THE USE OF MUSIC, SONGS AND SONG LYRICS IN AN ESL CLASSROOM AND THEIR MOTIVATIONAL IMPACT ON THE LEARNERS

• Main Author: Cafuta, Jaka
• Other Authors: Čagran, Branka, Kennedy, Victor
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: J. Cafuta 2017
• Subjects: ESL; songs; music; learning/teaching a language; motivation; pesmi; glasba; učenje/poučevanje jezika; motivacija; info:eu-repo/classification/udc/37.091.3:811.111'243(043.2); Malo; Ure; sami
• Online Access: https://dk.um.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=64691; https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?id=108478&dn=; http://www.cobiss.si/scripts/cobiss?command=DISPLAY&base=cobib&rid=22939400&fmt=11

This MA paper explores different ways of using music, songs and song lyrics in an ESL classroom, different experience of teachers and other researchers with this area, and the effects music and songs have on students and class work. The theoretical section includes scientific findings, experience and reports of researchers and teachers, relating to a wide spectrum of using music and songs for teaching English in many different ways. It also explores the area of motivation, its position in the learning process and the correlation between motivation and the use of music and songs in the classroom. The empirical section presents a more practical follow-up to the theoretical section, and is roughly divided into four “sub-sections”: the first sub-section was designed to research the opinions and experience of English language teachers from Maribor, Celje and Velenje (and their immediate surroundings) about using music and songs in an ESL classroom. There were 89 elementary school teachers included in the survey, which was also the instrument for data collection in this sub-section. The data shows that most of the teachers use music and songs quite often in their classrooms and have a predominantly positive experience with it. Most teachers strongly agree that music and songs enrich the lesson and activate the students. However, there are some who believe that music and songs take up too much time in the already over-stuffed schedule. Teachers use different sources to find their music and songs and also present these songs in different ways. Nevertheless, it is very uncommon for them to sing and play the songs to the students themselves- they usually use a cd or the internet. Most teachers use children’s songs and also believe that using songs is most effective with younger learners in the 1st triad. The majority of teachers also believe that music has the most powerful effect on student motivation and participation, however, they don’t see music and songs as good alternatives for standard language exercises and drills. Overall, most believe that an occasional, but regular use of music could change classroom practice in a very positive way (which is why many of them are already (more or less) including it into their English lessons). The second sub-section refers to a case-study implemented for researching the effect of using music and songs for teaching English on student learning achievement. The data was collected with the help of specially designed tests of knowledge (pre-tests and post-tests) and the case-study itself, in which 3 English lessons with music and songs were carried out in two groups of students from grade 9 (control group (9 students) and experimental group (8 students)) from one of the elementary school in Maribor. The results show that the two groups had different initial knowledge before the experiment even began- the experimental group scored higher on the pre-test of the 2nd conditional structure. Even though there were no other statistically significant differences between the two groups, the effect size measurement has shown that music has a medium to strong effect on student learning achievement. However, there was a statistically-significant difference in scores on the 1st conditional tests in the experimental group relating to progress within the group. I believe that same progress would have been seen in with the 2nd conditional structure too, but the students had already “aced” the pre-test, so it was almost impossible to achieve a statistically significant difference with the post-test. The third sub-section deals with researching the effects that using music and songs in the classroom has on student engagement, student motivation and classroom atmosphere. The data here was gathered with the help of a specially designed observational checklist with a chronological scale for observing classes/lessons. The results here were unanimous and show that all three categories under study were rated much high Magistrska naloga raziskuje različne načine uporabe glasbe, pesmi in besedil pesmi pri poučevanju angleščine, izkušnje učiteljev ter drugih raziskovalcev s tem področjem, ter učinke uporabe glasbe, pesmi in besedil pesmi na učence iz več vidikov. Teoretični del se nanaša predvsem na dosedanja znanstvena spoznanja, izkušnje in poročila raziskovalcev in učiteljev, ki se nanašajo na širok spekter uporabe glasbe in pesmi pri poučevanju angleščine na veliko različnih načinov, prav tako pa zajema tudi področje motivacije in kako je le-ta umeščena v sam učni proces ter samo korelacijo med pojmom motivacije in uporabo glasbe in pesmi pri pouku. Empirični del predstavlja bolj praktično nadaljevanje teoretičnega dela, in je v grobem razdeljen na štiri manjše dele: prvi se nanaša na raziskavo mnenj in izkušenj učiteljev angleščine iz Maribora, Celja in Velenja (ter bližnje okolice le-teh) pri uporabi glasbe in pesmi v ESL učilnici, v katero je bilo zajetih 89 učiteljev angleščine iz osnovnih šol prej omenjenih krajev. Podatki za učitelje so bili pridobljeni s pomočjo anketnega vprašalnika. Rezultati kažejo, da večina učiteljev pogosto uporablja glasbo pri pouku in imajo tudi večinoma pozitivne izkušnje. V kar največji meri se učitelji strinjajo, da glasba popestri pouk in aktivira učence. Seveda pa je tudi nekaj takšnih učiteljev, ki meni, da glasba in pesmi pri pouku vzamejo preveč časa v že tako prenatrpanem urniku. Večinoma učitelji uporabljajo različne vire za iskanje pesmi, pogosto izven učbenika in jih predstavijo na različne načine. Je pa zelo malo tistih, ki bi pesem sami zapeli ter zaigrali na inštrument- pogosteje se uporabi kakšen drug medij (cd ali internet). Učitelji večinoma uporabljajo otroške pesmi in so tudi mnenja, da je glasbo najbolj smiselno uporabljati z mlajšimi učenci v prvi triadi. Učitelji so mnenja, da ima glasba in pesmi največji vpliv na sodelovanje in motivacijo učencev, ne zdijo pa se jim najbolj primerne kot alternative uveljavljenim jezikovnim vajam za utrjevanje jezika. Sicer večina anketiranih meni, da bi imela vsaj občasna, a redna uporaba glasbe zelo pozitivne učinke na pouk in učence (zato jo tudi velika večina (bolj ali manj) že vključuje v pouk). Drugi del se nanaša na raziskavo učinka uporabe glasbe in pesmi pri poučevanju angleščine na učne dosežke učencev. Podatki za učence so bili pridobljeni s pomočjo testov znanja (inicialni in finalni preizkusi znanja) ter študijo primera, ki je obsegala 3 učne ure, v katero so bili vključeni učenci dveh 9. razredov ene izmed mariborskih osnovnih šol, skupaj 17 učencev (8 učencev v eksperimentalni, in 9 v kontrolni skupini). Rezultati so pokazali da skupini že na začetku, pred samim eksperimentom, nista imeli enakega nivoja znanja- eksperimentalna skupina je imela dosti boljše znanje pri strukturi 2nd conditional. Kljub temu, da pri primerjavi skupin med seboj drugje ni bilo statistično značilne razlike, lahko vseeno glede na mero velikosti učinka sklepamo, da ima glasba srednji do pomemben učinek na znanje učencev. Pokazal pa se je statistično značilen napredek pri strukturi 1st conditional pri eksperimentalni skupini, glede na napredek znotraj skupine. Sklepam, da bi bil ta napredek podoben tudi pri strukturi 2nd conditional, a temu ni bilo tako, saj so učenci imeli inicialno znanje te strukture tako visoko, da je bilo to praktično nemogoče doseči na finalnem preizkusu znanja. Tretji del se nanaša na raziskavo učinka uporabe glasbe in pesmi pri pouku angleščine na vključenost učencev, motivacijo učencev in klimo v razredu. Ti podatki so bili pridobljeni med študijo primera s pomočjo opazovalnega formularja s kronološko lestvico. Tukaj so rezultati pokazali, da so bile vse tri kategorije, ki so se raziskovale pri eksperimentalni skupini ocenjene dosti višje pri kontrolni skupini. Tako vidimo, da glasba in pesmi pri pouku zelo pomembno doprinesejo k vključenosti učencev v pouk, njihovi motiviranosti za delo ter tudi splošni pozitivni atmosferi v razredu.