10 if the teaching materials contain the native language as they give clear example of
native language and the students would imitate the sounds precisely.
2.1.3 Teaching Media
According to Arsyad 2006, teaching media is used to convey teaching messages p. 4. In the view of National Education Association in Arsyad, 2006,
p. 5, media is of communication either printed or audio visual and the tools. Based on the above definition, it can be concluded that teaching media are needed
for the teachers to help them in teaching-learning activity. Teaching media can be printed or audio visual and the tools. Teaching media is really important for the
teacher to convey the material for the students.
2.1.4 Children Songs
In understanding the definition of children songs, we need to know about the definition of the song it self. According to Parto 1996, “a song is a group of
arrangements which consists of lyrics and elements of music like rhythm, melody, harmony and expressions” p. 99. In a song, there are harmony of lyric, music,
melody, rhythm and also expression. In this study, the researcher used the children songs. Children songs are songs which related to the children’s characteristics.
Based on Hornby 1995, ”Child is an individual who has not reached puberty” p. 192. Then, the researcher inferred that children songs are songs which really
attract the children’ enthusiasm to listen to them. The children songs consist of beautiful words of which the melody is really cheerful. Moreover, the children
songs convey message for individuals who have not reached puberty.
11
2.1.4.1 How to Present Educational Songs in Classroom
Knowing the procedure to present song in teaching and learning activities is really important. Hubbard, Jones, Thornton, Wheeler 1983 suggest some
procedures to present song. In using songs as the teaching materials, the teachers need to explain the lyric of the songs carefully and patiently. Moreover, the
teacher explains the words clearly to make the students understand in pronouncing the lyric and also the meaning. Then, the teachers play the whole songs to make
the students understand the rythm of the songs. When the students start to understand the rhythm, they will imitate what they heard from the songs.
Furthermore, the teacher needs to bring the lively atmosphere into the class. The teacher might use gesture activities related to the songs to attract the
students’ enthusiasm. If the students cannot understand clearly what they heard from the cassete, the teacher might play the song verse by verse. After the
students start to understand the rythm and the pronunciation of the words, the teachers let them to practice singing Hubbard, P., Jones, H., Thornton, B.,
Wheeler, R., 1983, p.94.
2.1.4.2 Considerations and Principles in Choosing Children Songs
In using children songs in teaching and learning activities, the teachers need to choose the appropriate children songs. According to Hubbard, Jones,
Thornton, Wheeler 1983, pp. 93-94, there are some considerations and principles in choosing educational children songs. First, the teachers need to make
sure if the songs are suitable for the language level of students elementary, intermediation, advanced. Second, the songs should be suitable for the age of the
12 students. When the songs are not appropriate with the age of students, the students
might not enjoy to listen and sing the song. Third, the songs should be more appealing to the students. If the songs are interesting to them, they will pay
attention to the songs Hubbard, P., Jones, H., Thornton, B., Wheeler, R., 1983, pp. 93-94.
In addition, Tassoni, Beith, Eldridge, and Gough 2002 explain some principles in choosing children songs. First, the songs which are used in teaching
and learning for young learners should be fun and easy to be learnt. The teachers need to choose the songs which have interesting rhytm so that the children will be
enjoy to listen and sing the songs. The teachers have to avoid the songs which are too complicated for children, for example: the songs are too fast; the songs have
many difficult words for children. Second, the songs should have a relevance to the children environment. The teachers might introduce the children’s
environment through songs. The children will be easy to draw their imagination because what they heard from the songs are close to them.
Third, the songs should be linked to the theme. The teachers have to make sure if the songs are
related with the theme and the content of the learning materials. Furthermore, the songs which will be used in teaching and learning acitivities should be bright with
clear image to attract children Tassoni, P. , Beith, K. , Eldridge, H. Gough, A., 2002, pp. 424 – 428.
The teachers have to understand those considerations when choosing songs as the teaching materials. If the songs are not appropriate to the children’s
age, level, interest, and theme, the children might not be interested to listen to the
13 songs. When the children are not interested to listen to the song, it will be difficult
for the teachers to teach English through songs.
2.1.4.3 The Benefits of Songs for Young Learners
Using songs in teaching and learning activities give many benefits for children. Brewster, Ellis, and Girard 2002, pp. 162-163 explain that there are
some postive impacts due to the use of songs, rhymes, and chants in teaching and learning activities. In linguistic resource, the use of songs can improve all aspects
of pronunciation. The students will imitate how to pronounce many English words by singing and listening to the songs. The use of songs gives many benefits not
only for linguistic aspect of children but also for other aspects. When the atmosphere of teaching and learning activities is enjoyable, it will affect on the
children’s mood. The children’s mood will be increased. It means that the children’s psychological also obtain the positive impacts.
If the children are in a good mood, they will do the activities happily and concentrate on what they do. After the listen to the songs, they will try to
remember the lyrics of the songs. This activity will sharpen their ability in memorization. It means their cognitive aspect also obtain postive impacts.
Moreover, The children usually share what makes them happy to their friends. In here, they will share what they have learnt by listening and singing to the songs.
The children will be happy to sing together with their friends. The teachers can make a group discussion related to the songs which develop the social aspect of
children Brewster, Ellis, and Girard 2002, pp. 162-163.
14
2.1.4.4 Learning Pronunciation by Using Song
In learning pronunciation through songs, songs give some benefits to the children. Based on Philips 1993, “the children can remember language easily by
listening to music and rhythm” p. 94. According to Paul 2003, by listening and singing song, the students’ feeling to learn language is increased p. 58.
Moreover, Paul says that songs also help children to remember words and practice language more easily. The children also get more deeply into a lesson. Based on
the explanation from Paul and Philips, the researcher inferred that song is a good learning material for the students to increase their pronunciation. By listening to
the music and songs, the students will be easier to imitate the lyric of the songs. Using songs in teaching and learning actitivities give many benefits for
children. Brewster, Ellis, and Girard 2002, pp. 163-164 explain the pronunciation benefits of using songs. There benefits are in four aspects, those
are : a. Individual sounds and sounds in connected speech
Songs and rhymes are useful for showing what happens to sounds in connected speech, for example, the way that certain sounds run on together : You’re not IT
Or All in together Rather complicated consonant clusters in English are often simplified, especially where a word which ends in t or d is followed by
consonant cluster Brewster, Ellis, Girard, 2002, pp. 163-164. b. Stress and rhythm
Stress and rhythm can also be practiced in a very natural way by using songs or rhymes. Encoraging children to clap the beat as they go along or say rhymes will
15 help to develop a sense of rhythm in English. Weak forms, where the
pronunciation of a word differs according to wheter it is stressed or unstressed, occur regularly in songs and rhymes Brewster, Ellis, Girard, 2002, pp. 163-
164. c. Intonation
Intonation can also be practiced in songs and rhymes Brewster, Ellis, Girard, 2002, pp. 163-164.
d. Ear training By using songs and ryhmes, the teachers can use ear training to help the
children distinguish between different aspects of English pronunciation. To do this activity, the teachers might ask the children to listen and count how many
times an individual sound or word occurs in a song or rhyme Brewster, Ellis, Girard, 2002, pp. 163-164.
Based on the experts’ explanation above, there are four aspects related to pronunciation that get the good impacts of using songs in teaching and learning.
By using songs, the teachers can teach the children about connected speech. Songs are useful for showing what happens to sounds in connected speech. The teachers
might use songs to teach about stress, rhythm and also intonation. In here, repetition is really needed so that the students will be accustomed to pronounce
words in a good stress and intonation. Intonation is really important, according to Brewster, Ellis, and Girard
2002, p. 77, there are some functions of intonation in English. The first function is to help emphasize the most strongly stressed word in a sentence, the second
16 function is to show the grammatical function of what is beid said, for example,
wheter something is a statement or question. The last function of intonation in English is to show feelings and emotions.
Due to the importance of teaching intonation for students, songs can be used as a teaching material which can attract the students’ enthusiasm. In the
lyrics of children songs, there are so many expressions which have different intonation. The teachers might use them to be taught in attractive ways so that the
children will be enthusiastic to learn. In addition, the teacher might do ear training to the students through songs. This activity will encourage the children to be
focused on what they heard.
2.1.5 Review of Related Studies
There was a research which investigated the implementation of the use of songs for teaching vocabulary to kindergarten students. This research had been
conducted by Apsari 2012. This research was also an attempt to investigate the students’ response toward the use of songs in teaching and learning process. An
English teacher and fifteen students of TK Kartika XV-5 Batujajar, Bandung Barat were selected to be the respondents of this study. The results of the study
revealed that songs can be used effectively to improve students’ English vocabulary. Finally, media such as picture is required in order to convey the
meaning of songs. The study also showed that the majority of students were interested in learning English vocabulary through songs. This results indicates that
by using songs the students tend to be more active in the teaching and learning process Apsari, 2012.
17 Moreover, there was a journal which discussed that songs play an
important role in the development of young children learning a second language. This research was conducted by Millington 2011. This study will discuss how
songs can help learners improve their listening skills and pronunciation, and how they can be useful in the teaching of vocabulary and sentence structures.
Millington also discussed how songs can reflect culture and increase students’ overall enjoyment of learning a second language. Finally, the paper explored how
songs for children can be adapted to suit a particular theme or part of the curriculum a teacher might wish to teach Millington, N., 2011, pp. 134-141.
Based on a journal named “The Value of Songs and Chants for Young Learners” by Forster 2006, p. 63-68, using songs in the teaching-learning for the
children can increase their English vocabulary, intonation and pronunciation. The use of songs, music and rhythm in teaching pronunciation will help the teachers in
doing teaching and learning process. In using songs, the first thing that the teachers need to do is determining the age of the students. Then, the teachers have
to make sure whether the songs and chants are appropriate for their age or not. Basically, children love music and songs. It will be better if the teachers
include music and songs in basic communication acts or classroom situations. For the example, the teachers can lead the students to sing a children song or chant.
The teachers need to give the example how to pronounce the lyric of the songs. Repetition is really good to improve the students’ memorization. From this
activity, the children can improve their pronunciation and their vocabulary is also increased.
18 Those three studies proved that songs can be use in teaching and learning
activities. The children who had been taught through songs obtain the positive effects on their pronunciation, vocabulary mastery, and other aspects of language.
Moreover, the students’ interest to learn language was also increased. In line with those three studies, in this research the researcher conducted a study through
songs. The researcher focussed to find the effect on the students’ pronunciation when the students obtained the treatments through songs.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
In learning language, there are four skills that need to be developed. Those skills are speaking, listening, reading and writing. The teachers have to teach
those skills to make the students understand clearly about the language. One of the important skills in mastering the language is speaking. Ability to speak fluently
and clearly are really needed to avoid miscomunication. The stundents also have to pay attention on their pronunciation. If the pronunciation is unclear, it may
cause ambiguity in understanding the meaning. According to Kenworthy 1997, in pronouncing the words, intelligibility is really important to avoid ambiguity in
communication. Intelligibility means “being understood by a listener at a given time in a given situation” p. 13. From the expert’s explanation, we can
understand that speaking with the good pronunciation is really important. In teaching English to the children, the teachers need to know the
children’s characteristics due to the appropriate teaching materials that will be used. Scott and Ytleberg 1990 explain that the students love to play and they
