Introduction
Songs have long been used as an “extra” activity in ESL/EFL
classrooms. They are exceptionally good at imprinting language, improving
pronunciation, and motivating students. However, songs have been shown to be
effective only when they are studied intensively: They have to be learned, not
simply understood (Li & Brand, 2009). Here are seven steps teachers can
take to get the best results, not to mention enjoyment, out of adding music to
the curriculum.
1. Pick a song your students will actually like.
This is not the time to get out your Simon & Garfunkel. Get on Billboard
and find something current. Choose a song with lyrics, content that everybody
can relate to, and feel comfortable with, including you. To illustrate this
article, I chose Taylor Swift’s "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,"
which at this writing is #15 on the Hot 100.
2. Choose a song your students will be able to understand.
The singer should enunciate his or her words. Note the amount of
slang, as well as the inscrutability of any idioms and metaphors. To get a
rough idea of text difficulty level, consider pasting the lyrics into an online
readability calculator or the one embedded in Microsoft Word (instructions for
enabling readability statistics in MS Word 10) to get the Flesch-Kincaid score.
Ms. Swift’s current hit scores a 72, which means it’s slightly easier than
Reader’s Digest; Don McLean’s “Bye Bye Miss American Pie” scores a 53, on par
with Time Magazine; Gilbert & Sullivan’s “I am the Very Model of a Modern
Major-General” clocks in at 27, which is more challenging than the Harvard Law
Review.
3. Use a video with synchronized captioning.
Synchronized captioning helps learners understand the lyrics,
“chunk” words as collocations or phrases (Li & Brand, 2009), and memorize
songs efficiently. Most popular songs already have embedded lyrics, but you can
add them to any public video on YouTube (TestTube > Caption Editor > Try
it out). Alternatively, you can create your own captioned video with Windows
Movie Maker.
4. Slow down the playback speed of the video.
Students can pick out individual words more easily if they can slow
the video down to half speed without tonal distortion. This is snap to do for
any noncommercial version of the song on YouTube (TestTube > HTML 5 Video>
Try it out).
5. Provide another way to hear the correct pronunciation of the
lyrics.
Use Google SpeakIt! Or similar free text-to-speech software. If
your institution has voice pattern recognition software, by all means, use it.
6. Require your students to memorize the song.
Design activities that directly support learning the song: gap
exercises, writing prompts—you know what to do. Spread the teaching
process over an extended time to increase retention (Li & Brand, 2009).
Treating the song like a real assignment will generate buy-in from more serious
students who might otherwise consider it a frivolous activity (Li & Brand).
7. Reward students.
Once your students have memorized the song, reward them with an uncaptioned
version that has a stimulating visual track. Your students will feel the
prestige of being able to watch a cool, popular video unassisted, just like
fluent speakers.
These are the most essential tips to use a song in teaching English for ESL students. Find out more resource on the British council page.
