Teaching English Pronunciation Using Songs

Luki Noparendra

17.1.01.08.0045

University Nusantara PGRI Kediri

English will become an international language. English is a key to success in

communicating, people of different countries speak English to communicate. Basically, there
are four language skills that every students need to master in order to be able for
communicate with others. They are reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Speaking is an
important skill that must be mastered by every person who wants to study English. Before
learning speaking skill, English language learners are recommended to learn pronunciation
because it is the fundamental basic for both teachers and students who want to master
speaking in English language. People can speak English better if they master pronunciation.
Pronunciation is one of the most aspects in speaking skill, and one of the most important
parts of English to communicate with others. In learning a foreign language, pronunciation
plays an important role. According to Farmand and Pourgharib (2013).

Songs as one of listening materials can be applied in English language learners. While
the students are listening to the music or song, they will learn many things, such as learning
grammar and pronunciation. While listening to the songs, the students may follow to sing the
songs (Ratnasari, 2007, p. 21). By using songs, the students can also learn a lot of things such
as new words and the meaning of the words. Therefore, there are some advantages of
Teaching English pronunciation using songs.

First, Kramer states that songs are good for English teaching because, songs are
funny. They promote mimics, gestures etc, and associated to the meaning. They are good to
introduce suprasegmental phonetics. Students play a participative role. They can be applied to
comprehension stages (listening) or production (singing). There are songs for all ages and
levels. Students can learn English very easily through echoic memory.

Second, Songs can add feeling and rhythm to language practice that might otherwise
be flat. Students can learn intonation and stress with using music. “They also help and
remember things more easily and draw more deeply into a lesson.
 Third, Music and rhythm are much easier to imitate and remember language than
words which are just spoken. Student can learn faster more effective. Songs can makes
student to know how to expression their feeling.

A song is a musical composition contains vocal parts that are performed with the
human voice and generally feature words. A song expresses the feelings or reflects the
experience of the composer through the use of words and rhythm. Songs are valuable to many
people around the world. Songs can also motivate people to have a positive emotional
experience of language learning. Songs are an ideal method for pronunciation practice, there
are four stage in teaching English pronunciation using songs.

Stage one, Teachers will often use a warm up activity at the start of a lesson as a way
to lead into skills work. In this case, the purpose could be linked to a cognitive viewpoint, in
which learning becomes an active process of making sense of things (Brown, 2000). For
instance, a teacher who warms up for a reading activity by asking questions or inviting
students to discuss something related to the topic is activating a schema, which allows the
students to access prior information, knowledge or experience. The students can then access
the lesson more effectively.

Stage two, The presentation stage introduces a lesson, and necessarily requires the
creation of a realistic, or a realistic-feeling "situation" that requires the use of the target
language. This can be achieved through song or pronunciation activities. Explanations of how
to produce sounds or use pronunciation patterns appropriately should be kept to a minimum;
although directions on how to use the vocal organs can help some students in certain
circumstances (Scarcella and Oxford, 1994).

Stage three, practice or controlled practice involves the teacher helping students to
practice using a new language. Practice can be regarded as a frequency device to create
familiarity, a measuring stick for accuracy and as a way to increase confidence with using a
new language. The teacher still directs and corrects at this stage, but the classroom is
beginning to become more learner-centered. The teacher also allows students time to practice
the correct pronunciation. Then the students are to sing along, learn the tune and pick up the
rhythm well enough to be able to sing along with the original recording (Scrivener, 2005).

Last stage, the learners have started to become independent users of the language
rather than just students of it. The role of the teacher at this stage is to somehow facilitate a
realistic situation or activity, in which the students instinctively feel the need to actively
apply the language they have been practicing. The students can practice applying their
knowledge through their own ideas, such as role-play, singing a song, or the analysis of a
song. The teacher should regularly replay the song in order to improve the recall of the
students and to encourage them to do the relevant action (Scrivener, 2005).

The summary is from the statements above, we know that song is funny and
interesting. As we see, most of teenagers like something funny. With their interest in song,
will make the process of teaching English pronunciation easier. The writer assume that it is
effective using song in teaching English pronunciation to Vocational School students because
they learn something by using something funny that is a song. The students can sing along to
learn the tune, pick up the rhythm and sing along with the original recording. Students can
also practice pronouncing specific sounds from songs in groups, in pairs, or individually. The
students can apply their knowledge through their own ideas about how to pronounce words,
such as singing songs accurately and an awareness of their own pronunciation skills.

References

 Farmand, Z., &Pourgharib, B. (2016). The effect of English songs on English

learners pronunciation. International Journal of Basic Sciences & Applied
Research, 2(9), 840- 846.
 Ratnasari, H. 2007. Songs to improve the student achievement in
pronunciation English words. Unpublished final project of UNNES.
 Brown, D.H. (2000). Principles of language learning & teaching. (4th ed.).
New York: Longman. (pp. 49-58)
 Scarcell,R.& Oxford,R..L (1994). Second Language Pronunciation: State of
the Art in Instruction. System. 22 (2), 221-230.
 Scrivener, J (2005). Learning Teaching. Oxford: Macmillan.