Journal of listening using English songs by Ghanbari and Hashemian

THE EFFECTS OF ENGLISH SONGS ON YOUNG LEARNERS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION AND PRONUNCIATION 

Fariba Ghanbari (Corresponding author) 

&

Mahmood Hashemian

 

In this journal, the authors, Fariba Ghanbari and Mahmood Hashemian have explain that incorporating songs into language teaching curricula is an indispensable asset helping to improve all language skills, especially listening comprehension and pronounciation. In this journal also shows that the result of this study is the use of songs in the L2 classrooms can make learning more enjoyable and interesting. At the same time, students learn the target language and feel comfortable in a relaxing atmosphere.

For this purpose, 60 male and female elementary L2 learners with the age range of 8 to 11 were randomly selected form two language schools in Isfahan, Iran, and were assigned to 4 groups: 2 experimental groups with 1 containing 15 males and the other 15 females. There were also 2 control groups with 1 containing 15 males and the other 15 females. To ascertain that the experimental group and the control group were homogeneous, all the groups took a pretest. An independent-samples t-test was performed to analyze the data obtained on the pretest. In addition, a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized in order to come up with the answers to the questions of the study. The results revealed that utilizing songs in L2 classes had a positive effect on the L2 learners’ listening comprehension and pronunciation skills. It was also found that there was no significant difference between the male and female learners’ performance in obtaining better results in listening comprehension and pronunciation.

Other skills and areas, e.g. vocabulary, might be affected by songs as well. Finally, there is a host of strategies that could be used for the improvement of listening comprehension and pronunciation; the focus of this study was placed only on English songs. Future studies could take into consideration the variables which were excluded in the present research.