Using songs and music in the classroom

This article, based on material from our Delta Courses, focuses on using songs and music in the classroom and looks at: 

a)  the  general reasons for using them

b)  activity types that could be used with them to achieve specific linguistic aims.

c) reasons why the use of songs and music might not be appropriate in the EFL classroom

a)  General reasons for using songs and music in the classroom

1. Reason: To foster motivation :  Many learners are used to listening/want to listen to pop songs in English – this may be particularly true of eg teenagers. They can be asked whose songs they are particularly interested in and even which songs they want to work on (though the T. should check that the lyrics are at a level that makes comprehension feasible, and that the content is suitable, before agreeing). 

2. Reason:   To stimulate learning :  Some research has suggested that baroque music uses certain frequencies that improve the brain’s ability to process learning. This was utilised by Lozanov in the method Suggestopaedia. Even if Suggestopaedia is not used in its full form, the technique of eg finishing a lesson stage by reading a presentation dialogue or short listening or reading text to eg a piece by Mozart may help retention, as well as being a relaxing way to round off a lesson stage.  

3. Reason:  To create a relaxed, concentrated atmosphere in the c/r : In small classes, learners often feel intimidated when working in pairs or groups, as they feel they can be overheard by the others – or alternatively may overhear and become distracted by what other groups are saying or by what the teacher is saying to them. Background music for an activity means that they can only hear what their immediate partners are saying, and avoids this. Turning the music off can also signal the end of the activity.

4. Reason:  To change pace and engage learners – particularly in children’s classes, songs can be used as “stirrers” or “settlers” or to ensure that the whole class is concentrating on the task. An example of this would  be “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes” where, apart from singing the song, the children are engaged in carrying out the actions – they therefore have to concentrate on the meaning of the language in order to perform the correct action.

5. Reason:  In a CLIL or Project Based course, to stimulate research into the background of a piece of music (the composer, their life, the reason why the piece was written, its musical attributes etc). This would be an integrated skills activity which would include reading and/or listening research, written and/or oral presentation (poster presentations, one minute talks by each member of the group on one aspect of the research etc. 

6. Reason: To provide a stimulus for fluency practice. Eg after working on the lyrics of a song, learners can be asked to design a video to accompany it. Or guided visualisation activities can be used – the learners listen to a piece of music and are asked to think about the situation it suggests to them. The T. asks prompt questions as the learners listen such as “Where are you? What can you see around you? Are you alone or with other people? Why are you there? What are you doing? How are you feeling? What’s the weather like?” etc etc. The learners then tell their partner(s) what the music made them think of.

7. Reason: To increase depth of cognitive processing. Most people find they remember the lyrics of songs that they like and have heard many times, and the memory is triggered by the accompanying music. This effect can be exploited without creating boredom after the initial lesson if the song is replayed later in the course for recycling purposes using a different task. 

8. Reason: To engage learners who particularly enjoy listening to songs/music and who will therefore  be motivated by the teaching/learning  strategy.

b)   Activity types that could be used with them to achieve specific linguistic aims.

9. Linguistic aim:  Grammatical / Structural / Lexical Consolidation:  Some songs centre around a specific structure or lexical field and can be used to present, practise or consolidate that area.

Example (i).  Structural (upper intermediate or advanced) - to develop learners awareness of the difference in use of the past simple and past continuous forms.  Song: John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”.  Activity type: Gapfill.  The lyrics are given out on handout with the target forms gapped but the infinitive given in brackets. Ls decide the form of the verbs in pairs then listen to check. In fact the past simple would be grammatically possible in all cases where the past continuous is used. Follow-up discussion focuses on why Lennon chose the past continuous and the difference in the effect the choice creates.

Example (ii).  Structural (Intermediate and above) -  to practise question formation with modals. Song: Bob Dylan – “Blowing in the wind”. Activity type: Ordering jumbled words. Learners are given the transcript of the song, but each question has the words in jumbled order with a blank line below where they can write. They re-order them, possibly working or comparing in pairs, then listen to check.

Example (iii). Linguistic Aim - Lexical (children’s classes) - to practice/consolidate parts of the body. Song: “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes” Activity type: Singing and acting out the song.  

Example (iv). Linguistic aim:   structural (Intermediate) -  to consolidate would + infinitive.  Song:  the Beatles song “An Octopuses Garden”. Activity Type:  Spot the change: The learners are given the transcript and told there are (eg) seven words which, though grammatically correct, are not the same as those in the song. The changes that have been made focus on the target language. Learners listen to identify the words. Eg. All the “would” structures are changed (eg “I’d like to be” becomes “I like to be”; “we would be” becomes “we will be” etc). Learners listen and correct the transcript, then discuss the difference in meaning the changes have made.  

10. Linguistic Aim: To Develop Listening Subskills.  Many songs will include features of connected speech (eg weak forms, elision, assimilation) learners find difficult to decode and can be used to present them or to further develop learners’ ability to decode them.

Example: Aim – to raise Ls’ awareness of and practice decoding word sequences affected by yod coalescence.   Song: The Beatles “Got to get you into my life” Activity Type: Gapfill.  The song contains examples of various features of connected speech (weak forms, elision, etc)  but particularly yod coalescence – both /t j/ sequences  becoming  /ʧ/ and /d j/ sequences becoming /ʤ/.  It can therefore be used to develop this bottom-up processing subskill by gapping out the affected words (need you / get you / hold you /want you etc ). As (with one exception) the lyrics are not particularly difficult structurally, it could be used from pre-intermediate level upwards. Learners can be asked to predict the missing words, then listen and check or complete them, after which the T. can focus on the target feature, as well as clarifying any other parts of the text which learners ask about. 

11. Linguistic aim: To expose learners to authentic English which contains common features of the spoken language unlikely to occur in their coursebooks. Example:  A large number of songs contain the word “ain’t” – eg The Hollies “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother”. Activity type: Gapfill - the Ls receive the transcript with all the examples of ain't gapped and predict the missing word. They will predict isn't but when they listen will hear ain't which can then be explained. Other songs may be too difficult to use in their entirety but extracts can be used with ain't underlined where it has the meaning am not (eg the Temptations "Ain't too proud to beg"), are not, and has/have not. Ls are asked whether they think the meaning is still "isn't" and if not, what it is.

c) Reasons why the use of songs and music might not be appropriate in the EFL classroom

12. Inappropriate Content: Some songs may contain lyrics or themes that are not suitable for all age groups or may conflict with cultural or religious sensitivities. 

13. Relevance to student interests: Some songs, though ideal for the linguistic aim chosen, may be considered (especially by teenage students) as "out of date". This could cause negative affect which could block learning. 

14. Special needs - Hearing Impairments: Students who are deaf or hard of hearing may not be able to hear the song/music adequately to complete the tasks, and even if given differentiated tasks may feel "left out" of the lesson. 

15. Special needs - Learning disabilities: Students with certain learning disabilities, such as ADHD or auditory processing disorders, may find it challenging to concentrate or process information with music in the background.

16. Language Complexity: Songs are examples of authentic texts, and are therefore likely to contain complex structures, vocabulary or phonological features  that may not be suitable for lower-level learners. Teachers would need to spend additional time explaining lyrics, which can be challenging for the teacher and frustrating for the learners.

17. Copyright Issues: Using copyrighted music in the classroom can sometimes raise legal and copyright concerns, especially if it involves sharing or distributing copyrighted materials.

Using Music and Visualisation to Promote Discussion

This activity uses music to promote group discussion and is suitable for intermediate students and above. It asks students to visualise the scene that the music which they hear suggests to them, and then report back to their groups. Not everyone finds this easy at first, so you may find it is more successful if you do it in stages - a guided version of the activity a few times at the beginning of the course, passing to the freer version only once they are used to the technique.

The music you use should match whatever you want the students to visualise. New Age music usually works well, but what you choose will depend on what you have on your shelves. I have often used artists like Kitaro (Silk Road); Rick Wakeman (Country Airs); Vangelis (China); Santana (Caravanserai). It is however extremely important that whatever you use evokes a positive, happy or relaxed mood. Avoid music that might evoke negative feelings, and emphasise to students that you want this to be fun. If they start to be drawn into a negative visualisation, they should stop and opt out of the activity. They will still be able to participate later by listening to and asking questions to the others.
Phase One : Guided Visualisation
Play the piece of music you have chosen to the group. Encourage them to shut their eyes, or if this makes them feel silly, just to look down at their desk and concentrate on the music. While they listen, speak to them guiding them through the visualisation. Speak slowly, leaving pauses for ideas to come. What you ask them to visualise can be linked to the language you have just been teaching - this example could, for instance, fit into a class which has recently focused on food vocabulary :

Listen to the music ... and as you listen I'd like you to visualise a scene... You're on holiday and you're feeling really good ...You are feeling happy and relaxed. It's one o'clock and you're having lunch. Where are you? In the mountains? At the sea? In a town?... Are you in a hotel? In a restaurant ? Or somewhere else? ... Is it noisy or quiet? What can you hear? ... And what can you see around you? ... Are there any other people there? ... Are they with you or are you alone? ... The food is really good. Taste it. What are you eating? ... Are you at the beginning of the meal or at the end? ... What have you already eaten and what is still to come? ... Are you feeling hungry or are you already full? ... What are you going to do after lunch?...

Script the prompts before the lesson - don't try and ad lib - making them very concrete the first time you do the activity, and more open on subsequent occasions, for example by asking simply Where are you? rather than giving options.

At the end of the visualisation, fade the music out gradually to "bring them back" and then put them into groups of three or four and ask them to tell each other where they were, what they could see around them, what they were eating etc etc. Monitor while they speak, noting on the board any language that you want to bring their attention to later. When they finish, ask two or three students to describe their scenes to the whole class and give feedback on the language which you overheard.


Phase Two : Free Visualisation

Once students are used to visualising, tight guidance becomes unnecessary and you can pass to a freer activity.

There are two versions of the activity described below. If you have sufficient space, electric points, numbers of CD players, headphones etc try the first version. Otherwise, try the second.

• Version A
  a) Divide the students into groups of four and ask each group to listen to a different piece of music, using headphones or moving to different rooms so that the other groups don't hear. Ask them to listen to their piece of music and visualise a scene, and what's happening.
  b) In their groups, the students discuss what the music made them think of, choose the idea they like best and expand on it, working out a little story. It may help them to listen again at this point to get more ideas once they've agreed on the general scene. Monitor while they're speaking, noting down language points for later feedback and making suggestions if they get stuck.
  c) Students change groups, so that each new group contains one student from each old group. They describe the scene and tell each other the story their old group invented, without referring at all to the music.
  d) Write on the board a few words summarising each story, and then play the group each piece of music one at a time. After you play each piece, ask a couple of students which story they think it represents and why. Put their "votes" on the board, but don't confirm anything until after you have played the final piece. (Students should obviously keep quiet when you play their own piece). Finish with feedback on the language you noted while monitoring.


• Version B
  
  If space or other constraints prevent you from using more than one CD player, an alternative version of the exercise is :
  
  a) Divide the students into groups of four as before, but this time only one person from each group comes to the CD player to listen to the music. Together, they decide on a scene and a story for the music as above. Meanwhile the other students discuss something related to the topic, eg. What type of music do you like? When was the last time you went to a concert? What/Who did you hear? Where was it? Who were you with? Was it good? Is there a song or a piece of music that you really like or that means a lot to you - explain why.b) The "listeners" report back to their groups, describing the scene/story that they invented but without describing the music.
  c) Full class discussion - The teacher plays snippets from three or four different pieces of music, one of which is the piece which the listeners heard. The students who didn't hear it before vote for which piece they think was being described.
  d) Feedback on language noted during the various discussions.

Acknowledgement

Photo provided under Creative Commons Licence by brookesb via flickr