You are on page 1of 17

“The impact of songs in secondary EFL students’ motivation”

El impacto de las canciones en la motivación de alumnos de inglés como lengua extranjera.

Francisco Ramírez García

Universidad de Guadalajara, México

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to make teachers aware about the importance of implementing
activities in which students learn and have fun at the same time. Learning does not imply
quietness or rigidness. An action research was conducted to confirm that music, and rhythm
can cause a positive attitude and in the motivation on students and in consequence learning.
This paper is an attempt to prove that non-traditional techniques can lead all age students to
learn a foreign language.

Keywords: attitude, educational change, language learning, motivation, music, qualitative


research, teaching English.

Resumen

El propósito de este artículo es hacer a los maestros de inglés consientes acerca de la


importancia de implementar actividades en las cuales los alumnos aprendan y se diviertan al
mismo tiempo. Aprender no implica quietud o rigidez. Una investigación acción se llevó a
cabo para confirmar que la música y el ritmo pueden causar un efecto positivo en la actitud
y la motivación de los alumnos y en consecuencia aprendizaje. Este documento es un intento
de probar que las técnicas no tradicionales pueden llevar a los alumnos de todas las edades a
aprender una lengua extranjera.

Palabras clave: actitud, cambio educacional, aprendizaje de idiomas, motivación,


investigación cualitativa, enseñanza de inglés.
INTRODUCTION

Methods and techniques have been implemented in ESL lessons in order to guide students to
communicate in a foreign or second language. Business, science and industry are the fields
where English has gained an important role; globalization demands the real use of a second
language. The task is not easy for English teachers, aside grammatical differences and the
new sounds to be learned, there are about 540,000 in the new language which are a challenge
since vocabulary is an important component in any language.

In most classrooms it seems that the fear of losing the control of the group is more
predominant; some teachers feel more secure by following traditional activities to maintain
the students as busy as possible.

Unfortunately, in my culture, a classroom ought to be a place where teachers shares their


knowledge and students are benefited from this resource by listening, taking notes and being
a passive recipient during the whole process. When such silence is broken or interrupted by
students, the most common practice to restore the peace and the silence is by punishing or
threatening students. Alfie (2002) states that effective teachers are not concentrating on being
effective disciplinarians; she points out that this is partly true because they have better things
to do, and those better things prevent problems.

The purpose of this paper to look for other solutions which lead students to learn English, for
that purpose, I include information about the school, the group where the research was carried
out, theoretical the background, the analysis of the results, and my final conclusions about
the findings.

Songs are not the panacea for learning but they can be used to vary lessons as well as to make
learning more relaxing and funnier.
LITERATURE REVIEW

The use of different activities intended for language learning should be planned, product of
students needs and as a result of research, otherwise, the activities would be only used as
time killers with no pedagogical reasons.

I propose the use of songs and music according to my experience as student and to my
observation in class; however, I wanted to conduct an action research in order to confirm my
assumptions. The purpose of researching according to MacKay (1998) is to make a reflection,
she remarks that the primary reason is because research is to become more effective teachers,
and this does not mean that research offers definitive answers to pedagogical questions, but
rather it provides new insights into the teaching and learning process. As Johnson (1992) puts
it,

“The importance of researching is not so much that it supplies definitive answers to questions such as
“What is the best way to learn a language?” Or “Which is the most effective method of L2 teaching?” It does
not. Rather, research can help us gain a richer understanding of the many interrelated factors involved in
learning. It can help us to see how the ways we organize learning environment can promote or inhibit growth.
(p.5)”

Mackay (1998) also points out that action research is viewed as one of the most effective
research methods for producing sound L2 teaching practices. This is because by definition
action research, involves a systematic inquiry into the issues and problems that teachers face
when searching the improvement of pedagogical practices.

Unfortunately, many teachers have not been trained to undertake research. Often teacher
education programs focus primarily on how to teach, examining how to specify learning
objectives, design lessons and assess learning. Little or no attention has not been given to
training teachers to investigate L2 classrooms. Among the causes that discourages teachers
from doing are the heavy teaching load or lack of support from administrators, Woodward
(2001), she states that your teaching will be affected by the type of institution you work in,
whether it’s a primary or secondary school, an after-school language club, a private language
school or university, a secondary or vocational school. More important than the type of
institution though will be its “organisational culture” that is, its normal practices and
attitudes. This organizational also called by the author as one of our freedom constraints
besides the number of students, if the class is heterogeneous.

When the problem is not the institution, according to Woodward (2001) Starter teachers need
to build a bank of language learning activities to draw on in the classroom. More experienced
teachers need to pick up new activities and vary old ones to keep themselves and their
students motivated.

The task of the teacher is not to discourage students, the teacher's task is to motivate them to
learn, of course many characteristics can influence the success of language learning.
Obviously, some factors are innate. Aptitude is another factor that may be relative fixed
Ruben (1875:42)

Motivation and positive attitude have also been correlated with language acquisition
Gardener (1985 in Lightbown and Spada 1999:56).

Motivation and its importance

The term motivation originated from the Latin word “moveo-movere” the meaning of which

is “to move” in English. In Psychology, the term is understood as force that moves our

behavior or the sources, reasons of our behavior.

Ortiz (1991) points out that Motivation can be studied from different points of view. Without

getting involved in “Byzantine discussions” about if it is more correct to say “motivation” or

“incentivation”, it is a fact there is a phenomenon that arises a great desire and need for

learning and that the teacher plays an important role. When someone wants to have an

influence over another person it is important to considerate that at the beginning there is an

initial motivation a natural product of a relationship between teacher and student. Enthusiasm

is easily contagious.

Raffini (1996) states that very often, punishments and rewordings are the only tools used by
teachers to motivate students. Both tactics are worn to control many students' behavior; its
indiscriminate use can weaken the student's intrinsic motivation for studying. Several are the
reasons for students to learn, but the more punishments and rewards to manipulate learning.

A good way to motivate students is to involve them in the teaching and learning process, by
asking them what activities they would like to be included in the lesson plan or to use
activities they like. Sibarah (1999) suggests that learners of a foreign language have to
participate throughout the learning process.

Based on constructivist theory (mintzes et al. 1998, von Glaserfield 1998), students take an
active role in constructing new knowledge. It is important to keep in mind that when students
perceive valuable and meaningful learning tasks, they will actively engage in the learning
tasks, using active learning strategies to integrate their existing knowledge with the new
experience, on the other hand, when students do not perceive the value of learning tasks, they
use surface learning strategies (such as memorization) to learn (Pitrich and Shunk 1996). Von
Glassersfeld (1998) also illustrated the importance of the students’ learning goal in
motivating to construct their scientific knowledge based on learning value and learning
strategies.

Sibarah (1999) declared that by encouraging an active participation of students which makes
the transmission of knowledge a successful and a motivating learning process.

The lack of interest and the insufficient use of educational resources, and the monotonous
character in the teaching of some teachers can contribute to see the learning process rather
boring. Resources promote students’ interest and connect them with the real world.
Music is an attractive source that can enhance learning because of the importance in our lives
today, and it is usually best to work it from every dimension, since not only is limited to the
study of music in itself, but its appropriate time, but as well it’s an appropriate approach to
promote and enjoy the musical process, which can be globalized in other different areas of
learning that occur in the classroom.

Murphey (1992) state that one of the advantages about music is that is everywhere and all
the students have musical tastes. The advantage of musical materials is that they are so readily
available to the teacher, and so immediately motivational to some students.
We learned songs by heart in about a dozen languages that we did not speak. However, we
were incapable of using the language in the songs for communication.

This does not mean we did not learned something of the sound system might have helped us
later has we studied the language.

In other words, of themselves, songs can be immensely valuable for developing certain
capacities, but they can be more times more valuable if we exploit them creatively to bridge
the gap between the pleasurable experience of listening / singing and the communicate use
of language.

The use of music and song in the classroom can stimulate very positive associations to the
study of a language, which otherwise may only be seen as a laborious task, entailing exams,
frustration, and corrections.

Jalongo & Bromley, 1984; McCarthey, 1985, Martin, 1983, Mitchell, 1983; Jolly, 1975, argue
that the music in the language classroom serves to incorporate new vocabulary and grammar,
improve spelling and develop language skills (reading, writing , speaking and listening).
Besides the abilities before mentioned, “automacity” Gatbonton and Segalowits (1988), can
be developed through music,

Using music in your ESL/ within the affective components, motivation is important because
students’ motivation plays an important role in their conceptual change processes (Lee 1989,
Lee and Brophy 1996, Pintrich et al. 1993)

The importance of music and songs in language learning

Murphey (1992) explains that many of us have experienced with amazement how quick
students are at learning songs. It is also a common experience to forget nearly everything we
learn in another language except the few songs that we learned.

For a variety of reasons, songs stick in our minds and become part for us, and lend themselves
easily to exploitation in the classroom.
In other words, songs can be many times more valuable if we exploit them creatively to
bridge the gap between the pleasure experience of listening / singing and the communicative
use of the language.

Songs alone, however, will not teach anyone to use the language no matter how great their
memorability, how much fun it Is to sing and listen to them, or how energizing the change of
pace might be, just listening to and singing songs will not make students able to communicate
in another language.

In our time, it is hard to escape music and songs as it occupies ever more of the world around
us: in operating theaters (for heart transplants and childbirth) restaurants and cafés, shopping
malls (muzac), at sports events, in our cars, and literally everywhere for those tuned in a
Walkman. It would seem that the only place music and song is slow to catch on is in schools.

Krashen (1993) has suggested that this involuntary repetition may be a manifestation of
Chomsky’s language acquisition device. It seems our brains have a natural propensity to
repeat what we hear in our environment in order to make sense of it. It certainly seems to do
so with children, who learn songs almost effortlessly.

Songs in general also use simple, conversational language with a lot of repetition, which is
just what many language teachers look for in simple tests.

Most importantly, perhaps, songs are relaxing. They provide variety and fun, and encourage
harmony within oneself and within a group. Little wonder they are important tools in
sustaining cultures, religious, patriotism, and yes, even revolutions.

Not only administrators and principals disagree with the inclusion of music and songs in the
classroom, many teachers will no use them. Here I present a list in which Murphey explains
some teacher’s concerns.

Teachers / students do not take music and song seriously. It disturbs neighboring classes,

some students get too excited. It takes away from the normal syllabus. Time is lost. Students
disagree about songs, and have different musical tastes. Pop songs have poor vocabulary. Too

much slang with bad grammar. Students just want to listen, not to work.

What can we do with songs?

 To talk about the music, lyrics, singers, groups, video clips.


 To use songs and music to set or change an atmosphere or mood as background
furnishing.
 To read about the production, performance, effect, authors, producers, audiences of
music and song
 To write songs
 Perform songs
 Etcetera.

Ward (1991) explains that many teachers cannot see the point of teaching songs and they tend
to think of it as a frivolous activity suitable only for five minutes on Friday afternoons.

Here are some of the valid reasons for including songs in class:

 Authentic activity: Many of us spend a fair amount of our spare time listening to
songs and many people, especially youngsters, enjoy joining in, so by using songs in
the language class we are getting the students to do something that they would do in
real life. Many of our young students may never have the opportunity to visit an
English speaking-country but they are very much involved with British and American
pop music.

 Authentic language: Most English songs we hear on the radio or television have not
been produced for EFL learners and have not been recorded who people with
Received Pronunciation, so they are a good way of exposing our students to authentic
language.

 Motivation: As people tend to find songs enjoyable we can liven up the language class
by using them to stimulate the students’ interest.

 Repetition: Repetition can be very boring for students but they will happily repeat the
same structure over and over again if it is contained in a song.
 Rhythm and stress: As songs have a very marked rhythm, we can help our students to
use the correct rhythm and stress by reciting and singing songs,

 New vocabulary: Songs provide a means of learning new vocabulary in context, and
words learnt this way are rarely forgotten. Most of us can probably still remember
words from songs learnt in our foreign language class when we were at secondary
school.

 Group activity: Singing a song is a good way of unifying the group. We can see this
from the way songs are used in politics, at football matches, etc. It can be foster co-
operation among students and give the shyer ones a chance to join in. Students who
have more difficulties than others will have an opportunity to make a contribution to
the corporate effort without worrying about getting it wrong, and may increase self-
confidence.

 Practicing alone: Other students may have few opportunities to speak English to other
people outside the classroom, but they can always sing a song when they are alone.
No one will take much notice if you walk down the road singing to yourself, but if
they hear you talking to yourself they may think there is something wrong with you!
Thus songs are a means of oral reinforcement outside the class.

When choosing a song we must keep in mind our aims and choose one that will help us
to achieve them.

 Structural consolidation:

 Listening comprehension: Teachers should decide which vocabulary they wish to


teach and then choose a suitable song.

 Reading comprehension: The same techniques can be also be used to practice


reading comprehension with the lyrics of songs. This seems less natural as we are
more likely to listen to a song than read it but it does provide a change from always
treating the song as a listening comprehension.
 Phonology: Pronunciation Try to analyze which sounds your students have
difficulty with and find suitable songs that contain examples of that sound. Do
not choose a song that is too complex, however, or the whole aim will be lost.

 Discussion work: This can take place before the listening as a warm-up session
or afterwards in the light of what the students have heard.

 Cultural background: Whereas literature is by and large the product of an educated


elite, songs, especially folk songs and pop songs, are the natural expression of the
people who created them and reflect the life and mentality of those people.

 Singing for enjoyment: In the mentioning five-minute Friday afternoon slot at the
beginning of this article, I was in no way intending to criticize it. There are times
when students are tired, when they have been subjected to intense mental activity
and they welcome the singing of songs for enjoyment.

Considering that Lo, R. and H. Chi Fai Li (1998) affirm that teachers and students alike find
singing songs entertaining and relaxing. Songs offer a change from the routine classroom
activities. They are invaluable tools to develop students' abilities in listening, speaking,
reading, and writing, and can be used to teach a variety of language items such as sentence
patterns, vocabulary, pronunciation, rhythm, adjectives, and adverbs. Learning English
through songs also provides a nonthreatening atmosphere for students, who usually are tense
when speaking in a formal classroom setting.

These authors also support the statement that music is an enjoyable experience and
pleasurable; not only relax students; it can also be used for (Jalongo and Bromley, 1984,
McCarthey, 1985; Martin, 1983, Mitchell, 1983, Jolly, 1975). Furthermore, by engaging in a
pleasurable experience, learners are relaxed and their inhibitions about acquiring a second
language are lessened. Yet, while they are more relaxed, they are also more attentive than
usual, and therefore, more receptive to learning. Through songs, students are exposed to
“authentic” examples of the second language.

Although the communication approach has become the mainstream in language teaching,
learners are very passive recipients of knowledge and play a minimal role in the selection of
learning materials and teaching methodology. Such under involvement constitutes a
hindrance to successful language learning. To enhance learner commitment, teachers should
allow learners to take part in developing materials for themselves. Clarke (1989) outlines
some advantages in involving learners in materials development through modifying existing
materials. This not only increases learner commitment but also makes learners become
experts in the tasks they designed.

METHODOLOGY AND COLLECTION OF DATA


I chose one of my groups from the secondary school where I work to use songs during four
weeks.

The group 1”E” from secondary school Jose Sixto Verduzco (Centro Escolar Juana de
Asbaje) in Zamora Michoacán, Mexico.

There are 20 students in this group and they were in the advanced group according to a
placement test. It is a small group and most of the students attend private English classes or
come from primaries where English is offered two hours a day and by using excellent
methods.

All the participants in this activity were 11 females and 10 males (11-13 years of age) from
the secondary English classes are three days a week of fifty minutes each one.

The first class the teacher received the students with music, the excitement was immediate.
Students were happy and they asked me if it would be possible that I could bring more songs
to the classroom. The next class I prepared an activity with a song .

Hits of the moment from American artists were taken from the Internet and taken into the
classroom. The songs were carefully chosen considering that the students were from
secondary school and they have strong musical tastes, most of the songs released before their
time are considered by them as old fashioned, also their context is also important to bear in
mind. Secondary students from a small town do not have the same musical tastes than they
do in big cities or students who have had the opportunity of traveling the United States for
vacation.
During ten classes, I included a song activity. The first class, I had not told them anything
about this change; the first class I was waiting for them in the English classroom while
playing some music in the Cd player; their happiness was notorious and evident, they were
amazed by the surprise. They expressed me their interest for listening to music during all the
classes, I proposed them to work during ten classes with music but creating different activities
to take advantage of them, by learning vocabulary, by practicing the pronunciation, etc.

I chose the first song and I prepared the typical song exercise of completing the song with
the words in a bank of words. Students organized themselves in teams and we scheduled the
classes so that every team could prepare and bring a song to participate in the “Ceja Music
Award”, the next team only got the lyrics of a song and we had to sing the song, every team
prepared the activities and gave us the instructions the other teams proposed different
activities.

At the end of the ten classes and the nine songs, the students voted their favorite song; the
songs were included in different moments of the class, at the beginning, in the middle and at
the end.

I prepared a survey previously revised and authorized by my tutor Enriqueta Villa and I gave
it to my students in order to know their points of view and the efficacy of the implementation
of the music and the songs as a part of the class. It was anonymous and they had enough time
to answer it. They still want to keep on using songs in the classroom and I did not have
problems with their parents because of the use of them in my class.

All the abilities were present during this time. The purpose of this change in class was to
demonstrate that monotony affects and blocks English Learning and a change is necessary.

EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES AND CONTROLS

 Students' age: The students are from first grade of secondary and as teenagers, their
interest for school in not a priority. They want to have fun, to socialize, to chat through
social networks, etc. That's why the teacher has to look for all the available activities
to attract student is attention.
 Students' musical tastes: For those students who did not express a high interest for
music is because the music we took to the classroom was not of his or her likings.
Even young students have strong influences by their parents and like music from the
seventies or eighties.

 Student's traditional criteria about education: As some teachers have concerns about
the use of music and songs in the classroom, many parents think that when the teacher
is not working on the book, or makes fun activities is wasting the students' time. I
have met students that prefer to follow the typical order of a class, and avoid new
strategies for considering them not relevant or time killers. I think this may happen
when evaluating the process.

 Students’ sex: Women at school are more disciplined and take learning more
seriously. In fact according to the survey, fifty percent of girls considered that they
learned more English by using music and songs in the class, whereas the 80% of the
boys think that they learned more.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION


The evidence was collected through surveys which show that students liked the songs and
the music as part of the class because the percentage for the five items was higher in favor of
all of them.

This research offered qualitative results. It is not easy to measure motivation. However, we
can obtain percentages and by analyzing their responses we can figure out their real
perception about the importance to motivate them and to change their attitude about the
learning of a foreign language represented in numbers to prove that at least this group enjoyed
music and songs in the English class and felt motivated to the activities employed in the
classroom.

Their opinions expressed keywords like: concentration, learning, vocabulary, variety of


activities, inspiration, etc. These opinions reinforce what Murphy stated

Students had three options and a line to explain their answer. The options were: Always,
Sometimes and Never. I expected the option “Always” in all the items but the first option
occupied the majority, in some cases the percentage decreased notoriously specially in the
item about motivation, the percentage is in favor but I felt astonished when I realized that not
all the students answered always, probably as I stated previously due to the traditional
perception of characteristic formality to receive instructional learning.

Here, I present only the results without the reasons which were presented in the complete
action research.

1. When they were asked if they liked to practice English with music and songs
from 19 students:

17 answered: always and these are the reasons, 2 answered “sometimes”, No one
answered “never”

2. When they were asked if they learned more English with music and songs from
19 students:

13 answered “always”, 6 answered “sometimes” and these are the reasons, No one
answered “never”
3. When they were asked if music and songs help them feel more relaxed in class:

From 19 students:

18 answered “Always”, 1 answered “Sometimes”.

4. When they were asked if the music and songs motivate them to learn English

13 said “always” and these are the reasons, 5 answered “Sometimes”, One
answered “nunca”.

5. When they would like that songs and music keep on being part of the class.

18 said “always”, 1 said “Sometimes”.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of songs in class was an effective tool to motivate my secondary students. I expected

more overwhelming results, because they were happy during those classes; nevertheless, at

the end and after looking over the survey, I discovered that even the percentage of students

who supported the use of songs is higher I have to analyze those results which show not

completely convinced answers.

In general, they relate music and songs more with relaxation, practice, etc., rather than
learning and this result is logical since the research was intended to provoke a positive
stimulation for learning a second language but at the same time students recognized that they
enjoyed the class. This research showed the results that I supposed; however, I need to go
over the activity to make some adjustments in order to convince students who felt that music
is not related directly to learning.

The results are not negative, they are positive, they like the use of songs and music in class,
they felt more relax, they feel that variety is necessary in the lessons, not all the students
express a strong motivation when listening to music, because some students do not like
English, it is not their favorite subject. However, the attitude is different, if they feel relax,
and happy, learning will take place easier. When the environment is threatening, learning is
not possible.

Songs and music cannot be used only to motivate students; in my theoretical background I
offer specific activities which the authors enumerate to use songs and music in class besides
the implications that they can produce.

I am happy with the results because I discover certain aspects I have never imagined and now
I want to research to discover though investigation what improvements I can do to my
practice as a teacher and to search for more options trying to be an effective teacher.
I hope ESL teachers could use research to analyze what evidence shows.

REFERENCES

Alonso D. (2011) “English as a Second Language” Nova Science Publishers New York.

Bridley S. (2005) Teaching English Taylor & Francis e-library, 2005

Douglas H. (2003) The Good Language Learner- Second Language acquisition Question
PG/03/09 November 15, 2003

Konh, A. (2006) “BEYOND DISCIPLINE” FROM COMPLIANCED COMMUNITY


PUBLISHED BY Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development1703 N.
Beauregard St. • Alexandria, VA 22311-1714 USA.

Krashen S. (1982) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon


Press Inc.

Lo, R. and H. Chi Fai Li (1998): Songs Enhance Learner Involvement Forum Vol. 36, No. 3,
July-Sept. 1998 pp. 8-11

MacKay, S. (1998) “RESEARCHING SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS” Lawrence


Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers Mahwah, New Jersey

Medina S. (1990) “The Effects of Music Upon Second Language Acquisition”Center


database, ERIC Document # ED 352-834

Murphey, T. (1992): Music and Songs, Oxford University Press.

Ortiz Guillermo (1991) cápsulas pedagogicas motivacionales pp: 41-46


Raffini, J. (1996) “100 maneras de incrementar la motivación en clase” Chapter one

Richards J. (2006) “Communicative Language Teaching Today” Cambridge University


Press 2006

Ward, S. (1991)”Using songs In”: A. Mathews, M. Spratt and L. Daugerhold (1991): At the
Chalkface. Nelson Ltd., UK.

Woodward, T. (2001) Planning Lessons and Courses Cambridge University Press pp. 162-
220

Sibarah, N. L. (1999): Songs as a Magic Tonic Forum Vol. 37, No. 2, April-June. 1999 pp.
14-15

WEB-SITES

http://americo-languagemusic-motta.blogspot.mx/2008/12/music-is-frequently-used-by-
teachers-to.html

http://www.e-socrates.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=2842&parent=6440&lang=zh_cn
(Retrived September 21, 2012) GUZMAN F. (2010) LA MUSICA Y EL APRENDIZAJE

http://www.eslemployment.com/articles/an-idea-for-using-songs-in-the-efl-esl-classrooms-
399.html(Accessed September 21, 2012)

http://www.ntcu.edu.tw/chin/file/29.pdf

http://www.tarbut.edu.ar/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=568:sing-
sing-a-song-&catid=15:noticias-nivel-inicial&Itemid=53(accessed September 21, 2012)

You might also like