Guidelines |
French materials Experimentation results |
USING SONGS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING PRACTICE
Teacher’s Handbook
2.LEARNING A LANGUAGE THROUGH SINGING
3.WHAT SONGS TO CHOOSE AND HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN TEACHING MATERIALS
1. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays multilingual
To promote the study of foreign languages and cultures, the European
Community is issuing extremely important documents to inform and advise
people working in the field. The European Commission provides financial
support for the most innovative and interesting projects to assist the
promotion of language and cultural diversity and encourages learning
foreign languages among Europeans, following the policy of transparency
and democracy in linguistic education.
From a neuro-linguistic point of view songs are extremely useful in
language learning as they start both hemispheres in a person’s brain by
exposing it to music and words at the same time and in an alternate way,
that is, in a global and analytical way.
Lozanov’s suggestopaedia considers music as having positive effects and
uses it at various stages in the lesson, as some types of music made
memorization quicker.
Usually, among the four basic
skills, teachers privilege the oral production as if learning language
only meant speaking. In the same way most teaching materials in use are
written texts (literature, newspaper articles, commercials, etc.)
because they can be easily found and, apparently, more useful.
Instead, it has been shown that the time we devote to listening in a day
is more than double the time we devote to speaking. It has also been
proved that listening skills are acquired little by little and need a
good teacher/student relationship especially where the teacher is the
only source to exploit for the listening.
(Beretta M.- Gatti F., (1999) Abilità di ascolto, Torino, Paravia
Scriptorium;Santeusanio N. in Impact of the Tempus project
CD_JEP-16118-2001 on the Albanian Universities, Comodi A. et alii,
(2006), Guerra, Perugia).
The use of a song allows the teacher to combine conscious and
unconscious processes, to involve all the students, no matter their type
of intelligence, (Gardner H, Formae Mentis) to exploit an
integrated type of teaching.
learning
and memorization of phonemes, lexis and morphosyntactic
structures by listening to the text over and over again
without without lowing
or losing motivation thanks to different tasks that can be
used
effective work on pronunciation
through the appropriate use
of rhythm in the song (Costamagna
L., (2000), Insegnare e imparare la fonetica,
multi-sensorial
stimulus
that songs present, i.d. they can involve hearing and sight (for
example, when a video of the song performace is used)
a
way to improve the basic communicative skills
through various types of
exercises that can be applied
Learning through emotional involvement and dramatizing the text
importance
of lyrics, which regardless of how great the author is, are after
all a literary or poetic text, and in combination with
the melody represent the best means to convey emotions
culture aspect: in some cases the text of a song may be very useful
in teaching civilization, history, geography and traditions
of a country.
a song can be used also in
autonomous learning
through a song and the video usually accompanying it, one can be
acquainted with a country
even without
visiting it. Just imagine how many people in the world became
acquainted in the ‘60s with
2. LEARNING A LANGUAGE THROUGH SINGING
2.1 Why songs
work?
Songs present a
powerful tool for language learning. No wonder that the idea of using
music in a language classroom receives more and more attention by both
researchers and practicing language teachers.
However, let us
think about the affective component which music and songs add to any
kind of teaching. Keeping in mind that the best teaching results occur
in the relaxed learning environment with minimum anxiety and maximum
stimulation, the usefulness of music can scarcely be exaggerated. Music
helps the teacher to create a positive emotional state in the learner.
As far as the
language learning is concerned, a song can be regarded as a valuable
means of internalizing of the target (foreign or second) language. There
are two processes that take place in acquisition of language skills:
intuitive and conscious. Using songs can successfully contribute to both
of them. On the one hand, being exposed to songs in the target language
the learner can pick up the language much quicker than through
systematic study. On the other hand, the lyrics can be used in various
types of learning activities, as they very often present interesting
linguistic material.
These two
processes are connected with the use of both brain hemispheres. It is a
common knowledge that the left part of the brain is responsible for
logic and analytical thinking, while the right hemisphere ensures for
creativity, using images, metaphors and emotional expressiveness.
A number of
researches show that the real learning and mastering a skill happens
when there is a switch from the left to the right hemisphere of the
human brain.
So what music has to do with it? Why both parts of
the brain are activated when we use music in language teaching? In a
song emotion and language live together – they are inseparable. They
coexist ensuring the constant switching from rational to irrational and
vice versa.
Think also about the rhythm, which
facilitates memorising and makes repeating enjoyable. These three
components: language – rhythm – melody (i.e. language is repeatedly
produced, facilitated by rhythm and melody) guarantee that the language
patterns, words and grammar forms are transferred to long-term memory.
And besides, let
us remember that singing is a fun for most people so it is among the
very pleasurable ways to acquire a foreign language.
2.1.2. Shift of
language teaching approaches: from teaching grammar to authentic texts
Language teaching in the 60s had already gone
beyond the traditional grammar lesson. Language teachers had discovered
how essential texts are in teaching a foreign language and put them at
the centre of a teaching Unit. They started to base their teaching on
contents rather
than grammar points, never leaving out
civilization aspects.
All
language teaching materials after the 70s have been organised into
Teaching Units based on texts, either fake or authentic.
The Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages: learning, teaching, assessment,
from now on Framework, published by the
Council of Europe in its first edition in 1996 puts, in a taxonomic way,
authentic texts at the centre of teaching.
When the language teaching or learning aims at reaching real
communicative competence, the Framework considers a text
as the only real link between the
learner and the culture the language expresses
(Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment, Strasbourg,
1996).
The Framework
takes into consideration quite different types of texts on which to
organise teaching work because only authentic texts coming from various
contexts can give the learner a complete understanding of how people
communicate within a community.
The Framework does not pay great attention to the
consideration that only authentic texts
can be useful in the teaching of a foreign
language and civilization. It may be useful to recall the Latin
etymology of the word ‘text’. It derives from “textus”, which is also at
the origin of texture (compare: Italian “tessuto” - material, cloth).
Just like a “texture” is a complex network of threads and patterns, a
text is a rich network of information on the lexis and morphosyntax of a
language and civilization that foreign language teachers should use and
exploit in their teaching.
It’s useful to keep in mind that the Framework is
not a didactic document but it changes the way language teachers work;
it assumes that teaching should be aiming at
an active communicative competence
and
wants to train “social actors”,
that is, people able to
act with linguistic
propriety within a culture different
from theirs. The linguists created this document are well aware that
learners of a foreign language represent quite heterogeneous groups:
young people going to another country to study, business people,
tourists, workers, elderly or uneducated people who need to be
motivated, etc.
These
assumptions lead us to two interesting phenomena from a teaching point
of view.
The
first is our going beyond the rigid frame of a Teaching Unit towards a
more flexible work pattern. The second is the great amount of
different texts which have become available: narrative, descriptive,
literary, prescriptive, from films, media, theatre, books, essays,
newspapers, history, advertising, science, etc.
Further, going
beyond the Teacher Unit, the Framework encourages the teacher to
organise work in a more flexible way, so that to meet the needs of
different types of learners in terms of age, competences, intercultural
experience, etc. Thus, the work pattern taking the place of a teaching
unit can be called a ‘Teaching/ Learning Unit’ (TLU), which takes into
consideration the teacher’s competence and the learner’s needs.
The TLU pattern
had already been outlined in the Framework first edition and, without
betraying the neuro-didactic principles inspiring a Teaching Unit, it is
much simpler. It implies three moments which are focussed around a text:
1st
phase: approaching which comes before the real work upon the text;
2nd
phase: manipulation to understand how the text works and to train morpho-syntactic
rules;
3rd
phase: going back to the text to check assimilation and to extend it to
aspects of culture and civilization.
From the standing point of TLU songs
are among the most interesting language teaching resources. A song
represents an authentic text, i.e. not written for teaching. The mixture
of music and lyrics may be enriched by videos, trailers, etc. and that
keeps the learners’ interest and motivation at a high level. Usually a
song has the right length for teaching (three or four minutes). It
brings into operation a person’s receptive skills.
Apart form that
using a song as a language teaching resource help to remove
communication barriers between the learner and the teacher and to keep
the motivation high.
Further, in
section ‘Process’ some practical recommendation can be found on how to
apply in practice the mentioned three steps through various
teaching/learning activities built around a song.
3.WHAT SONGS TO CHOOSE AND HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN TEACHING MATERIALS
3.1. What to
choose and when to use?
Obviously,
not every song is suitable for teaching
purposes. But still there are plenty of songs available (especially
online) which will serve teachers perfectly well. Basically, when
searching for relevant songs, teachers should stick to a few useful
hints:
First of all, the songs to be chosen should be
authentic, i. e. primarily not created
for teaching. About
80% of the grammar and vocabulary
should be on
or slightly above the level
of language
of the learners. Ideally, there should
be some
repetitions of certain structures
(refrains, dependent clauses, etc.). This imprints the structure in
memory, which allows teachers to create pattern sentences for further
practice and use. There should be
no
miscellaneous grammatical structures.
Naturally, it is better to use songs which are
known amongst people as it raises
motivation too. As for
lyrics, they all
should be
clear for learners
to understand and
correct (both from
the point of view of grammar and identical in their recorded and written
form).
When choosing songs?
Within language classes there are various stages in
which teachers may use songs for different intentions. For example, at
the beginning of the lesson as an
´icebreaker´ to encourage students to
start talking together and get to know each other better. Later during
the class teachers could use songs so as to
introduce
a new theme or topic (e. g. Christmas,
feelings, colours, personality adjectives, idioms, etc.). Also, using
songs may be useful when teachers want to
teach and
build vocabulary, spelling rules, pronunciation and intonation, more
difficult grammar patterns and, of
course, when they want to practice
reading and
listening comprehension (both for
details and gist).
Basically, whenever teachers plan to involve
particular songs in their teaching, they should follow the three-step
process covering the so called
pre-listening, while-listening phase after-listening activities.
Each of these steps corresponds to the three
phases of broader learning/teaching context.
Let
us have a closer look at each of these three phases and relevant
activities that the teacher can explore.
3.2. Phases and
activities
I. Global phase
Integrated processes:
1.
Lowering the affective filter
2.
Building motivation
3.
Cultural learning
(getting in touch with a different culture)
(Introducing one or more texts,
possibly accompanied by images, accompanied, especially if the captions
refer to the lyrics, their meaning and the cultural context )
4.
Approaching the text, making its meaning clearer,
eliciting the text
(Keywords,
synonyms, antonyms, idioms, words with an evocative
effect, Wh questions to favour
guessing/elicitation.
First listening without any particular
task).
These processes are covered during
pre-listening activities.
Below
there are some of the possible ways how to establish the classroom
environment for listening to a song and elicit students´ previous
knowledge, predictions and expectations.
II. Analysis
1.
Initial practicing: the learners receive tasks in
their pre-listening phase to fulfil while listening
(During the
second listening they can write adjectives, nouns, verbs, aspects of
civilization, draw the “emotions” caused by the lyrics, find a word or a
situation suggested by the words, etc)
2.
Manipulating the text
(The teacher
gives the written text which is integrated in various learning
activities,
such as reading and listened to in order to
reinforce sounds and intonation; cloze tests, scrambled sentences,
changing from present to past, swapping from the male to the female
words, spotting
the mistake, etc.)
3.
Establishing conscious links: exercises
to favour reflection on grammar
These
are some suggestions what you can do with your students while they are
listening to the song.
III. Synthesis
Integrated processes:
1.
In-depth comprehension: new listening to the lyrics
(The teacher favours the awareness of
a different culture through discussion, suitable phrases, drawings,
images, other texts on the same topic, etc.)
Practically the synthesis is performed when the teacher engages the
class in after-listening tasks, which often include going back to text
and its perception at a new level of comprehension.
After-listening activities:
when
using songs in classrooms, follow-up activities are equally important as
those of the first two stages. Here are some useful and funny hints how
to benefit fully from what you have just listened to with your students.
3.3. How to make and use your own teaching materials?
The
reason why language teachers use songs in their class activity
is the good atmosphere it creates and,
as learners tend to relate to songs as an entertainment activity rather
than study represents a very important motivational factor. This
definitely best applies in the case of pop songs which are undoubtedly
part of the youth culture. The learning resources our project developed
go beyond the audio features songs have, and adds two extra dimensions
to help students acquire language competencies: video information
(either static – pictures, or dynamic – clips) and text (as part of the
karaoke songs).
From the didactic
point of view, karaoke songs could be very effectively used to teach
foreign languages, as:
q
music
and lyrics aids memory (as the
text is rhymed);
q
by
singing songs learners acquire foreign language patterns and develop
their vocabulary
(as in songs language is automatically put into a
natural context);
q
while
listening to songs lyrics learners develop their listening –
comprehension skills;
q
while
singing songs learners develop their pronunciation skills;
q
while
reading the lyrics and singing karaoke songs learners develop their
reading – comprehension skills.
The major
problems that teachers must solve when using songs and related teaching
materials in the classroom is the non-standard grammar in many of the
songs and the ‘non-serious’ image of the pop songs, as it is most likely
that non-standard grammar will confuse the foreign language students,
especially as some languages in focus in our project are less widely
used and less widely taught languages. As, undoubtedly, not all songs
are suitable for foreign language classes, foreign language teachers
should employ all their teaching experience and expertise when choosing
the right songs as this is the initial step in creating effective and
good quality teaching materials.
The authors of
this manual suggest a 10-step strategy so as to provide support to
foreign language teachers for the creation of the best own teaching
materials. As teaching and learning styles are closely dependant on the
teachers’ and learners’ personal structure, this guide is merely aimed
at offering a general framework and it is not intended to be in any way
prescriptive.
Step 1:
CREATE A LIST OF (KARAOKE) SONGS IN THE LANGUAGE YOU TEACH
This initial step
is aimed at helping you get more familiar with the songs available and
thus have a direct contact with ‘what is available out there’.
Step 2: CHOOSE THE (KARAOKE) SONGS THAT BEST SUIT YOUR LEARNERS’
NEEDS
The main idea is
to focus on the songs in which you can easily understand the lyrics. Of
course, a few idioms can be fun, but make sure they don't make it
difficult for your students to understand the overall meaning of the
song.
Step 3:
ANALYSE THE (KARAOKE) SONGS
If not the most
important, this step requires the most of your teaching experience and
efforts. Starting from the goals you set for your lessons, design a
number of teaching activities and materials that will help your students
learn the knowledge they need. The activities and materials should be
designed from simple (for the first times the song is used) to complex
in a structured manner so as to ensure learners’ progress and not to
de-motivate them.
Depending on the
song chosen, teachers could create a long list of types of exercises:
fill in the gap, multiple choice, matching, writing tasks; they can
bring in texts with a theme related to the songs’ theme and analyse it
or can imagine scenarios where learners create their own lyrics for a
particular song etc.
Before actually
playing the song, teachers could initiate warm-up discussions with their
students so as to focus their attention on what they will actually see
and listen to. A guided discussion about the song’s general theme is a
prerequisite for better learning results. Teachers could tell them the
title of the song and students could afterwards guess what the song is
about. The list of possible pre-listening activities is very generous
and any language teacher could add their own items; this is just to
stress on the importance this step plays in the strategy the partnership
of the project designed.
Step 8: DO THE
TEACHING / LEARNING ACTIVITIES
It is now the
appropriate time to use the teaching materials and resources created at
Step 5. It is important that you include them in the teaching and
learning process from the easier to the more complex ones. The
activities that are carried out at this stage should be selected so as
to be in close connection with the images and text, which thus provide
immediate support to learners in case they experience any major
difficulties. Do not move to Step 9 until your students were exposed to
the whole range of issues you planned them to learn.
At this step it
is time to use the most complex activities and resources you created at
Step 5: introduce the complex grammar tasks, the difficult vocabulary,
the reflective writing tasks (an essay?). As a principle, teaching and
learning should be carried out at this stage with the song as a starting
point, or a pretext, rather than a direct and immediate resource that
can be consulted. Consolidation should be also included at this step. It
is now that you can divide and separate the teaching techniques and
instruments according to your students’ individual learning styles.
Songs and karaoke
is fun, so you always need to make sure you make their use in the
foreign language class fun and exciting as well.
Using karaoke
songs to teach and learn foreign languages is one of the most effective
ways of learning as it is a multi-sensorial experience (as sound, image
and text are introduced simultaneously) and, if appropriately exploited
by language teachers, should undoubtedly lead to rewarding teaching
results.