Learning vocabulary through songs

By: Nstor Alejandro Snchez Segundo

Student at Languages Faculty, BUAP.

February, 2016.
 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

In Mexico, students that start studying Junior High school need to learn
English. Some of them had English in their previous schools but others did not have
any. One way to help all the students to increase their vocabulary outside the
classrooms is listening to music. At this age, most of the students like music so they
will have fun learning new vocabulary. As teachers we can help our students by
showing them how to do it through music.

This project is focused on helping students that start learning English in Junior
High. Students will increase their vocabulary doing different exercises with songs.
Students can also improve their pronunciation although we will be focusing on how
to learn the vocabulary. And by certain periods of time we can evaluate the results
of their progress.

Nowadays the use of internet has helped us in so many ways and at the same
time we as teachers can use it to help students.

1.2 Why is this being researched

Teaching English nowadays has been a difficult activity especially with
teenagers because most of the time they are not interested in it, a good resource to
accomplish this is by doing some activities using songs. In this order of ideas, it is
so important at the beginning to know the students likes and dislikes related to music
and then make a summary which will be used inside the classroom.
This research will be supported by a qualitative study because we should apply a
survey to know the students preferences.

1.3 What is the significance

This project not only will help students learn vocabulary but it will be done in
a different way. Students will be encouraged to listen to their favorite songs
and by doing so they will be learning not only vocabulary but also
pronunciation. This will be another way to teach students new vocabulary but
 in a more entertaining way. They will not get bored learning vocabulary
because it will be of their likeness.

1.4 The context of the research

It is educational because it is helping the students
It is motivational because it is motivating them to learn the language.
what is the relationship to your research with other research that has
already been done
what areas of research are related to your subject (this is useful because
it will provide the topics for your literature review)

1.5 Background of the researcher(s)

The students (researchers) previous knowledge is different from one another.
Some of them have a basic English level, but most of the students do not have any
abilities to communicate in English. So it is important to design a resource which will
lead them to be interested in learning some tools of basic English. It is expected that
using songs could be the key.

1.6 Where the research is being done and why

The research will take place in the school called Think and Learn, located in
Huajuapan de Leon Oaxaca. This school offers English classes and the study will
be focused on three students that study in Junior High. These students have
problems understanding the language so through this project, they will be helped to
increase their vocabulary in order to perform better in school.

1.7 Aims
It is expected to enable the students using some common vocabulary and
expressions while they are listening to songs.
To propose a compilation of several songs so that the students could identify
their vocabulary.
1.8 Objectives
To create a syllabus of different songs according to the student English
level.
To analyze the students music preferences.

1.9 Research question(s)

What benefits could teenagers get while they are studying vocabulary through
songs?

1.10 Chapter summary and overview of thesis document

Learning English as a second language is a complicated process for some
students and with this project, we as teachers, are helping the ones that struggle
and find it difficult to learn. In Junior High Schools some of the students do not pass
their English exams because some of them do not know enough vocabulary. So
teaching them through songs can be the key for them to increase their vocabulary.
At the end by a period of time we will be able to see the results of our project by
doing some quizzes and check the results. And we will see if we made changes in
their English learning.
 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The supported ideas of this research come from different authors and
previous researchers. The importance of teaching a foreign language is mentioned
at the beginning. How students learn vocabulary and the strategies are in the middle
of this chapter. Finally, the last section involves the importance of using songs for
teaching vocabulary.

The second section is mainly focus on team teaching. The importance and
the existence options are showed in a diagram in order to make it more
understandable.

2.1 Teaching and learning vocabulary

Teaching is a process where the tutor has the purpose to share knowledge
and it should be acquire by someone. This process could be at school when we learn
different subjects at the same time, in order to complete it the teacher must know
different strategies.

Learn or acquire a new language is not an easy process. In the case of

students with another language, they need to memorize many English words.
Learning vocabulary is a challenge for learners, partly because of the size of the
task, and partly because of the variety of vocabulary types to be learned, including
single words, phrases, collocations, and strategic vocabulary, as well as grammatical
patterning, idioms, and fixed expressions.

Nation (2001) lists the different things learners need to know about a word
before we say that they have learned it. This include:

The meaning(s) of the word

Its spoken and written forms
What word parts it has (e.g., any prefix, suffix, and root form)
Its grammatical behavior (e.g., its word class, typical grammatical patterns it
occurs in)
Its collocations
 Its register
What associations it has (e.g., words that are similar or opposite in meaning)
What connotations it has
Its frequency

Learning a new word is a complex process because some have multiples

meanings and some others have different syntactic uses depending on their context,
students must distinguish these and other situations.

There are three basic recommendable steps when a student wants to

memorize a new word. The Partnership for reading (2003) summarizes these levels
to describe the students knowledge for word meaning:

Unknown: the word is completely unfamiliar and its meaning is known.

Acquainted: the student has some idea about its meaning.
Established: the word is very familiar and the student knows its meaning and
its use.

In the case of the teachers, they should model the strategy for the learners.
Then the previous steps should be practiced separately. At the end, teachers should
give a feedback to the learners and emit some comments about their learning
process.

In addition learners should take into account other ways to learn vocabulary.
The strategies should be planned according to the learners abilities such as using
notebooks, dictionaries and expansion exercises like semantic mapping where
learners could write words using both English and Spanish (L1-L2 translation).

In general, teachers have to decide which framework and strategies are the
most suitable based on their students needs, learning style, proficiency level as well
as the tasks requirements. (Ghazal, 2007).

It is know too that teenagers love music and they try to be fashionable
admiring artists. Several studies have illustrated that teaching different aspects of a
language utilizing songs might facilitate the process of language learning in the
classroom. (Gorjian, 2012). So, teachers should use songs to develop some
vocabulary abilities in their students like specific words and phrases.

2.2 Collaborative teaching

When there are teachers worried in the students learning process and they
look for solutions, it is most probably that they work in a collaborative way. According
to ESL fundamentals (2004), collaboration in teaching evolves educators planning
and working together in schools, working with students at all schooling and across
all learnings areas.

There are many options how a teacher can work in a collaborative way. The
best method depends on the school facilities, students background and the
academic goals. The same author exemplify this manners in the following way.

Teaching teams colaborate in planing

Joint planing and evaluating lessons or units of work
for a whole class.

One team member works wih a small

Small group
group while the others takes
work
responsability for the whole class

Each member of the team takes

Parallel
resposabilitiy for one group, using the
teaching
same topic.
Collaboration
in teaching
options One team member assists targeted
Support learners with normal classroom
teaching activities while others teaches the
whole class

The teaching team share responsability

Team
for planning, eaching, assessing and
teaching
evaluating.

Tutors in They work with individual students at

class risk during normal class hours.
 In team teaching or collaborative teaching a group of teachers work with a
same purpose where they plan, conduct and evaluate together all the activities for
the same group of the students.

At the end of this research the collaborative teaching will take place when
some quizzes for collecting date will be applied in order to know the students music
likes.
 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Subjects

This research was focused on six students from different public schools. They
were taking English classes in a private English school located in Huajuapan de
Len Oaxaca. The participants were teenagers included males and females whose
ages were from 12 to 18 years old; their English level was basic. They were chosen
because at this level they have difficulties learning English vocabulary.

The criteria to select these students at this center were because at this age
teenagers like music and most of them have a cellphone where they can listen to
music. Also, at this level they do not know a lot of English vocabulary.

3.2 Instrument

Two instruments were used in this research; one survey and an English level
test. The survey was used to gather information about students age, music likes and
dislikes. This instrument was designed by the teacher.

The test was used to find out the students English level. The questionnaire
had a total of 39 questions. (Nation, Laufer, Batista, Schmitts & colleagues, 2015).
To answer this test the students needed to choose from three answers; true, false
and I do not understand. If the sentence was true, the students needed to choose
true. If the sentence was false, then the students needed to choose false. And if
the students did not understand the sentence, then they needed to select that they
did not understand.

3.3 Procedure

In our research we started with a survey. The students wrote their name, age,
and the place where they go to school. After that, the questions were dictated to
them and they wrote one at a time and they answered it right away. This survey had
a total of eight questions. This survey was useful to find out the students likes and
dislikes about music. This survey was useful also to have a better idea about how
much time the students spend listening to music and it gave us an idea about the
songs to be used for learning the vocabulary.

After the survey the questionnaire was handed out to the students. This
questionnaire was applied to find out the English level of the students. The
instructions were explained to the students in case they did not understand. This
questionnaire had a total of thirty nine questions and some of the questions had
images to make it less boring. In the answers they had three options; the students
needed to choose T if the sentence was true, N if the sentences was not true and
X if they did not understand the sentence.
 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS

This chapter will present the results based on the questionnaire and the
survey. These are provided according to the sequence of their application. Thus, this
chapter presents and discusses their results and analysis.

4.1 English level test

The first instrument (Nation, et al., 2015) determined the students English
level. The main purpose of this instrument was to know the English level in six
students which could be basic or intermediate. When the teacher applied this
instrument, some students felt nervous but the teacher tried to make them feel
comfortable.

Students had 20 minutes to answer the questionnaire. During this period of

time they were concentrated on it while the teacher answered some students doubts
like if they had to write their personal information. Some others questions were if
they could use a dictionary or what happened if they failed it. Teacher tried to solve
all these questions correctly and show confidence. At the end students gave back to
the teacher the instruments.

The questionnaires were evaluated one by one through an answer sheet

provided by the source. All answers were divided into two sections: correct and
wrong answers, then they were classified in basic level or intermediate level. The
results demonstrate the real level of the students.

There were six students who applied the questionnaire. In the questionnaire
there were 25 basic questions and 10 intermediate statements. Most of the students
answered correctly these statements, the analysis shows that 2 students had all in
a correct way. Just one student present difficulties with English language because
he or she got only 18. At list 5 students have the same previous knowledge.

On the other hand, the questionnaire had 10 intermediate questions. In this

part most of the students got between two or three correct. Just one student got
seven correctly which English level is better than the others. So the intermediate
questions were answered in a wrong way or just were marked as unknown. These
results can be seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: English Level Analysis

English Level
45
39 39 39 39 39 39
40
35
30
30 27
25
25 22
19 20 19
20
15 12
10 9 8
10 8
6 6 6
4 3
5
0
0
A B C D E F

Basic Intermidiate Unknown Total

As observed, students share the same Basic English level. This means that
they are in a homogenous group. The analysis for determined the level suggests
that using activities focus on Basic English could create a good learning environment
inside the classroom.

4.2 Students music likes survey

The objective of this survey was to know the students likes. It was applied to
the same subjects were they had 15 minutes to complete it. The students felt more
confident than the previous one. Before the application the teacher gave the
directions and answered some students doubts.

The students had to copy 7 questions that were written on the blackboard. All
the questions were related to music preferences and all of them were opened. In
order to delimitate some responses, the teacher asked to the students just to focus
in English music.

Their answers are the following:

 Figure 2: Students music likes

Question Yes No

Do you like music? 5 1

Do you listen English music? 5 0
Do you think learning English in Public 2 4
schools is difficult?
Would you like to learn English 4 2
vocabulary through songs?

Figure 3: Favorite band or artist

Favorite Band

Cold play 2

REM 1

Zarcot 3

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Figure 4: Kind of music

 Music preferences
3.5
3
3

2.5
2
2

1.5
1
1

0.5

0
Pop Rock Rap

The students looked more confident while they were answering the survey.
They felt free to express their English music and bands preferences. They wrote as
many likes as they could during that time. At the end, students return their surveys
to the teacher.