Teaching vocabulary through music

Introduction The Objective and the Content of the Diploma Thesis This work is concerns using popular songs to teach English, especially vocabulary since learning vocabulary is one of th

MASARYK UNIVERSITY IN BRNO

MASARYK UNIVERSITY IN BRNO

Mgr Jaroslav Suchý Dagmar Šišková

I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Mgr Jaroslav Suchý, for his supervision, helpful advice and recommending literature

INTRODUCTION 7

1 THEORETICAL PART 7 1.1 The Role and the Importance of Music 9

1.2 History of Music 11

1.3 The Psychological Effects of Music 12

1.4 Music and Language Learning 14

1.5 Why should this method work? 24

1.6 Memory 29

1.7 Summary 32

2 PRACTICAL PART 33 2.1 Information about the students 33

2.2 The Questionnaire 35

2.3 The Evaluation of the Questionnaire 36

2.3.1 The Seventh Grade 36

2.3.2 The Eighth Grade 37

2.3.3 The Ninth Grade 38

2.3.4 Overall results 39

2.3.5 The Selection of Songs 40

2.4 Practical exercises for the songs 41

2.4.1 Rihanna – "Don‘t Stop the Music" 42

2.4.2 Shakira – "Don’t Bother" 45

2.4.3 Fergie – "Clumsy" 48

2.4.4 Ozzy Osbourne – "Mama I’m Coming Home" 49

2.4.5 Eminem – "Mockingbird" 51

2.4.6 Blink 182 – "I Miss You" 55

2.4.7 Jamiroquai – "Cosmic Girl" 57

2.4.8 Red Hot Chily Peppers – "Under the Bridge" 60

2.4.9 Student’s reactions to the exercises 61

2.5 Students’ Test Results 63

2.6 Evaluation of the Test Results 65

APPENDIX

Introduction

The Objective and the Content of the Diploma Thesis

This work is concerns using popular songs to teach English, especially vocabulary since learning vocabulary is one of the key elements in learning a foreign language and has always caused students difficulties Thornbury quotes the linguist David Wilkins to stress the importance of learning vocabulary: "Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed“ (2002:13) He also quotes several students who complain about their lack of vocabulary and points out that

"vocabulary teaching has not always been very responsive to such problems“ (2002:13) The objective of this work is to measure the effectiveness of using popular songs to teach vocabulary

The work is divided into two parts: theoretical and practical The theoretical part discusses many aspects of music and language learning themselves, such as the role and the importance of music in people’s lives A brief account on history of music is also included This is followed by an analysis of the psychological effects of music The benefits and the effects of music on language learning are covered in the following part The last chapter of the theoretical part focuses on the general process of learning and memory and those are implied on the tested method of using popular songs to teach English

All the knowledge gained in the theoretical part is applied in the practical one The practical part describes author’s own research, the individual steps of the procedure, and, of course, the results of this research The practical part also includes exercises that can be created for any song The whole author’s research and practical part are described in detail beginning on page 33

The conclusion summarises the content of this work, reflects on the results of the research and evaluates the tested method

Reasons Why I Have Chosen this Topic

There are two main reasons as to why I have chosen this topic The first reason

is a personal one dealing, with my own experience with this method This is how I had taught myself English before I started attending an English course I would look up the

lyrics of my favourite songs in a dictionary, and listening to my favourite songs made

me never forget these words, even though I have hardly ever used some of them I wanted to find out if this method would be as successful with my own students

And the second reason is that there are many students at our school who love and listen to music most of the time on their mobile phones and MP3 players There are problems with them on a daily basis listening to their favourite music on headphones even during lessons That is why I thought that I could make use of their habit and listen

to their music in the lessons - studying the lyrics of those songs making the lessons more enjoyable and, hopefully, more effective

Information about the Students

The students are pupils of an elementary school in Kroměříž This method will

be tested on three groups of students – the seventh, the eighth and the ninth graders There are fifty-two children altogether in those three groups out of which eighteen pupils are in the eighth, the same nimber in the ninth grade, while there are only sixteen students in the seventh grade

Their levels range from beginner to pre-intermediate However, two of the three groups consist of rather weak students with disciplinary problems and little interest in English On the other hand, one group, the seventh grade, consists of hard-working students who like to study and are active during the lessons

The students’ ages are from twelve to fifteen

More information about the students is provided in the practical part on page 33

Hypothesis

The hypothesis for this work is that students who are interested in the subject, which in this case is going to be their favourite music, learn more easily and more effectively This method also includes repetitiveness, which is so important for the process of studying because it is almost certain that the students will encounter the material, their favourite songs, outside the classroom Students at this age identify with their favourite stars and are interested in what they are singing about and interest is also fundamental for learning

1 Theoretical Part

1.1 The Role and the Importance of Music

Why should music be suitable for teaching vocabulary? The answer is simple Music has always played a big part of humans’ lives, beginning with child’s birth and mothers singing lullabies to their children It is used during all important occasions of human lives beginning with child’s christening, through weddings, to funerals Each country has its own anthem Music has been important during many revolutions and was even the cause of some of them John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Karel Kryl can be mentioned

as some of the revolutionary musicians The flower generation also connected through music

Pilka believes that every piece of art is a gift since it deals with big ideas and social ideals as well as the most inward matters of each and everyone of us It speaks a language intelligible to everyone Music brings emotions to life and it also serves as a testimony of people from any land or time It fills the gap between nations, crosses thousands of miles and reveals more about its people than a scientific elaboration It may also help people to get into their own hearts It speaks for us where words fail (1959:275-277) Just as all different kinds of art, it serves many purposes People create and listen to it for the same reason - they all want to touch others with music or to be touched by it

Murphey made the following list about what people usually do with songs We:

- "listen

- sing, hum, whistle, tap, and snap fingers while we listen

- sing without listening to any recording

- talk about the music

- talk about the lyrics

- talk about the singer/group

- talk about video clips

- use songs and music to set or change an atmosphere or mood […]

- use songs and music to create a social environment, form a feeling of community, dance, make friends and lovers

- read about the production, performance, effect, authors, producers, audiences

of music and song

- use music in dreams

- use music and song to make internal associations between the people, places, and times in our lives, so they become the personal soundtrack of our lives“(1992:9)

Even the ancient Greeks knew of the importance of music Holzknech assumes that poets such as Homer and Hein must have been drawing from their own experience when they celebrated the power of music and that their listeners would not have believed them or would have laughed at them if the power of music had not been a general experience (1969:404)

Nowadays, it is almost impossible to escape music It is used in films, advertisements, it is on radio and even in most shops, restaurants and other public places Current technological inventions, such as the iPod, mobile phone and MP3 player enable people to enjoy their favourite music anywhere at any time People listen

to it while traveling and even while walking in the streets In fact, a lot of children get into troubles for listening to music on their headphones during lessons So why not use music to our advantage?

Music as such has always been important, especially to most young people It has always brought them together They love to share their music with one another Students of the three groups that the songs were piloted with love to talk about their favourite artists Talking about their favourite artists is a part of their everyday communication Music is connected to many areas of their lives People who like similar kinds of music usually dress in a similar way (see appendix number 12 and 13)

It is part of people’s way of living, of their world and it can be used as a means for a teacher to get into his or her students’ world, to get closer to them

Music may touch topics that people can relate to Murphey writes that "songs can be appropriated by listeners for their own purposes, largely because most pop songs

do not have precise people, place, or time references.For those who find them relevant, songs happen whenever and wherever one hears them and they are, consciously or subconsciously, about the people in one’s own life" (1992:8)

For instance, any pupil in the group that listened Fergie’s song called "Clumsy" could relate to it, since they all could think of a situation when they had felt clumsy

This shows that music is personal and people in general are most interested in and motivated by things that they can relate to

All of the above-mentioned arguments indicate that music is a subject of everyday communication and it is something that is ever present in people’s lives intentionally or unintentionally, which can be very beneficial for the method of using songs to teach English vocabulary since it increases the possibility that students will come across the taught material, frequently revising it

1.2 History of Music

The history of music is worth mentioning because it connects language and music together, which may further support the idea that teaching vocabulary using songs should work

The history of music is tied not just to the development of human culture, but also to animals Animals, such as birds, have always used music to communicate There are even many theories connecting the origins of music and speech together According

to Geist, there are three theories connecting the origin of music to the origin of speech

First theory was developed by people such as Charles Darwin, James B Monboddo, Charles D Isaacson, Richard Wagner and others who claimed that speech arose from singing Monboddo believed that screams changed into tones before they became articulate and that is why music can be more easily acquired than speech

The supporters of the second theory, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Johann Gottfried Herder, A W Schlegel and many others, claimed that speech and music were originally connected However, this theory has not been proven

The scientists supporting the third and scientifically verified theory argue that singing arose from excited speech Scientists such as the famous Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, Edward Mac Dowell, John Frederic and many others believed that music was a result of excited speech caused by inner emotional states Stabon´s thesis says that singing and talking is the same thing (1970:25-28)

This brief account of the history of music proves that music and language have always been connected, which implies that teaching the vocabulary of a foreign language through songs could be effective

1.3 The Psychological Effects of Music

What makes music such a powerful tool for teaching vocabulary of a foreign language? Music has its effect not just on people, but also animals and even plants Robertson claims that "music with a ‘beat’ can stimulate your body; music with powerful melodies and harmonies performed with feeling can make you weep or cry out with joy; and music like the fugues of Bach and Mozart can be mentally invigorating." Film makers are very aware of the power of music The movie “Jaws“ directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg proves that, since it is mainly the music thst brings tension

to most scenes of the film, not the images For instance, if there was different music accompanying the scenes of children playing in the sea, the footage could have easily been used for a travel agency advertisement This proves that music influences the way people perceive things as well as the way they behave and it is used in many ways, even

as a therapy

The website of the American Music Therapy Association gives the following brief account of the history of music therapy:

The idea of music as a healing influence which could affect health and behavior

is as least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato The 20th century discipline began after World War I and World War II when community musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, went to Veterans hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma from the wars The patients' notable physical and emotional responses to music led the doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals It was soon evident that the hospital musicians needed some prior training before entering the facility and so the demand grew for a college curriculum The first music therapy degree program in the world, founded at Michigan State University in 1944, celebrated its 50th anniversary in

1994 The American Music Therapy Association was founded in 1998 as a union of the National Association for Music Therapy and the American Association for Music therapy

Music therapy is an established psychological practice in which music is used to

“achieve therapeutic goals“ (“Music therapy“) Its beneficial effects have been supported by a vast amount of research published through, for instance, the Journal of Music Therapy or Music Therapy Perspectives promoted by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) According to the American Music Therapy

Association’s website it “improves the quality of life“ and “music therapy interventions can be designed to:

- promote physical rehabilitation.“

Music therapy is beneficial for anyone from children to elderly people, healthy

or ill It is not just classical music that is used for therapeutic purposes All styles of music may have a healing effect The AMTA website stresses that “the individual's preferences, circumstances and need for treatment, and the client or patient's goals help

to determine the types of music a music therapist may use.“

Holzknech further mentions an experiment done in prison when trying to support his claim that music has a relaxing and soothing effect on people In the experiment, music was used to dispel prisoners’ depression This method was highly successful with the exception of felons who remained indifferent to the music Music helped in many cases where spoken word and books failed Prisoners were even saving money to buy their own musical instruments and started forming little groups Forbidding them to participate in the musical sessions was viewed as the hardest punishment (1969:406)

However, Holzknech also admits that music may have the opposite effect, describing a story of a friend of his who was unable to continue with her scientific work because her neighbour kept playing music that made it impossible for her to concentrate

or ignore it (1969:407) Although, the above-mentioned disadvantage may not be valid

in the case of teaching vocabulary through songs since in the case of a student working

on her scientific work, music served as a distraction and not as a means of learning the subject

Music therapy is done by music therapists who assess emotional well-being, physical health, social functioning, communication abilities, and cognitive skills through musical responses Then, they design music sessions for individuals and groups based on client needs using music improvisation, receptive music listening, song writing, lyric discussion, music and imagery, music performance, and learning through

music; participate in interdisciplinary treatment planning, ongoing evaluation, and follow up Naturally, such profession requires special education

The most important aspect of music therapy connected with the method of teaching vocabulary through music is that music is also used in schools to improve students’ non musical areas especially physical coordination and communication skills, which are probably the most important skills when learning a language

The powerful effects of music on human’s mind are well documented, but could music positively influence foreign language learning?

1.4 Music and Language Learning

According to Thornbury, words are organised in the human mind in what is called the mental lexicon, which means that the vocabulary is stored in "highly organised and interconnected fashion“ (2002:16) He believes that "knowing a word involves knowing its form, and its meaning As well as "knowing the words commonly associated with it (its collocations) as well as its connotations, including its register and its cultural accretions“ (2002:15) Both Harmer and Thornbury distinguish between receptive and productive knowledge Thorbury writes that "receptive knowledge exceeds productive knowledge and generally – but not always – precedes it“ (2002:15) However, Harmer points out that it is difficult to say which words that students know are passive and which are active

"A word that has been active through constant use may slip back into the passive store if it is not used A word that students have in their passive store may suddenly become active if the situation or the context provokes its use In other words, the status of a vocabulary item does not seem to be a permanent state of affairs“ (1991:159)

Hopefully, the words used in the lyrics remain in the active store as long as students listen to the particular song and since the aim of this work is to use students’ favourite songs, the period of time when pupils listen to the song for is long

Thornbury described the following challenges that a learner of a second language has to face:

- "making the correct connections, when understanding the second language, between the form and the meaning of words (e.g mouth, feel and grippy),

including discriminating the meaning of closely related words (e.g lush and plush)

- when producing language, using the correct form of a word for the meaning intended (i.e nose not noise)“ (2002:2)

Thornbury continues with recommendations of what a learner needs to do in order to meet these challenges:

- "acquire a critical mass of words for use in both understanding and producing language

- remember words over time, and be able to recall them readily

develop strategies for coping with gaps in word knowledge, including coping with unknown words, or unfamiliar uses of known words“ (2002:2)

Hopefully, music could help students fulfil one these recommendations since the words used in songs are remembered, along with the melody of the song, throughout a lifetime

How is vocabulary learned? Thornbury mentions three ways of acquiring words – labelling, categorising and network building Labelling means "mapping words on to concepts Categorizing skills enable a child to "extend the concept of a word“ (2002:18) which means that a child understands that the word dog includes "other people´s dogs, toy dogs, and even pictures of dogs“ (2002:18) Network building stands for

"constructing a complex web of words so that items like […] family and brother are interconnected“ (2002:18)

When learning vocabulary, some words seem to be easier to remember than others What makes a word difficult? Thornbury made a list of several "factors that make some words more difficult than others:

- difficult pronunciation,

- spelling (e.g words that contain silent letters such as foreign, listen),

- length and complexity (long words are more difficult),

- grammar (e.g verb patterns),

- meaning (two words overlapping in meaning get confused, words with multiple meanings),

- range, connotation and idiomaticity (idiomatic expressions will generally be more difficult than words whose meaning is transparent)” (2002: 27 – 28)

According to Thornbury, these are "the implications for teaching:

- Learners need tasks and strategies to help them organise their mental lexicon

by building networks of associations – the more the better

- Teachers need to accept that the learning of new words involves a period of

′initial fuzziness′

- Learners need to wean themselves off a reliance on direct translation from their mother tongue

- Words need to be presented in their typical contexts, so that learners can get

a feel for their meaning, their register, their collocations, and their syntactic environments,

- Teaching should direct attention to the sound of new words, particularly the way they are stressed

- Learners should aim to build a threshold vocabulary as quickly as possible

- Learners need to be actively involved in the learning of words

- Learners need multiple exposures to words and they need to retrieve words from memory repeatedly

- Learners need to make multiple decisions about words

- Memory of new words can be reinforced if they are used to express personally relevant meanings

- Not all the vocabulary that the learners need can be ′taught′: learners will need plentiful exposure to speech and text as well as training for self-directed learning” (2002:30)

Using songs to teach vocabulary, several conditions for teaching stated by Thornbury are met In lyrics, words usually appear in context, the sound of new words

is easily remembered along with the melody of the song and by listening to the song, students are exposed to the new words many times

As mentioned earlier, the roots of music and speech seem to be closely connected.Stansell believes that

“music positively affects language accent, memory, and grammar as well as mood, enjoyment, and motivation” and that “pairing words and rhythm properly helps to hold songs together, and to improve the ability of the mind to recall it.”

He insists that “music and language help each other in the process of learning

human expression, a common goal Interconnections between the musical and linguistic areas enable music to assist in learning vocabulary and phrases, which tasks are governed by the linguistic intelligence High musical ability is common among multilingual individuals and professional singers with thick accents otherwise still sing in a standard dialect With this appreciation for the assistive place of music in the mind, researchers must try to discover ways that music can more effectively awaken students to language learning.”

Medina, who has conducted several researches on using music to teach vocabulary and who was kind enough to grant her permission by email to quote her work, which can be found in the appendix on page, writes that “second language researchers [ ] have distinguished between vocabulary that is acquired incidentally and vocabulary that is acquired intentionally,” meaning that the former one is learned through “variety of sources” and the latter one is learned in school The above mentioned sources include, for example, reading and listening to oral stories Medina mentions Krashen’s "Input Hypothesis", which explains how new vocabulary is learned

“According to this hypothesis, new and unfamiliar vocabulary is acquired when its significance is made clear to the learner Meaning is conveyed by providing extralinguistic support such as illustrations, actions, photos, and realia This, in turn, results in what Krashen refers to as "comprehensible input" since the linguistic input is made comprehensible to the second language leamer Krashen further states that the amount of comprehensible input is proportionate to the amount of vocabulary acquired Thus, vocabulary is incidentally acquired through stories because familiar vocabulary and syntax contained in the stories provide meaning to less familiar vocabulary.”

Medina adds that “songs share all of the same elements of an oral story.“

Medina made a research related to the discussed method of teaching vocabulary through music to determine the effects of music and illustration on language acqusition She created four equivalent groups “by matching subjects on the basis of vocabulary pre-test scores”

“The Music treatment group heard the story in its sung version while the No Music group heard the spoken rendition of the story (i.e., oral story) Subjects in

the Illustration treatment groups were shown large, color illustrations of the story while listening to the tape-recording […] Subjects were able to derive the meaning of unfamiliar words from illustrations Subjects in the No Illustration group were not shown illustrations; therefore, they extracted meaning from contextual information.”

Her research proved that “the same amount of language acquisition resulted whether musical or non-musical means were used“ (“The effects of Music Upon Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition (ERIC)“) However, “the combination of music and illustration consistently yielded the highest average amount of vocabulary gain” (“The effects of Music Upon Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition (FLES)“)

Some scientists claim that the first thing we learn when acquiring our first language is the discourse intonation that may be viewed as music since it is the actual melody of the language “The pre-existing patterns of music in the early development of language prove that the two are already long acquainted Through its mother's body, womb, and amniotic fluid, a fetus cannot hear consonants; it only hears the musical vowel sounds“ (Stansell) Lake states that “children learn to sing before they speak An infant’s communication is a series of coos that communicate hunger, fatigue, alarm or pleasure Further, a child’s mother can discern the child’s need based on pitch.” Mora quoted by Stansell adds that “later on, it is through interaction that a child picks up not only the musicality of each language, but also the necessary communication skills.” Moreover, for better acquisition of their mother tongue, children are taught nursery rhymes, poems, but also songs Why should it be any different when learning a second language and its vocabulary?

Learning a mother tongue, the child first hears the language before it can speak

it Brown writes that

“one should learn with his/her ears before learning with his/her eyes In learning one’s own language there are five or six years in which language skills are developed by ear before the reading and/or writing of language is introduced This natural process enables one to instinctively communicate verbally with words and later, after learning to read, learn to write those thoughts down.” Thornbury agrees when he describes the difference between acquiring a first language and a second language is that "second language learners already have a first

language […] with its conceptual system […] it involves both learning a new conceptual system, and constructing a new vocabulary network – a second mental lexicon“ (2002:18) However, there are some shared features "The adult learner’s concept system is already installed and up-and-running“(2002:18) This means that the learner is "saved a lot of the over- and under-generalising associated with first language learning“ (2002:18)

When using songs to teach vocabulary of a foreign language, the pattern of learning is the same It also starts with the listening and ends with fluent communication However, many students are not comfortable speaking in a foreign language Stansell claims that “language students that lack familiarity with a target culture and have trouble expressing themselves can connect through the freeing influence of music.” This freeing influence results in students being more relaxed According to Medina, in such atmosphere, “they are also more attentive than usual, and therefore, more receptive to learning Through songs, students are exposed to

“authentic” examples of the second language Furthermore, target vocabulary, grammar, routines and patterns are modeled in context These are but a few of the benefits associated with music use in the second language classroom” (“Using Music to Enhance Second Language Acquisition: From Theory to Practice”)

By listening to English songs, students can hear the native pronunciation of words It improves their ability of hearing the language Farrug argues that "music lends

a natural rhythm to words and phrases, helping language learners to use good pronunciation Melodies and rhymes guide learners to speak in a native cadence." Brown states that it trains "the ear to hear and produce nuances of sound whether they are musical or linguistic Orchestra, band, and music teachers have noticed the ability their immersion students have to hear variations of sound that non-language learners do not even know exist."

Stansell quotes Palmer & Kelly explaining that “the 4-beat division of most songs coincides well with the linguistic foundation of binary alteration, or stressed and unstressed syllables” (Palmer & Kelly 539) Use of music is recommended by them for better understanding of language because “when songs and words match in stress and accent, the learner can experience gains in comprehension of word stress, attention span, anticipation of new text, and memory (Palmer & Kelly 539).”

Moreover, the authors of Spectrum (Prentice-Hall Regents Publications) state that "songs are an important aspect of culture, representing the history, folklore, and current idiom of a country [ ] Singing can build students’ confidence by allowing them to enjoy a degree of fluency in English before they have achieved it in speaking" (qtd in Music in the EFL Classroom) Shtakser also wrote that "didactically songs are also useful in teaching the rhythm of the language and informing the students about the culture of that language’s speakers." And even if the teachers’ aim was not to use music

to teach vocabulary Shtakser argues that

"even just playing music without words creates a relaxed atmosphere that enhances learning The best example for this is the Suggestopedia method of Georgii Lozanov in which foreign texts are read dramatically with the background of several carefully chosen works of classical music Lozanov claims that the atmosphere created by the music enhances the ability of the students to remember vocabulary words and thus shortens the study period of the foreign language."

Suggestopedia is also going to be analysed in this work as one of the two language teaching methods that are connected to using songs to teach vocabulary

The question is, how can teachers put the use of music into foreign language teaching practice? Many teachers are concerned about using songs in their lessons fearing a number of factors Murphey conducted a survey in a group of commercial school teachers and made the following list of items that teachers most often worry about:

- "Administrators/teachers/students do not take music and song seriously

- It disturbs neighbouring classes

- Some students get too excited

- It takes away from the normal syllabus Time is lost

- Students disagree about songs, and have different musical tastes

- Pop songs have poor vocabulary – too much slang and bad grammar

- How do you exploit the material usefully? What is the goal?

- It is hard to find lyrics – source of old recorded material are no longer available

- Students just want to listen, not to work

- Poor quality cassette/video recorder

- Lack of technical equipment due to cost

- Teachers do not like to sing or are not musical

- Many songs are not intelligible

- EFL songs are boring

- Students will not sing

- Which songs should you choose? Many express violence and sexism

- What to do when students bring music which teachers hate?

- Songs go out of date very quickly

- How do you share in materials production" (1992:8-9)?

Many of the above mentioned are, of course, irrational For instance, most students take music seriously, especially their favourite music by their idols The vocabulary of many songs may be of poor quality and full of slang, but so is the natural language used in everyday situations, therefore it is necessary that students get acquainted with the slang Nowadays, it is very easy to find any lyrics on the Internet The technical equipment should not be a problem anymore since there is at least one CD player in most schools Even though some EFL songs are boring, the teacher may choose any other song Murphey argues that "the supply is inexhaustible!" (1992:8) and summarises this by saying "no material will answer all our different needs", and that success depends "on successful manipulation of the material by the teacher" (1992:9)

How can teachers use the material effectively? Murphey suggests the following activities that teachers can do with students when teaching English through popular songs:

- “study grammar

- practice selective listening comprehension

- read songs [ ] for linguistic purposes

- compose songs, articles about songs, letters to singers, questionnaires

- discuss a song [ ]

- translate songs

- write dialogues using the words of a song

- use video clips in many ways

- do role-plays (as people in the song, or the artist/interviewer)

- dictate a song

- use a song for gap-fill, cloze, or for correction

- use music for background to other activities

- energize or relax classes mentally

- practice pronunciation, intonation, and stress

- break the routine

Blodget, who is not only a teacher, but also a musician and songwriter, has used music to teach a second language successfully for many years He mentioned even some more ideas as to what students can do with the song in the lessons They can:

- “create booklets illustrating the lyrics

- karaoke, sing-along, or lip-sync video performances

- dramatic interpretations/mime/acting out performances

- dance and choreography – moving hands, head, feet, and body to the music

in creative ways

- re-write the song either altogether in an original and creative lyric (for those who can), or by substituting all the nouns, or adjective, or other parts of speech so as to make a new song lyric, and much more.“

Stansell mentions Fawn Whittaker’s article that deals with the use of music through literature review She believes that songs have a positive effect in all language-learning areas (listening, speaking, reading and writing) She describes her process of presenting a song to a class, which consists of four steps The first step is playing the song to the students Then, she has students repeat the words which is followed by

pointing out new expressions giving students pronunciation cues She finishes by playing the song again while the students are allowed to sing along Stansell concludes that this approach might "lead to the out-of-class associations that are crucial to language learning Simply attending class a few days a week and doing homework does not a proficient language speaker make, but adding songs encourages rehearsal." Of course, this theory is also valid for teaching vocabulary

Blodget also stresses that by using music to teach a language,

“all of the (Howard Gardner’s) seven multiple intelligences are addressed when teaching language through music with the appropriate accompanying exercises:

- kinesthetic (dance, clapping, stomping, body movement, percussion)

- musical (listening, singing, playing, distinguishing)

- linguistic (interpreting lyrics while listening or through exercises)

- logical/mathematical (music is maths)

- social (choral, dance, cooperative learning with the exercises)

- visual (illustrations, dramatizations, video)

- individual (the fallback for all of the written exercises, as well as with individual projects and culminating activities).“

Moreover, music does not only reach students’ inteligence It is also emotional,

so even if students do not understand the meaning of all the words, music itself might help them There are music videos to most popular songs that also help students understand the content of the lyrics There is usually some topic or story covered in the lyrics therefore students learn the new word within a context

Another reason for using songs in English lessons is that the lyrics are often rich, sometimes deep, at times silly or funny, which is something students appreciate They are full of slang words that are not covered by traditional English textbooks Some songs touch interesting topics that may be used for further discussion Some lyrics are even demanding and can be useful when trying to teach students to see the deeper meaning of different texts Murphey agrees that “some songs can be quite complex syntactically, lexically, and poetically and can be analyzed in the same way as any other literary sample“ (1992:8)

The fact that song lyrics cover vast themes and topics means that the vocabulary that students are exposed to is immense One student of Spanish revealed at Language Learner Adviser web site that using music to learn another language

"has increased my exposure to everyday vocabulary, and also to some more poetic or idiomatic uses of the language Some words, which I would pass by in

a vocabulary list or dictionary as 'uninteresting' or 'not useful' I now learn by hearing over and over in songs, or by looking them up to figure out what the lyrics mean."

However, some lyrics may be offensive or inappropriate, so teacher should always be cautious when choosing the songs

All of this should help students when learning new vocabulary Listening to something students like makes it interesting and motivating to learn Music also serves

as an escapism from class and makes the learning almost effortless meaning that students might learn the language without noticing it Volín summarizes it perfectly when he says "We all have experienced it A songs sticks in your head and it is impossible to get rid of it But do you know anybody who would have experienced a grammar exercise stick in their head" (1997:cover of the book)

1.5 Why should this method work?

Using music to teach vocabulary attracts students’ attention Their natural admiration for their favourite artists should motivate them to try to understand the lyrics

of their songs and according to Harmer, motivation "is the biggest single factor affecting students success" (1991:3) Linhart writes that motivation influences one´s performance

It is closely connected to the energy that one puts into an activity and conditioned by one’ s needs and emotions Motivation is the initial stimulus for learning It is tightly knit to one´s attitudes, which means that it is personal The need to understand what is happening around me is also a learning stimulus (1967:53-54) Murphey also believes that “highly motivated language learning starts with the students and what they are interested in” (1992: 5) Wikipedia lists the following six effects that the right motivation can have on students’ learning and behaviour “It can:

1 Direct behaviour towards particular goals

2 Lead to increased effort and energy

3 Increase initiation of, and persistence in, activities

4 Enhance cognitive processing

5 Determine what consequences are reinforcing

6 Lead to improved performance” (“Motivation“)

There are two types of motivation; intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation "occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant" and extrinsic motivation means that "a student is compelled to do something or act a certain way because of factors external to him or her (like money or good grades)" (“Motivation“) Educational psychologists have studied intrinsic motivation "and numerous studies have found it to be associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students"(“Motivation“) The intrinsic motivation can be achieved, if students:

" - attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (e.g the amount of effort they put in),

- believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (i.e the results are not determined by luck),

- are interested in mastering a topic, rather than just rote-learning to achieve good grades" (“Motivation“)

The method of using popular songs to teach vocabulary should make students motivated intrinsically since it is believed that students will be interested in the songs for they were chosen to be their favourite songs by their favourite artists based on a questionnaire that they had answered Shtakser mentioned that

"students relate to songs as part of entertainment rather than work and find learning vocabulary through songs amusing rather than tedious This is true especially with pop songs which are part of youth culture Better familiarity with these songs improves students’ status within the peer group and therefore stimulates learning."

Thornbury writes that "for a long time, teaching approaches such as the Direct Method and audiolingualism gave greater priority to the teaching of grammatical structures“ (2002:14) He claims that it was the communicative approach that played the key role in the "re-think of the role of vocabulary“ (2002:14) Teaching vocabulary through music has similar features as two effective modern language-learning approaches, one focusing on vocabulary called Lexical Approach and Suggestopedia Here’s a brief discription of the two methods

Lexical Approach was developed by Michael Lewis who believed that

"an important part of language acquisition is the ability to comprehend and produce lexical phrases as unanalyzed wholes, or "chunks," and that these

chunks become the raw data by which learners perceive patterns of language traditionally thought of as grammar (Lewis, 1993, p 95)."

Moudraia writes that "the key principle of a lexical approach is that "language consists of grammaticalized lexis, not lexicalized grammar." It distinguishes vocabulary from lexis Vocabulary are words with fixed meanings while lexis includes

"the word combinations that we store in our mental lexicons [ ] The lexical approach advocates argue that language consists of meaningful chunks that, when combined, produce continuous coherent text, and only a minority of spoken sentences are entirely novel creations" (Moudraia)

Lewis suggests the following taxonomy of lexical items:

- "words (e.g., book, pen)

- poly words (e.g., by the way, upside down)

- collocations, or word partnerships (e.g., community service, absolutely convinced)

- institutionalized utterances (e.g., I'll get it; We'll see)

- sentence frames and heads (e.g., That is not as .as you think; The fact/suggestion/problem/danger was .) and even text frames (e.g., In this paper we explore ; Firstly ; Secondly ; Finally )“ (Moudraia)

Moudraia also suggest activities which can be "used to develop learners' knowledge of lexical chains

- intensive and extensive listening and reading in the target language

- first and second language comparisons and translation carried out for-chunk, rather than word-for-word aimed at raising language awareness

chunk repetition and recycling of activities, such as summarizing a text orally one day and again a few days later to keep words and expressions that have been learned active

- guessing the meaning of vocabulary items from context

- noticing and recording language patterns and collocations

- working with dictionaries and other reference tools

- working with language corpuses created by the teacher for use in the classroom or accessible on the Internet.“

Suggestopedia was developed by Bulgarian psychotherapist Dr Georgi Lozanov

in the 1970s and "the name is from the words suggestion and pedagogy" (“Suggestopedia“) In his website, Lozanov claims that using this method means "three

to five times faster, easier and deeper learning, inner freedom, increasing the motivation for learning, joyful learning and psychol-physiological well-being."

Suggestopedia works with relaxation Lozanov further writes that it is "a science for developing different non-manipulative and non-hypnotic methods for teaching/learning of foreign languages and other subjects for every age-group on the level of reserve (potential, unused) capacities of the brain/mind" and in his website provides an extract of recommendations from international expert group of UNESCO that has tested and evaluated his method as "generally superior" and recommends using this method for teaching many subjects all over the world ( )

Teaching using this method is done in four phases: introduction, concert session, elaboration and production The introduction is a part where the teacher focuses on the grammar and lexis of the content that is going to be taught in a playful manner The concert session can be either active or passive According to Wikipedia, "in the active session, the teacher reads the text at a normal speed, sometimes intoning some words and the students follow" while "in the passive session, the students relax and listen to the teacher reading the text calmly" with music played in the background (“Suggestopedia“) Elaboration describes a phase where the students sing songs and play games with the teacher being a consultant In the production phase, the students should be able to use actively what they have learned, which means that they should be able to "speak and interact in the target language without interruption or correction" (“Suggestopedia“)

The teacher should not control the students Instead, he should be a partner to the students and participate in all activities Lozanov requires that the teacher should be trained in order to be able to elaborate professionally the intonation, rhythm and tone

He argues that it is also a very "good way to manage discipline among children" however, he insists that it is not a method of amusement as many people think because

of the good spirits within the group" because he believes that "unnatural joking aimed at relaxation does not accelerate but retards the process of education" ( )

Lozanov further recommends that the material "should be arranged and systematised in view of its easier and more profound assimilation." His other requirements concern the volume and complexity of the material which "should be on the border of the conscious mind and even partly in the peripheral perceptions or the paraconsciousness" where "much of mind’s reserves exist." Therefore, a special training

most often unknown) great personal capacities" otherwise the teacher is going to have difficulties doing his or her work

What connects the method of teaching vocabulary through music to the mentioned two approaches? The method that this work focuses on shares one common feature with suggestopedia, music It seems that music is the key element of suggestopedia making it so special The method of using popular songs to teach English also covers some aspects of the lexical approach since it includes the above mentioned

above-"intensive and extensive listening in the target language" and "repetition and recycling

of activities, such as summarizing a text orally one day and again a few days later to keep words and expressions that have been learned active" ("Lexical Approach") Some exercises created for the songs in the practical part are "guessing the meaning of vocabulary items from context", which is also one of the features of the Lexical Approach ("Lexical Approach") To sum up, the method tested by this work shares some of the characteristics of Suggestopedia and Lexical Approach, two modern foreign-language teaching methods

Moreover, using students’ favourite songs to teach vocabulary creates endless opportunities for revision and revision is fundamental for storing the information in long term memory, which is the main objective of this work, to help students learn new vocabulary forever Linhart says that "without revision, there is no learning" (1967:147) Revising the subject matter in different ways deepens students’ knowledge

It is also very important that the revision is done systematically Revising should be done also outside the classroom which is something many students have problems with However, music might help those students to overcome this problem since it has the quality of sticking in one’s head Murphey calls this ability `the song stuck in my head phenomenon` which stands for "the echoing in our minds of the last song we heard" (1992:7)

To ensure even higher probability of students’ revision, it was already mentioned that the songs were chosen to fit their taste in music Most students enjoy listening to their favourite music and this will quarantee one of the goals conditions of this work in having them revise the vocabulary in order to for them to learn the vocabulary for good

Moreover, the song itself is a source of repetition Each song consists of usually

2 verses, a bridge and a chorus The lyrics of the verses and the bridge usually differ However, the chorus usually repeats several times, therefore the lyrics of the chorus and the new vocabulary included in the chorus will probably be remembered first

There is also another theory supporting the idea of the effectiveness of the tested method This theory analyzes the effects of left and right brain on learning Lake mentions James Asher who believed that “no genuine learning can happen until there is

a switch from the left to right brain.” Lake explains this quote saying that “there must be images for the mental representation of a word in order to retain and use it.” He continues, describing people with right brain dominant personalities as those who prefer

“drawings, freedom in expressing emotions and use of metaphors Right brain people respond well to illustrated instructions and rely heavily on images in thinking or remembering.” According to Lake, “the left brain dominant individual is defined as being more verbally oriented and objective They rely on language in thinking and tend

to be analytical in their reading The left brain learner rarely uses metaphor.” He claims that music is beneficial for both type of personalities because it “uses both brain hemispheres Emotion and language are one in a song.”

This part of the work shows that the method tested by this work meets the basic criteria for effective learning such as motivation, effective teaching method and revision Songs used by this method should provide the necessary motivation for students The method of using songs to teach vocabulary includes aspects of two mordern successful approaches Moreover, the tested teaching method quarantees revision in several ways Using music also seems effective for people, with both right and left brain dominant individuals

1.6 Memory

Since memory plays the key role in learning vocabulary and a foreign language

in general, it is also going to be analysed in detail

Linhart defined memory in the following way: “memory is an organism's ability

to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information for a certain time” (1982:126) Memory can be classified in several ways The classifications are based on duration, nature and retrieval of information There are three stages in the formation and retrieval

of memory – encoding, storage and retrieval Encoding is a process of “processing and combining of received information“ (“Memory“) Storage describes a “creation of a permanent record of the encoded information” and retrieval means “calling back the stored information in response to some cue for use in a process or activity” (“Memory“)

There are several types of memory Sensory memory is defined as

“the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimulus has ceased It refers to items detected by the sensory receptors which are retained temporarily in the sensory registers and which have a large capacity for unprocessed information but are only able to hold accurate images of sensory information momentarily” (“Sensory Memory“)

It can keep the perceived information for approximately “200 – 500 milliseconds” (“Memory“) George Sperling´s experiments proved that the capacity of sensory memory is about 12 items Some of the information stored in the sensory memory proceeds to short term memory, whose capacity is also limited, and George A Miller, a professor of psychology at Princeton University, conducted experiments that revealed that its capacity was 7+2 items and its duration was from several seconds to one minute However, recent researches showed that the short term memory capacity can be increased by a process of chunking which means that people are able to store information better, once the information is presented in meaningful chunks It is also believed that short term memory relies rather on an acoustic code when storing information Conrad´s tests proved that people could not recall words that sounded similar, such as dog, hog, fog etc (“Memory“)

Thornbury also mentions working memory that he describes as “a work bench, where information is first placed, studied and moved about before being filed away for later retrieval“ (2002:23) He writes that “the material remains in working memory for about twenty seconds“ (2002:23) This is “made possible by the existence of the articulatory loop, a process of subvocal repetition, a bit like a loop of audio tape going round and round“ (2002:23) This articulatory loop, as he states, “seems to be a determining factor in the ability to learn languages: the longer the loop, the better the learner“ (2002:23)

There is also a long-term memory While short term memory is limited in capacity, the capacity of long term memory is enormous and its duration covers one´s lifetime However, Thornbury mentions the fact that long-term memory “is not always

as long-term as we would wish“ (2002:24) He points out that learnes sometimes “retain new vocabulary items the length of a lesson, but have forgotten them by the next lesson“ (2002:24) He mentions several principles that need to be observed in order to store the material in a permanent long-term memory:

- Repetition: combined with an attempt to organise the material

- Retrieval: Activities that require retrieval of the new material, such as using the new word in written sentences

- Spacing: Distributing memory work across a period of time

- Pacing: Giving the opportunity to pace learners’ own rehearsal activities

- Use: putting new words to use

- Cognitive depth: The more cognitively demanding decisions the learner makes about a word, the better the word is remembered

- Personal organising: The judgements that learners make about a word are most effective if they are personalised

- Imaging: Learners remember visualised words better and that is why it is recommended that learners associate even abstract words with some mental image

- Motivation: Strong motivation makes the learner to spend more time on rehearsal and practice

- Attention/arousal: Words that trigger a strong emotional response are more easily recalled than ones that don’t (2002: 24-25)

Using students‘ favourite songs definitely ensures repetition, motivation, personalised approach and certainly arouses students‘ attention Since the lyrics of the songs are going to be analyzed, students should always connect the words used in the song with the melody, thus associating it with a mental image

Thornbury asks “Why do we forget words? Forgetting is a natural process and according to Linhart, it “is not the opposite of learning“ (1982:139) He writes that “in order for certain information to be stored other has to be forgotten“ (1982:139) It has been estimated that up to 80 per cent of material is lost within 24 hours of initial learning, but that then the rate of forgetting levels out“ (2002:26) He mentions a study

of learners‘ retention of foreign language which revealed that “in the absence of opportunities to use the language, rapid forgetting occurred in the first three or four years after instruction, but then levelled out, with very little further loss, even up to 50 years later Forgetting may be caused by interference from subsequent learning and by insufficient recycling“ (2002:26) By interference is meant “overload of students when the price for learning new language items is the forgetting of old ones“ (2002:26) Based on this finding, “teachers are advised not to teach words in lexical sets where words have very similar meanings“ (2002:26)

Blodget believes that there is no better way for storing information in long-term

patterns better than words wedded to memorable music Because of the unique impressive nature of melodic music, students will retain grammatical structures and vocabulary for the rest of their lives." Lake argues that "the key factor to storing material in a person’s long-term memory is rehearsal Adding rhythm and melody to chunks of language invites rehearsal and transfers words into the long-term memory."

Medina states that "in the psychological research, music and its subcomponent, rhythm, have both been shown to benefit the rote memorization process When various types of verbal information (e.g., multiplication tables, spelling lists) have been presented simultaneously with music, memorization has been enhanced (Gfeller, 1983; Schuster and Mouzon, 1982) Research on the effectiveness of rhythm, a subcomponent

of music, has been equally favorable (Staples, 1968; Ryan, 1969; Weener, 1971; Shepard and Ascher, 1972; Milman, 1974) The literature also indicates that the retentive effects of rhythm can be maximized when the targeted verbal information carries meaning In several studies, a rhythmic presentation benefitted memorization when the items were both meaningful and meaningless (i.e., nonsense syllables) Yet, the impact of rhythm was greatest when the verbal information was more meaningful (Weener, 1971; Shepard and Ascher, 1971; Glazner, 1976)" (“The effects of Music Upon Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition (ERIC)“)

1.7 Summary

The objective of the theoretical part was to analyze music, its role and importance in people’s lives, history, which was important because it connected language learning and music together, the psychological effects of music, current scientific findings on using music for language teaching and of course, the general process of learning and memory playing the key part in learning vocabulary All the information was presented in order to support the potential positive effects that the method of using songs to teach English should have The knowledge gained is applied below in the practical part

2 Practical Part

2.1 Information about the students

Since the author had not other choice but to work with the following three groups, it is necessary to describe them in order to get a deeper understanding of the results of this work The songs were piloted with 3 groups of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades at an elementary school in Kroměříž The three classes are very different and teaching in those groups requires different approaches The group of the seventh class consists of mostly well-behaved students with good attitudes towards learning The groups of eighth and ninth grade consist of rather weak students of these two classes often with disciplinary problems

There are 16 children in the seventh grade, 11 girls and 5 boys As mentioned before, there are no big educational or disciplinary problems in this group However, there are two students whose level of English is very low and who have faced failing different subjects in the past One of them is a girl whose problems are caused by a high number of hours absent and who comes from a socially deprived family The other student is a boy who always disrupts the lessons Holding his attention and making him participate in the classroom is not an easy task because he is constantly busy trying to entertain his peers or doing something completely unrelated to the classroom activities Moreover, there are two girls who struggle with English, and their attitude towards the subject is not positive They are concerned with everything except what is happening in the class and rarely do they express an effort They do enjoy music, though The other rest of the class is active most of the time, trying to learn with little adolescent displays here and there, but in general, teaching these students is a pleasure Most of these students seem to love music, often listening to it on their MP3 players, and like to talk about their favourite stars

On the other hand, teaching the eighth grade is a constant battle There are 9 girls and 9 boys The biggest challenge for a teacher are three boys with considerable disciplinary or learning problems One boy has lived in a children´s home There has been a lawsuit which is constantly being suspended His parents are in the middle of a custody battle He has been living in uncertainty for more than two years now, not knowing what is going to happen with his life, which has left its effects on his emotional and psychological well-being, which is eventually the cause for all his

problems He refuses to cooperate, does whatever he wants to do and when admonished,

he becomes disrespectful, even rude to the teacher When he gets upset, he becomes uncontrollable

Another pupil causing troubles in this class is a boy who has entered this school this year with a history of bad behaviour from previous schools Some of his schoolmates have been complaining that his coming into the school has made the whole social climate of the class worse Girls have complained that boys with good behaviour became grosser He is the leader in this class and is constantly trying to get his peers attention and admiration by showing his total disrespect to the school and teachers in general He spends his time at school disrupting the lessons

Another student that stands out in the class is a boy who shows signs of a gifted student He loves physics and often represents the school at various competition He loves talking to teachers and fixing any broken objects, however, he refuses to do anything that does not interest him Unfortunately, English is not his favourite subject, therefore he spends the lessons talking to his schoolmates about the problems he is working on, ignoring the teacher’s expostulating He requires the constant supervision

of the teacher in order to work He never does any homework, and constantly forgets something

The rest of the group consists of average students with hardly any motivation to learn English and who get easily influenced by the three strong personalities Most of the class, especially the boys, but even some of the girls, like following and emulating them Most students in this class also seem to enjoy music

The ninth grade is also a class with a lot of problematic students The class consists of 9 boys and 8 girls The two strongest children are a boy and a girl who both come from bad family backgrounds The girl is raised by her grandmother The girls centered around her also try to rival her or at least not to do anything she would not approve of Some of her friends revealed that she can manipulate the whole class and that she would turn the whole class against anyone who refused to comply with her rules Therefore everyone pretends to be friends with her and cooperate with her in her actions

The already-mentioned boy was very similar to the student of the eight grade who lives in the children´s home Even though he is raised by his mother, he lacks discipline, and regards any admonition from a teacher as an offence towards him When upset, he also becomes very rude to the teacher He hardly has any friends among the

boys in the class, however he has got many adoring female admirers who try to gain his respect by behaving in a similar way He even has a criminal record with the police and has caused many problems at school

The rest of the students in the ninth grade also represent average learners with no magnificent attitude towards learning English and with slight disciplinary problems However, they are usually willing to cooperate, prepare for the classes, do their homework and pay attention during the lessons and the love for music in this group is evident

2.2 The Questionnaire

The questionnaire was given to the above-described three classes The questionnaire is in English therefore it was ensured that all the students understood all the questions asked in it Students who did not manage to fill in the questionnaire during the lesson were allowed to take it home and hand it in the following lesson

The questionnaire consists of five questions regarding their musical tastes The first two questions concern their favourite artists and songs In the first question, the students are asked to make a top ten list of their favourite singers and groups and in the second question, they are asked to make a top ten list of their favourite songs

Since there are a lot of people who do not have their favourite signers or groups, the questionnaire includes the third and the fourth question dealing with their favourite and least favourite musical genres Students are offered a list of several genres and here they are allowed to tick more than just one answer

The last question is there to find out how often the students listen to their favourite music because there is a possibility that the students who listen to their favourite music everyday might have better results learning vocabulary from the songs than those who do not listen to it as frequently or hardly ever listen to it

The students were also asked to sign the questionnaire to facilitate better evaluation of the effectiveness of this method However, they did not have to sign it if they did not want to

The questionnaire is attached in the appendix on page

2.3 The Evaluation of the Questionnaire

The results have been divided into three groups – the seventh grade, the eighth grade and the ninth grade Students were asked to make their top-ten lists of their favourite artists, songs and genres, however, any mention of an artist, a song or a genre has been considered to be a vote regardless of its position in a student’ s list The votes for each artist, song and genre have been counted and put into the following charts The entries in the charts are in alphabetical order Each chart representing students’ answers

is introduced by a quote of the question from the questionnaire Here, a maximum of first five chart positions are shown The complete results can be found in the appendix

on page

2.3.1 The Seventh Grade

There are sixteen students in the seventh grade, but only nine students filled in this questionnaire

I Make a top ten list of your favourite singers and groups

Chart position Name of the singer or

II Make a top ten list of your favourite songs

Chart position Name of the artist and

III Which of these musical genres do you like the most?

Chart position Musical genre Number of votes

IV Which of these musical genres do you like the least?

Chart position Musical genre Number of votes

Heavy Metal Punk

V How often do you listen to your favourite music?

2.3.2 The Eighth Grade

There are 18 pupils in this group out of which twelve filled in this questionnaire

I Make a top ten list of your favourite singers and groups

Chart position Name of the artist Number of votes

Linkin Park Pussy Cat Dolls

3

Iron Maiden Korn

Lordi

2

II Make a top ten list of your favourite songs

Chart position Name of the artist and

III Which of these musical genres do you like the most?

Chart position Musical genre Number of votes

IV Which of these musical genres do you like the least?

V How often do you listen to your favourite music?

2.3.3 The Ninth Grade

This group consists of eighteen pupils and the number of students who have filled this questionnaire is sixteen

I Make a top ten list of your favourite singers and groups

Chart position Name of the singer or

DJ Tiesto Good Charlotte Linkin Park Omix Rihanna

3

Kontrafakt Lordi Nirvana Prodigy Pussy Cat Dolls Red Hot Chily Peppers Rytmus

Sum 41 Tafrob Usher

2

II Make a top ten list of your favourite songs

Chart position Name of the artist and

Chart position Musical genre Number of votes

Punk Rock

7

IV Which of these musical genres do you like the least?

Chart position Musical genre Number of votes

Classical Music Musicals

11

V How often do you listen to your favourite music?

2.3.4 Overall results

The total number of students who filled the questionnaire is fifty

I Make a top ten list of your favourite singers and groups

DJ Tiesto Good Charlotte Omix

Red Hot Chily Peppers Shakira

Timbaland

3

III Make a top ten list of your favourite songs

Chart position Name of the artist and

IV Which of these musical genres do you like to most?

Chart position Musical genre Number of votes

V Which of these musical genres do you like the least?

VI How often do you listen to your favourite music?

2.3.5 The Selection of Songs

The selected songs had to meet two criteria They should be appropriate as far as the content is concerned and the lyrics should more or less correspond with the students‘ knowledge of English