (2021). Malaysian ESL Teachers Beliefs and Practices Regarding the Use of Music and Songs in Second Language Teaching. The Qualitative Report, May. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4350.
Busse, Vera, Jana Jungclaus, Ingo Roden, Frank A. Russo, and Gunter Kreutz. (2018). Combining Song—And Speech-Based Language Teaching: An Intervention With Recently Migrated Children. Frontiers in Psychology 9 (November): 2386. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02386.
Cifuentes, Marlén Cuestas. (2006). Songs in the English Class: A Strategy to Encourage Tenth Graders’ Oral Production, Profile 7: 47-57.
Dolean, Dacian Dorin. (2016). The Effects of Teaching Songs during Foreign Language Classes on Students’ Foreign Language Anxiety. Language Teaching Research 20(5): 638–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168815606151.
Euser, Anne Margriet, Menno Oosterhoff, and Ingrid van Balkom. (2016). Stuck Song Syndrome: Musical Obsessions — When to Look for OCD. British Journal of General Practice 66(643): 90–90. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16X683629.
Feng, Teng. (2016). Development of Morphological Awareness through English Songs: A Case Study. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics 39(2). https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2016-0011.
Jabak, Omar. (2021). The Role of English Songs in Saudi Students’ Self-Learning of English. Theory and Practice in
Language Studies 11(11): 1405–15. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1111.07.
Keskin, Funda. (2011). Using Songs As Audio Materials In Teaching Turkish As A Foreign Language. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology 10(4): 6.
Kocaman, Orhan. (2016). The Effects of Songs on Foreign Language Vocabulary Acquisition. ICLEL 2016 Conference Proceedings Book, Simões Formosinho & Maria das Dores (eds.).
Neisa, Camilo Morales. (2008). Using Rock Music as a Teaching-Learning Tool Profile 9: 163-180
Rahbar, Samira, and Samaneh Khodabakhsh. (2013). English Songs as an Effective Asset to Improve Listening Comprehension Ability; Evidence from Iranian EFL Learners. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature 2(6): 63–66. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.2n.6p.63.
Samiullah, Muhammad. (2018). Effect of Teaching through Songs on Speaking Skills in English among Early Graders of Pakistan, Journal of Early Childhood Care and Education Vol. 2, 51–60
Sukirmiyadi. (2018). Teaching English to Young Learners Through Indonesian - Translated Songs. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 953 (January): 012236. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/953/1/012236.
Tomczak, Ewa, and Robert Lew. (2019). “The Song of Words”: Teaching Multi-Word Units with Songs. 3L The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies 25(4): 16–33. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2019-2504-02.
Torras-Vila, Berta. (2021). Music as a Tool for Foreign Language Learning in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education. Proposing Innovative CLIL Music Teaching Approaches. CLIL. Journal of Innovation and Research in Plurilingual and Pluricultural Education 4(1): 35. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/clil.60.
Yung, Kevin Wai-Ho. (2021). Engaging Exam-Oriented Students in Communicative Language Teaching by “Packaging” Learning English Through Songs as Exam Practice. RELC Journal, January, 003368822097854. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220978542.
Published
2022-06-30
How to Cite
Camară, M.-R., & Naznean, A. (2022). It Is Music to My Ears! Teaching English to High School Students Through Song. Seltics Journal: Scope of English Language Teaching Literature and Linguistics, 5(1), 9-15. https://doi.org/10.46918/seltics.v5i1.1283
