The Using Song To Improve Vocab
The Using Song To Improve Vocab
The Using Song To Improve Vocab
Rizky Gushendra
State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau, Indonesia
ricky82pku@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
memorizing the vocabulary is different. words that is sung. Song is also a great
Besides that, the writer found that the language package that bundles culture,
ability of the students in pronouncing vocabulary, listening, grammar and a
vocabulary is bad. Because in host of other language skills in just a
pronouncing vocabulary, the students few rhymes. Songs can also provide a
must know how to pronounce relaxed lesson on a hot boring day.
vocabulary because English vocabulary
Almost everyone loves songs. It is
is not the same with Bahasa Indonesia
a part of our language and life from
in pronouncing vocabulary. And then,
before birth onwards. As a baby, we
the students have difficulty to use
often hear our mother and father sing a
vocabulary in sentences. It is caused by
song to deliver us sleep in the bedroom.
the different kinds of word classes in
When young children, we play, sing,
English vocabulary, such as noun,
and dance to a rhyme. As adolescents,
pronoun, verb 1, verb 2, verb 3, helping
we consume the beat of popular songs
verb, etc.
artist in the world. As adults, we often
Therefore, the teachers should hear song on television, movies, theater,
have several strategies to make their and even nightly news. When we work,
students motivated to learn English. The when we play, song is there to reinforce
learners need a way of teaching that is or every mood and emotion.
enjoyable and practical so that finally
they can integrate themselves into Vocabulary Mastery
English, for example singing English According to Cameron (2001:78),
songs can get the students integrated to vocabulary skill included:
English. It is assumed that they can pronunciation, spelling, grammar and
contribute many things to improve meaning.
student’s capabilities, especially in their 1. Pronunciation
skill elements, such as vocabulary Pronunciation is one of the aspects
enrichment, listening and speaking. that have a great influence of
Singing English song is believed to vocabulary. “Pronunciation is the
have direct influence on the way in which a particular person
pronunciation skills. This paper tries to pronounces the word of a language”
find out whether songs can improve (Wehmeler, 2003:1057). Children
achievement in vocabulary. need to hear a new word in foreign
language in order they can notice
From the phenomena, the
the sound at the beginning and at the
researcher tried to reduce the problems
end, the stress pattern of the word.
of the students’ vocabulary, therefore,
There is different pronunciation
the writer had a study on improving
between English and Indonesia
students’ vocabulary mastery by using
vocabularies, as it is stated by
English songs. However, the writer
Sailun (2001:24): “Every language
formulated a research question on how
has special phonemes. English has
English songs improves the students’
different sound with Indonesia/
vocabulary mastery at SMPN 1 Kampar
Malaysia sound. therefore, students
Timur.
have problems in pronunciation. the
B. Review of Related Literature students have difficulties for some
reasons. The first reason, of course,
According to Hornby (1990, is that some sounds of English do
p.1133), song is a piece of music with not exist in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The phoneme / o / (thin) and / θ / example, we might give also its past
(this) are found of course, it is not form. If this is irregular (think,
appeared both English and thought) and we might note if
Indonesia. Thus, in learning transitive or intransitive is.
pronunciation, one must learn or not Similarly, when teaching a noun the
only to form sound correctly, but teacher may wish to present its
also to use them in the correctly plural form, if irregular (mouse,
place. mice) or draw students’ attention to
” Ur (1997:54) gives his ideas in the fact that it has no plural at all
helping students’ pronunciation: (advice, information). The eacher
1. Imitating teacher or recorded may present verb such as want and
model of sound word and enjoy together with the verb form
sentences that follows them (want to,
2. Recording of learner speech, enjoying) or adjectives or verb
contrasted with native model together with their following
3. Systematic explanation and prepositions.
instruction (including detail of 4. Meaning
the structure and movement of Nation and Cameron (2001:85)
part of the mouth) argue ways to explain the meaning
4. Imitation drill, repetition of of new words in the young learner
sounds, words and sentences classroom that is by using an object,
5. Choral repetition of drill a cut-out figure, gesture, performing
6. Varied repetition of drill and action, photograph, drawing or
7. Tongue twister diagram on the board, and pictures
8. Learning and performing dialog from story books. Actually, finding
9. Self-correction through listening the meaning for the new foreign
to recording of own speech language word is the amount of
mental work done by the learner
2. Spelling
affects well a new word is engraved
Children also need to know the
in memory, the students have to
letters and syllables that make up
think it’s about word and meaning,
the word that is called spelling.
the more likely they are to
“Spelling is the act of forming
remember it. Ur (1997:62) says that
words correctly from individual
to find the meaning it can be done
letter or the way that a word is
through translation that is word in
spelt” (Wehmeler, 2003:1293).
learners’ mother tongue that are
3. Grammar
equivalent in meaning to the item
Grammatical information is tied into
being taught. It can be concluded
words, and learning words can take
that pronunciation, spelling,
students along the way into
grammar and meaning are the
grammar. This suggests that if we
indicators of vocabulary mastery.
give a high priority to vocabulary,
we are not thereby abandoning The Use of Song as Authentic
grammar. (Cameron, 2001:72). Ur Listening Material
(1997:61) also points out that: The
grammar of vocabulary need to be The use of authentic materials is
taught if this is not obviously an important factor to take into
covered by the grammatical rules. consideration when designing listening
When teaching a new verb, for skill materials. By using such listening
taken from reading text. It means that There are various ways of using
she integrates vocabulary with reading. songs in the classroom. The level of the
This integration will lead to integrative students, the interests and the age of the
lesson plan. learners, the grammar point to be
studied, and the song itself have
In some literature, we found the determinant roles on the procedure.
meaning of vocabulary. There are some Apart from them, it mainly depends on
definitions of vocabulary. Vocabulary is the creativity of the teacher.
a component of language that maintains
all of information about meaning and At the primary level of singing the
using word in language. song, the prosodic features of the
language are emphasized. At the higher
Vocabulary is a component of levels, where the practice of grammar
language and numbers of words by a points is at the foreground, songs can be
person class, profession, etc. In the used with several techniques. Some
communication and every aspect of life examples of these techniques are:
such as in trade, education, business,
social, politic, etc. a. Gap fills or closes texts
b. Focus questions
Nation (2001) has divided c. True-false statements
vocabulary in the specific reference, d. Put these lines into the correct
such a word. sequence
a. Receptive Vocabulary: Knowing a e. Dictation
word involves being able to f. Add a final verse
recognize it when it is heard (What g. Circle the antonyms/synonyms of
is the sound like?) or when it is the given words
seen (What does it look like?) and h. Discuss
having an expectation of what On the other hand, procedure of
grammatical pattern the word will songs activity can be done by steps
occur. This includes being able to below:
distinguish it from words with a
similar form and being able to a. Pre-listening
judge if the word form sounds right 1) As a warm-up or schema building
or look right. activity, ask students what they
b. Productive Vocabulary: Knowing a know about American pop culture.
word involves being able to You might also want to bring some
pronounce the word, how to write pictures or CD's of popular actors
and to spell it, how to use it in or singers to class.
grammatical pattern along with the 2) Pass out the cloze activity handout,
word in usually collocate with it, and have students read the lyrics
it also involves not using the word and figure out what the missing
too often if it is typically a low words might be by using their
frequency word and using it in a knowledge of grammar. Have the
suitable situation using the word to students compare their guesses with
stand for the meaning it represents their neighbors. Then, ask for
and being able to think of suitable volunteers to share their guesses
substitutes for the word if there is with the class.
any. b. While-listening
Students listen for the missing their ability to listen and understand
words. Play the song once, and ask the world around them (Brown,
students whether they need to listen 2006).
to the song again. If they do, play it
one more time. The other benefits of using songs
in the classroom are songs can be used:
c. Post-listening a. to present a topic, a language point,
After the second listening, go over lexis, etc.
the answers with the class. If b. to practice a language point, lexis,
necessary, replay the parts where etc.
students had trouble understanding c. to focus on common learner errors
the words. Go over grammar points
in a more direct way.
as necessary. d. to encourage extensive and
However, in teaching listening by intensive listening.
songs, there are three stages; pre- e. to stimulate discussion of attitudes
listening, while-listening, and post- and feelings.
listening. Beside of that, the f. to encourage creativity and use of
activity can be formed gap fills or imagination.
close texts, true-false statements, g. to provide a relaxed classroom
and dictation. atmosphere.
h. to bring variety and fun to learning.
By using songs in the classroom,
students can practice their listening From explanation above, it’s
skills and increase their cultural considered that songs have many
knowledge. Almost any song can benefits. Some of them are songs can
be used in the ESL classroom. The motivate the students and make them
pronunciation and rhythm lessons more confidence in their ability to listen
are the same as for the children's the materials.
songs and the lessons may help Based on the phenomena found by
students become more interested in the writer, the alternative way to
different types of songs. Practicing improve students’ vocabulary mastery is
lyric reading, studying the by using songs. The operational concept
vocabulary, and listening to various can be drawn in theoretical framework
songs can help students become
table as follow:
more familiar with popular songs
and make them more confident in
Table 1. The Theoretical Framework of the Research
Improving students’ vocabulary
mastery by using songs Theory
Element Indicators
Memorizing The students are able to (British Council English Online Teacher: A
vocabulary memorize vocabulary Framework for Planning a Listening Skills
of daily activities. Lesson, n.d.)
of daily activities.
Using The students are able to (British Council English Online Teacher: A
vocabulary use vocabulary of daily Framework for Planning a Listening Skills
in sentences activities in sentences. Lesson, n.d.)
numbers of students are 54. Before divided it into two classes, named by
taking the sample of the students, the experimental and control classes by
writer gave the multiple-choice test to using technique of randomization
them, and then the writer divided (Cohen, 2001). After the writer gave the
groups according to the categories. test, so the sample of this research can
Furthermore, the writer took the sample be seen as follow:
from middle to low categories and
Table 2. The Sample of the Research
Sample Total
Experiment Control
20 20 40
Experiment Control
No. Students
Score Category Score Category
1 Student 1 65 Good 45 Bad
2 Student 2 50 Bad 40 Bad
3 Student 3 65 Good 55 Bad
Experiment Control
No. Students
Score Category Score Category
1 Student 1 90 Excellent 80 Very good
2 Student 2 85 Very good 65 Good
3 Student 3 85 Very good 75 Good
4 Student 4 80 Very good 80 Very good
5 Student 5 85 Very good 60 Good
6 Student 6 85 Very good 65 Good
7 Student 7 90 Excellent 60 Good
8 Student 8 95 Excellent 70 Good
9 Student 9 80 Very good 55 Bad
10 Student 10 85 Very good 60 Good
11 Student 11 95 Excellent 45 Bad
12 Student 12 80 Very good 65 Good
13 Student 13 75 Good 60 Good
14 Student 14 65 Good 70 Good
15 Student 15 55 Bad 60 Good
16 Student 16 80 Very good 65 Good
17 Student 17 80 Very good 60 Good
18 Student 18 85 Very good 70 Good
19 Student 19 85 Very good 45 Bad
20 Student 20 85 Very good 55 Bad
From the table above, we can highest score was 65 and the lowest
know the total score of pre-test for score was 40. The total score of pre-test
experimental group was 975, while the for control group was 970, while the
highest score was 65 and the lowest and the lowest score was 55. The total
score was 40. And the total score of score of post-test for control group was
post-test for experimental group was 1265, while the highest score was 80
1645, while the highest score was 95 and the lowest score was 45.
a. Descriptive Analysis
Table 5. The Result of Pre-Test on Experiment and Control Group
Statistics
Experiment_Class Control_Class
N Valid 20 20
Missing 0 0
Mean 48.75 48.50
Median 50.00 47.50
Mode 40 40
Std. Deviation 10.114 7.626
Variance 102.303 58.158
Range 40 25
Minimum 25 40
Maximum 65 65
Sum 975 970
From the table Pre-Test above on and Sum was 975. On the other hand, in
the experimental and control classes Control class, Mean was 48.50, Median
found that: in Experiment class, Mean was 47.5, Mode was 40, Standard
was 48.75 Median was 50, Mode was Deviation was 7.626, Variance was
40, Standard Deviation was 10.114 , 58.158, Range was 25, Minimum was
Variance was 102.303, Range was 40, 40, Maximum was 65 and Sum was
Minimum was 25, Maximum was 65 970.
Table 6. The Result of Post-Test on Experiment and Control Group
Statistics
Experiment_Class Control_Class
N Valid 20 20
Missing 0 0
Mean 82.25 63.25
Median 85 62.5
Mode 85 80
Std. Deviation 9.244 9.497
Variance 85.481 90.197
Range 40 35
Minimum 55 45
Maximum 95 80
Sum 1645 1265
From the table of the Post-Test was 95 and Sum was 1645. While, in
above on the experimental and control Control class, Mean was 63.25, Median
classes, it was found that: in Experiment was 62.5, Mode was 80, Standard
class, Mean was 82.25, Median was 85 , Deviation was 9.497, Variance was
Mode was 85 , Standard Deviation was 90.197, Range was 35, Minimum was
9.244 , Variance was 85.481, Range 45, Maximum was 80 and Sum was
was 40 , Minimum was 55 , Maximum 1265.
b. Inferential Analysis
Table 7. Independent Samples Test
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Std.
Mean
Sig. (2- Error
F Sig. t df Differe Lower Upper
tailed) Differ
nce
ence
Equal
variances .230 .634 6.411 38 .000 19.000 2.964 13.001 24.999
assumed
Equal
Vocabular
variances
y mastery
not 37.9
6.411 .000 19.000 2.964 13.000 25.000
assumed 72
From the above table, the significant value was 0.000 higher than alpha 0.05,
which meant the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. Therefore, using songs
significantly affected toward the students’ vocabulary mastery.
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