The effects of songs in foreing language classroom on vocabulary retention and motivation

Abstract

This study compares two ways of vocabulary instruction in an English as a Foreign Language class. With this research I want to investigate the effects of the new methodology of songs on students’ memory and motivation when learning a foreign language compared with the traditional vocabulary instruction. One class of 1st bachiller divided into two groups of students took part in this research. Group 1, the experimental group, listened to one song, and group two, the control group, followed the traditional vocabulary instruction. Although the vocabulary taught was the same for each group, the methodology and the corresponding activities varied from one group to the other. Subsequently, students of both groups were required to do a posttest in order to assess their retention of vocabulary. Data was collected to answer the following questions: 1. Will students retain more vocabulary with the methodology of the songs than with the traditional method of vocabulary instruction? 2. Will the use of the songs foster the students’ interest and motivation to learn the language? A post test showed higher scores for those students who listened to the song. On the whole, the experimental group retained more vocabulary and they were more motivated during the experiment. Besides, in the post text they expressed very positive opinions about the methodology of using songs in class. These findings suggest that the use of the songs in a foreign language class may contribute to improve the memory, and specifically the retention of vocabulary. The results evidenced that songs can be a good way to stimulate language retention as well as an easy way of motivating students to like and learn the foreign language.