ACQUIRING VOCABULARY THROUGH

ENGLISH SONGS
Dinar Tyas Hutami
English Language Teaching, Teacher Training and Education Faculty
Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto
Jl. Raya Dukuhwaluh, PO BOX 202 Purwokerto 53182
e-mail : dinartyashut@gmail.com

Abstract
Can English be acquired through songs? A recent study investigated the
effects of music upon the acquisition of English vocabulary is impactful. Language
is one of basic human skills. For human beings, language is a means to fulfill their
needs. Songs can be used as learning media because of its interesting and
challenging aspects. Songs ease the students to imitate and store the information to
their memories; however, it is definitely effective for teaching and learning process.
Teaching English has become a trend nowadays. In every school, English
is taught as one of the main subjects. One of the forms of fun activities for students
is through music, and songs are the common form of music that students know.
Through this paper, the writer wants to show that through songs, students could
enhance their vocabulary.
Keywords: music, English songs, learning media, acquiring vocabulary.

A. Introduction
Vocabulary learning is crucially important for second language
learners’ fluent communicative ability. As Wilkins (1972) put it, “without
grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing at all can
be conveyed”. Harmer (1994) also stated, “If language structures make up
the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs
and the flesh”. Increasingly, attention to vocabulary has been an integral
part of the learning process for foreign language learners. “Vocabulary is
central to language teaching and learning” (Taylor, 1990). A good
vocabulary is really needed in both teaching and learning. If the learners do
not know the meaning of the words, they will have difficulty in
understanding what they see, read, and learn. Cross (1991) also states that
there are two main ways to teach (introduce vocabulary); showing the

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meaning directly and use language that the students already know”. It
implies that the teacher can show the meaning or words directly when the
students do not know or recognize it yet. When the students already know
the meaning of words the teacher can use the sentences to show the meaning
clearly. It is used to stimulate the students to enlarge their vocabularies.
There are four steps to teach vocabulary:
1. Introducing
Teacher should mention new words clearly and correctly pronunciation.
In introducing new words to young learners, the teacher can use picture
or real things in class.
2. Modeling
After the teacher introduces the new words, the teacher can give example
as a model. For example, when the teacher introduces “clap”, the teacher
should clap their hands while he says “clap” so, the young learners can
imagine the new words in real activity.
3. Practicing
The young learners are asked to repeat and practice the words the teacher
says. The teacher should pronounce the words many times in order to
make the young learners can repeat it correctly and remember it easily.
4. Applying
The young learners are asked to apply the words in a situation with the
teacher’s help. Teacher should create an interesting situation in order to
make young learners easy in applying the new words, also should make
them active.
Songs have been part of the human experience for as long as we can
remember. Songs have become an integral part of our language experience,
and if used in coordination with a language lesson they can be of great value.
Fortunately, with the expanding prevalence of the Internet and specifically
the World Wide Web into both the classrooms and lives of students, access
to music and lyrics has been made easier. Speaking up about the English
song, Suwartono (2014) states in his article entitled The Use Of Songs For

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 Promoting Student Participation In The Teaching Of English Structure that
“Viewed from student participation, learning gain, and positive response
towards the instruction using songs as media, it can be said that
implemetation of the intervention, namely, the use of songs in the teaching
of English structure has brought about big changes in both student
participation and learning achievement. “
It is common practice for teachers of first and second language
learners to read stories to children but facing the college students is a
different task. College students tend to spend their time listening to music
nowadays and easily memorize the lyrics. Lecturers have a hard task on the
development of their students’ ability in improving their vocabulary. As this
issue comes up, the activity through listening to English song is the problem
solver. By engaging in this practice, lecturers are cultivating listening skills
and promote vocabulary acquisition. This paper will focus on the reasons
for using songs by demonstrating their effectiveness as a learning tool.

B. Discussion: Theoretical Rationale

In recent years, second language speakers have concerned
themselves with the acquisition of vocabulary. College students are forced
to have the advanced understanding on, for example not only reading
passage or news from the internet also the newspaper. This is seen as the
hardest part in learning English language since non-native speakers or
second language speakers did not get all of those vocabulary when they
were young. The second language speakers have realized that structure and
grammar are important, but how could they survive when they do know not
the meaning of the passage or text? and when the test comes they are now
allowed to use the dictionary. While this problem is still becoming never
ending problem and is not solved yet, the second language speaker are
confused enough to think of how they will overcome it.
Almost everyone is happy with the song because the song has fun
characteristics and represents a lot of people because of the variety of types

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of songs that are so many. Song is a text that is sung. The song comes from
a written work that is played to the accompaniment of music. Those who
listen to the song can feel sad, happy, excited, and other emotional feelings
because of the effect of a song that is so touching. In addition, the song is
able to provide unconsciously vocabulary stored in memory in the brain.
This situation that actually makes the learning process becomes not rigid,
and impressed conditioned of the classroom. Seeing the advantage, the song
gives its own advantages for vocabulary teaching, so the results are
considered more effective.
During the preschool years, the child relies exclusively upon the
oral language he/she listens to in order to acquire language. As Nagy and
Herman (1987) pointed out, this acquisition of language takes place before
the child can read and without explicit instruction of any kind. Furthermore,
even after the child begins to attend school, he/she continues to acquire
vocabulary which has not been learned formally. Of the 3,000 words which
the average child acquires each year, only a portion are learned as a result
of the instruction received in school. Thus, Nagy and Herman have argued
that the remainder of these vocabulary must be learned incidentally from a
variety of sources including, but not limited to such sources as television,
parents, etc. Similarly, songs may also provide a source of incidental
acquisition of vocabulary.
Talking about listening to song, there are two processes involved in
listening, and both can be utilized when songs are used in the classroom.
The activity which is selected for a particular song will determine which of
these processes is active. Cullen (1999) states that the first is bottom-up
processing where the listener builds up the sounds into words, sentences and
meaning. The second is top-down processing where the listener uses
background knowledge to understand the meaning of a message. Practicing
both of these processes is essential for developing listening comprehension.
In relation to language learning, the use of music and songs offers two major

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advantages: music is highly memorable, it is highly motivating especially
for children, adolescents and young adult learners.
When the teacher teaches English using song, they should pay
attention of several important rules, they are:
1. Songs should be appropriate with the students’ characteristic.
2. Songs should be without lyrics.
3. Songs should be interesting, dynamic and with cheerful rhythm.
4. Songs should be in simple word and easy to spell.
The affective and cognitive reasons for using songs are all grounded
in learning theory, and provide insights into the benefits of songs in the
classroom.
1. Affective Reasons
Steven Krashen technically said that it is an explanation of how
the affective factors relate to language learning. It is particularly
appealing to teachers because it provides an explanation to why some
learners learn and others do not. Saricoban and Metin (2000) have
found that songs can develop the four skill areas of reading, writing,
listening, and speaking. Eken (1996, p.46) states that songs can be used:
1. To present a topic, a language point, lexis, etc.
2. To practice a language point, lexis, etc.
3. To focus on common learner errors in a more direct way
4. To encourage extensive and intensive listening
5. To stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings
6. To encourage creativity and use of imagination
7. To provide a relaxed classroom atmosphere
8. To bring variety and fun to learning

2. Cognitive Reasons
Songs also present opportunities for developing automaticity
which is the main cognitive reason for using songs in the classroom.
Gatbonton and Segalowitz (1988) define automaticity as "a component

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 of language fluency which involves both knowing what to say and
producing language rapidly without pauses." Using songs can help
automatize the language development process. Traditionally, it was
believed that automatization would occur through repetitive exercises
in a noncommunicative environment. However, the major shift towards
the communicative teaching methodology requires that automatization
occur in a different manner. Gatbonton and Segalowitz (1988) state that
we must "place students in an environment in which it is appropriate to
use target utterances in a genuinely communicative fashion." The nature
of songs is fairly repetitive and consistent. For example, a song such as
"Sailing" by Rod Stewart provides ample opportunities for students to
focus on the present progressive tense. The repetitive style of the song
lends itself to an activity in which students create their own present
progressive sentences based upon their own interest. After listening to
the song, students create their own lyrics following the same tune as the
song. Listening to the song would be a relaxed, friendly, and
cooperative classroom atmosphere that has allowed my intermediate-
level students to practice language in a rich, authentic context. These
activities have aroused a lot of interest in my teacher-trainees providing
them with a variety of techniques that they can use in their classes for
different language teaching and learning purposes.

C. Conclusion
Using songs can strengthen English language acquisition. Song
lyrics will stimulate vocabulary and improve grammar. Not only that,
listening to song can improve listening skill. The internet access to music,
lyrics, and activities has been simplified which makes it easy for the teacher
to effectively use songs in the classroom. Creativity and imagination are
stimulated in a positive class atmosphere where music is incorporated to
enable optimum learning.

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