The Effectiveness of Songs in Increasing Vocabulary on An English Learner

1. Definition of Song

Based on the Oxford Dictionary, song is a little part of music. According to Griffe (1992, p.3) songs are vocally produced, linguistically meaningful and have melody. Songs and music are different even though in a song, there is music that accompanies it. The basic difference between music and songs is that in a song there are meaningful words or sentences. Whereas in a music there are no words or sentences. The conclusion is that songs are part of the composition of a musical and words or sentences that are sung or spoken that serve to express thoughts and feelings. 

Songs and language have a similarity. Both of them are used to communicate or convey a message. Harmer (2009, p. 319) argues that music and songs can be a stimulus in learning a language. Songs can help improve listening skills, pronounciation, and speaking skills. Song can be a fun English learning media for everyone. The rhythm and the melody contained in the song can create a sense of excitement, which in turn can stimulate the interest in learning of the English learner. The rhythmic and melodic patterns of a song also help our brains to absorb and remember the vocabularies contained in the song.

In using songs as English learning media, the song chosen must be a song that is suitable for use in learning and adjusting the needs of the English learner. It means that the song chosen does not contain complicated lyrics and is adjusted to the age or the level of understanding of English language of the English learner.

2. Definition of Vocabulary

In general, vocabulary is a collection of words contained in a language, which used to express an idea both in verbal and in writing. In addition, Nathan (2013) defines vocabulary as a list or number of words that people know and use it regularly in daily life. In learning a language, vocabulary plays an important role because the more vocabulary a person knows, the easier it is for him to understand readings and words. 

Vocabulary is the most important thing in language, especially in communication. In communication, we express our ideas with a set of words or sentences. So, the lack of vocabulary that we know can limit conversations and even stop our conversations in communicating. This is in line with Folse's (2004) opinion that a lack of vocabulary can hinder us in communicating. According to Nathan (2013), it is important for a person to develop their vocabulary because the ability to develop this vocabulary contributes to many aspects of life, including career advancement

Methodology

The author conducted a descriptive research by analyzing several written sources, including books, journals, articles, and previous research documents relevant to the research objectives and problem theme. The data sources obtained come from secondary data. The article aims to analyze the efficacy of using songs as a learning media to incrase vocabulary skills for English learners. Researchers use the Content Analysis technique to draw conclusions from data analysis and evaluation, which they incorporate into their research article results.

Result and finding

After analysing data from several written sources, the researcher found that songs are very influential not only in increasing vocabulary, but also in improving English language skills from various aspects. This is because songs are very easy to understand and memorise by anyone. Here are some aspects of English language skills that can be improved through songs.