Musica

MASARYK UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

THE USE OF MUSIC IN TEACHING ENGLISH
Diploma thesis

Brno 2007

Supervisor: Mgr. Jaroslav Suchý

Written by: Veronika Rosová

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION Rosová, Veronika. The use of music in teaching English: diploma thesis. Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of EnglishLanguage and Literature, 2007. Diploma thesis supervisor Mgr. Jaroslav Suchý.

ANNOTATION The diploma thesis deals with the use of music in teaching English. The attention is paid to songs, mainly focusing on their importance in language teaching both from theoretical and practical point of view. It is supported by the research the main subject of which is to find out if music helps to acquire andremember vocabulary.

ANOTACE Diplomová práce se zabývá využitím hudby ve výuce anglického jazyka. Pozornost je hlavně věnována písním, zaměřující se hlavně na jejich důležitost ve výuce jazyka, jak z teoretického tak praktického hlediska. Práce je podpořena výzkumem, jehož hlavním předmětem je zjistit, zda hudba pomáhá s osvojováním a zapamatováním si slovní zásoby.

KEYWORDS Music, song,teaching, listening, poem

KLÍČOVÁ SLOVA Hudba, Píseň, vyučování, poslech, báseň

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Declaration I declare that I have written my thesis on my own and that I used the sources listed in the bibliography. I agree that the work will be kept in the Masaryk University library for study purposes. Brno, 10th August 2007.

Signature:

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Acknowledgements I am very grateful to my supervisor Mgr.Jaroslav Suchý, and I would like to thank him sincerely for giving me helpful and valuable advice. I appreciate his willingness to consult my thesis anytime I needed it. I would also like to thank all the students who took part in my research.

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CONTENTS Bibliographical description Declaration Acknowledgements CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction – practical point of view 5 7 8

2MUSIC 10 2.1 The term music & songs 10 2.2 Music and its beginning 10 2.3 Definitions of music 11 2.4 Influence of music 11 3 SUGGESTOPAEDIA 13 4 SONGS 14 4.1 What makes a song a song? 14 4.2 Nature of songs 15 4.3 Why introduce songs in the classroom 15 4.4 The importance and the role of songs in language teaching 16 4.4.1 Cultural significance 16 4.4.2 Enjoyable drill 17 4.4.3 Songs as practicematerial 17 4.4.3.1 The help of songs when learning pronunciation 18 4.4.3.1.1 The help of songs focused on sounds 18 4.4.3.1.2 The help of songs focused on words 19 4.4.3.1.3 The help of songs focused on connected speech19 4.4.4 What can we do with a song in language teaching? 20 .4.5 Taking songs seriously 21 5 LISTENING 23 5.1 What is listening? 23 5.2 The importance of listening 24 5.3 Listeningdifficulties 25 5.3.1 Listening difficulties stemming from pronunciation 26 5.4 Formal × informal speech 27 5.5 Teachers’ expectations of learners’ comprehension 27 6 SOME ASPECTS OF PLANNING AND TEACHING A LESSON28 6.1 Planning a lesson 29 6.1.1 Teaching aims 30 6.1.2 Motivation 30 6.1.3 Teaching aids and materials 31 6.1.4 Student groupings 32 6.2 Planning a listening lesson 33 6.3 Some aspectsof teaching a listening lesson 33 6.3.1 Listeners’ expectations 34 6.3.2 Clear instructions 34 6.3.3 Feedback 35 7 POEM 36 7.1 The terms – literature, poetry, poem 36

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7.2 Why to teach literature MEDINA RESEARCH RESEARCH 9.1 Parts of the research 9.2 Description of researched groups 9.3 Planning the research lesson 9.4 Results of the first questionnaire 9.5 Description of the song –lesson experiment 9.5.1 Description of the course of song- lesson 9.5.2 Results collection of song – lesson experiment 9.5.3 Results of the second questionnaire 9.6 Description of the poem – lesson experiment 9.6.1 Description of the course of poem – lesson 9.6.2 Results collection of the poem – lesson experiment 9.6.2.1 Results of the poem – lesson worksheet 9.6.2.2 Results of the interview 9.7...