“The Song of Words” teaching multi-word units with songs
The need to integrate songs into English Language Teaching (ELT) has been recognized on numerous occasions. Song lyrics host multi-word units which learners can reuse as building blocks in their English, thereby reducing language processing time and effort, and improving their fluency as well as i...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2019
|
| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14007/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14007/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14007/1/32023-115963-7-PB.pdf |
| Summary: | The need to integrate songs into English Language Teaching (ELT) has been recognized on numerous occasions.
Song lyrics host multi-word units which learners can reuse as building blocks in their English, thereby reducing
language processing time and effort, and improving their fluency as well as idiomaticity, thus bringing them
closer to the native speaker norm. We report on two studies into the effectiveness of using songs for teaching
multi-word units to high-school Polish learners of English. The same items were taught to two groups of EFL
learners, but only one of the groups heard them in a song. Learners’ vocabulary recall was measured at three
points in time relative to the teaching: before, immediately after, and a week after. The group taught with songs
showed a significant recall advantage over the other group, especially when tested a week from teaching. The
results suggest that songs can be an effective vehicle for teaching English multi-word units. |
|---|