Научно-исследовательская работа

The role of songs in the learning of the English language

Introduction

In our modern society it is important to know 1 or 2 foreign languages. Nowadays we can’t imagine an educated person without a knowledge of any foreign language. The most popular of them is English, of course. A great number of people around the world try to learn it. I can tell about this language endlessly, because it is a global one. First of all, it is my favorite subject at school, the pupils of our country began to learn it from the 2nd grade. Secondly, the knowledge of English gives you a lot of opportunities: for example, you can travel all over the world, make friends from other countries, find interesting and well-payed job. Thirdly, you will know the language of modern technology perfectly and so on. But, unfortunately, not every student in school can obtain it successfully. Because of other complicated subjects and academic load I think that it is difficult to learn it excellently. That’s why I suppose that we should find easy and interesting ways to learn English better. One of such comfortable ways, in my opinion, is the English songs. I have noticed that they influence to our memory, when we try to remember some phrases and words. Another main thing is that music in the lessons has a very strong motivation. And so, in this work we will try to research how English songs help to learn language. Thus, the relevance of our work is due to the necessity of using songs in the process of language study to remember the lexicon better.

On this basis, we put forward the following hypothesis: The English songs help us to learn the language better and have a very good motivating effect. The purpose of our work is the determination of the English song’s role in the language learning.

The object of the study is the process of foreign languages learning. The subject of the study is the English songs and its influence to the learning of English.

To confirm this hypothesis we take following aims:

1. to study and analyze the necessary literature on the research problem;

2. to define the essence of the main concepts;

3. to identify the conditions and techniques of the English learning process ;

4. to study the effect of English songs in remembering the words.

We used the following research methods: observation, questionnaire, conversation with students and the analysis of modern student’s books.

The phases of research execution:

I - The choice of the topic and collecting information material.

II – Selection of the diagnostic techniques and researching methods.

III - The performing of the practical part.

IV - The generalization of the study results and formulation of conclusions.

V – The written formulation of the whole work.

The theoretical significance of our work is that we studied different kinds of literature on this issue, identified and clarified key concepts, revealed specific features of foreign language acquisition with the help of songs.

The practical significance is that we selected the diagnostic methods and conducted researching work to identify the role of songs in the English language’s learning.

Our research work consists of introduction, two chapters, conclusion, bibliography, annexes.

Chapter 1 – Theoretical foundations of the problem

Songs are not only fun. They have a serious purpose for language learning,

says Akis Davanellos.

I cannot disagree with these true words, because I really think so. In my opinion, the songs have a great power in our study. We may use them everywhere: with the help of the songs we spend every day of our life.

Throughout the centuries, experts in different fields — philosophers, scientists, teachers and therapists have recognized the place of music for therapeutic and developmental functions. Usually, students begin the course either to prepare for exams in their school, sometimes just for personal reasons. For the last two decades, English as a foreign language methodology has been actively considering the possibility of using music and songs in class. The analyses of the recent English as a foreign language literature on the problem to suggest that among the methodological purposes with which music, songs are used in class.(4, с.3)

In general, we can distinguish following examples of the song’s influence:

1. in the phonetic sphere - practicing the rhythm, stress and the intonation patterns of the English language;

2. learning vocabulary, especially the vocabulary of the units in textbooks;

3. for better understanding of grammar. In this respect songs are especially favored by teachers while investigating the use of the tenses;

4. speaking. For this purpose, songs and mainly their lyrics are employed as a stimulus for class discussions;

5. listening comprehension;

6. developing writing skills. For this purpose a song can be used in a variety of ways—for example, speculating what could happen to the characters in the future, writing a letter to the main character.

Another main thing is that the songs in the lessons have a physical development. Songs provide a great opportunity for learners to move around. Clapping, dancing and playing instruments stimulate memory, which makes it possible for learners to hear chunks of language as they sing and use them in different situations later. (8)

Moreover, we shouldn’t forget about listening comprehension. Without listening skills, language learning is impossible. This is because there is no communication where there is no human interaction. Learning to listen to the target language improves language ability. As students listen, learners construct meaning and make sense of the words they have heard. The sound, rhythm, intonation, and stress of the language can only be perfectly adapted through listening. We practice using our second language by reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Since the first three skills are to be learned by the time we are three years old, our early schema can only be through listening. To understand the nuances in the target language, one must be able to listen. As we get to understand spoken language, it is easier to improve the other skills and gain confidence. Other than being the primary form of communication, listening opens the opportunity to understand the elegance of a language which is not obviously present in grammar or reading.()

While listening to songs students hear the language used so that they can both imitate the pronunciation and also unconsciously acquire some of its sounds and patterns. During the process of listening to songs, students subconsciously acquire some of English sounds and patterns. When it comes to singing, they imitate the pronunciation, learning to use rhythm and stress correctly. The task of learning the correct use of stress and rhythm becomes simpler because students are lead by the rhythm of a song. There are a few activities which students at elementary level can do with a song to practice pronunciation. The most effective one is repeating certain parts of the lyric. (2, с.145)

Songs are equally suitable for teaching vocabulary at elementary level. Teachers may use them for two purposes: either to present new vocabulary items or to practice the familiar ones. Often songs represent "a theme or topic that can provide the context for vocabulary learning". Neil Millington in the article "Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners" gives examples of two songs: "Teaching Practice Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" serves to review body parts, or "I Can Sing a Rainbow" which is helpful for reviewing color names. The repetition of monosyllabic words in children's songs can help improving vocabulary acquisition. There are songs which can be used as the basis for dramatization. Tim Murphey states that at elementary level the dramatization of the song can be useful to express, through gestures, the meaning of some actions. The age-old technique of asking students to perform actions with words has become popular because of well-documented research that shows it to be very effective. The idea is that if students can move and do what is said matching words to the actions, language is learnt more deeply.(1, с.87)

Songs can be a good source of topics for discussion and different classroom activities at elementary level. The plot of the song is a good basis for story telling while characters in the song can serve as a basis for role play. By interpreting and converting song lyrics into prose and discussing the style of the song students have a chance to develop their productive skills - speaking and writing. The main speaking activities for elementary level are:

role-play;

continue the story.

Particular attention should be paid to the choice of songs. Mark Hancock thinks that just because people might not choose to listen to a certain song outside the classroom, does not mean that the student would not enjoy it as part of a learning activity. Teachers are not advised to present the song as something students are supposed to like. Thus, any song could be used for teaching purposes. According to Tim Murphey, any song can be useful and motivating, however teachers should use the students' choice of music and song as much as possible. Another important issue is whether teachers should always use authentic songs or not. According to Jeremy Harmer, listening material as well as the kind of tasks which go with it are determined by the level of students (3).

To sum up the theoretical part of our work we can say, music and songs in the learning of English are important and useful tools. This is a great formula for keeping people always interested in the language they learn. With their help students can not only learn English but also relax and enjoy their class. There are benefits to using songs in the process; however, more often than not, songs are used relatively ineffective, often as activities between learning. No matter how enjoyable or memorable singing songs can be, it will not teach learners to use the language and will not give them the ability to communicate in another language. Reframing songs into tasks according to preparation, core, and follow-up stages enhance song's potential as teaching and learning tools. Songs and music can be used for practicing different aspects of English, and all learning skills can be improved.

Chapter 2 – Practical part

In the first part of our research we tried to find out the role of the songs in the learning of the English language only theoretically. But it is not enough to make the conclusions of our scientific work. That’s why we took several research methods to get reliable results. We used observation, questionnaire for teachers and separately for pupils, conversation with students and the analysis of modern student’s books. Our research was spent not only in the base of our school, also here 5 teachers and 58 pupils took part in.

In order to identify the attitude of English language teachers to the usage of songs in the classroom we used questionnaire method. We have proposed a questionnaire that teachers were supposed to fill by selecting the appropriate answers. The questions are given in Annex 1. The results of the questionnaire are reflected on the picture 1.

Picture 1. The attitude of the teachers to usage of the songs in the lessons (%)

According to the first picture we can see that 100 % of teachers believe that the songs make a good effect on the studying of the English language. All teachers use music in their lessons and consider it as one of the most effective methods in teaching.

In order to determine the presence of the songs in the modern educational-methodical complexes we selected the method of analysis. The analysis of student’s books is made according to the plan, which is given in the annex 2. We took 2 textbooks: our Kaufman’s educational-methodical complex and Kuzovlev’s one. Making conclusions, we can say that the textbook of Kaufman has more songs than Kuzovlev’s tutorial. The results of the analysis are shown in the picture 2.

Thus, we found that both tutorials are tailored to the modern requirements to teaching foreign languages and has a lot of songs. But, if to make more concrete comparison, we can be sure that the Kaufman’s textbooks has songs more. Almost each unit contains song.

And the third method was the questionnaire for language-learners, for the pupils of our school. We gave them the questions, which were given in the annex 3, the results are in the picture 3.

According to the results we made such conclusions: most of all the songs help to do the tasks in speaking – 42%, also they are useful when we do listening comprehension tasks – 33%. Pupils noticed the positive effects of the songs in English lessons.

The received information gives us the opportunities to make the following conclusion that the usage of songs contributes to mastering of the English language for young language-learners, for pupils better. Other advantages are reduced to that we can remember the words unconsciously while listening of the English songs. That’s why teachers often try to use them.

CONCLUSION Overall, the conducted research allowed identifying the usage of songs as an effective method of learning English. To take the reliable conclusions of our work we used different kinds of scientific methods. According to them we ascertained following advantages of the usage songs during the learning of the English language:

1. Songs almost always contain authentic, natural language;

2. A variety of new vocabulary can be introduced to students through songs;

3. Songs are usually very easily obtainable;

4. Songs can be selected to suit the needs and interests of the students;

5. Grammar and cultural aspects can be introduced through songs;

6. Time length is easily controlled;

7. Students can experience a wide range of accents;

8. Song lyrics can be used in relating to situations of the world around us;

9. Students think songs are natural and fun.

To sum up our work’s results we may say that the aims and the objectives of our research are achieved and the hypothesis is proved. But, of course, this research isn’t complete totally. In my opinion, I should do more thorough work.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Верникова Ж.Б. «Роль песен при обучении английскому произношению»//Иностранные языки в школе. - 2013. - №3. - С.85-87.

2. Давлатова М. Х. The role of songs in learning English // Молодой ученый. — 2015. — №10. — С. 1145-1147.

3. Lems,Kirsten,using music in the Adult ESL classroom,Eric Digest,2011

4. Medina,SuzanneL,The Effect of Music on Second Language Vocabulary Asquisition,’National Network for Early Language Learning’,Vol 6–3,2003 3.

5. Murphy.T(2012),The discource Op Pop songs,TESOLQuartely.

6. Http://www.english club.com./teaching-tips/

7. Http://www.songs for teaching.com

8. ESL Lounge:songs for English lessons

9. WWW/Esolcourses.com/…/learn-englishwith-songs-html

Annex 1

The questionnaire for teachers of English

Dear teachers! We ask you to help us in our research work and answer the following questions:

1. Do you often use songs in your lessons?

2. Yes b)No

3. Do you think that the usage of English songs is an effective method in your teaching?

a) yesb)no

3) What do you think, does your student’s book contain enough number of songs?

a) yes b)no

4) Do you use all the songs given in the textbook in your lessons in teaching? And why?

a) yes b) no

1) it's not necessary

2) there is no experience

3) there is no time for it

Thank you for your participation!

Annex 2

Analysis of textbooks

The criteria:

1. the presence of song material;

2. the definition of availability and matching songs to the interests and needs of students;

3. the matching of songs to the set of the learning objectives.

Annex 3

The questionnaire for pupils

Dear students! Answering the questions of this questionnaire you will help us to identify the role of the songs in learning English.

1. Have you got any difficulties in English?

2. Yes b) No

3. What kind of these materials is more interesting for you in your English lessons?

4. Texts b) Dramatization c) Songs d) Films

5. Do you memorize the words and phrases from the English songs and can you use them in your English lessons?

A) YesB) No

4) Can you say that the songs help you to improve your language?

a) Yes b) No c) Partly

5) Do you try to use the words and expressions from the songs in your English speech?

a) Yes b) No

6) What kind of the tasks do the songs help to do better?

a) Reading b)Writing c)Speaking d) Listening

Thank you for your participation!