Using songs and poems in teaching english into motivate students at van noi high school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES * * * NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY HÀ USING SONGS AND POEMS IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS AT VAN NOI HIGH SCHOOL (SỬ DỤNG BÀI HÁT, BÀI THƠ TRONG DẠY TIẾNG ANH NHẰM GÂY HỨNG THÚ CHO HỌC SINH TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT VÂN NỘI) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY HANOI, SEPTEMBER, 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES * * * NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY HÀ USING SONGS AND POEMS IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS AT VAN NOI HIGH SCHOOL (SỬ DỤNG BÀI HÁT, BÀI THƠ TRONG DẠY TIẾNG ANH NHẰM GÂY HỨNG THÚ CHO HỌC SINH TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT VÂN NỘI) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 HANOI, SEPTEMBER, 2011 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate’s statement Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents List of tables List of abbreviations PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Method of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Motivation 1.1.1 What is motivation? 1.1.2 Motivation and attitude 1.1.3 Motivation in second language learning 1.2 Learning English through songs 1.2.1 Reasons for using songs in the language classroom 1.2.2 How can songs be used in language teaching? 1.2.3 Choosing suitable songs and teaching procedure 1.3 Learning English through poems 1.3.1 Reasons for using poems in language classroom 1.3.2 How can poems be used in language teaching? v 1.3.3 Choosing suitable poems and teaching procedure 1.4 Previous studies in ULIS and difficulties to apply the idea of teaching English through songs and poems in high schools CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 12 14 2.1 Setting of the study 2.2 Research Questions 15 15 2.3 Research Methodology 16 2.4 Participants 16 2.5 Instruments to collect data 17 2.5.1 Questionnaires 17 2.5.2 Students’ Reflections 17 2.6 Data Collection Procedure 18 2.7 Methods of Data Analysis 19 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 20 3.1 Pre – questionnaire data and analysis 3.1.1 Students’ Motivation and Attitudes to Learning English before the 21 treatment 21 21 3.1.2 Students’ Attitudes towards Learning English through Songs and Poems before the treatment 23 3.2 Changes in Students’ Motivation and Attitudes 3.3 Attitudes towards learning English through songs and poems after the treatment 3.4 Songs and poems that students like to learn 24 26 28 vi 3.5 The Degree of suitability of songs- and poems-based activities as ranked by the students 30 3.6 Students’ reflections on learning through songs and poems 3.6.1 Students’ worksheets 31 3.6.2 Students’ sayings about learning through songs and poems: 31 3.6.3 Students’ collections of their favorite songs 31 PART C: CONCLUSION Major Findings Pedagogical Implications 2.1 Integration of songs in the teaching English in high schools 32 34 34 35 2.1.1 Choosing the song for the topic of the unit that the song is taught 35 along with 35 2.1.2 Designing tasks for the songs 2.1.3 Procedure to teach a song Integration of poems in the teaching English in high schools Choosing the poem for the topic of the unit or for the pronunciation or grammar items in the unit that the poem is taught along with: Designing tasks for the poems: 36 36 37 37 Procedure to teach a poem (These steps are quite like the ones to teach a song) 37 Limitation of the study Suggestions for further study 38 REFERENCES 38 APPENDICES 38 Appendix 1: Tieng Anh 10 Teaching Schedule 40 I I vii Appendix 2: English through songs and poems schedule Appendix 3: Pre – questionnaire Appendix 4: Post – questionnaire Appendix 5: Examples of poems in the English textbook at Lower Secondary School Appendix 6a-j: 10 worksheets of teaching English through songs and poems Appendix 7: List of Internet links to learning English through songs and poems in Vietnam Appendix 8: Students’ reflections: (extract from some of students’ song books): Thu Huyen’s diary Nguyen Thi Tu Linh’s song book Nguyen Thi Phuong’s song book LIST OF TABLES viii Table 1: Students’ motivation and attitude to learning English before the treatment Table 2: Attitude towards learning English through songs and poems before the treatment Table 3: Students’ motivation and attitude to learning English after the treatment compared with those before the treatment Table 4: Attitude towards learning English through songs and poems after the treatment: Class 10B only Table 5: Songs and poems that students preferred and their ranking Table 6: Learning relevance towards the English through songs and poems activities LIST OF ABBREAVIATIONS ix ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies EFL : English as Foreign Language TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages G1 : Experimental group G2 : Control group X : Treatment T1 : Pretest T2: Posttest PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale It is commonly believed that motivation is key to a student‟s success In today‟s classroom, keeping learners motivated is a main concern for educators Motivation stimulates the interest of students and inspires them to take part in classroom activities Therefore, one of the teacher‟s responsibilities is to find ways to motivate the students In the motivation literature, a variety of motivational strategies have been suggested, but scholars also advise teachers to apply those strategies selectively taking into consideration the learner variables such as their age, their level of proficiency, the type of the language teaching course, etc Understanding how students are motivated can help teachers engage them in the classroom “Engagement is 99% of teaching If you get students‟ attention and keep it, the lessons themselves are so much easier!” (Nicole Foley, personal interview, September 16, 2006) Knowing that importance of learning motivation, numerous studies have been carried out to investigate students‟ motivation and strategies to motivate students to learn Taking an example, among 740 M.A theses in the library of Faculty of Post – Graduate Studies in University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), there are about 24 theses on this topic It is clear that students‟ low motivation is common problem in schools, not only at Van Noi High School Various ways have been tried to motivate their students to learn English such as using folktales, songs, language games, visual aids, examination taking strategy training, etc And they got the certain results There are two things that make humans different from all other animals They are language and music (Tieng Anh 10,2006:124) Music, along with the other arts, invites the imagination to work, and provides learners with opportunities to make choices, both collaboratively, and alone Music enhances our students' motivation to learn, and improves upon their engagement and retention In fact, teenagers and music are inseparable Therefore, songs have been widely used in language teaching Songs relax and get rid of negative emotion Many songs are poems in themselves or the lyrics of the songs are very rich in poetry Both songs and poems are authentic materials which are written with the writers‟ real emotion and the words are chosen for their beauty and sounds are carefully arranged According to Murphey (1992:3) songs are highly memorable and motivating in language learning and “its motivational appeal is present to many different types of learners.” Although poems are not as popular to students as songs, Appendix 6j Lesson plan: English Pronunciation Poem (Teil Drei) teacher gives handouts of the poem to students teacher plays the audio recorded poem for students to listen while looking at the poem, pay attention to the bold and italic letters students practice reading along with the tape Teacher explains some stress and pronunciation rules in the poem Teacher calls some good students to read aloud each small parts Students are asked to practice the poem at home, try to learn by heart some favorite parts XXVII Here is more pronunciation Ration never rhymes with nation, Say prefer, but preferable, Comfortable and vegetable B must not be heard in doubt, Debt and dumb both leave it out In the words psychology, Say the a in gas quite short, Bought remember rhymes with thwart, Drought must always rhyme with bout, In daughter leave the g h out Psychic, and psychiatry, Wear a boot upon your foot Root can never rhyme with soot You must never sound the p Psychiatrist you call the man In muscle, s and c is s, Who cures the complex, if he can In muscular, it's s k, yes! In architect ch is k In arch it is the other way Then remember it's address Please remember to say iron With an accent like posses So that it'll rhyme with lion G in sign must silent be, Advertisers advertise, In signature, pronounce the g Advertisements will put you wise Please remember, say towards Time when work is done is leisure, Fill it up with useful pleasure Accidental, accident, Sound the g in ignorant Just as if it rhymed with boards Weight's like wait, but not like height Which should always rhyme with might Sew is just the same as so, Choir must always rhyme with wire, That again will rhyme with liar Relative, but relation, Tie a ribbon in a bow When you meet the Queen you bow, Which again must rhyme with how Then say creature, but creation In perfect English make a start Learn this little rhyme by heart Appendix XXVIII List of Internet links to learning English through songs and poems in Vietnam Learning English through songs in Vietnam http://www.tienganhonline.com/index.php/Table/GIẢITRÍ/VỪANGHEVỪAHỌC/ http://hoctienganhtructuyen.net/hoc-tieng-anh-theo-bai-hat http://forum.ueh.vn/forums/285-Learning-English-by-songs http://loidich.com/mienphi.php?r=788745 http://hoctienganh.org.vn/hoc-english-qua-bai-hat.html http://www.tienganh123.com/hoc-tieng-anh-qua-bai-hat/p/2 http://www.globaledu.com.vn/Song.aspx http://baidich.com/?id=11042 http://thunglunghoahong.com/ForeignLanguage/? action=Detail&lID=18&tID=71 8&cID=728&Page=1 10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTUckOzJZLw 11 http://aroma.vn/hoc-tieng-anh-qua-cac-bai-hat-tieng-anh-bat-hu-hay-nhat/ Learning English through poems in Vietnam http://tienganh.com.vn/showthread.php?t=22007 http://tailieu.vn/xem-tai-lieu/doc-tho-hoc-ngu-phap.180763.html Appendix XXIX Students’ reflections: (extract from some of students’ song books): What students thought and said about learning English through songs and poems: Nguyen Thu Huyen from Class 10B (the original was in Vietnamese, which was scanned and enclosed in pages XXXII - XXXIII ) “My diary ( extract from Huyen’s diary on May 7th, 2011) English is our must to learn It is very important To learn English well, we have many ways Among the ways, learning English through songs and poems is an interesting and useful one, which helps us improve our English When we did not know English, we felt nothing when listening to English songs But since our new teacher taught us how to learn English through songs and poems, our class have been specially interested in English songs And when teacher’s assignment was about copying and translating our favorite songs, it was our hot topic everyday in class We copied the lyrics, sang the song, and corrected other’ mistakes… All the members looked like professional singers The atmosphere of the coming – to – end days of the school year was really exciting Everyone seemed to have a common thinking, common action That is the grateful saying to the one who has great influence on changing our view in English Our classmates now become closer to one another through the singing activities The also learn some more benefits from learning English As for me, I love this subject than ever, find it very interesting when listening to English songs We want to say thank you to you, our dear teacher!” Two examples of students’ copy of song lyrics, Vietnamese translations and their feelings when listening to the songs (extracts from students’ song books) When you believe – Nguyen Thi Tu Linh from Class 10B- pages:XXXIV XXXVII A little love – Nguyen Thi Phuong from Class 10B –pages: XXXVIII   XL Two CDs of songs to learn – collected from the students’ most favorite songs with the lyrics were designed for the listening task XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII XXXIX Two CDs of songs to learn – Favorite song collections from 10B XL XLI ... motivation in learning English - To find out what kind of songs and poems can make high school students motivated - To find out which class activities are suitable for using songs and poems at a high. .. hoped that the following implications on using songs and poems in motivate students are helpful to language teachers 2.1 Integration of songs in the teaching English in high schools 2.1.1 Choosing... grade at a high school to see if there are differences in students? ?? attitude towards using songs and poems in learning English The potential of using songs and poems to motivate students is great