Lirios sobre la almohada: Music as a good tool for learning English as a L2

It is a fact that music belongs to culture and it is art and with no doubt music have the power to transmit a lot of feelings. With songs we can also express things that we are not able to express with words. For that reason I think that is a good way to learn and also a perfect way to teach because it can be a motivating resource for students and also for teachers.

Many researches support that the inclusion of songs and music elements during the teaching process of a second language have a lot of benefits in the learning process. Using music to learn English as a L2 not only increases listening comprehension, but speaking, reading and motivation as well.

Language and music are two similar human abilities; the melody and the rhythm of speaking are connected with the intonation in music. I would like to add some of the aspects that music and language have in common:

Language and music

Both are universal human abilities.
Both have 3 ways of expression: vocal, gestural, and written.
Are developed spontaneously in children Both follow a set order in the structure, some grammatical rules using words or using musical notes.

Now I would like to set out the following question, why are songs a useful tool to acquire and learn English as a second language?

Songs are constantly present in our daily lives, as I said before everybody enjoys music; frequently teachers of second languages use songs at the beginning or at the end of their class, also songs are used to support some topics. For example, if they are studying the human body, the teacher can use the some songs related to the vocabulary of the unit as for example the popular “head, shoulder, knees and toes”.

We have many types of songs which can be used in the classroom, from nursery rhymes to pop music, and we cannot forget a lot of music written specifically for English language teaching.

If we use the music that our students usually listen or the songs that are popular in that moment it could be very motivating for the kids.

Howard Gardner once said: “It’s not how intelligent you are, but how you are intelligent.” In our classroom we have different kids; we have not two students who learn exactly in the same way for this reason, we will have to use different learning styles.

Garner says if a student is good at picking up sounds, remembering melodies and rhythms; they like to singing, humming, playing instruments and listening to music, learning through songs will be very beneficial for him.

(Mol, H. 2009)

I am going to add another question, when and how should we use songs in the classroom? We can use songs in different moments, for example at the beginning of the class, when we change from one activity to other, to introduce a new topic, new vocabulary, to revise language, if want to get everyone´s attention….

(Brewster, J. Ellis, G. Girard, D.2002)

Summarizing I would like to add some five reasons why we have to use songs in English class:

Songs are real materials.
With songs we can teach culture and history.
Songs have repetitions of vocabulary.
It is a good and motivating way to teach and develops vocabulary pronunciation.
They are fun and motivating.

(Teaching English, British Council, BBC website 2011)

To conclude I would like to say that this topic it is very important and interesting. Motivation is one of the most important aspects that as teachers we should get with our students, because if our students are motivated they will learn successfully and if we teach with songs I am sure that we will have wonderful outcomes. This is not only motivating for our students, also is motivating for us as teachers.

“Music has to be an important part in education. Music is indeed an excellent vehicle for communication, language and culture, hence thinking of education without a musical approach would be nonsense.” Plato, The Republic