JoLIE 6/2013

TEACHING GRAMMAR THROUGH MUSIC

Camelia Alinte
Primary and Lower Secondary School, Daia Română, Romania

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the practical ways in which English grammar can be
taught to lower secondary students. The purpose of this research was to investigate the
effectiveness of using songs in teaching grammar to second language students. It also
sought to explore the effects of song-based grammar instruction on both students’
motivation and classroom atmosphere, as well as to assess teachers’ perception regarding
the use of songs in teaching grammar.
In order to achieve the purpose, an experiment was carried out over one school
semester. The 34 students in the seventh grade were assigned as a control group and an
experimental group based on the results in the pre-test. Both groups were taught by the
same teacher and using the same teaching programme with one difference: the control
group performed a traditional grammar-based exercise programme, while for the
experimental group a song-based practice was used.
To collect data tests, questionnaires and field notes were used. All data was
discussed in relation to the research questions and hypothesis.
The experimental group students reported that songs helped them learn more and
also increased their level of motivation. The songs had a positive effect on the classroom
atmosphere. The students also believe that songs as a teaching method are fun and create a
learning environment that encourages interaction between students and teachers,
encourages active participation and enables students to demonstrate and apply previously or
newly acquired language knowledge.
It is also to be noted that the results on the level of grammatical knowledge in the
grammar post-tests show that there is no significant difference between the two groups of
students. However, the main finding does not support the common perception regarding the
validity of songs as a recommended learning and teaching strategy that emerged from most
of the literature review presented in Chapter 2.

Key words: English grammar; Teaching through songs; Lower secondary school students.

1 Introduction

“Grammar is a process for making a speaker’s or writer’s meaning clear when

contextual information is lacking.” (Thornbury 2002: 4). The same author also
8 Camelia ALINTE

defines grammar as “a description of the rules for forming sentences, including an

account of the meaning that these forms convey” (Thornbury 2002: 13).
Learning a foreign language is a complicated and demanding task which
sometimes can be demotivating and frustrating. Constant effort is needed in order
to understand and produce the target language. As Penny Ur states: “there is no
doubt that a knowledge – implicit or explicit – of grammatical rules is essential for
the mastery of a language: you cannot use words unless you know how they should
be put together.” (Ur 2006: 4). Teachers have always found grammar demanding
and difficult to teach, but students need to be proficient in order to be successful in
standardized tests (such as KET, FCE, and CAE) and college entrance exams, and
also in their improvement of the communication skills. Children have an amazing
ability to absorb language through play, music, jokes or anything which they can
find enjoyable.
This paper deals with music used to teach grammar, since grammar has an
important place in the classroom and students always fount grammar difficult to
understand. The objective of the work is to measure the effectiveness of using
songs to teach grammar.

2 Literature Review

English is with no doubt a universal language. English is not an official language in

most European countries, but it is the language most taught as a second language in
schools. English is most widely used in communication around the world.
Teaching foreign languages in Romania was a dramatic process that
depended on the very history of the country and bore the mark of the succeeding
leading ideologies. In order to understand the present status of education in
Romania, we have to look back and analyse its past. In 1966 Romania introduced
the teaching of the first foreign language (English, French, German, Russian) in the
second grade and the second foreign language in the sixth grade. (Cunita, Popa,
Drăghicescu, Dorobăţ 1997: 16, Iatcu 2005). The system functioned well until
1978 when the idea of early foreign language learning was dropped. During the
communist period, Russian was the main language taught in Romania and German
was the second most common. In the 1980’s, due to the politics of the communist
party, not only English was on the verge of extinction.
Nowadays, all schools in Romania have foreign language programs and
students must study two foreign languages. The first foreign language should be
studied at an advanced level and the second one at a more basic level. In some
cases there are more than two foreign languages available to study and the student
can choose from several. Many schools offer bilingual courses.
Nowadays, the top language taught in our country is English, according to
the results of 2008’s “Key Data on Teaching Languages at Schools in Europe”
published by The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency
(EACEA). Modern languages are taught from the third grade, at the age of nine. In
 Teaching grammar through music 9

the fifth grade, when pupils are eleven, the second foreign language is introduced.
Pupils continue to study both of the languages until they finish school, at the age of
eighteen or nineteen.
The study of grammar in Romanian schools is still considered important,
and despite vast attempts at transforming the language teaching/learning process
into an exclusively communicative one, devoid of specialist grammar
metalanguage, both teacher and students feel that grammar still has its role in the
classroom.
The Longman Exam Dictionary offers a definition of grammar as “the
rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences, or the
study of these rules”. As we can see, two basic elements of grammar are involved
in this definition – the rules and the study of the rules. In “Teaching and Learning
Grammar”, Harmer (1987: 1) emphasizes that grammar is “the way in which words
change themselves and group together to make sentences. The grammar of a
language is what happens to words when they become plural, negative, or what
word is used when we make questions or join two clauses to make one sentence.”
Penny Ur (2006: 4) also defined the term “grammar” as “the way language
manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of
meaning”.
Those traditional definitions are supported by Nunan (2008), who defined
grammar in a communicative way as well. Nunan states that grammar is a resource
that enables us to “get things done, make choices, express ourselves as individuals,
and articulate our feelings and attitudes”. Therefore, grammar is not only the rules
and the structure of a language, it is a means of communication and it helps people
succeed in communicating with others.
According to Thornbury (2002), grammar is a process which makes
meaning clear where contextual information is absent. Grammar communicates
meanings, the meanings of a very precise kind, which are different from those of
vocabulary. Thornbury formulates such rule of thumb as “the more context, the less
grammar” (Thornbury 2002: 4).
Grammar and grammar teaching has played an important role in language
learning and acquisition for many people. No-grammar teaching will lead to the
product of non-standard foreign languages, which means that grammar teaching is
essential for language teaching. However, the question whether or not should
attention be placed on grammar teaching is still controversial, especially since the
Communicative Language Teaching approach gained popularity. Those supporting
the view that there is no point in paying attention to grammar teaching argued
mastering all the rules of a language can not help learners communicate in real life.
In sum, teaching and learning grammar is extremely important, and it is a part of
foreign language teaching in order to help learners gain their communicative
competence in that language.
Tanya Cotter said in her article called ‘Planning a grammar lesson’ (2005)
that “Without grammar, words hang together without any real meaning or sense. In
order to be able to speak a language to some level of proficiency and to be able to
10 Camelia ALINTE

say what we really want to say, we need to have some grammar knowledge. By
teaching grammar we not only give our students the means to express themselves,
but we also fulfil their expectations of what learning a foreign language involves.
Fortunately, nowadays with the emphasis on a communicative approach and a
wealth of stimulating resources, teaching grammar does not necessarily mean
endless conjugation of verbs or grammar translation.”
Why should music be appropriate for teaching a foreign language? The
answer is simple. Songs constitute perfect texts which can be used for a great
number of learning activities in the language classroom. Music has always played
an essential role in people’s lives, especially in young people’s lives. Teenagers
love to talk about music and their favourite artists; it is an important part of their
everyday communication.
Nowadays, it is almost impossible to escape music. You can listen to music
everywhere: films, advertisements, on the radio, in most shops, in public places and
also in restaurants. It is used during all major moments in someone’s life.
Music is a frequent topic in everyday communication and it is present,
intentionally or unintentionally, in people’s lives. Because of this, music can
represent a great advantage for the teachers when they want to use the method of
teaching English grammar through songs. When students listen to a song, there is
an increased possibility to revise the previously taught material.
Murphey (1992: 9) added up a 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”. Murphey (1992: 8) also states 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”.
Mark Hancock (1998: 7) discusses the possibility of using songs in the
classroom under three headings: listening, language and topic. When discussing
about listening, he states that “Songs can provide practice in listening skills. Warm-
up work can provide a basis for students to make predictions before listening.
Listening activities can encourage listening for gist or listening for detail.
Speaking, reading and writing skills may be involved in follow-up activities.”
When referring to songs being used in the classroom to focus on the form of
language, he includes suggestions on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. He
points out that “songs can be used as a sample of language to be analyzed. This
could involve activities such as the students answering concept questions about
 Teaching grammar through music 11

grammar features in the song, searching the song for antonyms or identifying
certain pronunciation patterns. Secondly, the song can be used as an exercise.
Students can do gap-fills, transformations, pronunciation drills, and so on using the
lyrics. In either case, the student can make use of the mnemonic quality of songs:
the way words are much more memorable in combination with rhythm and melody.
Students can call given language forms to memory simply by singing the song
mentally”. Songs can also be used for discussion and extension activities about
their topic. Hancock suggests that “characters in the song can be used as a basis for
role play, letter writing, and so on. The plot of the song can be a basis for story
telling and imaginative reconstruction. Poetry in the song can be interpreted and
converted into prose. The musical style of the song and its cultural background can
be discussed”.

3. Research Methodology

The study also seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How is the procedure of teaching grammar using songs?
2. Is teaching grammar using songs effective to improve students’ grammar?
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of teaching grammar by using songs for
students’ achievement?
4. What is the English teachers’ opinion regarding the use of songs in teaching
grammar?
The questions were formulated as the research hypothesis: teaching
English grammar using songs will improve the quality of students’ grammar
knowledge.
The experiment is based on three types of variables: independent variables,
dependent variables and controlled variables.
Independent variables represent what we change in the experiment. The
independent variable in our experiment is the teaching technique used in the
classroom in order to achieve the intended objectives. In the control group the
independent variable is held at a normal level, the teaching and learning process
being conducted as usual. The purpose of this research is to show what would
normally happen in the classroom and compare this to what happens when the
independent variable is changed. This shows whether the independent variable
introduced in the experiment is really responsible for the observations made in the
experiment. In the experimental group a different way of practicing the grammar
rules was used. The presentation and explanations of the grammar rules were
conducted in the same way for both groups, but the reinforcing and practising were
different, the experimental group using songs while the control group used only
grammatical exercises.
Dependent variables represent what is being measured in the experiment.
In our case, the dependent variable represents the students’ performance and
competences in English. It can be stated that the students’ behaviour and attitude
12 Camelia ALINTE

can be another dependent variable because variations in the teaching method used
can have many different effects.
Any other conditions are called controlled variables, which must be kept
constant in the experiment or the result of the experiment won’t be a valid one. In
the experiment everything was done to keep some variables under control: the
setting, the teacher, the teaching approach regarding the explanation of the
grammatical rules.
a) The setting for this research was the school in Daia Română, located near
Sebeş, Alba County. The school offers French and English classes, French
being the first studied foreign language for the students from grades sixth
to eighth. Starting with the year 2009, the school introduced English as the
first studied modern language.
b) The teacher. According to the curriculum framework for grades I-VIII, the
seventh grade has two classes of English a week. Having a Peace Corps
volunteer in the school means that one class is taught by me, the regular
English teacher and one class is taught by the volunteer.
c) Teaching programme. The two groups were taught according to the same
teaching plan, the syllabus being elaborated in accordance with the
curriculum and the textbook. The experiment was conducted during the
first semester of the school year 2011-2012, from September to December
2011. Both groups received an equal amount of instruction time over 15
weeks (one lesson a week, 50 minutes each).
The instructional programme had the same structure for both control and
experimental groups, but the teaching method was different. For the control group
mostly traditional teaching methods, using the textbook, worksheets, and grammar
exercises from the workbook or other grammar exercise books were used. For the
experimental group, the teaching and the explanation part of the lesson was
conducted in the same way as for the control group. The difference was that songs
were used in practising of the grammar rules taught.
The students who participated in this experiment are in the seventh A and
B. There are 34 students in each grade: 15 girls and 19 boys. There are 9 boys and
9 girls in the seventh A an 6 girls and 10 boys in the seventh B, as it can se
observed in figure 1.III. They all study French as the first foreign language and
English as the second studied foreign language. All the students in the two groups
are children from Daia Română village and they have been studying English for
two years.
I also applied a questionnaire to the teachers in Sebeş and Alba Iulia area
which aimed to assess the teachers’ perceptions of songs and the use of songs as a
teaching technique. 25 teachers were questioned in order to find out the teachers’
perceptions.
This research study uses an experimental design as the main method,
which includes both quantitative and qualitative elements. The study tries to
quantify the aspects which refer to students’ learning in second language grammar
as well as to discuss some qualitative elements.
 Teaching grammar through music 13

The instruments of this research were songs containing different grammatical

items, tests, field notes and questionnaires.
a) Songs
This research study aimed at studying the use of songs as a method for teaching
grammar. In this respect different songs in relation to the grammatical item taught
were used.
b) Tests
Tests were used in the study as an instrument for collecting data. Two tests were
given to the students: a pre-test and a post-test. The purpose of the pre-test was to
assess the students’ knowledge before conducting the experiment and to decide
which the experimental group is and which the control group is. The group with the
higher mean was the control group and the experimental group was the one that got
the lower mean. It was decided to assign the experimental group to the students
who had the lower mean because we wanted to prove that by using the method of
teaching English with songs, the group’s grades can be improved.
A post-test was given to the students to allow researcher to compare the
final post-test results between the two groups: the experimental and the control
group. The post-test gives us an idea of the effectiveness of the independent
variable, which is in our case the teaching method. The pre-test and the post-test
were the same for the two groups.
c) Field notes
Field notes were used during the entire study in order to observe the situation of the
class. By using field notes the researcher could observe students’ attitude in the
classroom, if they were enthusiastic and raising their hands. If the students did
what they were asked to do in the class, we may conclude that they were active and
motivated. Students’ performance was also a component which could be observed
during the English classes.
Field notes were a valuable source for gathering information. The
reflections on the teaching methods and on the students’ learning were realizes
with the help of field notes. The notes were taken soon after the end of the class or
while students were listening. They were focused on how students responded
towards the teaching materials and the grammar practice.
d) Questionnaires
Three questionnaires were used during this experiment: two questionnaires for the
students and one questionnaire for English teachers.
The first questionnaire was given to both control and experimental group in
order to asses the students’ perception of songs and music in general. For the
second questionnaire, the respondents were chosen from the experimental group,
because the instrument aimed to rate activity effectiveness from the students’ point
of view. The two sets of questionnaire were designed in English. However, the
questions are not difficult for the students to understand. Moreover, the teacher was
willing to answer any questions about what the students did not understand.
14 Camelia ALINTE

The teachers’ questionnaire aimed to asses teachers’ perceptions of songs

and teaching grammar using songs. It was used during the pre-experiment stage to
support the primary data collected by the teaching activities and the test.

3 Findings and Interpretation

3.1 Post-test results

The grades that the students from both groups received at the post-test are
presented in Table 1:

Table 1. Students’ grades in the post-test

Grade 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
35% - 45% - 55% - 65% - 75% - 85% - 95% -
Percentage of accuracy
44% 54% 64% 74% 84% 94% 100%
The number of students in
the experimental group who 1 2 6 4 3 1 1
obtained the grade
The number of students in
the control group who 2 3 3 3 3 1 1
obtained the grade

From the results of the post-test administered to the students it can be

observed that 1 student (5.55%) from the experimental group failed the test,
receiving grades between 3 and 4, 12 students (66.67%) got grades between 5 and
7 and 5 students (27.78%) got grades between 8 and 10. The results from the post-
test for the control group show that 2 students (12.5%) failed the test, 9 students
(56.25%) received a grade between 5 and 7 and 5 students (31.25%) received
grades between 8 and 10.
The distribution of the grades in the experimental group and in the control
group can be seen in the following figure:

Figure 1 Post-test results for the control and experimental group

Post-test results for the experimental and
the control group

5
Frequency of the grade

3
Experimental
group
2 Control
group
1

0
35% - 45% - 55% - 65% - 75% - 85% - 95% -
44% 54% 64% 74% 84% 94% 100%
Percentage of accuracy
 Teaching grammar through music 15

3.2 Significance of difference between scores of the experimental and control group

To analyse the students’ performance we need to compare the results of the

students form both groups in terms of the grades achieved at the post-test and pre-
test and also the post-test mean scores between the experimental group and the
control group.
First, a within-group analysis was carried out to compare the difference
among the students’ language level in each group. There were 18 students in the
experimental group. In this group, 5 students got a grade between 3 and 4, 11
students got a grade between 5 and 7 and only 2 students got a grade between 8 and
10 in the pre-test. The mean of the pre-test was 5.61. In the post-test the situation
improved, as shown in Figure 2. In the post-test only one student got a grade
between 3 and 4, 12 students got a grade between 5 and 7 and 5 students got grades
between 8 and 10.

Figure 2 The difference between the pre-test and post-test grades

for the experimental group
Difference between the pre-test and post-test
results for the experimental group
Frequency of the grades

14
12
10
8 Pre-test
6 Post-test
4
2
0
3 and 4 5 and 7 8 and 10
Grades between

The difference between the grades in the pre-test and the grades in the post-test is
even clearer in Figure 3:

Figure 3 The difference between the pre-test and post-test grades

for the experimental group
Difference between the pre-test and post-test grades for
the experimental group
7
Frequency of the grade

6
5
4 Pre-test
3
Post-test
2
1
0
25% - 35% - 45% - 55% - 65% - 75% - 85% - 95% -
34% 44% 54% 64% 74% 84% 94% 100%
Percentage of accuracy
16 Camelia ALINTE

We can conclude that there is an important difference between the language level
of the students in the experimental group.
The situation is almost the same in the control group where students
improved their mean from 5.71 to 6.21. There were 5 students in the control group
with grades between 3 and 4 in the pre-test compared to only 2 students in the post-
test, 8 students with grades between 5 and 7 compared to 9 in the post-test and 3
students with grades between 8 and 10 in the pre-test compared to 5 students in the
post-test. The results are illustrated in Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 4 The difference between the pre-test and post-test grades

for the control group
Difference between the pre-test and post-test
results for the control group
Frequency of the grade

10

6 Pre-test
4 Post-test
2

0
3 and 4 5 and 7 8 and 10
Grades between

Figure 5. The difference between the pre-test and post-test grades

for the control group
Difference between the pre-test and post-test grades for
the control group
4
Frequency of the grade

2 Pre-test
Post-test
1

0
25% - 35% - 45% - 55% - 65% - 75% - 85% - 95% -
34% 44% 54% 64% 74% 84% 94% 100%
Percentage of accuracy

If the final results for both experimental and control group are compared (Tables 2,
3, 4, Figure 6) we notice that the difference the mean of the experimental group an
the control group in the pre-test is 0.10 and in the post-test 0.76. The students in the
experimental group also recorded a higher difference between the pre-test and the
post-test results (1.36) than the control group (0.5).
 Teaching grammar through music 17

Table 2 Experimental design – Pre-test

Group Number of students Pre-test mean Difference of the
mean
Experimental group 18 5.61
0.10
Control group 16 5.71

Table 3 Experimental design – Post-test

Group Number of Pre-test mean Difference of
students the mean
Experimental group 18 6.97
0.76
Control group 16 6.21

Table 4 Experimental design

Number of Difference of
Group Pre-test mean Post-test mean
students the mean
Experimental group 18 5.61 6.97 1.36
Control group 16 5.71 6.21 0.5

Figure 6 Experimental design

Experimental Design
Pre-test Post-test Results
Mean

8
7
6
5
Experimental
4 group
6.97
3 5.61 5.71 6.21 Control group
2
1
0
Pre-test Post-test

In order to find out if the difference between the post-test men in the experimental
and the control group is statistically significant, we need to run a t test.
A t test is applied when we have two independent groups, in our case the
experimental and the control group, and we want to make comparisons between the
two groups. The experimental group was taught by using songs in the class and the
control group was taught by traditional methods. We are interested in the
difference between the two groups. In order to evaluate the mean difference
between our two groups, we compare the sample means on the given variable.
The formulas used to calculate the t test are:
M1  M 2
t
SDM

SDM=     
 N1  1 s12  N 2  1 s 2 2 1 1 
  N1  N 2  
 N1  N 2  2  
18 Camelia ALINTE

s²=  xi  M 
2

N 1

df = N1+N2 - 2

Where:
M1 is the mean of the experimental group
M2 is the mean of the control group
SDM is the standard error of the difference between means
N1 is the number of subjects in the experimental group
N2 is the number of the subjects in the control group
s1 is the standard deviation of the experimental group
s2 is the standard deviation of the control group
x represents the deviation
df represent the degrees of freedom
The first step in calculating the t value is to calculate the means of both
groups using the formula: M = Σ xi / N (all the grades are added and then divided
by the number of students in the group). The means for the two groups are
presented in Table 5:

Table 5. Means of the experimental and control group – Post-test

Experimental group Control group
Mean 6.97 6.27

Using the data from the post-test the variance and the standard deviation of the
groups can be calculated. The results are presented in Table 6:

Table 6. Variance and standard deviation

for experimental and control group – Post-test
Experimental group Control group
Variance 1.98 3.18
Standard deviation 1.40 1.78

Afterwards, we have to compute SDM.

SDM=  N1  1s12   N 2  1s 2 2   1 1 
  
 N1  
 N1  N 2  2  N 2 

SDM=  18  11.54  16  1 3.16  1  1 

  
 18  16  2  18 16 

SDM=  17 1.54  15  3.16   0.05  0.06

 32 
 Teaching grammar through music 19

SDM= 26.18  47.4

 0.11
32

SDM= 2.29  0.11

SDM= 0.5

The next step is to compute t:

M1  M 2
t
SDM
t= 0.7
0 .5
t=1.4
We calculate the degrees of freedom (df) to determine rejection region.
Degrees of freedom for the independent samples t-test is given by N1+N2-2. We
substract 2 because in our sample size for case we have 2 groups. In our case
df=18+16-2=32.
Since the t distribution table does not have a value for df=32, we must
choose either df=30 or df=35. The value for df=30 is higher and convention says it
is better to choose the higher value. So,
tcalc = 1.4 tstat (df=30, 0.05) = 2.04
The computed value for t is less than the statistical value of t. By
conventional criteria, this difference is considered to be not statistically significant.
This means that there is no difference between the two teaching methods.
This results show that there is no significant difference between the two
groups as a result of the use of songs, as shown in the post-test results. However,
the experimental group obtained a higher mean than the control students, indicating
some positive advantages as a result of using songs to teach grammar.
Although the main result on the use of songs with the experimental group
was disappointing, the small advantage recorded within the experimental group can
be attributed to the use of songs in the classroom. This interpretation is strongly
supported by both the field notes and the students’ positive responses in the second
questionnaire.
The failure to obtain a significant difference between the two groups
through the new method requires some interpretations. Firstly, I believe that the
introduction of the new method of teaching grammar through songs was very
different from what the students in the experimental group were expecting. The
method was also different from the way in which all subjects in the students’
curriculum were taught. Generally students were used to a teacher-fronted class
and it was a big change form to have classes which are based on listening skills.
Some of the students had difficulties in understanding the lyrics of the songs during
the first activities.
Secondly, the size of the experimental class was not large enough to allow
the teacher to conduct an appropriate experiment. There was not enough time to
20 Camelia ALINTE

listen to the songs and practice the target grammatical items because of the tight
class schedules, which was the same as those for the control group.
Thirdly, the pre-test and the post-test were only written test. They dealt
only with the reading and writing skills, and had no speaking or listening
component. The research study focuses on listening and speaking skills that the
songs introduced to improve the level of students’ grammatical knowledge. For
some of the students there was an improvement in their listening and speaking
skills and also in their confidence, apart from giving them a better understanding of
grammar. The test administered to the students did not give them an opportunity to
prove these other changes.
The advantage that the experimental group obtained over the control group
can be interpreted as a noteworthy result, for the simple reason that it was an
improvement (even if not significant) over the control group. The use of a
traditional grammatical practice of the control group, replaced by the new method
using songs when practicing grammar proved effective enough to allow the student
from the experimental group to have a higher mean in the post-test, while
practicing listening and speaking skills, and also raising the level of motivation and
participation in the English class.
The reasons above do not fully explain the real impact that the use of songs
has on the students regarding their grammar accuracy. The real impact of songs in
teaching and learning the grammatical features of a second language needs to be
further explored in order to confirm its limited value or demonstrate a higher
degree of usefulness than this research has provided. The experiment was able to
indicate towards a more positive result when using songs as a main strategy of
teaching.

3.3 Post treatment of students’ questionnaire

The second questionnaire administered to the experimental group aimed at

assessing the students’ attitude towards the use of the new method in the English
classroom. The overall responses from the questionnaire showed that students
report greater enjoyment in the foreign language class with the addition of music to
the curriculum.
The first item of the questionnaire referred to the use of songs in the
classroom. 15 students (83.33 %) stated that they enjoyed songs in the class more
than the usual English class, 1 student said that he enjoyed less and 2 students
enjoyed the same. The responses are illustrated in Figure 7.
 Teaching grammar through music 21

Figure 7 Students’ level of enjoyment in the English class with

the addition of music to the curriculum
Did you enjoy the use of songs in the
classroom more or less than the usual English
class?

11%
6%
more
less
same
83%

Item number two concerned whether the students believe that the songs used in the
class helped them learn more or not. 14 students (77.78%) think that songs help, 2
students (11.11%) think that songs didn’t help them learn more and 2 students
(11.11%) are not sure. The responses to this question are illustrated in Figure 8:

Figure 8 Students’ opinion about the help of songs in learning a foreign language
Do you think songs helped you learn
more?

11%
11% yes
no
maybe
78%

The next question referred to the way students felt during the classroom, if they
were more comfortable to speak English in discussing songs than in other
activities. 12 students (66.66%) were more comfortable speaking English when this
method was used and 6 students (33.34%) were more comfortable in other
classroom activities.
Item number 4 from the questionnaire aimed at finding out if the students
hum, whistle or sing any of the songs after the class is over. The majority of the
students (94.44%) said that they sang or hum the song after the class. Most of them
said that they looked up the song on the internet and listened again to the song.
When asked if they prefer to learn English through music to complement
the textbook or stick to a more written format, 15 students (83.33%) prefer music
22 Camelia ALINTE

and 3 students (16.67%) prefer sticking to a more written format. The results are
also illustrated in Figure 9:

Figure 9 Students’ opinions about the music used to complement the textbook
Do you prefer learning English through
music or stick to a more written format?

17%

Music
Written format

83%

Item number 6 aimed at finding out if students think that there is a different result
of the grammar mastery before and after the use of songs in the classroom. As seen
in Figure 10, 17 students think that there is a different result and only one student
thinks that there is not a different result concerning the grammar mastery.

Figure 10 Students’ opinion regarding the result of the grammar mastery

before and after the use of songs
Is there a different result of the grammar
mastery before and after the use of songs
in the classroom?

6%

yes
no

94%

The last question from the questionnaire aimed at finding out if the students
encountered any difficulties during the classes when songs were used. 4 students
(22.22%) responded that they had difficulties, 12 students answered that that didn’t
have difficulties (66.67%) and 2 students (11.11%) stated that they rarely had
difficulties when listening to songs in the classroom. (Figure 11).
 Teaching grammar through music 23

Figure 11 Students’ opinions regarding the difficulties

they had when using songs in the class
Are there any difficulties when using
songs in the class?

11%
22%
yes
no
rarely
67%

Responses from the post treatment questionnaire show that the students report
greater enjoyment in the foreign language class with the addition of music to the
curriculum. They also think that songs can help them learn more efficiently than
other methods used in the classroom. Although they have some difficulties in the
class when songs are used, they fell more comfortable during tasks which involve
songs and music and they prefer to learn English through songs.

3.4 Analysis of the field notes

One of the most important things that the songs introduced in the English class was
the fact that the students were relaxed during the English class. A relaxed
atmosphere was observed most of the time. Students were calm during these
activities, smiled and enjoy themselves. They considered these activities as being
fun.
The students were enthusiastic and paid much attention to the teacher’s
explanations during the lesson. They all paid attention to the songs and some of
them tried to sing the lyrics during the listening stage. They were also paying
attention when the teacher or a classmate spoke. They also had a positive mood
towards the class leading to the conclusion that they were motivated.
During the classes when songs were used, the students were interested and
were active in answering the questions asked by the teacher related to the songs.
They also enjoyed cooperating with a partner when pair work activities or group
work activities were used. Participation was constantly shown during the
development of the different activities.
There was also an improvement in students’ pronunciation, because some
students listened to the songs used in the classroom not only in the English class,
but also at home, giving them a chance to revise the vocabulary and the
grammatical items taught in class and also to improve pronunciation.
24 Camelia ALINTE

Not all the students felt motivated and relaxed during the activities.
Instances of anxiety were noticed in some students during the first activities but the
use of songs in the classroom helped reduce them.
Lack of confidence was also noticed when students spoke and tried to look
at the notes they wrote at the same time. This attitude was minimal and it did not
last for long as students felt more relaxed and confident during the classes.

3.5 Analysis of the teacher’s questionnaire

As it was mentioned before, the teachers were given a questionnaire to assess their
perception regarding the use of music in the classroom, especially when teaching
grammar.
According to the responses from the questionnaire, teachers agree that
grammar is one of the most important aspect of teaching English but also one of
the most difficult. Although the teachers mostly use worksheets and grammar
exercises when teaching grammar, they emphasize the fact that using songs in the
English class could play a significant role in teaching grammar. They suggest that
songs can be an effective tool for teaching grammar and that by using songs in
teaching practice the students could be motivated in their learning experiences.
Activities that can be developed from songs can offer numerous advantages
by stimulating students’ motivation, involvement and interest. Songs are also fun
and natural and students enjoy them because it makes the learning process more
pleasant and relaxing. However, teachers who participated in this study state that
the limited time of the class, lack of equipment or malfunctioning, as well as lack
of suitable songs for the lesson could constitute the main disadvantages.
Language teachers should be creative and innovative in teaching English.
Using songs in the classroom, not only to teach grammar, can bring a deviation
from the routines and do something refreshing and different in the classroom.

4 Conclusions

Music and language should be studied together. Foreign languages teachers have a
lot to gain from familiarizing themselves with the research literature related to the
effect of music on thought and behaviour.
The aim of this study was to show the benefits of using musical activities
in the classroom. The students felt that they benefited from the experience. The
majority of the students from the experimental group reported that songs were a
positive addition to the classroom.
As second language teachers, we try to provide the students with the skills
to understand authentic communication. Music can give the students a real
communicative advantage, as a song tells a story set to music. Therefore, songs
have examples of authentic speech that is slowed, rhythmic, and repetitious – a
useful tool to improve the students’ learning of English.
 Teaching grammar through music 25

Music and songs should not replace all other methods. It should, however,
be considered as an important teaching method that can provide numerous benefits
to students. Medina (1990: 18) states that “if music is a viable vehicle for second
language acquisition to the same extent as other non-musical means, then songs
can no longer be regarded as fun activities having little instructional value.
Consequently, musical means of promoting second language acquisition should
occupy a more important role in the second language curriculum. This can easily
be accomplished by increasing the frequency with which songs are used in the
curriculum.”
The research presented is a part of a vast amount of literature that provides
evidence for the benefits of music. The majority of the studies conclude that music
and songs have a positive effect on the variables studied. Songs can be selected to
complement a thematic unit, or they can be based on a topic of interest that
students have requested. It is not difficult to develop a lesson plan based on a song
that can be an avenue to teach grammar, culture, geography, history, etc., where
students may practice the skills.
The positive effects of the use of songs in teaching grammar have
important implications for second language teachers, curriculum designers,
textbook writers and language teachers’ associations.
Language teachers should seriously consider introducing songs as a regular
strategy, in order to improve both their students’ grammatical accuracy and their
use of the language. In this way they improve their listening and speaking
competence. It is hoped that this study will encourage foreign language teachers to
try using music and songs to complement their lesson plans benefiting the learners
by establishing a relaxing and positive learning atmosphere in the English class. As
language teaching is an interdisciplinary field, music and language can unite their
efforts to develop language teaching materials.
Another important implication concerns the need to introduce more
activities based on songs in the language teaching programme. Because of the fact
that the use of songs has a positive effect, it is very important to integrate them into
the regular syllabus and curriculum in appropriate ways. Songs should not be
regarded as an amusing activity at the end of the semester, but they should be
regarded as an integral part of the language curriculum.
Another important implication concerns textbook writers and the need to
revise the content of the language textbooks. Songs should be integrated in every
chapter. Teachers should not find only a sporadic presence of a few songs. That is
why textbook writers should revise the content of the textbooks and include a
variety of songs in what they write.
In relation to the use of songs in English language teaching, language
teachers’ associations and teacher training institutions should revise their teacher
training programmes and hold new courses which enable students to practice and
develop their musical skills and activities in foreign language classes. Seminars and
workshops should be organised for language teachers so that they can keep up to
date with the latest approaches and developments in English language teaching.
26 Camelia ALINTE

5 Recommendations

In spite of the common perception of the teachers about the usefulness of songs as
a method used in teaching English as a foreign language, the fact that the non-
significant improvement recorded in this research failed to prove a more definite
confirmation is a challenging result. The limitations under which the experiment
was conducted need to be adjusted or supplemented by further research on this
subject.
The study focused on the level of accuracy of grammatical rules of second
studied foreign language students. Further study need to focus on students’
performance in their speaking, reading or writing skills. Therefore, investigations
of how these skills improve over time through the use of songs will provide
information on how to improve second foreign language teaching and learning.
Further studies could also focus on other grammatical features or they may
focus on second language learners at different levels of competence.
The positive and significant results on the use of songs provide a strong
indication in favour of other aspects of second language learning, which are also
likely to lead, in time to a more substantial improvement in grammatical accuracy.
The improvement in students’ overall motivation as well as classroom atmosphere,
as a result of the songs used, the raising of their level of interest in their study of
English, are all in favour for integration of songs into grammatical practice. These
positive results pave a way which second language teachers may decide to follow
for a more effective and satisfying approach to teaching grammar to their students.
The study was conducted for the duration of one semester and monitored
the short-term results of the use of songs in improving students’ grammatical
knowledge and accuracy and also in improving classroom atmosphere and level of
students’ motivation. In order to obtain further confirmation on the positive effects
of songs used in the classroom, future studies could focus on these effects over a
longer period of time.
The conclusion based on the results of this experiment is that long-term
effects of songs will prove beneficial for both accuracy and other classroom-related
aspects.

References

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JoLIE 6/2013

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Gina Camelia ALINTE

Teacher of English
Primary and Lower Secondary School, Daia Română, Romania
Email address: [email protected]
Gina Camelia Alinte, born 1980, studied Geography as main subject and English
Language and Literature as a secondary subject at the “Babeş-Bolyai” University
in Cluj Napoca. In 2007, she received a Master’s Degree in Educational
Management from “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia. Since 2003 she
has been teaching English as a second language at Primary and Lower Secondary
School, Daia Romana. Her main fields of interest are language and education,
language planning and language teaching.

Maria Elisete ALMEIDA

Associate Professor
University of Madeira, Portugal
Caminho da Penteada 9000 - 390 Funchal
Tel.: 291 705000
Email address: [email protected]
Maria Elisete Almeida got her Ph.D. in Romance Linguistics, at Grenoble
(France), in 1993. She was the Head of the Romance Studies Department for two
mandates and Vice-Dean (2 mandates). She co-organised (with Prof. Michel
Maillard) The International Conference in Funchal - O Género nas Línguas,
Culturas e Literaturas. Currently, she is both the Head of the Research Centre,
METAGRAM, and of The Masters Degree Programme, Portuguese Language and
Literature Teaching. She has supervised several dissertations and took part in more
than thirty viva assessment panels (be it as head, internal or external examiner or
even supervisor), some of which for the ranks of associate professor and
aggregation. She has published more than thirty papers and books in the country
and abroad, e.g. Almeida, M.E. (2000). La Deixis en Français et en Portugais.
Louvain/ Paris: Éditions Peeters. At present she is Associate Professor with both
Aggregation and tenure at The Centre of Competence of Arts and Humanities of
the University of Madeira.

Nicoleta Petronela APOSTOL

Email address: [email protected]
Teacher of English
“Regina Maria” Arts High School in Alba Iulia, Romania
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permission.