Otoniel Eduardo Carrasquel Zambrano

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch30  

ABSTRACT

Among the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading writing), speaking is often viewed as one of the most challenging with respect to reaching a high level of proficiency. For example, although you have probably taken numerous English courses across many years, you might still feel challenged when talking in certain situations or about certain topics. You might have even wondered what you could do to improve your fluency and intelligibility as well as other aspects related to speaking. Here is where music can play an important role. Music is a dynamic and engaging tool to help language learners strengthen their speaking abilities, specifically fluency and intelligibility. In this chapter, you will learn about several music-related techniques and strategies that you can use to improve your own speaking proficiency and, also, to help your students improve their speaking. 

Keywords: English learners, teaching language through music, speaking, fluency, intelligibility

How to cite this chapter: 

Carrasquel Zambrano, O. (2023). Incorporating Music in the ELT Classroom. In V. Canese & S. Spezzini (Eds.), Teaching English in Global Contexts, Language, Learners and Learning (pp. 368-374). Editorial Facultad de Filosofía, UNA. https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch30

INTRODUCTION

When learning English, I dreamed of being able to speak fluently and even imagined myself communicating in English as if it were my mother tongue. Motivated to learn English, I eagerly participated in class activities. However, I found the grammar drills and structured sentences to be repetitive, predictable, and void of authentic meaning. I also felt these activities were not helping me achieve my goal, that of speaking fluently. As time passed, I realized that speaking was more than accurately articulating phonemes and correctly pronouncing words. I realized that connecting words into chunks and producing meaningful utterances were vital for being able to speak fluently in a target language. Fortunately, I was able to reach this goal through music.  

As an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher, I provide my language learners with comprehensible input through interactive and innovative activities. I incorporate music in these activities to create authentic opportunities for learners to listen and speak. In this chapter, I share how you can also incorporate music in your classes and, by doing so, enhance your instruction and make your learners enjoy speaking English. By understanding how music and speaking complement each other and how music can be incorporated in English learning activities, you can help your students to develop their speaking fluency and, also, further develop your own fluency.  

background

Music and language are human capacities that evolved from proto-musical expression and proto-linguistic speech, respectively. Both emerged and evolved as people developed increasingly complex abilities to communicate (Lerdahl, 2013). Because of how music and language are related to human communication, they share characteristics of syntax making it possible for a potentially infinite number of outputs to be generated from a considerably small number of elements and principles (Merker, 2002). Music and language also share characteristics of phonology for using the sounds and sound combinations of a specific language system (Lerdahl, 2013).

A basic correspondence between music and language is the relationship between a musical note and a spoken syllable. A single note usually corresponds to a single syllable, and this represents a direct correspondence between music and language. In the same way that song melodies are a sequence of sounds and notes that form a rhythmical pattern and tempo, oral language is a sequence of sounds and syllables that form words and sentences (Lerdahl, 2013). Although music and language belong to different cognitive domains, they share several features in their respective sensory-perceptual networks (Moreno et al., 2015). As a means of communication, both music and language utilize acoustic cues (i.e., pitch, timing, timbre) to communicate the meaning of a word, and they rely on systemic sound–symbol representations. Music and language also require their users to develop and use skills such as analytic listening, selective attention, and auditory memory as well as the ability to integrate discrete units of information into coherent and meaningful input (Patel, 2011). Because these features represent a close relationship between music and language, we can consider using music as a tool for helping students learn language and especially for helping them develop oral fluency.

major dimensions

As language teachers, we need to select the most effective use of music for meeting our academic goals. The use of music in our classes should be intentional rather than just a time-filler. For effectively incorporating music into English language teaching (ELT), we first need to identify our students’ interests and feelings. After that, we need to find songs for a specific age group, identify the types and purposes of selected songs, and select songs with a motivational purpose.

Songs for a Specific Age Group

Look for songs that satisfy specific characteristics for the age group of students in your class. In other words, choose songs that are suitable to your students’ interests and comprehension abilities in terms of content and vocabulary. Avoid songs with words or topics that might be inappropriate for a given age group. Consider the tempo of the selected songs and the number of words being sung per minute. Songs with simple lyrics and regular tempos are the best option in any pedagogical context (Dzanic & Pejic, 2016). Of great importance is selecting songs that encourage dynamic repetition of lyrics, which is repeating the same line(s) on multiple occasions but with certain variations. Such repetition should also include intonation and tempo.

Types and Purposes of Selected Songs

Also important is identifying the types and purposes of the songs being considered. Most songs selected for ELT can be divided into two main groups: authentic songs and children’s songs. On the one hand, authentic songs (also called traditional songs) represent the daily life of adults and adolescents whose first language is the language used in the songs. In today’s multi-media world, EFL students are already in contact with many of these authentic English songs through the radio, internet, and social media and have probably even downloaded some authentic songs on their respective devices. These songs tend to be well known and carry important cultural content. As such, they are a great tool for helping EFL students learn about the history and sociocultural phenomena of Anglophone countries. On the other hand, children’s songs are for young learners, usually first language speakers of a given culture. However, when targeted for young learners and with a didactical purpose, these songs are also called specially composed English teaching songs. They are highly useful for the pedagogical goal for which they were created. For example, the ABC song was created to teach the English alphabet and serves exclusively for that purpose (Karea, 2016). However, even though the ABC song was written for English-speaking children, it is now used widely in EFL settings. 

Songs With a Motivational Purpose

Most importantly, songs should have a motivational purpose. Such songs allow students to experience emotions and feelings and, as such, are an important source of motivation when learning a new language. When supported by movements and colorful visual aids, motivational songs provide even more support to students and are especially useful for strengthening their learning process and keeping them motivated (Dzanic & Pejic, 2016). Songs with a motivational purpose are especially important for children and adolescents.

pedagogical applications

Human beings have an oral tract with the anatomical structures needed to produce different types of sounds and intonation features. Based on these structures, we develop and improve our oral language in different ways. For example, we can sing songs, say rhymes, beat-box rhythms, and use our voice in many other ways. Oral language can also be developed by listening to music both when the focus of the pedagogical activity is the music itself and when the music is combined with another task such as painting, moving, playing, or writing. Language learning is enhanced when body movements are integrated with music such as by moving to music, using body percussion, and dancing. Moreover, as a way of varying instruction and making class even more dynamic through music, we can have our students use everyday objects as nontraditional musical instruments. Depending on our students’ age and musical interests, we can even add increasingly more difficult rhythms and speed tempos to the musical pieces. Based on these examples, music-related teaching methods can be classified in three main categories: use of rhythmical activities, use of songs, and use of background music (Degrave, 2019).

Use of Rhythmical Activities 

Rhythmical activities are often included in language classes through actions implemented intuitively by teachers. These rhythmical activities include clapping hands to emphasize the rhythm of speech, making gestures to illustrate speech intonation, and annotating selected sentences written on the board to indicate the position of stress in a spoken utterance or in a musical score (a song’s composition and written notations). Over the years, some of these activities have become more structured, such as through the ELT technique called Jazz Chants in which rhythms of traditional American jazz correspond to rhythms of spoken American English (Graham, 1978). This technique portrays chants as rhythmic representations of natural American English and emphasizes intonation and natural stress. You can represent these rhythmical patterns with your body or with everyday objects to teach syllable separation or even the difference between minimal pairs. Another possibility would be to use drums or a song’s rhythmical beat to set a tempo and teach the students to keep that constant tempo when speaking. This often helps students with speaking more slowly and, through this natural-like fluency, become more intelligible. 

Use of Songs 

Singing songs is a frequent and common way to incorporate music in the ELT classroom. Because songs often contain repetition and redundancy, they can be used to transform the repetition of drills into a fun and enjoyable activity. Implement your own style of karaoke by playing songs and posting their lyrics clearly visible to all students. Use a pointer to follow the lyrics while singing along with your students. Many variations exist for this activity. For example, divide students into groups and have the groups take turns singing different stanzas. Then end this activity by having all groups sing the chorus together. 

Singing English songs provides an excellent opportunity for explaining to students that, when pronouncing certain words, we simultaneously articulate two or more sounds at the same time. This occurs because of phonological phenomena such as blending, assimilation, co-articulation, intrusion, and elision. These phenomena, which EFL students learn rather easily when singing, are also vital when speaking—especially for learning to speak fluently. The next step is to focus on listening. For this, write the song’s lyrics on a worksheet but leave several blank spaces for missing words and phrases. After distributing this worksheet to your students, play this song again and again until your students, by working collaboratively, complete the blank spaces. After that, have the students sing this song again. This time they will sing with more meaning and perhaps even with a feeling of ownership from having identified the missing words. 

If you know how to play a musical instrument (e.g., guitar or piano), this could be a great asset for incorporating music in your EFL classroom. While playing this instrument, practice a song with your students and adapt it to your students’ language level and even to their musical skills. This might be very useful in motivating your students to sing and then later to perform their songs publicly for the school community. 

Use of Background Music 

When students are doing a non-speaking task, many improve their performance of this task while listening to background music. This can be music without lyrics or even non-linguistic sounds such as the Yguazu waterfalls (Degrave, 2019). In other words, while your students are focused on a non-speaking academic task, consider playing background music to help them work more calmly and perhaps even serve to motivate them for wanting to learn. If this background music is a song, the song could eventually lead students to singing along while working on a non-musical task. Although this could be positive, take care that the background music does not distract students from completing their task. Playing the instrumental version of a well-known song is also a possibility. If students are familiar with a song, they might start singing the song on their own by retrieving the lyrics from their memory. When using music in this way, one of the most positive scenarios would be that students start creating songs or lyrics from an instrumental beat. Here, they would be creating their own speech rather than simply repeating other people’s speech (Coulter & Suri, 2020).

In this chapter, you examined different ways to incorporate music in ELT classrooms. You learned about songs for a specific age group, the types and purposes of songs, and songs with a motivational purpose. You also learned about using rhythmical activities, songs, and background music. With these insights, you can start incorporating music in your own English classes.

Here are some key concepts for using music to teach English:

• • Music and language are closely related.

  • The use of music in an ELT classroom should be intentional, not random.

  • It is important to carefully choose songs for implementing in your ELT class.

  • The more familiar students are with the music you use in class, the more effective it will be. 

  • Playing background music might help establish class mood and prepare students to learn.  

Based on what you have learned about using music in ELT classrooms, answer these questions:

1. 1. What factors or characteristics of music might affect your perception or attitude as being either for or against using music in ELT classrooms?

   2. What type of music do you enjoy? What types of music would be useful to teach English?

   3. Which music genres do you think would be more suitable to your students?

To practice what you have learned about using music to teach English, do the following:

1. 1. Compare the reaction of your students to different music genres and styles.

   2. Listen to music in English from different cultures and countries. What differences do you hear in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar?

   3. Plan and implement a lesson for your students to create a song. Choose a topic and develop the lyrics together. Then record the song and have students practice singing this song.

To expand your knowledge and application of using music in ELT, visit these websites:

• • How music benefits student learning and language development. https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/voices-field/how-does-music-benefit-your-classroom-or-school-community-most  

  • Music in the classroom. https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-ways-use-music-classroom  

  • Powerful ways to use music in the classroom. https://www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/powerful-ways-to-use-music-in-the-classroom-us/  

  • Students listening to music during class. https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/should-you-let-students-listen-to-music-in-the-clasñsroom1709.html 

Using music and rhythm to teach languages is also addressed by other chapters in this book: 

Chapter 7 Embracing Young Learners by M. Gandolfo, B. Damiani, and L. Caperochipe

Chapter 29 Using Theater to Teach English by C. Ortiz and M. Vaky

Chapter 39 Strategies to Teach Listening by E. Nuñez

Chapter 40 Strategies to Teach Speaking by S. Spezzini

Chapter 44 Strategies to Teach Pronunciation by S. Spezzini 

Coulter, K., & Suri, R. (2020). On melodic contour and number preferences: The effects of musical melody on the processing of numerical information. Psychology & Marketing, 37(8), 1019-1030. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21364

Degrave, P. (2019). Music in the foreign language classroom: How and why? Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 10(3), 412-420. http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1003.02 

Dzanic, N. D., & Pejic, A. (2016, October). The effect of using songs on young learners and their motivation for learning English. NETSOL New Trends in Social and Liberal Sciences, 1(2), 40-54. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312054146 

Graham, C. (1978). Jazz chants. Oxford University Press.

Karea, S. (2016). Indonesian secondary-trained EFL teachers teaching English to primary-age children: A study of motivational factors and EFL teaching knowledge [unpublished doctoral dissertation]. School of Education, Australian Catholic University.

Lerdahl, F. (2013). Musical syntax and its relation to linguistic syntax. In M. A. Arbib (Ed.), Language, music, and the brain: A mysterious relationship (pp. 257-272). MIT Press Scholarship Online. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262018104.003.0010  

Merker, B. (2002). Music: The missing Humboldt system. Musicae Scientiae, 6(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/102986490200600101 

Moreno, S., Lee, Y., Janus, M., & Bialystok, E. (2015). Short-term second language and music training induce lasting functional brain changes in early childhood. Child Development, 86(2), 394-406. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12297

Patel, A. D. (2011, June). Why would musical training benefit the neural encoding of speech? The OPERA hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology, 2(article 142), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00142 

Otoniel Carrasquel Zambrano is an English and Portuguese teacher. After graduating with honors from the Universidad Evangélica del Paraguay, Otoniel began teaching pedagogy and didactics at this same university. He also has numerous years of experience working at bilingual schools in Paraguay, mainly in the English department at the Campoalto School. Before coming to Paraguay, Otoniel had taught at various types of educational institutions in Venezuela. 

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4704-274X 

Email for correspondence regarding this chapter: otoeduc@gmail.com

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