The Effectiveness of Songs in Increasing Vocabulary on An English Learner

Authors

Tanaya Ayudya 1st, Tsaltsa Hamila 2nd

Psychology faculty of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Language is a communication tool between people that serves to convey ideas, thoughts, emotions etc. And in this era of globalisation, it is important for everyone to master more than one language. and English is one of the languages that must be mastered. In learning a language it is important for us to learn the basic form of the language, one of the basic form is the vocabulary. This article discusses the effectiveness of songs in increasing vocabulary on an English learner. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of songs in vocabulary learning and their role in facilitating vocabulary comprehension by listening to and singing songs Using the literature review by analyzing several written sources, including books, journals, articles, and previous research documents relevant. The result show that songs can be influential in increasing vocabulary and also in improving English skills.

Keywords: Songs, Vocabulary, Languange

Introduction

A language is a tool used to communicate with each other. Language itself makes it easier for us to communicate ideas, perceptions, emotions, and much more. Many languages are used in the world, and up to two languages can be used in one country. And in this modern world, many languages are used by many people. One of them is English. English is well known as the most widely used and studied foreign language on the earth. According to Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, "Latin was the most widely studied foreign language five hundred years ago. However, English has become the most widely studied foreign language today". In this era of globalization, learning English seems to be an obligation to be learned, especially for those who want to study or work aboard.

In learning a foreign language, vocabulary plays an important role. According to Cambridge Online Dictionary, vocabulary is all the words that exist in a particular language or subject. People may agree that learning vocabulary is one of the important basic aspects in learning English. Learning vocabulary is the major part of the process to learn a foreign language (Alqahtani, 2015). Learning vocabulary can be done by listening or singing a song. 

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of songs in vocabulary learning and their role in facilitating understanding and mastery of vocabulary. By listening and singing a song, it can be fun activity to learning vocabulary, as well as understand a little bit about the usage, meaning and context of the words in the song. Many studies have shown that learning vocabulary through listening and singing a song, is more effective in improving someone's ability and memory in learning new vocabulary. One of them is research conducted by Lolong (2019). This study aims to analyse and describe the aspects of learning that can improve English language skills by listening to songs. The results of the study show that the use of songs as a medium for learning English is effective and fun.

Literature review

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.

1. Listening

Song is one of the best media to improve listening skills. By listening to English songs repeatedly, we will get used to listening to words in English. Listening to songs is also an activity that many people like in their daily activities. This can certainly improve listening skills in learning English.

2. Vocabulary

If you often listen to English songs, especially listening and singing the same song repeatedly, the lyrics will stick inside your head without you realising it. By remembering and understanding the meaning of the English song lyrics that we heard and sung, it will help us identify and recognise the meaning of the vocabulary in the song. This process makes it easier for English learners to expand their vocabulary knowledge.

3. Pronunciation

Song play a very important role in helping students to improve their pronunciation. By singing and reciting the lyrics of an English song, we are inadvertently practising the correct pronunciation of the lyrics. That's why songs can help us practice pronunciation.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that songs are very influential in one's English skills, because songs exist in every human life. In addition, songs are also easy to understand and memorize. One of the advantage of using songs for English learners is their flexibility. Songs can also be a useful tool in the learning of vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence patterns (Murphey, 1992). Perhaps the greatest benefit of using songs in increasing vocabulary is that songs can be fun.

Conclusion

This study focused on the use of songs in increasing vocabulary for English learner. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of songs in vocabulary learning and their role in facilitating understanding and mastery of vocabulary by listening and singing a song. Learning through listening and singing a song can be acquired through popular songs. By using favourite songs, it can help to store information in long-term memory. Music can help to overcome difficulties in remembering vocabulary because music has the property of sticking in the head, which can be referred to as the song-stuck -in -my-head phenomenon. (Medina, 1993 as cited in Alipour,Gorjian and Zafari, 2012). When a song sticks in one's head, it is difficult to get rid of it.

In this research, the effectiveness of songs can be seen from the result of this study. Songs contributes many things to increasing vocabulary for English learner. Based on research findings, the researcher found that songs are very influential in increasing vocabulary and improving English language skills. Since people consider listening to songs as a good technique for learning a foreign language, in order to know the content of the songs, they read and translate the lyrics themselves. Furthermore, they learn new words subconsciously, which is similar to learning. Learning through songs is a good way to memorize vocabulary because the lyrics are sung repeatedly and the catchy melody helps to remember the lyrics. Song is accessible from anywhere and anytime so that everyone can took the benefit of it.  

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