Music for LESLLA Learners

Everyone likes music. Teaching English through songs allows learners to relax (lowering their affective filter) and absorb the language. If the teacher or some students play musical instruments, singing with live music will create fond memories for the class, thus building up a pleasant environment for learning. According to Abbott (2002), using music in the literacy classrooms has also the following advantages:

  1. Music and culture are intertwined. Listening to music also means to listen to someone's stories. This also encourages learners to share theirs.
  2. Music increases retention as lyrics are often repetitive. Increased exposure to the same language helps automaticity.
  3. Music and related classroom activities appeal to different learner styles and preferences. Obviously, musical learners enjoy listening to music. Emotive, intrapersonal, or interpersonal learners can be attracted to the emotions and thoughts expressed in the lyrics. If it is dance music or an action song, kinesthetic learners might show interest. Song lyrics can be presented in both visual and auditory forms, benefiting both visual and auditory learners. 

Photo by Alireza Attari on Unsplash

Suitable songs for LESLLA learners:


  1. Jingles 
  2. Traditional songs that are sung in different languages 
  3. Pop songs with simple language
  4. Familiar melodies with simpler lyrics written by the teacher/learners
  5. Original songs with lyrics written by the teacher/learners



Possible activities:

Here are a few activities suggested by Abbott (2002):
  1. Bingo: The teacher makes up a list of words taken from a song and has the learners fill out the bingo card. Learners are to check off the words as they hear them in the song. The first person to mark off all the words is the winner.
  2. Reordering activities: The teacher chooses a short song, the chorus of a song or even just one line of the lyrics, and then cuts the lyrics into strips and has the students put them in the right order.
  3. Cloze exercises: Learners listen to the song and fill in the missing words. [listening, phonics]
  4. Sing-alongs: The whole class sings the song together (if they want to). If the class agrees to sing, choose songs that have reasonable ranges or play the music at a comfortable singing range. High pitches can be too challenging and distracting. [speaking]


Useful websites:



Reference:

Abbott, M. (2002). Using music to promote L2 learning among adult learners. TESOL journal, 11(1), 10-17.