T1 112008120 Full text
STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
USING ENGLISH SONGS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
VALENTINO SURYA PERMANA
112008120
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2015
STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
USING ENGLISH SONGS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
VALENTINO SURYA PERMANA
112008120
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2015
i
STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
USING ENGLISH SONGS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
VALENTINO SURYA PERMANA
112008120
Approved by:
Anne I. Timotius, M.Ed.
Supervisor
Anita Kurniawati, M.Hum.
Examiner
ii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
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or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or any diploma in any university. To the best
of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written
by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright @2015. Valentino Surya Permana and Anne I. Timotius, M.Ed.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education
Program, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University,
Salatiga.
Valentino Surya Permana:
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Student ID Number : 112008120
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: Undergraduate Thesis
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STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING USING
ENGLISH SONGS
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Made in
: Salatiga
Date
: August 5, 2015
Verified by signee,
Valentino Surya Permana
Approved by:
Thesis Supervisor
Thesis Examiner
Anne I. Timotius, M.Ed.
Anita Kurniawati, M.Hum.
iv
STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING USING
ENGLISH SONGS
Valentino Surya Permana
Abstract
This study focuses on students’ pedagogical gains in language learning using English songs
in English Language Study Program of Satya Wacana Christian University. The data was
analyzed qualitatively using an interview method to analyze how does English song helps
students in language learning. The research question is ‘How does English song helps
students in language learning?’ Results show there are five themes emerged from students’
pedagogical gains, such as vocabulary (acquiring new vocabularies, memorizing
vocabularies, word meaning, and idioms), speaking (pronunciation and fluency), listening,
grammar and writing. This study is beneficial for teachers and also students that learning
English using songs can be one of the alternative ways to improve English skills, not only
listening but also speaking, writing, even grammar.
Keywords: students’ pedagogical gains, language learning, English songs
INTRODUCTION
As we know that language is one of the important thing in our life because we need
it to communicate with each other. According to Suryati (2013) language is an effective
media that adopt human’s will including expressing human feelings. So it means that
through language we can express our feeling as a communication to other people. Thus, it
is one of the functions of language. Nowadays, English has an important role to be used in
communication. Crystal (2002, p. 2) had stated that English is a global language. Therefore,
some countries started to learn English as a foreign language, including Indonesia. Thus,
English becomes a standard language in every aspect, like business, education, etc.
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As a foreign language, there are four major skills in English, they are listening,
speaking, writing and also reading. People will race to improve their ability in English by
mastering those skills. However, it is not easy to master all of those skills at once.
Therefore, some media are available to help people to master all those major English skills,
such as watching movies, reading books, or listening to English songs. Those activities can
stimulate the learners to improve English ability better. Hence, this study will concern more
about how English songs become a media to help the learners in English language learning.
English songs can be the easiest media to be used in learning English, since English
songs are popular among college students. According to Xiaowei (2010), the influence of
English songs on students’ language learning is huge. The students intend to learn English
words from pop songs in their leisure time. If they do this activity continuously, they can
learn quickly. Without teachers’ instruction, they can learn on their own. Moreover, they
can develop learning strategies that compatible with their capability.
This study addresses to the research question: “How does English song help
students in language learning?” The aim of this study is to find out students’ pedagogical
gains in language learning using English songs. The researcher wants to know about
improvement of students’ skills in English that were helped by listening to English songs.
The significance of the study is to show to teachers and students that learning English using
songs can be one of the alternative tools to improve English skills and help the students in
mastering English, not only listening skill, but also speaking, writing, even grammar. This
findings of the study may provide evidence of learning English using songs and kinds of
English abilities that were improved by English songs.
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English Songs
According to Griffee (1995, as cited in Rosova, 2007), the definition of song is
parts of music that have words in it, in here means lyrics. One of the example is popular
songs that we usually hear on the radio. From those words, we can use it as a material to
learn language, in here English language. By listening to English songs that have words in
it, it will stimulate the learners’ mind and makes them think and feel those words because
each words have their own pattern, intonation, rhymes and stress. Moreover, students seem
familiar with English pop songs since nowadays students usually like to listen to songs in
their leisure time. It can be a good example to learn English through pop songs because
from the lyrics the learners can improve their English ability automatically. According to
Rosova (2007), “language is easier to express in songs than in speech”, that is why English
songs that have words in it may be a suitable material for students to master English.
English Songs as Pedagogical Tools
Learning English through songs is one of the flexible learning methods to do. It can
be considered as one of the valuable tools to master English skills. There are some
researchers that have done the research about English songs that help the learners in
mastering English. As an example, there was a statement from Murphey (1992, as cited in
Millington, 2011). He found that songs help the learners to improve listening and speaking
skills. He also added that songs can also be useful tools to learn vocabulary, sentence
structures and patterns. It means that learning English through songs give some benefits to
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English learners in various aspects of language skill, such as vocabulary, listening,
speaking, writing, and also grammar.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary has an important key in mastering English. As what Yuksel and
Tanriverdi (2009) stated in their journal, vocabulary acquisition is one of the important
components to develop learners’ communication and literacy skills. Therefore, learning
English through songs can accommodate the learners to acquire new vocabularies. There
are two types of vocabulary acquisition, the one that acquired incidentally and
intentionally. According to Krashen (1989) new vocabulary is acquired when it is clear to
the learner. In here, clear means the learner should acquire new vocabulary that supported
by pictures and action. On the other hand, Aitchison (2003) stated that intentional
vocabulary acquisition is memorizing straightforwardly with their respective translations
from a list. It means they have to write the vocabulary down term by term and memorizing
all at once. Thus, English songs here play an important role as an opportunity to practice
the learners to acquire new vocabularies in both ways. The learners will acquire new
vocabularies by listening to the songs and they could write it down to memorize the
vocabularies easily.
Listening
The majority of EFL learners considered that the most difficult skill in mastering
English skill is listening because listening skill is recognized as a fundamental skill
(Morley, 2011, p. 69). Usually, to improve listening comprehension the learners will listen
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to a dialogue, narration or a story. If they listened to those recording repeatedly they will
get bored easily. Like what Purcell (1992) has stated that students can become bored easily
if they listen to a narration or dialogue repeatedly, even though they want to understand the
meaning of new words or phrases. It will be different if the learners want to learn using
songs. Like what Millington (2011) has stated that listening to a song over and over again
looks less monotone since song has rhythm and melody, so it gave motivation to the
learners to learn more. Therefore, English song is the suitable media to comprehend
listening skill because it will not make the learners get bored easily since song has rhythm
and melody and it will encourage the learners to understand new words and phrases easily.
Speaking
Learning how to speak English is challenging, because it also has an important role
in mastering English. Speaking itself has some aspects, two of them are pronunciation and
fluency. Pronunciation and fluency are one of the factors that influence people in
communicating using English, so learning with songs is more than effective. English songs
will introduce the learners how to pronounce correctly and speak English fluently.
According to Xiaowei (2010), pronunciation is an important part of a word, so that is why
using songs is the best way to teach pronunciation efficiently (Shen, 2009). By listening to
the singers over and over, the learners can correct their mistakes in pronouncing the English
words. Furthermore, the learners can also achieve more native-like pronunciation. English
songs also give the opportunity to the learners to acquire the rhythm, stress, and intonation
of the words correctly. Mastering how to speak English is demanding and quite difficult
because of the rhythm, stress, and intonation of the words are linked to each other
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(Coufalíková, 2010). By learning English through songs it can help the students to reduce
the difficulties in speaking English because it is a fun way. On the other hand, fluency is
also a main key in learning speaking. According to Shahsavari and Mehrabi (2014), fluency
is an important factor in speaking yet difficult to define. However, Celce-Murcia (2001, p.
104, as cited in Shahsavari & Mehrabi, 2014) stated that fluency is the ability to connect
speech along with smoothness and without hesitation. In here, the speaker who is fluent in
speaking English has to speak English smoothly. Shahsavari and Meharbi (2014) also
added that in oral fluency means the speaker has to be able to speak effortlessly, few
hesitations and more focus on comprehension. Nevertheless, fluency can support people in
learning speaking (pronunciation) because it is still one thing to master speaking skill.
Moreover, learning using songs can stimulate the learners to improve pronunciation to have
native-like pronunciation yet the fluency is also improved.
Writing
Songs also help the students in creative writing. The learners can easily get bored
with some serious writing assignments. However, it can be used in learning method to help
the learners to stimulate their creativity in writing through English songs. Shen (2009) had
conducted a research about this creative writing. In her research, she gave the activity to
the students to create their own lyrics by listening to the songs, entitled ‘Que Sera Sera’.
By this activity, she found out that one of the student rewrote the new version of the song,
entitled ‘Baby Don’t Cry’. Basically, the main idea of the new song is same with the
original version, it is about conversation between a daughter and her mother ended with
mother’s soothing words. However, the student can develop the new version that more
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focus on disappointment of a childhood when she was a little girl. Using of rhymes and
idiomatic expression can stimulate the students’ creativity, as well as English writing skill.
On the other possibility, songs can also stimulate the students’ expression in their writing
based on their experience, because songs usually tell stories. Based on the stories, the
students can practice about narrative or summarizing skill in English (Coufalíková, 2010).
Grammar
This is also the difficult aspect in mastering English. As adults, learning grammar
is not as fun as when they were in elementary or junior high school students with lots of
pictures in textbook. The vocabulary itself is also improved and being complex, so that the
learners must find a way to learn grammar from different method. Like what Saricoban and
Metin (2000) has stated in their journal that to make a grammar lesson fun and effective,
the teacher should use developed and interesting techniques in classroom, one of the
example is using songs. Using songs can solve the grammatical issues in language learning.
Through songs, people can learn about grammar, such as tenses, prepositions, collocations,
punctuations, even countable or uncountable nouns (Coufalíková, 2010). Nowadays we
can find many pop songs that familiar to adults so that it can be used to learn grammar
easily. For teacher, it can be one of the method to encourage students to learn tenses. For
example, when listening to the song, students were asked to underline past tense form from
the lyrics given, or students were asked to fill in the missing words with past continuous or
past perfect tense. In this way, students can enjoy the language learning process in the
classroom.
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A similar study has been done by some researchers in the past years. They have
conducted and wrote journals that similar to this study. The first similar study is a journal
written by Shen (2009) about using English songs as an enjoyable and effective approach
to ELT. In her study, she wrote about how English songs can facilitate the learners in
English language learning. She also wrote how to utilize English songs in EFL classrooms
as an educational value in various aspects of English skills, such as listening, speaking,
vocabulary, grammar, and writing. The second similar study is a journal written by
Millington (2011) about using songs effectively to teach English to young learners. He
wrote about the role of English songs that affect children’s development in learning English
as a second language. He stated that songs as pedagogical tools can be a benefit for children
because of their flexibility. Songs can also improve children’s English skills such as
listening, pronunciation, vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence patterns. He also
added that the role of songs can be maximized if we can develop into language learning
tasks. Based on these two examples journals, it is obvious that English songs can be used
as one valuable teaching and learning tools that improve learners’ English skills, even for
young learners.
THE STUDY
Context of the Research
This research used qualitative study and took data samplings from one of the
students’ unit activities in the Faculty of Language and Literature in Satya Wacana
Christian University, it is English Department Voice (ED Voice). ED Voice is a students’
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unit activity that focuses on singing. ED Voice was chosen because all the participants had
experienced of learning English using songs, since junior high, senior high, until in
university, which was explained during the interview.
Participants
The participants of this research were 15 members of ED Voice. There were 6 male
participants and 9 female participants. They were about 18 – 24 years old. The interview
was intended to obtain how does English songs helped them in language learning process
and also in what skills that were improved by English songs. The names of the participants
here are pseudonyms.
Instrument of Data Collection
The researcher used a semi-structured interview method to collect the data. The
interview questions translated to Indonesian to make the participants easier to understand
with the questions. The reason why the researcher used a semi-structured interview was
because this method will give the flexibility to the questions and give the opportunity for
follow-up questions (Zacharias, 2012). In the interview questions will be divided into 4
kinds of interview questions as what Dornyei (2003, p. 8-9) stated, cited in Zacharias
(2012), they were factual information, behavioral information, attitudinal information, and
affected information. Factual information focused on participants’ facts such as age,
gender, length of time learning English, especially using songs (self-experience).
Behavioral information focused on participants’ do or did in the past (self-behavior).
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Attitudinal information focused on participants’ attitude and opinion. Affected information
focused on participants’ feelings and emotion of learning English using songs.
Data Collection Procedure
At first, the researcher asked a permission to the coordinator of the club to collect
the data from the ED Voice members. After the coordinator gave the permission, the
researcher started to collect the data in between April and May 2014. Since all of the
participants are students in Faculty of Language and Literature, the researcher was able to
make an appointment with each participant easily. The interview took place at the end of
rehearsals so it did not bother the rehearsal process. The interview process took 15 to 40
minutes. After the data was collected from 15 participants, the researcher started to
transcribe the data. Table 1 is the collection data date.
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Table 1. Collection Data Date
No.
Date
Participant
Length of Interview
1
April 1st, 2014
Widi
15.03
2
April 14th, 2014
Arum
16.51
3
April 18th, 2014
Kiky
33.05
4
April 25th, 2014
Rissa
36.15
5
April 26th, 2014
Agung
28.39
6
April 27th, 2014
Puspita
23.13
7
April 29th, 2014
Vian
27.15
8
May 2nd, 2014
Liza
25.50
9
May 2nd, 2014
Raka
39.50
10
May 3rd, 2014
Krista
23.20
11
May 3rd, 2014
Devi
29.45
12
May 7th, 2014
Wiwin
24.10
13
May 7th, 2014
Adhi
22.31
14
May 8th, 2014
Seila
23.15
15
May 9th, 2014
Agus
23.30
Data Analysis
In this research, the researcher analyzed the data in a qualitative way. After all of
the answers were transcribed, the first thing done was reading all of the transcriptions
several times to make the researcher ‘get’ the idea and ‘feel’ what the participants tried to
explain. Before that, the researcher developed the emerging themes to classify the
pedagogical gains that were helped in language learning process by songs.
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FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
In this section shows the analysis of the data. There were five emerging themes about
English skills improvement of students’ pedagogical gains from learning English through
English songs; vocabulary, speaking, listening, grammar and writing. In the vocabulary
part will be divided into four sub themes; acquiring new vocabularies, memorizing
vocabularies, word meaning, and idioms. In the speaking part will be divided into 2 sub
themes; pronunciation and fluency. All the participants were members of ED Voice who
had experienced of learning English using songs. Details of the result will be explained
below.
Vocabulary
1.
Acquiring New Vocabularies
Almost all of the participants stated that listening to English songs helped them in
acquiring new vocabularies; it is 14 out of 15 participants. They found that it was helpful
because they gained English vocabularies more through listening to English songs. Below
were the statements given by Puspita, Vian, and Krista.
“...one of the benefits of learning English using songs is they enrich my
vocabularies...” (Puspita, April 27th, 2014, my translation)
“...while listening to the songs, I am not only learning but also get entertained. It also
enrich my vocabularies...” (Vian, April 29th, 2014, my translation)
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“...using English songs makes me relax, but I still get the important parts such as new
grammar and new vocabularies...” (Krista, May 3rd, 2014, my translation)
In this part, they stated that learning English using songs helped them in acquiring new
vocabularies. The result is similar to Burhayani’s finding (2013). She found that listening
to English songs is one of the alternative ways to increase English proficiency, especially
on vocabulary. This finding is also similar to the study of Schwarz (2013) who stated that
people will acquire vocabulary naturally by listening or engaging to English songs.
Therefore, listening to English songs can help English learners in acquiring new
vocabularies.
2.
Memorizing Vocabularies
8 out of 15 participants agreed that listening to English songs helped them to memorize
English vocabularies. It was evidenced from the answers to the questions from the
interview. Below were the statements given by Widi, Arum, and Liza.
“...it can be one of the alternative ways to learn English because I can learn while
listening to English songs, and I can memorize all the English words automatically
in a easy way...” (Widi, April 1st, 2014, my translation)
“...I do not have to read a textbook and looking for the meaning, so using English
songs make me easier to memorize the words because it has rhyme, instead of reading
texts or essays...” (Arum, April 14th, 2014, my translation)
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“...learning English using song is fun and it is easier for me to remember the English
words...” (Liza, May 2nd, 2014, my translation)
From the above responses, it was clear that learning English through songs helped
them in memorizing learning materials. As they listened to English songs, they got some
English words and they could memorize them easily. Arum added that she could easily
memorize the English words because it has rhymes in it. The same idea was implied by
Wrenshall (2002, as cited in Burhayani, 2013) who stated that there are some evidence that
songs help the learners to memorize the words and the rhythm and rhyme of the lyrics will
enrich the learners’ vocabularies as well. Thus, it is proven that English songs help the
English learners memorizing the materials, in here English words.
3.
Word Meaning
6 out of 15 participants stated that through listening to English songs, they could
understand the meaning of the words. They stated that they get the meaning of the words
and also acquiring new vocabularies from the song that sung by the singer. Below were the
statements given by Rissa and Agung.
“...I listened to the song entitled ‘Toxic’. At first, I did not know what the exact
meaning of ‘toxic’ in the song. After I looked at the lyric and listened to the song
repeatedly, I can understand ‘toxic’ here refers to a guy that has ‘poison’ and make
the girl attracted to him...” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my translation)
“...I have to pay attention to the context of the song carefully, for example I listened
to one song and I heard the word ‘siren’. I knew the word ‘siren’ is like a warning
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sound or signal. However, after I looked at the lyric, the exact meaning of ‘siren’ in
that song was a mermaid who had a negative meaning, not a warning sound...”
(Agung, April 26th, 2014, my tanslation)
Based on their statements it was shown that English songs helped them to understand
word meaning by the help of the lyric. It was similar with the study of Abidin (2011) who
identified the effectiveness of improving vocabulary using songs. In his finding, he wrote
that the participants of his study were able to learn new vocabularies and guess the meaning
of the words at the same time. Like what Rissa has stated before that it can be one of her
strategies to learn new vocabularies by guessing the meaning from the provided lyric of
the song.
4.
Idioms
6 out of 15 participants stated that English songs helped them to learn new idioms.
Below were the statements given by Rissa and Liza.
“…sometimes I didn’t look for the meaning if I find difficult words. However, I
found an idiom once, for example ‘out of the blue’ and I am interested to find out
the meaning of that idiom…” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my translation)
“…one day I listened to English song entitled ‘Cry Me a River’. At the beginning I
did not know what the meaning of the title is until I looked up at ‘google translate’
and the meaning did not make any sense. Then, I found out that it was an idiom so I
looked up at ‘urban dictionary’ and that moment I have just learned a new idiom…”
(Liza, May 2nd, 2014, my translation)
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Based on the experiences above, we can see that from English songs the learners can
learn about new idioms. However, until this research is conducted, the researcher could not
find the sources that support this finding.
Speaking
1.
Pronunciation
Almost all participants stated that English songs helped them to improve their English
pronunciation; it is 14 out of 15 participants. Below were the statements given by Widi,
Agung, and Vian.
“…I like to listen to the songs that I like, and I choose slow tempo songs so that I can
get the pronunciation from the singer easily and imitate the singer…” (Widi, April
1st, 2014, my translation)
“…in pronunciation I usually imitate the singer for example the word ‘parade’, I used
to say ‘parade’ (Indonesian way) instead of ‘parade’ (English way). After I listened
to English songs I know how to pronounce the word parade correctly…” (Agung,
April 26th, 2014, my translation)
“…maybe for the first time I did not know how to pronounce difficult words, for
example the word fragile, but after I listened to English songs I know how to
pronounce fragile correctly…” (Vian, April 29th, 2014, my translation)
From the statements above we can see that English songs help the participants to
improve their pronunciation. Some participants also added that they can imitate the singers’
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pronunciation. It is similar with the study from Shen (2009) who conducted the study to
examine English songs as an effective approach to English Language Teaching. She wrote
that English song exercises can be such great help because the listener can catch up with
the native speakers’ speech so they pay more attention to the pronunciation, phonological
rules, stress and intonation. Thus, automatically when the learners listen to English songs,
they follow the native speakers easily and they can pronounce correctly.
2.
Fluency
7 out of 15 participants agreed that learning English from songs improved their
speaking skill. Some participants also mentioned that their fluency in speaking English has
improved. Below were the statements given by Rissa and Seila.
“…by listening to English songs I can gain fluency, because I like to sing while
listening to the song…” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my translation)
“…based on my experience, when I was in senior high school I could not speak
English fluently, but after I took listening classes in my faculty and I listened to
English songs every day, now I can speak English fluently…” (Seila, May 8th, 2014,
my translation)
From two statements above we can see that listening to English songs helped them
gaining fluency in speaking English. The same idea was mentioned by Shahsavari and
Mehrabi (2014). In their journal, they wrote that songs are one of the factor that affecting
fluency. Thus, English songs here have the important role in affecting the participants’
fluency in speaking English, like what Rissa and Seila has mentioned above.
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Listening
11 out of 15 participants agreed that learning English from songs helped them to
improve their listening skill. Some also stated that it helped them to understand listening
the material or have a better mark in listening class. Below were the statements given by
Rissa, Puspita, and Liza.
“...I did not find any difficulties when listening to native speakers because I used to
listen to English songs that have upbeat tempo...” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my
translation)
“...listening to English song makes me easier to understand the recording in my
listening class and it improves my listening ability...” (Puspita, April 27th, 2014, my
translation)
“...I can get a better mark in my listening class because I used to listen to English
songs since I was in junior high school...” (Liza, May 2nd, 2014, my translation)
According to Arevalo (2010, as cited in Kuswoyo, 2013), songs are the most suitable
material to improve listening comprehension. This statement is supporting Liza’s statement
above that she got a better mark in listening class because she used to listen to English song
since junior high school. It also supported by Puspita’s statement that she felt easier to
listen to the material given in the listening class because her listening ability has improved.
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Grammar
6 out of 15 participants stated that English songs helped them to improve their
grammar. One participant mentioned that English songs helped her to understand more
about academic collocation. Below were the statements given by Arum, Rissa, and Agung.
“…I learn how to use English grammar informal and formal way, for example the
term ‘I am too’ becomes ‘me too’, so I can use it in a conversation and I know when
to use English in informal or formal way…” (Arum, April 14th, 2014, my translation)
“...sometimes I heard academic collocation terms while listening to English songs.
For example when I heard the word ‘between’, I know how to use it correctly because
it appears in songs lyric often...” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my translation)
“…when I was in junior high school, I learned how to use ‘to be’, for example ‘he’
must be followed by ‘is’, not ‘am’ or ‘are’. I also learned about past tense, because
in the lyrics some songwriters used past tense to tell about the past…” (Agung, April
26th, 2014, my translation)
Based on the statements above it is proven that English songs help the participants to
improve their knowledge in English grammar. This statement also supported by Richards
(1969, cited in Saricoban & Metin, 2000) who stated that music in the language classroom
may also be utilized with an explicit vocabulary and grammar focus. Similarly, according
to Allen and Vallette (1977), music can be used to support either grammar or pronunciation
points to the learners. In this study, Rissa mentioned about how English songs helped her
to improve grammar, and based on her experience English songs made her learned more
19
about academic collocation by listening to the song and reading the lyric. Hence, Rissa
learned how to use a preposition correctly. On the other hand, there is a theory mentioned
by Lynch (2005, cited in Xiaowei, 2010) who stated that people should be careful to use
pop songs as a learning and teaching material because some pop songs have lack of correct
grammar and structure. Hence, the learners should be careful when selecting the songs to
be used for learning English.
Writing
6 out of 15 participants agreed that English songs helped them to improve their writing
skill. Below were the statements given by Rissa and Puspita.
“…another example is I learned how to use prepositions correctly. I heard one
example ‘on Sunday’ on songs. Later I use that example in my writing assignment so
that I remember to use ‘on’ before ‘Sunday’, not ‘at’ or ‘in’…” (Rissa, April 25th,
2014, my translation)
“…I got many kinds of words to be used in my writing. For example, the word
‘memegang’. In English we can use hold, grab or touch, but depends on the context.
However, in English we have to choose correctly to express the word ‘memegang’
based on the context. That is what I learned from listening to English songs…”
(Puspita, April 27th, 2014, my translation)
From the statements above, it is proven that English songs also helped the participants
in improving their writing skill. This statement is supported by the study of Shen (2009).
She mentioned in her finding that writing lyric from the English songs could be an effective
20
option to explore English learners’ creativity in language. Creativity here means the words
choice used by the participants. Based on Puspita’s statement, it can be seen that she got
several words to express ‘memegang’ in English and she had to choose one of them that
suitable with the context. By listening to the songs, the learners can learn writing and
grammar at the same time, especially in prepositions, like what Rissa and Puspita stated
before.
CONCLUSION
This study aimed to find out students’ pedagogical gains in language learning using
English songs. The study found that there are five themes emerged from students’
pedagogical gains; vocabulary, speaking, listening, grammar and writing. In vocabulary,
students can improve their vocabulary in four sub themes such as acquiring new
vocabularies, memorizing vocabularies, word meanings, and learning new idioms. In
speaking, students can improve their pronunciation and fluency in speaking English. The
findings in this study confirm that the special need to show the students that English songs
can be one of the tools to master English skills. The participants agreed that listening to
English songs help them to learn English. Indirectly, they listened to the songs and also
learned English. In vocabulary, students acquired new vocabularies through listening to the
songs and also they memorized vocabularies easily. Moreover, they can learn some word
meanings and new idioms from the songs.
Other skill that improved by listening to English songs is speaking. In speaking,
students learned how to pronounce English words similar with native-like pronunciation
21
and they gained more fluency in speaking English through listening to songs. In listening,
students improved their grade and get a better mark in listening class because they used to
listen to English songs repeatedly and their listening comprehension improved. In
grammar, students learned about academic collocation like ‘between’ and know how to use
it correctly from the songs. They also learned more about kinds of tenses. In writing,
students learned about prepositions and used it properly in writing assignments. It also
stimulated them to improve their creative writing (word choices).
The findings of this study were students’ pedagogical gains in language learning
using English songs. It is expected that this study would give a view in teaching and
learning process for teachers and students. Teachers may use songs as an alternative tools
in teaching English not only in listening class, but also speaking, writing, even grammar
class. For example, the students can identify the grammar errors in song’s lyric. For the
students, it is also expected that English songs would give a fun way in learning English
since English songs may help them in mastering all the English skills. However, this study
cannot be always be used as a measurement in conducting teaching and learning process
using English songs. This study needs more improvement and innovation for better result.
For further study, it needs more participants to develop the research since the researcher
only used 15 participants in a small group. This study also need more variation, not only
discuss about English songs as a pedagogical tool but also other media such as movie that
can be a pedagogical tool, too. In short, although this study is not perfect, it can be a
reference to create a fun teaching and learning method for teachers and also students
because English songs can be one of the alternative ways to improve English skills.
22
References
Abidin, M., Pour-Mohammadi, M., Singh, K., Azman, R., & Souriyavongsa, T. (2011).
The effectiveness of using songs in YouTube to improve vocabulary competence
among upper secondary school studies. Theory and Practice in Language Studies,
Vol. 1, No. 11, pp. 1488-1496, November 2011. doi:10.4304/tpls.1.11.1488-1496
Aitchison, J. (2003). Words in the mind: An Introduction to the mental lexicon. Blackwell
Publishers Ltd, Oxford, UK, 3rd edition, 2003.
Allen, J., & Vallette, E. (1977). Classroom teaching of foreign languages and English as
a second language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Burhayani. (2013). The effectiveness of teaching vocabulary through songs to the second
years students of Ikatan Keluarga Kesejahteraan Tentara (IKKT) elementary school
west Jakarta. 2nd International Seminar on Quality and Affordable Education
(ISQAE 2013).
Coufalíková, Martina Bc. (2010). Music as a pedagogical tool in an English language
classroom. A Diploma Thesis from Faculty of Education, Masaryk University,
Brno.
Crystal, D. (2000). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Krashen, S. D. (1989). We acquire vocabulary and spelling by reading: Additional
evidence for the input hypothesis. Modern Language Journal, 73(4): 440--464.
1989.
Kuswoyo, H. (2013). The effectiveness of songs technique in teaching paper based TOEFL
(PBT)’S listening comprehension section. Advances in Language and Literary
Studies, Vol. 4 No. 2, July 2013. Copyright © Australian International Academic
Centre, Australia.
Millington, N. T. (2011). Using songs effectively to teach English to young learners.
Language Education in Asia, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2011.
Morley, J. (2001). Aural Comprehension Instruction : Principles and Practices. In M.
Celce-Murcia (Ed), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. (p.68-85)
Boston: Heinle & Heinle Thomson Learning.
Purcell, J. M. (1992). Using songs to enrich the secondary class. Hispania, 75(1), 192-196.
Rosova, V. (2007). The use of music in teaching English. Unpublished Diploma Thesis,
Masaryk University, Brno.
Schwarz, M. (2013). Learning with lady gaga & co: Incidental EFL vocabulary acquisition
from Pop Songs Vol.22. A Diploma Thesis, Universität Wien.
23
Saricoban, A. & Metin, E. (2000). Songs, verse and games for teaching grammar. The
Internet
TESL Journal,
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10.
Retrieved from:
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Saricoban-Songs.html
Shahsavari, S., & Mehrabi, N. (2014). The effect of songs on the fluency of the junior high
school students in Iran. International Journal of English and Education ISSN:
2278-4012, Volume: 3, Issue: 3, July 2014.
Shen, C. (2009). Using English songs: An enjoyable and effective approach to ELT.
English Language Teaching, Volume 2, Number 1, March 2009, 88-94. Retrieved
from www.ccsenet.org/journal.html
Suryati, U. (2013). The effectiveness of using song to increase students’ listening skill of
the second year students of SMK N 1 Ambal Kebumen in the academic year
2012/2013. A Diploma Thesis from Faculty of Teacher Training and Educational
Science, Muhammadiyah University of Purworejo, 2013.
Xiaowei, F. (2010). Strategies of learning English vocabulary from pop songs: A study
among college students in China. A Study of Kristianstad University, the School of
Teacher Education English IV, Spring 2010.
Yuksel, D. & Tanriverdi, B. (2009). Effects of watching captioned movie clip on
vocabulary development of EFL learners. The Turkish Online Journal of
Educational Technology, 8 (2): 48-54.
Zacharias, T. N. (2012). Qualitative research methods for second language education a
course book. Newscastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
24
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ who has lead, guide, and also
protected me every single time. This thesis would not have been possible without support
from many people. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Anne I. Timotius M.Ed., whose
stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me all the time during writing this
thesis. Also, I want to thank my second reader, Anita Kurniawati, M.Hum., who gave
valuable advices to enhance my thesis’ development. I want to thank ED Voice for their
participation to be the participants in this study. I also want to thank my friends, Cheppy,
Aline, Hezky, Caca, Voni and Ling-ling who are always available whenever I need them.
At last, I would like to give my special thanks to my family especially my father and mother
whose love and prayer enabled me to complete this thesis.
25
APPENDIX
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Factual Information.
History
Jenis lagu apa yang sering Anda dengar?
Sejak kapan Anda menyukai mendengarkan lagu berbahasa inggris?
Apa tujuan Anda mendengarkan lagu berbahasa inggris?
Apakah Anda suka mendengarkan lagu berbahasa Inggris?
Contoh konkritnya lagu apa kira-kira?
Seberapa sering Anda mendengarkan lagu berbahasa inggris?
Mengapa memilih lagu berbahasa inggris?
pada waktu itu?
Keuntungan apa yang Anda dapat saat mendengarkan lagu berbahasa inggris
Apakah Anda masih ingat mengapa Anda suka mendengarkan lagu berbahasa
inggris?
Self experience
Siapa yang mengajarkan Anda untuk belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Kapan saja Anda mendengarkan lagu untuk belajar bahasa inggris?
Pernahkah Anda mencoba untuk belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Seberapa sering Anda mendengarkan lagu untuk belajar bahasa inggris?
Dimana tempat Anda mendengarkan lagu untuk belajar bahasa inggris?
lagu bahasa inggris?
Berapa lama waktu yang Anda gunakan untuk belajar sambil mendengarkan
Biasanya dalam kurun waktu itu, coba ceritakan apa saja yang Anda lakukan?
2. Behavioral Information.
Self behavior
Bagaimana cara Anda saat belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
26
Strategi apa saja yang Anda lakukan saat itu?
belajar bahasa inggris?
ada perbedaannya?
Bagaimana cara Anda untuk memilih lagu yang tepat untuk digunakan saat
Lalu, bagaimana dengan belajar menggunakan lagu yang ada videonya? Apakah
Jika ada, apa saja perbedaannya?
Apa saja yang Anda lakukan saat belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu
bahasa inggris dengan video?
3. Attitudinal Information.
Opinion
Mengapa Anda memilih lagu sebagai media untuk anda belajar bahasa inggris?
Menurut Anda apa kefektifan dari belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Apa pendapat Anda mengenai belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Menurut Anda apa kegunaan dari belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Keuntungan apa yang Anda dapatkan setelah belajar bahasa inggris
menggunakan lagu?
4. Affect Information.
Self reflection
Apa yang Anda rasakan setelah belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
27
USING ENGLISH SONGS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
VALENTINO SURYA PERMANA
112008120
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2015
STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
USING ENGLISH SONGS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
VALENTINO SURYA PERMANA
112008120
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2015
i
STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
USING ENGLISH SONGS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
VALENTINO SURYA PERMANA
112008120
Approved by:
Anne I. Timotius, M.Ed.
Supervisor
Anita Kurniawati, M.Hum.
Examiner
ii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course
or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or any diploma in any university. To the best
of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written
by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright @2015. Valentino Surya Permana and Anne I. Timotius, M.Ed.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education
Program, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University,
Salatiga.
Valentino Surya Permana:
iii
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
As a member of the (SWCU) Satya Wacana Christian University academic community, I
verify that:
Name
: Valentino Surya Permana
Student ID Number : 112008120
Study Program
: English Language Education Program
Faculty
: Faculty of Language and Literature
Kind of Work
: Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty free
right for my intellectual property and the contents there in entitled:
STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING USING
ENGLISH SONGS
along with any pertinent equipment.
With this non-exclusive royalty free rights, SWCU maintains the right to copy,
reproduce, print, publish, post, display, incorporate, store in or scan into a retrieval
system or database, transmit, broadcast, barter, or sell my intellectual property, in whole
or in part without my express written permission, as long as my name is still included as
the writer.
This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
Made in
: Salatiga
Date
: August 5, 2015
Verified by signee,
Valentino Surya Permana
Approved by:
Thesis Supervisor
Thesis Examiner
Anne I. Timotius, M.Ed.
Anita Kurniawati, M.Hum.
iv
STUDENTS’ PEDAGOGICAL GAINS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING USING
ENGLISH SONGS
Valentino Surya Permana
Abstract
This study focuses on students’ pedagogical gains in language learning using English songs
in English Language Study Program of Satya Wacana Christian University. The data was
analyzed qualitatively using an interview method to analyze how does English song helps
students in language learning. The research question is ‘How does English song helps
students in language learning?’ Results show there are five themes emerged from students’
pedagogical gains, such as vocabulary (acquiring new vocabularies, memorizing
vocabularies, word meaning, and idioms), speaking (pronunciation and fluency), listening,
grammar and writing. This study is beneficial for teachers and also students that learning
English using songs can be one of the alternative ways to improve English skills, not only
listening but also speaking, writing, even grammar.
Keywords: students’ pedagogical gains, language learning, English songs
INTRODUCTION
As we know that language is one of the important thing in our life because we need
it to communicate with each other. According to Suryati (2013) language is an effective
media that adopt human’s will including expressing human feelings. So it means that
through language we can express our feeling as a communication to other people. Thus, it
is one of the functions of language. Nowadays, English has an important role to be used in
communication. Crystal (2002, p. 2) had stated that English is a global language. Therefore,
some countries started to learn English as a foreign language, including Indonesia. Thus,
English becomes a standard language in every aspect, like business, education, etc.
1
As a foreign language, there are four major skills in English, they are listening,
speaking, writing and also reading. People will race to improve their ability in English by
mastering those skills. However, it is not easy to master all of those skills at once.
Therefore, some media are available to help people to master all those major English skills,
such as watching movies, reading books, or listening to English songs. Those activities can
stimulate the learners to improve English ability better. Hence, this study will concern more
about how English songs become a media to help the learners in English language learning.
English songs can be the easiest media to be used in learning English, since English
songs are popular among college students. According to Xiaowei (2010), the influence of
English songs on students’ language learning is huge. The students intend to learn English
words from pop songs in their leisure time. If they do this activity continuously, they can
learn quickly. Without teachers’ instruction, they can learn on their own. Moreover, they
can develop learning strategies that compatible with their capability.
This study addresses to the research question: “How does English song help
students in language learning?” The aim of this study is to find out students’ pedagogical
gains in language learning using English songs. The researcher wants to know about
improvement of students’ skills in English that were helped by listening to English songs.
The significance of the study is to show to teachers and students that learning English using
songs can be one of the alternative tools to improve English skills and help the students in
mastering English, not only listening skill, but also speaking, writing, even grammar. This
findings of the study may provide evidence of learning English using songs and kinds of
English abilities that were improved by English songs.
2
English Songs
According to Griffee (1995, as cited in Rosova, 2007), the definition of song is
parts of music that have words in it, in here means lyrics. One of the example is popular
songs that we usually hear on the radio. From those words, we can use it as a material to
learn language, in here English language. By listening to English songs that have words in
it, it will stimulate the learners’ mind and makes them think and feel those words because
each words have their own pattern, intonation, rhymes and stress. Moreover, students seem
familiar with English pop songs since nowadays students usually like to listen to songs in
their leisure time. It can be a good example to learn English through pop songs because
from the lyrics the learners can improve their English ability automatically. According to
Rosova (2007), “language is easier to express in songs than in speech”, that is why English
songs that have words in it may be a suitable material for students to master English.
English Songs as Pedagogical Tools
Learning English through songs is one of the flexible learning methods to do. It can
be considered as one of the valuable tools to master English skills. There are some
researchers that have done the research about English songs that help the learners in
mastering English. As an example, there was a statement from Murphey (1992, as cited in
Millington, 2011). He found that songs help the learners to improve listening and speaking
skills. He also added that songs can also be useful tools to learn vocabulary, sentence
structures and patterns. It means that learning English through songs give some benefits to
3
English learners in various aspects of language skill, such as vocabulary, listening,
speaking, writing, and also grammar.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary has an important key in mastering English. As what Yuksel and
Tanriverdi (2009) stated in their journal, vocabulary acquisition is one of the important
components to develop learners’ communication and literacy skills. Therefore, learning
English through songs can accommodate the learners to acquire new vocabularies. There
are two types of vocabulary acquisition, the one that acquired incidentally and
intentionally. According to Krashen (1989) new vocabulary is acquired when it is clear to
the learner. In here, clear means the learner should acquire new vocabulary that supported
by pictures and action. On the other hand, Aitchison (2003) stated that intentional
vocabulary acquisition is memorizing straightforwardly with their respective translations
from a list. It means they have to write the vocabulary down term by term and memorizing
all at once. Thus, English songs here play an important role as an opportunity to practice
the learners to acquire new vocabularies in both ways. The learners will acquire new
vocabularies by listening to the songs and they could write it down to memorize the
vocabularies easily.
Listening
The majority of EFL learners considered that the most difficult skill in mastering
English skill is listening because listening skill is recognized as a fundamental skill
(Morley, 2011, p. 69). Usually, to improve listening comprehension the learners will listen
4
to a dialogue, narration or a story. If they listened to those recording repeatedly they will
get bored easily. Like what Purcell (1992) has stated that students can become bored easily
if they listen to a narration or dialogue repeatedly, even though they want to understand the
meaning of new words or phrases. It will be different if the learners want to learn using
songs. Like what Millington (2011) has stated that listening to a song over and over again
looks less monotone since song has rhythm and melody, so it gave motivation to the
learners to learn more. Therefore, English song is the suitable media to comprehend
listening skill because it will not make the learners get bored easily since song has rhythm
and melody and it will encourage the learners to understand new words and phrases easily.
Speaking
Learning how to speak English is challenging, because it also has an important role
in mastering English. Speaking itself has some aspects, two of them are pronunciation and
fluency. Pronunciation and fluency are one of the factors that influence people in
communicating using English, so learning with songs is more than effective. English songs
will introduce the learners how to pronounce correctly and speak English fluently.
According to Xiaowei (2010), pronunciation is an important part of a word, so that is why
using songs is the best way to teach pronunciation efficiently (Shen, 2009). By listening to
the singers over and over, the learners can correct their mistakes in pronouncing the English
words. Furthermore, the learners can also achieve more native-like pronunciation. English
songs also give the opportunity to the learners to acquire the rhythm, stress, and intonation
of the words correctly. Mastering how to speak English is demanding and quite difficult
because of the rhythm, stress, and intonation of the words are linked to each other
5
(Coufalíková, 2010). By learning English through songs it can help the students to reduce
the difficulties in speaking English because it is a fun way. On the other hand, fluency is
also a main key in learning speaking. According to Shahsavari and Mehrabi (2014), fluency
is an important factor in speaking yet difficult to define. However, Celce-Murcia (2001, p.
104, as cited in Shahsavari & Mehrabi, 2014) stated that fluency is the ability to connect
speech along with smoothness and without hesitation. In here, the speaker who is fluent in
speaking English has to speak English smoothly. Shahsavari and Meharbi (2014) also
added that in oral fluency means the speaker has to be able to speak effortlessly, few
hesitations and more focus on comprehension. Nevertheless, fluency can support people in
learning speaking (pronunciation) because it is still one thing to master speaking skill.
Moreover, learning using songs can stimulate the learners to improve pronunciation to have
native-like pronunciation yet the fluency is also improved.
Writing
Songs also help the students in creative writing. The learners can easily get bored
with some serious writing assignments. However, it can be used in learning method to help
the learners to stimulate their creativity in writing through English songs. Shen (2009) had
conducted a research about this creative writing. In her research, she gave the activity to
the students to create their own lyrics by listening to the songs, entitled ‘Que Sera Sera’.
By this activity, she found out that one of the student rewrote the new version of the song,
entitled ‘Baby Don’t Cry’. Basically, the main idea of the new song is same with the
original version, it is about conversation between a daughter and her mother ended with
mother’s soothing words. However, the student can develop the new version that more
6
focus on disappointment of a childhood when she was a little girl. Using of rhymes and
idiomatic expression can stimulate the students’ creativity, as well as English writing skill.
On the other possibility, songs can also stimulate the students’ expression in their writing
based on their experience, because songs usually tell stories. Based on the stories, the
students can practice about narrative or summarizing skill in English (Coufalíková, 2010).
Grammar
This is also the difficult aspect in mastering English. As adults, learning grammar
is not as fun as when they were in elementary or junior high school students with lots of
pictures in textbook. The vocabulary itself is also improved and being complex, so that the
learners must find a way to learn grammar from different method. Like what Saricoban and
Metin (2000) has stated in their journal that to make a grammar lesson fun and effective,
the teacher should use developed and interesting techniques in classroom, one of the
example is using songs. Using songs can solve the grammatical issues in language learning.
Through songs, people can learn about grammar, such as tenses, prepositions, collocations,
punctuations, even countable or uncountable nouns (Coufalíková, 2010). Nowadays we
can find many pop songs that familiar to adults so that it can be used to learn grammar
easily. For teacher, it can be one of the method to encourage students to learn tenses. For
example, when listening to the song, students were asked to underline past tense form from
the lyrics given, or students were asked to fill in the missing words with past continuous or
past perfect tense. In this way, students can enjoy the language learning process in the
classroom.
7
A similar study has been done by some researchers in the past years. They have
conducted and wrote journals that similar to this study. The first similar study is a journal
written by Shen (2009) about using English songs as an enjoyable and effective approach
to ELT. In her study, she wrote about how English songs can facilitate the learners in
English language learning. She also wrote how to utilize English songs in EFL classrooms
as an educational value in various aspects of English skills, such as listening, speaking,
vocabulary, grammar, and writing. The second similar study is a journal written by
Millington (2011) about using songs effectively to teach English to young learners. He
wrote about the role of English songs that affect children’s development in learning English
as a second language. He stated that songs as pedagogical tools can be a benefit for children
because of their flexibility. Songs can also improve children’s English skills such as
listening, pronunciation, vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence patterns. He also
added that the role of songs can be maximized if we can develop into language learning
tasks. Based on these two examples journals, it is obvious that English songs can be used
as one valuable teaching and learning tools that improve learners’ English skills, even for
young learners.
THE STUDY
Context of the Research
This research used qualitative study and took data samplings from one of the
students’ unit activities in the Faculty of Language and Literature in Satya Wacana
Christian University, it is English Department Voice (ED Voice). ED Voice is a students’
8
unit activity that focuses on singing. ED Voice was chosen because all the participants had
experienced of learning English using songs, since junior high, senior high, until in
university, which was explained during the interview.
Participants
The participants of this research were 15 members of ED Voice. There were 6 male
participants and 9 female participants. They were about 18 – 24 years old. The interview
was intended to obtain how does English songs helped them in language learning process
and also in what skills that were improved by English songs. The names of the participants
here are pseudonyms.
Instrument of Data Collection
The researcher used a semi-structured interview method to collect the data. The
interview questions translated to Indonesian to make the participants easier to understand
with the questions. The reason why the researcher used a semi-structured interview was
because this method will give the flexibility to the questions and give the opportunity for
follow-up questions (Zacharias, 2012). In the interview questions will be divided into 4
kinds of interview questions as what Dornyei (2003, p. 8-9) stated, cited in Zacharias
(2012), they were factual information, behavioral information, attitudinal information, and
affected information. Factual information focused on participants’ facts such as age,
gender, length of time learning English, especially using songs (self-experience).
Behavioral information focused on participants’ do or did in the past (self-behavior).
9
Attitudinal information focused on participants’ attitude and opinion. Affected information
focused on participants’ feelings and emotion of learning English using songs.
Data Collection Procedure
At first, the researcher asked a permission to the coordinator of the club to collect
the data from the ED Voice members. After the coordinator gave the permission, the
researcher started to collect the data in between April and May 2014. Since all of the
participants are students in Faculty of Language and Literature, the researcher was able to
make an appointment with each participant easily. The interview took place at the end of
rehearsals so it did not bother the rehearsal process. The interview process took 15 to 40
minutes. After the data was collected from 15 participants, the researcher started to
transcribe the data. Table 1 is the collection data date.
10
Table 1. Collection Data Date
No.
Date
Participant
Length of Interview
1
April 1st, 2014
Widi
15.03
2
April 14th, 2014
Arum
16.51
3
April 18th, 2014
Kiky
33.05
4
April 25th, 2014
Rissa
36.15
5
April 26th, 2014
Agung
28.39
6
April 27th, 2014
Puspita
23.13
7
April 29th, 2014
Vian
27.15
8
May 2nd, 2014
Liza
25.50
9
May 2nd, 2014
Raka
39.50
10
May 3rd, 2014
Krista
23.20
11
May 3rd, 2014
Devi
29.45
12
May 7th, 2014
Wiwin
24.10
13
May 7th, 2014
Adhi
22.31
14
May 8th, 2014
Seila
23.15
15
May 9th, 2014
Agus
23.30
Data Analysis
In this research, the researcher analyzed the data in a qualitative way. After all of
the answers were transcribed, the first thing done was reading all of the transcriptions
several times to make the researcher ‘get’ the idea and ‘feel’ what the participants tried to
explain. Before that, the researcher developed the emerging themes to classify the
pedagogical gains that were helped in language learning process by songs.
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FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
In this section shows the analysis of the data. There were five emerging themes about
English skills improvement of students’ pedagogical gains from learning English through
English songs; vocabulary, speaking, listening, grammar and writing. In the vocabulary
part will be divided into four sub themes; acquiring new vocabularies, memorizing
vocabularies, word meaning, and idioms. In the speaking part will be divided into 2 sub
themes; pronunciation and fluency. All the participants were members of ED Voice who
had experienced of learning English using songs. Details of the result will be explained
below.
Vocabulary
1.
Acquiring New Vocabularies
Almost all of the participants stated that listening to English songs helped them in
acquiring new vocabularies; it is 14 out of 15 participants. They found that it was helpful
because they gained English vocabularies more through listening to English songs. Below
were the statements given by Puspita, Vian, and Krista.
“...one of the benefits of learning English using songs is they enrich my
vocabularies...” (Puspita, April 27th, 2014, my translation)
“...while listening to the songs, I am not only learning but also get entertained. It also
enrich my vocabularies...” (Vian, April 29th, 2014, my translation)
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“...using English songs makes me relax, but I still get the important parts such as new
grammar and new vocabularies...” (Krista, May 3rd, 2014, my translation)
In this part, they stated that learning English using songs helped them in acquiring new
vocabularies. The result is similar to Burhayani’s finding (2013). She found that listening
to English songs is one of the alternative ways to increase English proficiency, especially
on vocabulary. This finding is also similar to the study of Schwarz (2013) who stated that
people will acquire vocabulary naturally by listening or engaging to English songs.
Therefore, listening to English songs can help English learners in acquiring new
vocabularies.
2.
Memorizing Vocabularies
8 out of 15 participants agreed that listening to English songs helped them to memorize
English vocabularies. It was evidenced from the answers to the questions from the
interview. Below were the statements given by Widi, Arum, and Liza.
“...it can be one of the alternative ways to learn English because I can learn while
listening to English songs, and I can memorize all the English words automatically
in a easy way...” (Widi, April 1st, 2014, my translation)
“...I do not have to read a textbook and looking for the meaning, so using English
songs make me easier to memorize the words because it has rhyme, instead of reading
texts or essays...” (Arum, April 14th, 2014, my translation)
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“...learning English using song is fun and it is easier for me to remember the English
words...” (Liza, May 2nd, 2014, my translation)
From the above responses, it was clear that learning English through songs helped
them in memorizing learning materials. As they listened to English songs, they got some
English words and they could memorize them easily. Arum added that she could easily
memorize the English words because it has rhymes in it. The same idea was implied by
Wrenshall (2002, as cited in Burhayani, 2013) who stated that there are some evidence that
songs help the learners to memorize the words and the rhythm and rhyme of the lyrics will
enrich the learners’ vocabularies as well. Thus, it is proven that English songs help the
English learners memorizing the materials, in here English words.
3.
Word Meaning
6 out of 15 participants stated that through listening to English songs, they could
understand the meaning of the words. They stated that they get the meaning of the words
and also acquiring new vocabularies from the song that sung by the singer. Below were the
statements given by Rissa and Agung.
“...I listened to the song entitled ‘Toxic’. At first, I did not know what the exact
meaning of ‘toxic’ in the song. After I looked at the lyric and listened to the song
repeatedly, I can understand ‘toxic’ here refers to a guy that has ‘poison’ and make
the girl attracted to him...” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my translation)
“...I have to pay attention to the context of the song carefully, for example I listened
to one song and I heard the word ‘siren’. I knew the word ‘siren’ is like a warning
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sound or signal. However, after I looked at the lyric, the exact meaning of ‘siren’ in
that song was a mermaid who had a negative meaning, not a warning sound...”
(Agung, April 26th, 2014, my tanslation)
Based on their statements it was shown that English songs helped them to understand
word meaning by the help of the lyric. It was similar with the study of Abidin (2011) who
identified the effectiveness of improving vocabulary using songs. In his finding, he wrote
that the participants of his study were able to learn new vocabularies and guess the meaning
of the words at the same time. Like what Rissa has stated before that it can be one of her
strategies to learn new vocabularies by guessing the meaning from the provided lyric of
the song.
4.
Idioms
6 out of 15 participants stated that English songs helped them to learn new idioms.
Below were the statements given by Rissa and Liza.
“…sometimes I didn’t look for the meaning if I find difficult words. However, I
found an idiom once, for example ‘out of the blue’ and I am interested to find out
the meaning of that idiom…” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my translation)
“…one day I listened to English song entitled ‘Cry Me a River’. At the beginning I
did not know what the meaning of the title is until I looked up at ‘google translate’
and the meaning did not make any sense. Then, I found out that it was an idiom so I
looked up at ‘urban dictionary’ and that moment I have just learned a new idiom…”
(Liza, May 2nd, 2014, my translation)
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Based on the experiences above, we can see that from English songs the learners can
learn about new idioms. However, until this research is conducted, the researcher could not
find the sources that support this finding.
Speaking
1.
Pronunciation
Almost all participants stated that English songs helped them to improve their English
pronunciation; it is 14 out of 15 participants. Below were the statements given by Widi,
Agung, and Vian.
“…I like to listen to the songs that I like, and I choose slow tempo songs so that I can
get the pronunciation from the singer easily and imitate the singer…” (Widi, April
1st, 2014, my translation)
“…in pronunciation I usually imitate the singer for example the word ‘parade’, I used
to say ‘parade’ (Indonesian way) instead of ‘parade’ (English way). After I listened
to English songs I know how to pronounce the word parade correctly…” (Agung,
April 26th, 2014, my translation)
“…maybe for the first time I did not know how to pronounce difficult words, for
example the word fragile, but after I listened to English songs I know how to
pronounce fragile correctly…” (Vian, April 29th, 2014, my translation)
From the statements above we can see that English songs help the participants to
improve their pronunciation. Some participants also added that they can imitate the singers’
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pronunciation. It is similar with the study from Shen (2009) who conducted the study to
examine English songs as an effective approach to English Language Teaching. She wrote
that English song exercises can be such great help because the listener can catch up with
the native speakers’ speech so they pay more attention to the pronunciation, phonological
rules, stress and intonation. Thus, automatically when the learners listen to English songs,
they follow the native speakers easily and they can pronounce correctly.
2.
Fluency
7 out of 15 participants agreed that learning English from songs improved their
speaking skill. Some participants also mentioned that their fluency in speaking English has
improved. Below were the statements given by Rissa and Seila.
“…by listening to English songs I can gain fluency, because I like to sing while
listening to the song…” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my translation)
“…based on my experience, when I was in senior high school I could not speak
English fluently, but after I took listening classes in my faculty and I listened to
English songs every day, now I can speak English fluently…” (Seila, May 8th, 2014,
my translation)
From two statements above we can see that listening to English songs helped them
gaining fluency in speaking English. The same idea was mentioned by Shahsavari and
Mehrabi (2014). In their journal, they wrote that songs are one of the factor that affecting
fluency. Thus, English songs here have the important role in affecting the participants’
fluency in speaking English, like what Rissa and Seila has mentioned above.
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Listening
11 out of 15 participants agreed that learning English from songs helped them to
improve their listening skill. Some also stated that it helped them to understand listening
the material or have a better mark in listening class. Below were the statements given by
Rissa, Puspita, and Liza.
“...I did not find any difficulties when listening to native speakers because I used to
listen to English songs that have upbeat tempo...” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my
translation)
“...listening to English song makes me easier to understand the recording in my
listening class and it improves my listening ability...” (Puspita, April 27th, 2014, my
translation)
“...I can get a better mark in my listening class because I used to listen to English
songs since I was in junior high school...” (Liza, May 2nd, 2014, my translation)
According to Arevalo (2010, as cited in Kuswoyo, 2013), songs are the most suitable
material to improve listening comprehension. This statement is supporting Liza’s statement
above that she got a better mark in listening class because she used to listen to English song
since junior high school. It also supported by Puspita’s statement that she felt easier to
listen to the material given in the listening class because her listening ability has improved.
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Grammar
6 out of 15 participants stated that English songs helped them to improve their
grammar. One participant mentioned that English songs helped her to understand more
about academic collocation. Below were the statements given by Arum, Rissa, and Agung.
“…I learn how to use English grammar informal and formal way, for example the
term ‘I am too’ becomes ‘me too’, so I can use it in a conversation and I know when
to use English in informal or formal way…” (Arum, April 14th, 2014, my translation)
“...sometimes I heard academic collocation terms while listening to English songs.
For example when I heard the word ‘between’, I know how to use it correctly because
it appears in songs lyric often...” (Rissa, April 25th, 2014, my translation)
“…when I was in junior high school, I learned how to use ‘to be’, for example ‘he’
must be followed by ‘is’, not ‘am’ or ‘are’. I also learned about past tense, because
in the lyrics some songwriters used past tense to tell about the past…” (Agung, April
26th, 2014, my translation)
Based on the statements above it is proven that English songs help the participants to
improve their knowledge in English grammar. This statement also supported by Richards
(1969, cited in Saricoban & Metin, 2000) who stated that music in the language classroom
may also be utilized with an explicit vocabulary and grammar focus. Similarly, according
to Allen and Vallette (1977), music can be used to support either grammar or pronunciation
points to the learners. In this study, Rissa mentioned about how English songs helped her
to improve grammar, and based on her experience English songs made her learned more
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about academic collocation by listening to the song and reading the lyric. Hence, Rissa
learned how to use a preposition correctly. On the other hand, there is a theory mentioned
by Lynch (2005, cited in Xiaowei, 2010) who stated that people should be careful to use
pop songs as a learning and teaching material because some pop songs have lack of correct
grammar and structure. Hence, the learners should be careful when selecting the songs to
be used for learning English.
Writing
6 out of 15 participants agreed that English songs helped them to improve their writing
skill. Below were the statements given by Rissa and Puspita.
“…another example is I learned how to use prepositions correctly. I heard one
example ‘on Sunday’ on songs. Later I use that example in my writing assignment so
that I remember to use ‘on’ before ‘Sunday’, not ‘at’ or ‘in’…” (Rissa, April 25th,
2014, my translation)
“…I got many kinds of words to be used in my writing. For example, the word
‘memegang’. In English we can use hold, grab or touch, but depends on the context.
However, in English we have to choose correctly to express the word ‘memegang’
based on the context. That is what I learned from listening to English songs…”
(Puspita, April 27th, 2014, my translation)
From the statements above, it is proven that English songs also helped the participants
in improving their writing skill. This statement is supported by the study of Shen (2009).
She mentioned in her finding that writing lyric from the English songs could be an effective
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option to explore English learners’ creativity in language. Creativity here means the words
choice used by the participants. Based on Puspita’s statement, it can be seen that she got
several words to express ‘memegang’ in English and she had to choose one of them that
suitable with the context. By listening to the songs, the learners can learn writing and
grammar at the same time, especially in prepositions, like what Rissa and Puspita stated
before.
CONCLUSION
This study aimed to find out students’ pedagogical gains in language learning using
English songs. The study found that there are five themes emerged from students’
pedagogical gains; vocabulary, speaking, listening, grammar and writing. In vocabulary,
students can improve their vocabulary in four sub themes such as acquiring new
vocabularies, memorizing vocabularies, word meanings, and learning new idioms. In
speaking, students can improve their pronunciation and fluency in speaking English. The
findings in this study confirm that the special need to show the students that English songs
can be one of the tools to master English skills. The participants agreed that listening to
English songs help them to learn English. Indirectly, they listened to the songs and also
learned English. In vocabulary, students acquired new vocabularies through listening to the
songs and also they memorized vocabularies easily. Moreover, they can learn some word
meanings and new idioms from the songs.
Other skill that improved by listening to English songs is speaking. In speaking,
students learned how to pronounce English words similar with native-like pronunciation
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and they gained more fluency in speaking English through listening to songs. In listening,
students improved their grade and get a better mark in listening class because they used to
listen to English songs repeatedly and their listening comprehension improved. In
grammar, students learned about academic collocation like ‘between’ and know how to use
it correctly from the songs. They also learned more about kinds of tenses. In writing,
students learned about prepositions and used it properly in writing assignments. It also
stimulated them to improve their creative writing (word choices).
The findings of this study were students’ pedagogical gains in language learning
using English songs. It is expected that this study would give a view in teaching and
learning process for teachers and students. Teachers may use songs as an alternative tools
in teaching English not only in listening class, but also speaking, writing, even grammar
class. For example, the students can identify the grammar errors in song’s lyric. For the
students, it is also expected that English songs would give a fun way in learning English
since English songs may help them in mastering all the English skills. However, this study
cannot be always be used as a measurement in conducting teaching and learning process
using English songs. This study needs more improvement and innovation for better result.
For further study, it needs more participants to develop the research since the researcher
only used 15 participants in a small group. This study also need more variation, not only
discuss about English songs as a pedagogical tool but also other media such as movie that
can be a pedagogical tool, too. In short, although this study is not perfect, it can be a
reference to create a fun teaching and learning method for teachers and also students
because English songs can be one of the alternative ways to improve English skills.
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Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ who has lead, guide, and also
protected me every single time. This thesis would not have been possible without support
from many people. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Anne I. Timotius M.Ed., whose
stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me all the time during writing this
thesis. Also, I want to thank my second reader, Anita Kurniawati, M.Hum., who gave
valuable advices to enhance my thesis’ development. I want to thank ED Voice for their
participation to be the participants in this study. I also want to thank my friends, Cheppy,
Aline, Hezky, Caca, Voni and Ling-ling who are always available whenever I need them.
At last, I would like to give my special thanks to my family especially my father and mother
whose love and prayer enabled me to complete this thesis.
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APPENDIX
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Factual Information.
History
Jenis lagu apa yang sering Anda dengar?
Sejak kapan Anda menyukai mendengarkan lagu berbahasa inggris?
Apa tujuan Anda mendengarkan lagu berbahasa inggris?
Apakah Anda suka mendengarkan lagu berbahasa Inggris?
Contoh konkritnya lagu apa kira-kira?
Seberapa sering Anda mendengarkan lagu berbahasa inggris?
Mengapa memilih lagu berbahasa inggris?
pada waktu itu?
Keuntungan apa yang Anda dapat saat mendengarkan lagu berbahasa inggris
Apakah Anda masih ingat mengapa Anda suka mendengarkan lagu berbahasa
inggris?
Self experience
Siapa yang mengajarkan Anda untuk belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Kapan saja Anda mendengarkan lagu untuk belajar bahasa inggris?
Pernahkah Anda mencoba untuk belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Seberapa sering Anda mendengarkan lagu untuk belajar bahasa inggris?
Dimana tempat Anda mendengarkan lagu untuk belajar bahasa inggris?
lagu bahasa inggris?
Berapa lama waktu yang Anda gunakan untuk belajar sambil mendengarkan
Biasanya dalam kurun waktu itu, coba ceritakan apa saja yang Anda lakukan?
2. Behavioral Information.
Self behavior
Bagaimana cara Anda saat belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
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Strategi apa saja yang Anda lakukan saat itu?
belajar bahasa inggris?
ada perbedaannya?
Bagaimana cara Anda untuk memilih lagu yang tepat untuk digunakan saat
Lalu, bagaimana dengan belajar menggunakan lagu yang ada videonya? Apakah
Jika ada, apa saja perbedaannya?
Apa saja yang Anda lakukan saat belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu
bahasa inggris dengan video?
3. Attitudinal Information.
Opinion
Mengapa Anda memilih lagu sebagai media untuk anda belajar bahasa inggris?
Menurut Anda apa kefektifan dari belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Apa pendapat Anda mengenai belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Menurut Anda apa kegunaan dari belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
Keuntungan apa yang Anda dapatkan setelah belajar bahasa inggris
menggunakan lagu?
4. Affect Information.
Self reflection
Apa yang Anda rasakan setelah belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan lagu?
27