Pop Music To Teach English Pronunciation: A Literature Review With Activity Ideas

Running head: USING SONG AND MUSIC TO TEACH ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION 1 Formatted: Font: Not Bold
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Word Count: 2,4494

Contact: katelynmschwartz@gmail.com / skype: Katelyn.schwatz/ phone: 52-951-120-1510
Pop Music to Teach English Pronunciation: Formatted: Font color: Auto

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A literature review with activity ideas Formatted: Font: 14 pt, Not Bold
Katelyn M. Schwartz- Universidad de la Sierra Sur Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold,
Spanish (Mexico)
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Spanish (Mexico)
1. Introduction
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One of the biggest challenges in teaching English in Japan is oral communication. Students often
feel ashamed and lack confidence to speak English and teachers frequently lament the katakana
English that their students use. And, whileWhile most Japanese students have dedicated English
communication classes, often specific English pronunciation often falls to the wayside. This can
happen for a variety of reasons: beliefs that it takes too much time, it is too difficult for students
and teachers or hard work is exchanged for the speed and ease of giving students katakana Formatted: Font: Italic
pronunciation. However, it is necessary that particular attention is paid to pronunciation as it is Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
fundamental for effective communication. While, the idea of teaching pronunciation can seem
daunting, a wonderful resource is music, particularly pop music. Using music in class, along with Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
musical activities, to teach English pronunciation in a specific and guided way not only improves Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
intelligibility, but also increases student motivation. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
2. Necessity of specifically teaching pronunciation

As is often the case with Japanese students, they can thoroughly know understand the grammar Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
and the vocabulary, but if the student lacks either proper pronunciation, intonation or rhythm, it Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
is highly likely they will not be understood (Villalobos Ulate, 2008). This situation can be
defeating or even humiliating and can dampen a student’s motivation for learning English. As Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
discussed by Wong (1987), if a student’s pronunciation does not reach a certain threshold level, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
they are rendered incomprehensible by native speakers regardless of accuracy in vocabulary and
grammar. Therefore, communication is severely compromised by not specifically teaching Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
students adequate pronunciation. The goal need not be native-like pronunciation; it simply needs Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
to be intelligible pronunciation which allows students to speak as comprehensibly as possible, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
while still being understandable (Gilakjani, 2012). Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
3. Features of Pronunciation Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman

Several studies have found that even if students speak with minor inaccuracies of vocabulary or Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
grammar, it is much more likely they can be understood if they have good pronunciation and
intonation (Gilakjani, 2012). There are two main routes in teaching pronunciation. First, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
segmental pronunciation focuses on either pronunciation of specific sounds or words, separated Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
from the phonology of the sentence. As English is not a phonetic language, such unlike as Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
Japanese, in which each character only has one pronunciation, regardless of the surrounding Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
characters. Students’ native language transfer causes students them to have difficulty recognizing
the pronunciation differences between letter combinations since students want to use the same
sound rules as Japanese (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996). Katakana English is a Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
prime example of this transfer among students. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
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Suprasegmental pronunciation is the pronunciation of sentences as a whole focusing on the
stress, rhythm and intonation of the whole sentence. In Todoka’s study examining twenty Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
Japanese speakers, he concluded that adjusting pitch range and stressing and lengthening Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
prominent stressed syllables proved especially difficult (as cited in Celce-Murcia, Brinton, &
Goodwin, 1996, p. 26). In English, stressing a sentence on different words can dramatically alter Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
the listener’s perception of the meaning of the sentence, ; thus it is important to adequately
prepare students to convey the intended message (Gilakjani, 2012). According to Wei (2006) Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
(p.7) the ideal pronunciation class would include a mix of teaching intonation, stress and rhythm, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
andas well as, vowel and consonant sounds. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
4. Role of music in teaching pronunciation
Music is at the heart, or some might say the soul, of language. It is cross-cultural, cross-
generational, and people are accustomed to listening to music for hours on end (López Parra & Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman

Muñoz Salazar, 2011). Music is also a phenomenal resource tool in the English classroom. It is a
resource teachers can use in almost every aspect of the English class, including in order to Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
improve pronunciation and motivating motivate students. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
How music can increase motivation and improve pronunciation
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Motivation has a significant impact on a student’s ability to learn pronunciation (Celce-Murcia,
Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996; Gilakjani, 2012; López Parra & Muñoz Salazar, 2011). Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
SeperatelySeparately, Elliot and Moyer found that a student’s attitude toward acquiring Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
intelligible pronunciation, as well as their experiences and sentiments toward the language are Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
key factors in acquiring accurate pronunciation (as cited in Gilakjani, 2012, p.122-3). Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
Unfortunately, students often lack authentic experiences with the target language to help create
positive feelings and attitudes toward the target language (Gilakjani, 2012). This is particularly Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
true in Japan as the national music industry is so pervasive. The use of English songs can quickly Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
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not check spelling or grammar
and easily increase the amount of authentic interactions students have with English while also
making the class more enjoyable. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
The current fast-paced passed interactive, technological age of students has made it more Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
difficult to connect them with English by using strategies and activities of years past. Though Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
common in Japanese communication classes, repeating words or phrases from a tape can be Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
disengaging (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996). However, students pass hours of their
own free time listening to music. By taking an activity students already enjoy, teachers can
increase student buy-in and motivation. A diverse playlist of English songs insures that students Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
can find a song or style they like (López Parra, 2011). Ideally, the introduction to a new song, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
singer or genre of music students are interested in will lead them to further investigate other Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
songs that they can enjoy outside of the classroom setting. The more interaction students have Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
with English, the greater their possibility to acquire intelligible pronunciation (Gilakjani, 2012).
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As music is already a past time for many students, it can lead to positive attitudes toward English spelling and grammar
class and English itself (López Parra & Muñoz Salazar, 2011)
Music is also a way to lower a student’s affect filter. Krashen (1982) believed, as students are Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
presented with new information, it is acquired based on the student’s personal affect filter. A Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
high affect filter inhibits information from being learned, whereas a low affect filter allows the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
information to pass through to the student. Most affective variables relate to motivation, self-
consciousness and anxiety. Music lowers affect filter by reducing anxiety by creating “a positive
learning state, energizing learning activities… and add[ing] an element of fun” (Villalobos Ulate, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
2008, p. 95). Additionally, the use of music in the language learning classroom can help students
find enjoyment in the learning process, thus increasing their intrinsic motivation, which also Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
lowers their affect filter (Villalobos Ulate, 2008). Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
Use of Songs to Teach Segmental Pronunciation Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold,
Italic
Syllable stress is key in comprehensible English pronunciation. However, English has a lexical Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
accent which results in mostly unpredictable word accent. Intonation can cause a great deal of Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
difficulty for Japanese students who are accustomed to specific syllable stress. As Japanese is a Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
pitch language, students often sound monotone when speaking in English. They are not
accustomed to jumping to accented syllables while speeding through unstressed syllables as is
heard in native English. (Teaman, 1992). Len, Fan and Chen (1995) (1995) suggest students or Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
teachers draw pitch lines to emphasize stress. Using pre-printed lyrics, students can listen to a Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
song or part and draw pitch lines according to what they hear. A slow ballad is appropriate for Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
this activity because singers often stretch the emphasized syllable.
Additionally, students have difficulty with vowel and consonant sounds. English has 12 vowel Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
sounds whereas Japanese has a mere five. Also, pronouncing and recognizing the difference Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
between consonant sounds such as: /r/ vs. /l/ or /b/ vs. /v/ proves challenging (Avery & Ehrlich, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
1992). A primary feature of pop music is repeating sounds (López Parra & Muñoz Salazar, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt, Do
not check spelling or grammar
2011). Commonly, the bridge and chorus of many songs include many repetitive phonemes such Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
as, “oh oh oh”, “eh eh eh”, “ah ah ah”. Additionally, a small set of words are frequently repeated Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Check
spelling and grammar
throughout a song. Having students sing along to the song, mimicking the sounds can aid Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
pronunciation. Len, Fan and Chen (1996) also suggest students use a mirror to watch the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
manipulation of their mouth and lips in recreating the sounds. Prior to listening and singing the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
song, the teacher can review the target sounds with lip and mouth position so students can be Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
aware while they are singing.
Using Songs to Teach Suprasegmental Pronunciation Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold,
Italic
Recently, suprasegmental pronunciation has been shown to be a key and , a potentially, more Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
effective focus for teaching pronunciation (Scarcella & Oxford, 1994). Intonation and word Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
stress is crucial for accurately conveying the meaning of a sentence. English, typically only Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
emphasizes content words, nouns, verbs, etc. that refer to an object, action or characteristic, in
contrast to Japanese, which can have up to three different stress focus possibilities for a sentence Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
(Teaman, 1992). Based on Japanese pronunciation, students attempt to change the stress of Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
sentences, due to restricted stress possibilities students can easily confuse the stressed word or Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
words in a sentence. To practice word stress, students can clap or tap the stressed and unstressed Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
words in songs. As students listen to the song, they give a strong clap to the emphasized word Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
and a weak clap to the unstressed words (Wei, 2006). This gives an interactive, highly visible Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
emphasis to recognizing the stressed and unstressed words in a sentence.
Other important features of English are linking, when the last sound of one word in a thought
group are blended with the first sound of a following word in the same thought group, and
shortened or cut sounds, where unstressed sounds are either shortened or completely cut out in Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
speaking (Wei, 2006; Gilakjani, 2012). Due to the contemporary, informal nature of pop music, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
songs are replete with linking, sound shortening and sound cutting, as is typical in spoken Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
English (López Parra & Muñoz Salazar, 2011). To review these aspects of pronunciation, with
previously printed lyrics, students can draw chain pictures to show linking words (Wei, 2006).
Students can also, review the lyrics to find where sounds have been cut out or shortened and add Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
them in. For example, for the line, ‘Gimme ya love’ students can change to the grammatically Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
correct, ‘Give me your love.’ This demonstrates the difference between what they see written Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
and how it may be pronounced and can inform future pronunciation when they see similar Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
sentences.
Lastly, an activity using a duet can help to review several features of pronunciation. After having Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
analyzed a duet using the previous strategies, students work in pairs to turn the duet into a
conversation. They use the same vocabulary from the song in a conversation,;, having the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
necessary information for accurate pronunciation. After they have converted the song into a Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
conversation, they can then present the conversation, focusing on the pronunciation.
5. Music and Memory
Music has been found to have a profound effect on brain function. Minsky (1981) reported that Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
after listening to a piece of music, people initially couldn’t recall the actual piece. However, once
it is played again, it was recognized. If we look at this from the perspective of pronunciation, it is Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
little wonder why anecdotal evidence suggests that students who frequently listen to English Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
music have better pronunciation. Each time they listen to a piece of music, the pronunciation is Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
reinforced. Minsky (1981) goes on to say, that to truly understand something, we have to see its Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
many meanings. Taking this lens to the language classroom, by listening and working with a Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
varied cannon of songs, students are exposed to varied pronunciations. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
Additionally, music has been shown, through EEG scans, to change brains to and make them Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
more receptive to learning. By connecting the functions of the left and right hemispheres of the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
brain to work together more effectively, learning becomes quicker and easier. Furthermore, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
singing while listening to a song, activates both the left and right hemispheres of the brain and, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
the resulting simultaneous function of both brain hemispheres maximizes learning and retention
of information (Villalobos Ulate, 2008). As a result, the reinforcement of pronunciation due to
the repetitive nature of pop music, along with its activation of both brain hemispheres, allows the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
brain to be more capable of processing and retaining information learned during the musical
activity.
6. Conclusions and Recommendations
Given that pronunciation has been proven as a key factor in successful communication, not
teaching it is rendering a disservice to students. Though there are a variety of factors that lead
teachers to gloss over pronunciation;, such as poor or no training, lack of teacher self-confidence Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
in their own pronunciation of the language or time constraints, pronunciation should not be
abandoned. By using music, teachers can increase brain activity while augmenting students’
awareness of English, teaching pronunciation and increasing student motivation. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
Music is an invaluable resource in the English classroom. It instantly creates a relaxed Formatted: Normal, Line spacing: Double
environment that engages students in their own interests. Teachers who are not fully confident in
their own pronunciation can use music as a support. Music allows for authentic interaction with Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
the target language while teaching various skills at once—-- from pronunciation to grammar to Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
listening. Though learning pronunciation can prove to be one of the most difficult parts of Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
language learning, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be enjoyable. Teachers can engage their students Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
in a way that facilitates learning and allows them to be as successful as possible. While there are Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman
no magic bullets in this life, music in the language classroom adds zest, emotion, and joy to a
process that otherwise could be boring and tedious.

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Bibliography Formatted: Normal, Line spacing: Double

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Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Formatted: Font: 11.5 pt
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.
Gilakjani, A. P. (2012). A Study of Factors Affecting EFL Learners' English Pronunciation Learning and
the Strategies for Instruction. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 119-
128.
Goodwin, J. (2001). Teaching Pronunciation. In M. Celce-Murcia, Teaching English as a Second or

Foreign Language (pp. 117-133). Boston: Heinley & Heinle.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Aquisition. New York: Pergamon
Press.
Lin, H., Fan, C., & Chen, C. (1995). Teaching Pronunciation in the Learner-Centered. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED393292).
López Parra, A. X., & Muñoz Salazar, C. A. (2011). La Canción Pop: Un Recuerso Lúdico-pedagógico
para el Aprendizaje Significativo del Inglés. Hechos Y Proyecciones del Lenguaje.
Minsky, M. (1981). Music, Mind and Meaning. In M. Clynes, Music, Mind and Brain: The
Neuropsychology of Music. Plenum: New York.
Scarcella, R. C., & Oxford, R. L. (1994). Second language pronunciation: State of the art in
instruction. System, 221-230.
Teaman, B. D. (1992). Stress in Japanese English: Evidence from native perceptual judgements.
Working papers in educational linguistics, 69-83.
Villalobos Ulate, N. (2008). Using Songs to Improve EFL Students' Pronunciation. Letras, 93-108.
Wei, M. (2006). A Literature Review on Strategies for Teaching Pronunciation. Online Submission.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED491566)Online submission.
Wong, R. (1987). Teaching Pronunciation: Focus on English Rhythm and Intonation. Englewood Cliff:
Prentice Regents Hall.
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Running head: USING SONG AND MUSIC TO TEACH ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION 1 Formatted: Font: Not Bold

Formatted: Font: Not Bold

Word Count: 2,4494

Pop Music to Teach English Pronunciation: Formatted: Font color: Auto

2. Necessity of specifically teaching pronunciation

Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman

3. Features of Pronunciation Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman

4. Role of music in teaching pronunciation

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accustomed to jumping to accented syllables while speeding through unstressed syllables as is

5. Music and Memory

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6. Conclusions and Recommendations

process that otherwise could be boring and tedious.

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Bibliography Formatted: Normal, Line spacing: Double

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Goodwin, J. (2001). Teaching Pronunciation. In M. Celce-Murcia, Teaching English as a Second or

Formatted: Font: (Default) +Body (Calibri), 11.5 pt

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