STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE USE OF SONG LYRICS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE USE OF SONG LYRICS IN
LEARNING ENGLISH AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF
UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

A Skripsi
Submitted to the Faculty of Language Education
In A Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana
Pendidikan

Sidik Kurnianto
20110540090

English Education Department
Faculty of Language Education
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
2016

i

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE USE OF SONG LYRICS IN
LEARNING ENGLISH AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF

UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

A Skripsi
Submitted to the Faculty of Language Education
In A Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana
Pendidikan

Sidik Kurnianto
20110540090

English Education Department
Faculty of Language Education
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
2016

ii

Statement of the Authenticity

I am a student with the following identity:

Name

: Sidik Kurnianto

NIM

: 20110540090

Program Study

: English Education Department

Faculty

: Faculty of Language Education

University

: Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta


Certify that this thesis with the title of “Students’ Perception towards the use of
Song Lyrics in Learning English at EED UMY” is definitely my own work. I am
completely responsible for the content of this thesis. Others’ opinion or findings
included in this thesis are quoted in accordance with ethical standards.

Yogyakarta, August 27th 2016

Sidik Kurnianto
NIM. 20110540090

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdulillahirrobil’alamin, my highest gratitude and honor goes to Allah
Subhanahu Wa’ Ta’ala for always guiding, strengthening and blessing me so that I
could finish my skripsi. This skripsi would not be completed without having many
supports from many people around me. I would like to express my gratitude to my
family; Bapak Hadi Prayitno (Dad), Ibu Siti Marchamah (Mom), mbak Laili Nur
Fitriyanti, mbak Eri Murniasih and mbak Eri’s husband Syariffuddin. I hope they
always get healthy and see my success in the future, and I do always need their

support and prayer to reach the success. My deep gratitude and appreciation go to
mr. Gendroyono, S.Pd., M.Pd as my best supervisor, for his valuable time,
guidance, suggestions and motivating during the process of doing this skripsi.
Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the skripsi examiners: Ms. Noor
Qomaria, S.Pd., M.Hum and Ms. Ika Wahyuni Lestari S.Pd., M.Hum. Thanks for
their insightful comments and encouragement. I also thank to all lecturers of
English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta for all
the knowledge, experience and patience. Thank you for providing a very nice
place to learn. My thankfulness also goes to my participants who took their
valuable time to participate in my research. This research could not be completed
without your good contribution, support and willingness. Moreover, for all my
dearest friends of English Education Department of UMY batch 2011, to my
friend who struggling together, Hanjaya, Fabyan, Ghazali, Fajar, Eko, Oskar, I
send thanks for the support to each other and the motivation.

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Table of Contents

Title Page................................................................................................................ i

Approval Page ...................................................................................................... ii
Statement of the Authenticity ........................................................................... iii
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................ iv
Abstract ...................................................................................................................v
Table of Contents ................................................................................................ vii
Chapter One: Introduction ..................................................................................1
Background of the study .......................................................................................1
Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................4
Limitation of the Problem ....................................................................................4
Formulation of the Problem..................................................................................5
Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................5
The Significance of the Study ..............................................................................5
Chapter Two: Literature Review .........................................................................7
Perception .............................................................................................................7
Song lyrics ............................................................................................................8
Advantages of Using Song in Learning ...............................................................9
Linguistic resource .....................................................................................10
Affective/psychological resource ...............................................................10
Cognitive resource .....................................................................................11


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Vocabulary mastery ...................................................................................11
The use of song to improve learning ..................................................................12
Vocabulary .................................................................................................12
Pronunciation .............................................................................................13
Listening.....................................................................................................14
Challenges of using song in learning .................................................................14
Teachers do not take the music seriously...................................................15
Song can disturb adjacent lessons .............................................................15
Teacher can lose control of the class easily ...............................................15
The vocabulary of the songs is too poor ....................................................15
The expressions are different to the rules of grammar ...............................15
Conceptual Framework ......................................................................................16
Review of related research .................................................................................18
Chapter Three: Methodology..............................................................................21
Research Design .................................................................................................21
Research Participants..........................................................................................22
Research Setting .................................................................................................22
Data Collection Method .....................................................................................23

Data Analysis......................................................................................................23
Chapter Four: Finding and Discussion ..............................................................25
The Advantages of the Use of Song Lyrics in Learning English at English
Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta...... ..........25
The advantages of the use of song lyrics related to linguistic resources ..26

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Students’ vocabulary is enriched ...........................................................26
Students are able to identifying grammar..............................................27
Students’ listening skill is improved .....................................................28
Students are able to practice their pronunciation ..................................28
The advantages related to affective/psychological resource ......................30
Students motivated in learning English .................................................30
Students feel pleasure when using song lyrics ......................................31
The advantages related to cognitive resource ............................................32
The challenges towards the Use of Song Lyrics in Learning English at English
Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta...... ..........33
Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendation .............................................38
Conclusion .........................................................................................................38

Recommendation ...............................................................................................40
References .............................................................................................................41
Appendices .............................................................................................................45

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Abstract
Based on the researcher’s experience in learning English, the media that is
used commonly in teaching and learning is using songs. Song is believed to be
able to help students to learn foreign language. This research was to find out the
perception towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education
Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (EED UMY). There are
two research questions in this research, (1) what are the advantages towards the
use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY, and (2) what are the
challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY. The
methodology of this research was qualitative. The interviews were conducted to
three students of EED UMY from batch 2013 as the participants of this research.
The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed in three steps of coding: the
open, axial, and selective coding.
The result showed that there were three advantages towards the use of

song lyrics in learning English: (a) Linguistic resources, which contained four
points that consisted of vocabulary, grammar, listening, and pronunciation. The
students are able to enrich their vocabulary, identifying the structure of the
grammar, next, students can practice their listening skill, and also the students can
examine their pronunciation. (b) affective/psychological resources, which was
categorized into two ideas, motivation and pleasure. The students’ motivation can
be increased, and also using song lyrics also can be pleasure to students. (c)
Cognitive resources, the students’ knowledge were increased. On the other hand,
to answer the second research question, the participants got some

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challenges/difficulties; the students confused about the vocabulary, and students
also confused about the intonation and accents of the song. Next, the students also
confused about the grammatical of the songs that sometimes unstructured. Then,
the tools in the class while learning using song lyrics also could be the challenges.
Additionally, the condition of the class is also caused the challenges when EED
UMY students learn English using song lyric. Shortly, this research concluded
that song lyrics has many advantages and some challenges in learning English at
EED UMY.

Key words: song lyrics, English learning, teaching strategies

1

Chapter One
Introduction
In this chapter, the researcher discusses the background of this research. The
researcher also explains the statement of the problem, limitation of the problem,
formulation of the study, purposes of the study and also gives detail description of the
significance of the study.
Background of the Study
In English education, there are many ways in teaching and learning. Every
lecturer at EED UMY had different teaching methods based on their subjects in
teaching at EED UMY. According to Gloria (2013) variety of instructional materials
should be visible in each classroom so that learning will be full of fun and interesting.
Teachers have both traditional and innovative method of learning. In traditional
method, according to Rengarajan (2000) the teacher is the sender and the source. The
educational material is the information or message, and the student is the receiver of
the information. While the innovative method is the role of student is more important
than teachers. The concepts of paper less and pen less classroom are emerging as an

alternative to the old teaching learning method (Sachou, 2010).
In traditional style, the teacher usually used teacher’s centered learning. In this
method the teacher’s role is a central and active, furthermore, it’s a teacherdominated interaction. In line with the researcher’s experience, the teacher usually
used this method, for instance, teacher mentions a word in local language and then
ask students to find its meaning in English. Learning with traditional method is

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monotonous. The teacher should use various strategies in teaching. One of strategies
that can be used by teacher is using several media to support the teaching and
learning process.
Media is used to support the teacher to make student enjoy the class and relax
with the material that will be delivered. Rengarajan (2000) also stated that the teacher
uses multimedia to modify the contents of the material. It will help the teacher to
represent in a more meaningful way, using different media elements. These media
elements can be converted into digital form, modified and customized for the final
presentation. By incorporating digital media elements into the project, the students
are able to learn better since they use multiple sensory modalities, which would make
them more motivated to pay more attention to the information presented and retain
the information better.
There are many media that can be used in teaching, for example, use the
picture, audio, video, etc. Using audio in the teaching is the good choice for the
students’ interested, especially, using song and music in teaching and learning.
Furthermore, according to Harmer (2001) music is powerful stimulus for students’
engagement. Precisely, it is because music speaks directly to listeners’ emotions
while still allowing them to use their brains to analyze the music and its effect. Music
and song are included in teaching media. The use of music and song in the classroom
can stimulate very positive associations to someone who study language. It can
amuse and entertain and it can make a satisfactory connection between the world of
leisure and the world of learning. Based on the researcher’s experience, the media

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that is used commonly in teaching and learning is using songs. Song is believed to be
able to help students to learn foreign language.
In learning language, there are several majors of learning. The students must
be mastering the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, the students
also have to master other competencies, and they are pronunciation, grammar and
vocabulary. Song also can be used in various learning activities, for example to
introduce new language, practice the language, fix the language, as a transition
between one to another activities and also to give more energy for the students.
Based on the researchers’ experience in learning, the use of songs are able to
improve the researcher’ knowledge in learning English. In fact, just a few of lecturers
at EED UMY apply songs in language teaching and learning in the classroom of EED
UMY in order to achieve the learning objective. Because, the lecturer had their own
teaching strategies based on their subject. Also, when the researcher studying in EED
UMY, the researcher has learnt through various method that the lecturer usually used,
however, in fact, there are many students at EED UMY who love and listen to music
at most of their time on their mobile phones and MP3 players. Based on the
researcher’s experience, almost every day the researcher listened to English song.
While listening, usually the researcher would look up the lyrics of the favorite songs
in a dictionary. This listening to the researchers’ favorite songs made the researcher
never forget the words in song lyrics, even though the researcher has hardly ever used
some of them. Therefore, the researcher is interested in researching the use of song
lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of UMY.

4

Statement of the Problem
As explained in the background, the researcher was interested in knowing the
students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in English Education Department
of UMY; there are some advantages and the challenges towards the use of song lyrics
in learning English at English Education Department of UMY. The use of song lyrics
in learning English was rarely used as a method of teaching and learning English in
the classroom. Based on the advantages and the challenges of songs, the researcher is
interested at finding the students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in
learning English.
Limitation of the Problem
The researcher believed that students of EED UMY have various perceptions
towards the use of song lyrics in learning English. The use of song lyrics is actually
can be beneficial in several aspects; the students can improve their speaking,
listening, pronunciation, and etc. There are also the challenges of using song lyrics in
learning process. In short, the researcher wants to investigate the students’ perception
towards the use of song lyrics in learning English.
From those points of view above about the advantages and the challenges of
using song lyrics in learning English, the researcher will only explore the advantages,
and the challenges of using song lyrics in learning English.

5

Formulation of the Problem
Based on the background above, the researcher formulates two research
questions as follow:
1. What are the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at
EED UMY?
2. What are the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at
EED UMY?
Purpose of the Study
Based on the research questions, this research is purposed as follow:
1. To find out the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English
at EED UMY
2. To find out the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at
EED UMY.
Significance of the Study
This research will give several advantages. They are supposed for the
students, the lecturer and the other researcher.
The students. After knowing the Students’ perception towards the use of
song lyrics in learning English, the students may find many different perceptions so
that the students can apply it in learning. Students who face several challenges may
use this research as reference so that they can find any elucidation.
The lecturer. The result of this research will give effect for the lecturer to
know the students’ perception of using song lyrics when they learn in the classroom.

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Hence, this research it may encourage lecturer to implement song lyrics in teaching
and learning process.
Other researcher. The result of this study might be used for other researchers
who are interested to conduct the same area of this study. The findings of this study
can be used as a reference to conduct further different research design or
methodology. Also it becomes base for other researchers to conduct experiment in
same area of study related to the song lyrics.

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Chapter Two
Literature Review
This research focuses on students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in
learning English at EED UMY. This chapter provides some concepts and theories
used as the foundation of this research. This chapter reviews theories and previous
studies related to the research topic. There are several points that are discussed in this
section including perception, song lyric, song to improve learning, advantages of
using song, and challenges of using song, conceptual framework and review of
related research.
Perception
Akande (2009) defines perception is the cognitive impression that is formed
of “Reality” which in turn influences the individual's actions and behavior towards
that object. In other words, that entire situation that we feel or see in around is the
process of perception works which influences us to act something with that object or
event. In short, perception is personnel's actions and behavior towards preservation of
information resources (object) would be premised on their perceptive ability.
For another definition, Unumeri (2009) stated that perception is the process
whereby people select, arrange, and conclude sensory stimulations into meaningful
information about their work environment. We can think perception as a process
where we take in sensory information from our environment and use that information
in order to interact with our environment. Perception allows us to take the sensory
information in and make it into something meaningful.

8

Rao and Narayan (1998) emphasize that perception ranks among the
important cognitive factors of human behavior or psychological mechanism that
enable people to understand their environment. They state that perception is the single
most important determinant of human behavior, stating further that there can be no
behavior without perception. Though focusing on managers in work settings, Rao and
Narayan draw attention to the fact that since there are no specific strategies for
understanding the perception of others, everyone appears to be “left with his own
inventiveness, innovative ability, sensitiveness and introspective skills to deal with
perception.”
From those explanations above, the researcher conclude that perception is
someone’s view or interpretation about activities or events which exists in people on
the surrounding. Perception is integrated with activities so that stimulus can come
from the individual. Moreover, perception is changes from the sensory information
and makes it into something meaningful information.
Song Lyric
According to Oxford dictionary, song is a sort of music with words that be
sung. Song is a short musical work set in a poetic text with equal importance given to
music and to the words. It may be written for one or several voices and it is generally
performed with instrument accompaniment.
According to Zahro’(2010) Song is an interesting media that offers the high
imagination. The language of song usually is easy to be understood. It gives
motivation and makes the relation between the teacher and students closer. And the

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relation will make the students have bravery to ask the teacher about everything.
Sophya (2013) stated that the song is a great "tool" to help the students learn English.
More specifically, the song is believed to be able to motivate students during the
learning of English.
Zahro’(2010) in the same work also stated that lyrics are set of words that
make up a song. Lyric can be studied from an academic perspective. Lyric can also be
analyzed with respect to sense of unity it has with its supporting music. Lyric is
simple word of song. The lyric or song texts are not only as a complement of the
song, but also as an important part of the music elements which determine the theme,
character and mission of the song. It can also make sense be stable. To know the
sense of the song, we can feel the rhythm and melody, harmony and voice of the
singer by the singing of the song. A music composition is not always a sequence of
melody with a lyric.
So, the researcher concluded that song lyric is a package of melody that has
rhythms and words. The composition without a lyric on its melody called an
instrumental music. On the contrary, the one with lyric is called a song. The music
composition performed by a song contains an attractive aspect. The attractive aspect
is language. The language which consists of a sequence of words, give new
dimension of the music, which cannot be found in the other composition,
instrumental music.
Advantages of Using Song in Learning

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According to Brewster, Ellis, and Girard (2002), there are many advantages of
using songs as learning resources. First, song is a linguistic resource, second, songs
are affective/psychological resources, third, songs are cognitive resource, and fourth,
songs are a culture resource and social resource.
Linguistic resource. Songs and languages might have some similar features.
By using songs, people can express themselves. Similar to songs, language is also a
means used by people to express their thought, feeling or concern about particular
things. In this case, song is a media to introduce new language, and also as a media to
evaporate grammar and vocabulary. Furthermore, using English songs in teaching
English grammar might be an instructive approach. It is recommended that English
teachers make the most of English songs in teaching grammar in the right time. The
methods can vary from one teacher to another (Vinyets, 2013). Ramírez (2013) stated
that using songs went beyond filling in the blanks, translating the entire lyrics,
singing the songs and analyzing the variety of pronunciations; the students had to be
active agents. Songs also presents language that students have known in new form
and more pleasing. The song also allows the repetition of language naturally and fun.
A song can be used to develop all language skills as integrated, including improving
students’ pronunciation skill.
Affective/psychological resources. Besides pleasing, songs are able to
motivate students and create positive attitude towards English language. Krashen
(1983) explained that, for optimal learning to occur the affective filter must be weak.

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A weak affective filter means that a positive attitude towards learning. If the affective
filter is strong the learner will not search for language input, and consecutively will
not be open for language acquisition. The teachers have to provide a positive
atmosphere conducive to language learning. And songs are one method for achieving
this weak affective filter that teachers need to promote language learning. Using
rhythm, chanting and songs can increase the attention and interest of the students
while motivating them to learn. Song is not the things that scares and threaten to
students. Songs can build students’ confidence. For example, as a proof that the
students had mastering something in English language, they proudly sing English
song in front of their friends confidently.
Cognitive resource. Song can help students’ memorization, concentration,
and coordination. Students become more sensitive to a rhyme sign as a tool to
interpret the meaning. According to Davies (2000) Music connects the functions of
the right and left hemisphere of the brain so that they work together and make
learning quick and easy. Brain function is increased when listening to music and
studies have shown that music promotes more complex thinking. It can make
connections between emotions, thinking and learning. Schoepp (2001) stated that, the
repetitive style of the song lends itself to an activity in which students create their
own present progressive sentences based upon their own interest.
Vocabulary mastery. Vocabulary mastery is the competence or complete
knowledge of a list or a set of words that make up a language which might be used by

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a particular person, class, or profession. Vocabulary is the most important and basic
thing in language learning. Therefore, students have to master vocabulary as a foreign
language. According to Setiawan (2010) mastering a large number of vocabularies is
very important for foreign language learners. Without mastering it, of course, foreign
language learners will get some difficulties in developing the four language skills.
Hence, Setiawan in the same work stated that vocabulary is a fundamental component
of second language proficiency; one of the primary goals of language learning is to
know the meanings of the words. It is needed to communicate successfully in the
second language.
In short, from those advantages of songs above, the use of songs in learning
resources is very important to make students easily understand in learning, also songs
can make students more motivated, because songs can build students confidence,
practice the students’ concentration and memorization in learning activities.
The Use of Song to Improve Learning
The use of song lyrics is believed to be able to improve students’ English
learning. There are some aspects of learning that can be increased by using song lyric.
Vocabulary. In improving vocabulary mastery using song lyrics, Nurkhaeni
(2010) stated that by using English song in teaching vocabulary, student could easily
understand and memorize new vocabulary. In the teaching and learning process,
when the teacher uses English song, the students are enthusiastic and enjoy during
teaching and learning process. They are very happy because they could relax and
listen to music. In addition, Burhayani (2013) also argued that the effectiveness can

13

be achieved because songs helps the students to enjoying the learning process and
song makes students easily to remember the new words by sing the song and doing
the action of the song make students know what the lyric or a new word is mean
without asking another person or looking them up in a dictionary.
So, vocabulary is knowledge about words and word meanings. Vocabulary
has role to express something meaningful. Therefore, vocabulary is one aspect of
language that should be learnt. Vocabulary mastery is very important in order to able
to speak, write, and listen; the one thing that learners should know is vocabulary first.
In addition, according to Murphey (1992) as cited in (Vinyets, 2013), presents
different reasons why songs should be used. Some of these reasons and advantages
include that it is easier to sing the language than to speak it. Then, songs act both in
short and long term memory. Next, songs contain repeats that teachers can use. Also,
songs are more motivating than repetitions in other texts. Further, songs lead students
to identify themselves with the text. Last, songs make the group relax, have fun at the
same time they give harmony to the group.
Pronunciation. Song lyrics also able to improve students’ pronunciation.
Actually, studies have shown that using English songs can improve students’
pronunciation skill. Much research has been done on the benefit of using English
songs for English learners in language acquisition (Lo, 2002). In addition, Zanuddin
et al (2002) also revealed that some of their research participants also became more
confidante about speaking English and their pronunciation became more clear and
accurate.

14

According to Ratnasari (2007), one very effective thing to teach students’
pronunciation is by having the students train themselves in their daily lives through
their own interests. Some students probably prefer to play games to enrich their
vocabulary, other may sing or listen to English songs or may be read poetry to
improve their listening ability, pronunciation and the English fluency
Listening. The other advantage of using song lyric in English learning is that
song lyric can improve student listening skill. Murphey (1990) suggests that many
English teachers have long recognized that song and music work well in language
classes. The statement shows that teachers can use song as a media to overcome the
students’ difficulties in listening and improve their listening ability.
According to Hidayat (2013), the media of teaching and learning process, in
this case songs, not only help the teacher to teach listening but also provide and
interesting way for the students to achieve the learning goals. The media has
contributed a lot in making the students understand well the delivered lesson. The
content of the songs may become one of influential factors which may determine the
improvement of the students’ listening ability. The use of songs also should consider
students’ need so that it will help students to learn and achieve the learning objective.
The teacher ability in selecting teaching material will also influence the use of songs
in improving the students’ listening ability.
Challenges of Using Song in Learning
Songs can motivate students because with the relaxing harmony students feel
relax and more enjoy to accept the materials or understand the learning. On the other

15

hand, songs also had some challenges. Murphey (1992) exposes some disadvantages
of the use of the songs.
Teachers do not take the music seriously. In this case, the teachers do not
seriously give the materials for the students. There are some teachers who do not like
the music so that it could be ineffective in their teaching.
Song can disturb adjacent lessons. There are several problems in learning
with songs. One of them is that the teacher will be afraid because teaching with songs
might disturb the lesson plan, or will go out of the lesson plan that have been made.
Teacher can lose control of the class easily. In the classroom, the teacher
have role to control the students. By using songs in the classroom, the students will
enthusiast and attractive to follow the material that deliver by using songs, besides
that, students will automatically more crowded because with songs in classroom it is
noisy, so that the teacher might be lose the control.
The vocabulary of the songs is too poor. In several songs, there are
monotonous lyrics. Thus, the listeners are not able to enrich their vocabularies.
The expressions are different to the rules of grammar. Sometimes, in
songs there is grammatical error, because the musicians are not really focus on the
grammar, and this can lead to making mistakes.
In addition, there are some difficulties in using song in teaching and learning,
according to Terhune (1997) as cited in Keskin (2011) they are, first, pop songs are
not scientific. Therefore, some teachers and students do not think that they are
effective tools in education. Second, as each student has a different way of learning,

16

some students may have difficulty in studying through music. Third, Inefficient
sound systems in schools may cause problems while listening to songs. Fourth, the
types of music favored by students may not be matching with each other. Fifth, songs
which are not grammatical or those involving complicated sentence structures may
confuse students. Sixth, in some songs, there may be embarrassing parts which
cannot be explained to students. The last, repetition of a limited number of words
may cause the song to seem boring or ineffective.
Conceptual Framework
This research purposed at investigating the students’ perception towards the
use of song lyrics in learning English at English Educaation Department of UMY. It
focused on advantages the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning
English at English Educaation Department of UMY.
Firstly, this research tried to investigate the advantages towards the use of
song lyrics in learning English at English Educaation Department of UMY. Linguistic
resource, affective/psychological resource, cognitive resource, culture/social resource
are including the advantages towards the use of song lyrics.
Secondly, this research also tried to find out the challenges towards the use of
song lyrics in learning English at English Educaation Department of UMY. These are
the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning english, teacher do not take
music seriously, song can disturb adjacent lesson, teacher can lose control of the class
easily, the vocabulary of song is too poor, and then the expressions are different to the
rules of grammar.

17

Figure 1.1

The use of song lyrics
in learning English

Advantages
1. Linguistic resource
2. Affective/psychological resorurce
3. Cognitive resource

Challenges
1. Teacher can lose control of the class
easily
2. The vocabulary of song is too poor
3. The expressions are different to the
rules of grammar.
4. Inefficient sound system

Students’ Perception

18

Review of Related Research
Alipour, Gorjian, and Zafari (2012) have researched about the effects of songs
on EFL learners' vocabulary recall and retention. The aim of the research was to
examine the effects of songs on vocabulary learning of upper-level language learners
based on their gender. The data were collected from 60 males and females aged from
20 to 32 in Ahvaz, Iran. The participants had no coverage to an English speaking
community and had no contact with native speakers of English. The instruments and
materials of this research was Test, which mean there was one test for each genre.
There were 30 items in each test in which the learners were asked to answer in 20
minutes. The research showed that there was a significant difference between males
and females in learning vocabulary through songs. However, the study mainly stated
that using song is good for students’’ vocabulary mastery.
Burhayani (2013) also studied about the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary
through songs to the second year students of Ikatan Keluarga Kesejahteraan Tentara
(IKKT) elementary school west Jakarta. The purpose of this research was to find out
the empirical evidence of the effectiveness of using songs in improving students’
vocabulary. Moreover, the aimed of this research was to find new way to teach
vocabulary for second year students of elementary school which are more interesting,
effective and efficient. The researcher used experimental research for this method.
The samples were taken from two classes of the second year. The researcher took 25
students for the samples in experiment class and 25 students in control class. The
study showed that use of songs in improving students’ vocabulary was effective. This

19

result also expected to help students easily to understand the difficult words by
singing the song, because songs make learning vocabulary enjoyable, fun and
interesting.
To investigate whether or not the use of songs significantly improves
students’ listening skill, Hidayat (2013) conducted a research entitled “The Use of
Songs in Teaching Students’ Listening Ability”. This quasi experimental research
involved two classes of students of a public junior high school in Sumedang. The data
were collected through pretest, posttest and questionnaires. In analyzing the collected
data, quantitative research method was employed. Furthermore, the data taken from
questionnaires were also investigated to find out the difficulties faced by the students
listening comprehensions through songs. The study found that the use of songs likely
improves students’ listening comprehension skills. The use of songs is likely to
improve the students’ listening comprehension skill.
To describe how songs influence the students’ achievement in pronouncing
English words, Ratnasari (2007) conducted a research entitled “Songs to Improve the
Students’ Achievement in Pronouncing English Words”. In constructing this study,
the writer collected data from the classroom action research. The subjects of this
study were 30 students of year seventh of MTs ANNUR in the academic year
2006/2007. In doing this study, the writer used an oral test method or sound of
production. The action was done through teaching learning process. Based on this
study, it is found that the use of songs in teaching English is effective to improve the
students’ pronunciation and very beneficial for the students in order to facilitate them

20

in learning English. Based on this finding, it is suggested that songs in teaching
English can be recommended for the English teachers. To get a wider generalization,
research of similar kind should be done with different subjects.

21

Chapter Three
Methodology
This third chapter of the research talks about research methodology. It
consists of research design, research participants, research setting, data collection
method, and the last is data analysis.
Research Design
The research was conducted using qualitative research. According to Lambert
(2012), a qualitative descriptive approach needs to be the design of choice when a
straight forward description of a phenomenon is desired. It was an approach that is
very useful when researchers want to know, regarding events, who were involved,
what was involved, and where did things take place. Creswell (2003) stated practice
of research (such as writing a proposal) involves much more than philosophical
assumptions. Philosophical ideas must be combined with broad approaches to
research (strategies) and implemented with specific procedures (methods). Thus, a
framework is needed to combine the elements of philosophical ideas, strategies, and
methods into the three approaches to research. According to Glass and Hopkins
(1984), descriptive research involves gathering data that describes events, and then
organizes, tabulates, depicts and describes the data collection.
This research explored the students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics
in learning English at English Education Department UMY. Thus, descriptive
qualitative was properly used in this research as it was appropriate with this research.
That was because the researcher wanted to get more in-depth results from this study

22

and the researcher wanted to know the detail information, opinion and understanding
about the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of
UMY. The study was a qualitative research because the researcher used interview to
collect the data and want to know students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics
in learning English at English Education Department of UMY.
Research Participant
The participant criteria of the research were students of English Education
Department of UMY batch 2013. This study used purposive sampling to choose the
participants. The participants that were included in this research were three
participants and they were two males and one female student. The following were
some reasons why the research used students of batch 2013 as the participants. The
reason was because that they had experienced about the use of song lyrics in learning
process. Next, the reason was that the researcher selected the students who love listen
to English song. Therefore, the researcher wanted to explore students understanding
in different perception about main topic of this research.
Research Setting
This research was conducted at English Education Department at UMY. This
department was selected since there were many learning method in this department,
and the use of song lyric is one of the methods. Therefore, the students were asked
about their perception toward the use of song lyrics in learning English at English
Education Department of UMY. This research was conducted on July - August 2016.

23

The researcher chose English Education Department of UMY as the setting because it
was very accessible both for the researcher and the participants.
Data Collection Method
In data collection method, several steps were applied. In collecting the data,
the researcher used in-depth interview. Interviews were particularly useful for getting
the story behind a participant’s experiences (McNamara, 1999). The interviewer can
pursue in-depth information around the topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up
to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses.
Initially, the researcher constructed interview guideline. The interview
guideline was used as a basic question to the interviewee. After that, the researcher
selected the participants. Then, the researcher contacted and arranged the meeting
with the participants to do the interview. In an interview, the researcher used recorder
to record and take note to write down several important points in the interview. In
collecting the data, the researcher used Bahasa Indonesia instead of English is to ease
the participants to explore their opinions when answering the interview questions.
Therefore, the process of interview could be running well.
Data Analysis
There were be six steps for making data report of qualitative method, they
were, interview, transcribing, member checking, open coding, axial coding, selective
coding, and data reporting. After the researcher did the interview, the researcher
transcribed all what the respondents said in recording. The next step was analyzing
data from the interview which had been transcribed in order to answer the research

24

questions. After that, the researcher coded the transcript with by giving sign for
information that is important from the respondents. Khandkar (2003) stated that in the
process of open coding, the concepts emerge from the raw data and later grouped into
conceptual categories. The goal was to build a descriptive, multidimensional
preliminary framework for later analysis. As it was built directly from the raw data,
its process itself ensured the validity of the work. Then, the data was grouped by the
researcher under certain name based on criteria which are decided by the researcher.
Secondly, the researcher did the axial coding. The researcher categorized the
information from the results of open coding to axial coding that were appropriate with
the research questions provided. Third, the researcher did the selective coding. The
researcher shortened all of information from axial coding. The researcher selected
which information had similarity. In selective coding, the researcher analyzed the
data to find out or to report the findings and discussion.

25

Chapter Four
Findings and Discussion
This chapter explains the findings of the study about students’ perception
towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The finding from interview is explained in
this section. This section is divided into two topics. The first is about the advantages
towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The second topic is about the challenges
towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The finding is strengthened by the
quotations from the interviewees. The identities of the participants in the quotations
are shown as Awan, Mamat, and Mawar. Following the finding, the researcher puts
the discussion. The discussion is experts’ statement or other previous related research
that is in line or contradictory with the finding of this study.
The Advantages of the Use of Song Lyrics in Learning English at English
Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
In this section, the researcher found some findings based on the first research
question about the advantages of using of song lyrics in learning English at English
Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The researcher
took three participants from batch 2013. The finding shows that there are three major
advantages of the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY. The
advantages are to linguistics resources, affective/psychological resources, and

26

cognitive resources. The aforementioned advantages are detailed in the following
section.
The advantages of the use of song lyrics related to linguistic resources.
One of the advantages of the use of song lyrics is regarding on the linguistic
resources. Advantages of using song towards linguistic resources can be defined as
some part of English learning that are affected on its development by using song
lyric. Specifically, this research found the linguistics resources into four criteria
namely vocabulary, grammar, listening, and the last pronunciation. These four criteria
are detailed in the following section.
Students’ vocabulary is enriched. This research had found that vocabulary is
one of English part that might be improved when students are using song lyrics in
learning. It is believed that using song lyrics can easily, rather than other methods, to
improve students’ vocabularies. Not only sharpen the students’ known vocabularies,
using song lyrics can ease students to enrich and memorize new vocabularies. This is
proofed by the statement of Awan: “emm.. We can enrich vocabulary and also we can
practice pronunciation. I think that’s all what I have got”. Mamat also said: “emm..
the advantages? Emm I got a lot of new vocabularies, and I can remember the
vocabulary, so I can improve and enrich my vocabulary”.
From the participants’ statement, it is clear that using song lyrics really had
advantages to improve EED UMY students’ vocabularies. Not only sharpening
memory of known vocabulary, students also be able to get new vocabularies. In the
further exploration, the finding found in EED UMY was actually in line with several

27

experts’ postulate and research. Nurkhaeni (2010) stated that by using English song
in teaching vocabulary, student could easily understand and memorize new
vocabulary. It means that, learning English using songs can make students easily
enrich their vocabulary.
In line with the participants’ statement about the effectiveness in using song
lyric, Burhayani (2013) stated that the effectiveness can be achieved because songs
helps the students to enjoying the learning process and song makes students easily to
remember the new words by sing the song and doing the action of the song make
students know what the lyric or a new word is mean without asking another person or
looking them up in a dictionary. Indeed, as Setiawan (2010) mentioned, vocabulary is
a fundamental component of second lan

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