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TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methodology 1.5 Scope of the study 4 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of grammar 2.2 Songs in grammar teaching 2.2.1 Benefits of songs 2.2.2 Songs in grammar teaching 7 2.2.3 activities that can be done with song CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 3.2 Participants 3.3 Materials 3.3.1 The general English test 12 12 12 12 3.3.2 The pre -treatment grammar test 3.3.3 The post-treatment grammar test 3.4 Procedure CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results 4.1.1 Results from the general English test 4.1.2 Results from the pre-treatment and post-treatment grammar test 4.2 Discussion CHAPTER CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the main findings 5.2 Limitations 15 15 15 18 18 19 21 22 23 2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale It can’t be denied that English is an international language which is spoken in many countries both as a native and a second or a foreign language And clearly, English is learned everywhere because people have found out that knowledge of English is a passport for better career, better pay, advanced knowledge, and for communication with the entire world.With English becoming the lingua franca of the global community in major professional fields such as science, technology, commerce, and education, there is an increasing demand for effective teaching and learning of English in many world contexts Effective English language skills are seen as vital for the workforce of countries which seek to participate actively in the global economy and want to have access to the information that forms the basis of social, educational, and economic development Even on the individual level, a good command of the English language has a major role in elevating an individuals’ socio-economic status and thus is key to success and prosperity In Vietnam, English teaching aims at mastering four basic skills of language, which include listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills Nowadays, based on our newest curriculum that is launched by the Ministry of Education and Training, the students are expected to master those four skills in order to be able to use English communicatively However, its aim will not be successfully achieved if the language teaching does not consider the language components such as grammatical structure, vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation Therefore, grammar needs to be mastered by the students since it is the basic rule of language Based on information obtained from various English teachers, it was found that many students still had difficulties in mastering grammar Simple past tense, for instance, is important as the basic rule for the students to make and use sentences to communicate in daily life Based on the information given by the English teacher, some students even 3 could not use the subject-verb agreement and usage; it was known that the ability of the students in using Past simple tense was low It seemed that the most significant reason of this was the teacher grammar teaching method influenced the students’ motivation in learning From the observation, the researcher found that the English teachers tended to teach the grammar deductively The teacher taught grammar by giving a note on the whiteboard, gave some examples, and then asked the students to take a note After that the students were only given limited time to some exercises As a result, it is inevitable for students’ learning motivation to be decreased since there were no interesting or attractive activities involved in their learning process Stimulated by the inner urge of providing readers with deeper insight into this method, I would like to carry on this study entitled “Using English songs to help students at Nong Cong No.1 secondary school improve grammar knowledge.” Hopefully, the results will serve as a useful source of reference for those who are concerned teaching and learning writing 1.2 Aims of study This paper endeavors to demonstrate the value of English songs English grammar teaching 1.3 Research questions This study was designed to answer three research questions: Will listening to English songs facilitate EFL high school students' retention of the grammatical items they learn in class? To what extent English songs help EFL high school students extend their grammar knowledge? 1.4 Methodology This main methodology used in this method was experimental First, students’ English levels are evaluated via a standardized test Then, they will experience the 4 learning process in which English songs are applied for teaching English grammar Finally, another test will be conducted to assess the influence of this method A computer program is designed for synthesizing and analyzing collected data During the process of researching, the author also consults with the professor for useful guidance, corrections, and comments The method of assessment will be based on correct sentences of multiple choice test (on total 100 score scale) in basic tenses of English: present simple tense, present continuous tense, past simple tense, past continuous tense, present perfect tense, future simple tense, etc The test also includes some external items from school curriculum such as idioms and phrasal verbs 1.5 Scope of study Due to the time allotment, experience, and source limitations, I offer no ambition to cover the problem in a large number of populations I wish to confine myself to studying the 10th grade students in Nong cong no.1 secondary school, Thanh Hoa province 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of grammar So what is grammar? A question people rarely ever ask themselves when they speak their native language However, when it comes to learning a second language, it’s the first thing learners are introduced to When people contemplate this question, the first answer that comes to their minds is a set of rules that govern a language However, there is more to grammar than that Grammar is a system composed of many interconnected components that ensure accuracy and meaning It is the art of writing and speaking a language correctly Grammar differs from one language to another and from one person to another Nonnative English speakers may presume that the English language has less complicated grammar in comparison to French or Spanish and that grammar, as a concept, to a Spanish speaker, may not be the same to a German or a Japanese speaker According to the CEFR standard (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), there are six levels of English grammar that language learner will have to gain, which are A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 First and foremost, in A1 level, learners can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type They can introduce themselves to others as well as ask and answer questions about personal details such as where they live, people they know and things they have Besides, they also can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help For A2 level, learners are expected to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken They 6 can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans Regarding B1 level, learners can comprehend the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization They can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party They are also expected to produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options When it comes to level C1, students are able to understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognize implicit meaning They can express him/her fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions They are also able to a language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes Most importantly, they not find it difficult in producing clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices Finally, C2 is the highest level of English learners in which they can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read Moreover, they can also summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation Especially, they can express him/her spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations Grammar plays a substantial role in governing the use and application of language It gives the user the structure to build complete and meaningful sentences The role of grammar can take many dimensions and varies according to the situation and context in which it is used 2.2 Songs in grammar teaching 7 2.2.1 Benefits of songs Songs have been an amusing companion for human beings for as long as or even longer than we can speak As an integral part of our language experience, it can be of great value to foreign language teaching And the many-faceted merits songs possess may enrich and activate our foreign language class Being a combination of music and language, songs have innumerable virtues that deserve our attention Their richness in culture and themes, their idiomatic and poetic expressions, their therapeutic functions and so on makes them an impeccable tool for language teaching 2.2.2 Songs in Grammar teaching When coming across an impressive song, most learners are eager to take a further step—to understand what the singers are expressing and to sing it by themselves With such a motivation, learners will feel surprised they can remember all the words that appear in the lyrics, even difficult ones The song in the famous Disney cartoon “Lion King”- Can you feel the Love Tonight - always rings in learners’ ears Some words and phrases that appear in its lyrics are difficult indeed, like surrender, vagabond, twisting kaleidoscope, star-crossed voyager, and wide-eyed wanderer But to teach these words in a melodic context appears easier and more effective The nature of songs is fairly repetitive and consistent For example, Lemon Tree-a very familiar pop song provides ample opportunities for students to focus on the study of the present progressive tense in English grammar “I’m sitting here in a boring room”, “I’m wasting my time”, “I’m hanging around, I’m waiting for you”, “I’m driving around in my car I’m driving too fast, I’m driving too far”, “I’m turning my head up and down, I’m turning turningturningturningturning around”, “I’m stepping around in a desert of joy” and so forth After listening to this song, students will easily memorize these simple sentences, tend to use them in their own conversation and even correctly produce their own sentences of the present progressive tense 8 Songs are not always composed of simple sentence structure or grammar For instance, the following song Promises Don’t Come Easy serves as a paragon for teaching the subjunctive mood, one of the most difficult and confusing grammatical points for students in learning English For instance, “I should have known all along”, but “I”, in the lyrics, actually didn’t realize at the beginning that there was something wrong in his or her love relationship This part presents students with a vivid picture of the inner world of a person in love, in which they can easily capture the mood and content the song writer intends to convey, thereby comprehending and absorbing the grammatical point of subjunctive mood unconsciously Promises don’t come easy I should have known all along There was something wrong I just never read between the lines Then I woke up one day and found you way Leaving nothing but my heart behind What can I to make it up to you? Listening to English songs easily embed new vocabulary and grammatical structures in learner’s both conscious and unconscious memory Its unexpected teaching effects will startle you, indeed 2.3 Activities that can be done with songs The following activities for exploiting songs can certainly be employed in isolation; however, getting the most from songs as an authentic resource requires situating the song listening activities within a coherent framework Following is a simple three-stage framework 9 recommended for general song listening activities, which is easily and effectively transferred to songs: The pre-listening stage: Students engage in activities that activate schema or background knowledge of a song’s main theme This step may consist of several warm-up questions to be discussed with a partner, the introduction of some key vocabulary items, or prediction activities The while listening stage:Students listen to the song and complete an assigned task The post-listening stage: Students analyze new vocabulary; they also discuss lyrics and the songwriter’s intended meaning They may engage in speaking or writing activities This thesis focuses upon activities for the while listening stage Similar activities have been in circulation in EFL classrooms for a number of years, yet they remain new to teachers participating in workshops and training programs that the author has facilitated Activity 1: Song Pictures At first glance, this activity may seem appropriate only for children Song Pictures, however, is an effective way of drawing students’ attention to the emphasis on content words (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives) over function words(e.g., pronouns, determiners, prepositions) in English prosody (stress patterns) The activity can thus also serve as an effective and lighthearted warm-up for teachers who wish to develop their students’ note-taking skills prior to (or during) their commencement of academic studies in English Simpler songs can be used with low-level students, while more complex songs can be employed with highbeginner and intermediate students Songs with repetitive lyrics work well, as students are able to hear the words more than once The activity also assists vocabulary retention: linking pictures to words helps students remember them, especially if the students are smiling and laughing over their partners’ drawings Level: Low to Intermediate 10 10 Materials: Pencils (or pens or crayons) and paper Warm-up: Have students discuss the song topic or brainstorm words they may hear that are related to the title For “This Old Man,” the teacher could write the numbers through 10 on the board, put students in pairs, and ask them to think of words that rhyme with each number Procedure: Distribute the pencils and sheets of paper and tell students they are going to listen to a song and draw pictures Tell them that as they listen, they are to draw the things or actions—nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives—they hear mentioned in the song For example, students may draw pictures of a man, thumb, dog, bone, shoe, rolling, home, hive, or sticks Post-listening: After the song has been played two or three times, students exchange papers and try to identify what their partner has drawn Extension: Go over the vocabulary from the song and have students draw a few more items so that each paper has at least 10 to 12 song-word pictures on it Have students put their names on the sheets; then collect them for use at a later date A few weeks later, as a warmup, give students their sheets back, have them exchange with a partner, play the song, and have students listen and number the pictures in the order that they hear them Play the song two or three times if necessary Once they have finished, students check their work with their partner Finally, check answers with the whole class Activity 2: Re-order It As with song pictures, this activity can be used to direct students’ attention to the prosody features of English that are essential for developing confidence in gist listen-ing catching the main ideas and key words without necessarily comprehending detail or becoming distracted by function words For lower-level students, this activity may also be used for simple vocabulary development 11 11 Level: Low to Intermediate Preparation: Select to 14 words from the selected song These may be words students already know or new words the teacher introduces and explains before beginning the activity Arrange the words in a grid, alphabetically, as on the worksheet in Figure Procedure: Before students listen to the song, say the words out loud and have the students repeat them This step prepares their ears for picking out the words in the song Then play the song Students number the words in the order in which they hear them After the first listening, students compare with a partner; then the song is played again so that they may check their answers You can then elicit the order from the class and provide the final answer Activity 3: Matching Meanings This activity is used to both review and extend vocabulary, depending on the song or text selected Additionally, the activity encourages students to actively engage with English– English learner dictionary definitions for guessing words - a useful scaffolding technique for learners who may be over-reliant on translating unknown vocabulary Finally, Matching Meanings can be used as an introduction to circumlocution strategies (e.g., corkscrew= “the tool you use to open a bottle of wine”), an imperative for learners preparing for either writing or speaking exams, as well as an essential survival English strategy in everyday life Level: High Beginner to Advanced Preparation: From the lyrics, select the vocabulary (8 to 15 words) you want to test or reinforce and write out definitions in the order the words are heard in the song Note that the definitions must be written in the correct order; otherwise, the activity is substantially more difficult I find that the template in Figure works well Procedure: Divide the class into pairs or teams Hand out the sheet with the definitions, or write the chart on the board Have students guess each word from the definition and write their answers in the Guess column Elicit guesses from the class and 12 12 write them on the board Play the song and have students write down the correct words in the Actual Word column as they hear them Have students check with their partner or group Play the song again Distribute the lyrics and ask students to find any words they did not catch Activity 4: Changing the Text This activity can be adapted to emphasize various aspects of language awareness or specific skills Grammar can be emphasized by changing parts of speech (e.g., from “I have seen” to the incorrect “I have saw”) or by eliminating articles, prepositions, etc Likewise, both coherence and pronunciation awareness can be facilitated by changing content words (e.g., day/way) Level: Low Intermediate to Intermediate Preparation: Prepare a handout of the song lyrics where key words have been changed to similar-sounding words Double space the lyrics so that students have room to write above each line Warm-up: Start by giving students the song listen to the song makes it easier for them to guess which words have been changed and what the correct words might be Procedure: Once you have established context, put students in pairs and give them a handout of the lyrics Tell students that one word in each line is incorrect; it has been replaced with a word that rhymes with or sounds similar to the correct word Have students look at an example: “Excavating for a wine.” Then ask them to look at the key words: excavating and wine Do these words go together? Excavating means “digging.” The singer is a miner; where miners work? Once wine/mine is elicited, ask students to read the remaining lyrics and underline the words they think are incorrect This step allows them to go over the lyrics once with a partner and, before the listening, create a roadmap for themselves of words they will focus on and change 13 13 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions The study aimed to seek the answers for the following questions: Will listening to English songs facilitate EFL high school students' retention of the grammatical items they learn in class? To what extent English songs help EFL high school students extend their grammar knowledge? 3.2 Participants The research was carried out with the participation of fifty six students at Nong Cong No.1 upper secondary school in Thanh Hoa province There were 28 female students and 28 males They were at the same English level At the time of data collection, most of them had been learning English as a foreign language at school for years They had already followed English from grade six to grade ten However, they had little opportunity to expose to different methods of teaching grammars which is often limited to traditional way While the treatment was delivered, the participants were following an English program that consisted of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and language focus (grammar lessons).The participants were divided into two groups, each of which was consisted of 28 students 3.3 Materials To gather essential data, the author utilized a general English test, a pre-test and a post-test The general test was used to ensure that the participants were at similar levels of English The pre-test and post-test were applied to assess the improvement if there was any, that the group made after the experiment 14 14 In this study, major material was the official textbook English 10 published by the Ministry of Education and Training It was used as the main course book 3.3.1 The general English test Here, a general English test was utilized to measure the participants’ English competence This test contained questions that aimed to assess students’ various skills namely reading, listening, writing, speaking, and grammar 3.3.2 The pre-treatment English test The pre-treatment English test was designed to assess the participants’ ability to differentiate among various tense in English It was quite familiar exercise, which included 50 sentences In this exercise, students were asked to put the verb in the correct form 3.3.3 The post-treatment English test The post-treatment test was designed to assess the efficiency of the method that applies English songs to teach English grammar Similarly to pre-treatment test, this test would include 40 uncompleted sentences, which required students to fill the blanks the correct form of verbs However, since the topic of lesson plan concentrated on the past simple tense , the post-treatment test will involve in distinguishing among past simple and past continuous tense 3.4 Procedure Before the treatment, all participants did a general English test and the pre- treatment test They were asked to finish exercises about putting verbs in correct tenses When they finished these exercises, the teacher collected their paper and measured their accuracy The participants’ performance was rated in terms of accuracy Accuracy in participants’ exercises was measured by counting the correct sentences students made 15 15 After that, the two groups followed the English program at school However, during that time, the experimental group was taught grammar through English songs whereas the control was not During the treatment, five units of grammar were taught to both groups namely present simple, past simple, wh- questions, gerund and to V, and the past perfect Finally, a grammar exercise as a post- treatment test was given to both groups again on the same day It was computed for two groups of test scores and the use of English songs in the participants’ grammar competence The method of assessment will be based on correct sentences of multiple choice test (on total 100 score scale) in basic tenses of English: present simple tense, present continuous tense, past simple tense, past continuous tense, present perfect tense, future simple tense, etc The test also includes some external items from school curriculum such as idioms and phrasal verbs 16 16 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results 4.1.1 Results of general English test After the general English test was conducted, the data was gathered as follow: Table 4.1 Scores on the general English test for all participants: Group A (the control group), Group B (the experimental group) GROUP A Partici- Score pants (on scale of 100) A10 100 A16 90 A12 80 A7 70 A25 70 A1 60 A11 60 A20 60 A19 60 A26 55 A28 55 A3 45 A13 45 A4 40 17 17 In Table 4.1, all participants’ scores of the control group and the experimental one were arranged from the highest on the left to the lowest on the right As shown in the table, all the participants could be divided into groups The first group called group A got the highest scores which ranked from 60 to 100, the student A10 and A24 with score 100 The second group (group B) had lower scores from 60 to 90 Some of students from the control group (A5, A27 and A17) got the lowest score with 20, 25 and 20 probably due to their background knowledge Similarly, some students from the experimental group (B27, B24 and B23) with 10, 25 and 25 respectively 4.1.2 Results from pre-treatment and post-treatment grammar test 4.1.2.1 Results from pre-treatment test After conducting the pre-treatment test, the author gathered the essential data as follow: Table 4.2 Scores on the pre-treatment test for all participants: Group A (the control group), Group B (the experimental group) Partici-pants A9 94 A14 72 A 11 56 A 10 40 A 13 36 A 20 38 A3 44 A6 60 A7 30 18 18 A4 30 A19 43 A 17 62 A16 88 A26 63 In table 4.2, each participant’s data are presented in two columns, the first of which indicates their codes; the second shows the number of scores that they got in the pre-test The highest scores among students were 88, 90, 94 (B6, B9, A9) and the lowest scores was 16, 18, 22 (B10, B24, A18 …) 4.1.2.2 Results of the post-treatment test After conducting the post-treatment test, the author gathered essential date as follow: Table 4.3 Scores on the post-treatment test for all participants: Group A (the control group), Group B (the experimental group) Partici-pants A9 94 A14 72 A 11 56 A 10 74 A 13 34 A 20 66 A3 78 A6 56 A7 60 19 19 A4 40 A19 32 A 17 32 A16 38 A26 36 In table 4.3, data of students are also presented in two columns In particular, the first one indicates their code; the second one shows the scores that they gained in the posttest In general, it is clear that group B made better improvement than group A The number of students from group B got 60 and higher scores is outweigh those from group A (8 students compared to 13 students) Meanwhile, the number of students who got lower than 29 scores from group A is by far larger than those from group B (12 students compared to students) 4.2 Discussions From the research results, it can be seen that as an integral part of our language experience, song can be of great value to foreign language teaching In addition, this idea of teaching is also agreed and supported by various researches abroad on songs as an authentic teaching resource in language teaching Being a combination of music and language, songs have innumerable virtues that deserve our attention Their richness in culture and themes, their idiomatic and poetic expressions, their therapeutic functions and so on makes them an impeccable tool for language teaching 20 20 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the main findings The results of the study are in line with expectations: EFL high schools can make progress in their grammar Both the number of average scores in both pre-test and posttest proves that the method of teaching grammar through English songs yields various benefits on students’ grammar competence Students’ gains in their average scores in the tests suggest that teaching grammar with the usage of English songs can be more effective than the traditional form-focused grammar teaching This can be attributed to the benefits of learning authentic language through music ,and of associating language learning with learners’ life experience As most students had been into the US UK music nowadays, using these songs increased involvement raised their interest in participating in the grammar activities, which may have attracted more of their noticing on grammatical forms and functions The repetition of the target grammatical items during the activities may also have enhanced the salience of language features and therefore contributed to the internalization of these grammatical forms 21 21 From the research, it is evident that material is one of the most crucial factors that affected the research results As materials which were popular songs were chosen for the grammar class, it appealed to students more Students might not show great interest to the lesson if they were made to learn grammar from old or monotonous songs From that, they might not produce such a good results in the research The results of the research suggest that using songs in grammar class are in general welcomed by Vietnamese EFL learners who enjoy English materials out of class Student B, who was a boy and not good at English, did not favour the use of these materials The reason for his attitude may be that he felt less confident and more hopeless with a new method of teaching and learning In summary, the results of this study provide empirical support to the approach to teaching grammar in English songs proposed by a large number of researchers In other words, learning English grammar through English songs is workable 5.2 Limitations It is undeniable that the research still has some limitations With a small group of participants, the results may not be very representative of EFL learners in general The tests were conducted with only fifty six students from a high school in Thanh Hoa province Their results may not have provided a full picture of overall opinions of EFL learners in Vietnam or in other contexts Besides, there was no delayed post-treatment test to examine the retention of the participants’ gains Therefore, we suggest that further research should recruit more L2 learners with different educational backgrounds and language proficiency levels, and also test if effects of the method would still retain in a longer period of time Such extension of the current study will guarantee a more representative research result In addition, this research only evaluated the ability of students in terms of grammar competence (ability to recognize and understand grammar items), which means that their capacity to use grammar in practical context is not tested Hence, in 22 22 further study, there would be a test in similar research to evaluate the applicability of students in terms of grammar knowledge However, the researcher hopes that the study will be a valuable reference and useful to the teachers and the students at Nong Cong No.1 upper secondary school as well as others who are interested in the problem The Headmaster’s identification Thanh Hoa, April 22nd 2022 I ensure that this study has been written by me The writer LÊ HƯƠNG GIANG 23 23 24 24 ... to English songs facilitate EFL high school students' retention of the grammatical items they learn in class? To what extent English songs help EFL high school students extend their grammar knowledge? ... method, I would like to carry on this study entitled ? ?Using English songs to help students at Nong Cong No .1 secondary school improve grammar knowledge. ” Hopefully, the results will serve as a useful... English songs help EFL high school students extend their grammar knowledge? 3.2 Participants The research was carried out with the participation of fifty six students at Nong Cong No .1 upper secondary
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