• Article Published: July 1994

• Journal: ELT News and Views, Argentina

All teachers hope to find the perfect teaching medium whereby their pedagogic titbits are not only received by attentive, happy pupils, but are also constantly remembered and practised even in a non English-speaking environment. Add to that subliminal reminders which push teaching points deep into the subconscious, so that the students cannot actively dismiss them from their minds and it sounds too good to be true! Nevertheless, I believe all this can be achieved quite easily and I have written the following article to explain this theory further.

CAN LESSONS BASED ON COMMERCIAL SONGS REALLY BE WORTHWHILE?

The answer, surprisingly perhaps, is a resounding YES! Many commercial songs have a universal language of their own. Such lessons could even be the most effective learning method of all!  Unfortunately, until recently, copyright problems have effectively denied the EFL profession legal access to what could possibly be considered 'a perfect learning system'. 

The resultant shortfall in this type of teaching material has been filled by specially-created songs to promote certain grammatical points;  in theory a good idea, but with limited results.

Increasingly, authentic song-based lessons are being developed by teachers for their own use, but how effective are such lessons at present?   They tend to be used to appease unruly students, to provide amusement or temporary respite from intensive study; fun occasions with no real purpose. In most cases, the intended purpose is achieved, but what limited aspirations for something so versatile!

* THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONS WHEN LEARNING *

Have you considered the importance of arousing emotions when teaching? Emphasis has been placed on enjoyment during learning, ergo many lessons now incorporate humour, albeit somewhat forced or unappreciated at times. Humour is not the only emotion which can be employed to assist learning. By casting your mind back for a moment, you will find yourself remembering events connected with feelings of anger, happiness, embarrassment, disappointment, etc., more vividly than any emotionless ones.

For conventional lessons, students are expected to draw on logic, opinions, knowledge, but very little emotion is involved, unless coincidental, being more related to the classroom situation, eg: frustration at being unable to complete an exercise, relief at remembering something, disappointment at not being asked to given an answer, irritation with someone else in the room. Unfortunately, such irrelevant emotions interrupt the learning process, doing little or nothing to aid it. 

In contrast, commercial songs - created to give emotional messages - are renowned for plucking at a whole hose of emotions, as it at harp strings. The first emotion to stir could well be pleasure, due to recognition, although it could equally be disappointment, or irritation. Be that as it may, those emotions are concentrated on a vital part of the lesson to be recalled, or felt, at a later date. Each song could well incite a fluctuating range of contrasting feelings, invoked by the lyrical theme, rhythm, pace, volume, instrumental accompaniment and/or key (major or minor).

Songs, purpose-produced to illustrate a specific pedagogic point are far less emotive; there is no surge of recognition, no blend of powerful or poignant sounds and the lyrics, only chosen to illustrate the pedagogical point for which they were created, are hardly guaranteed to even tweak heart-strings.

* REPETITION, CONSCIOUS REMINDERS & SUBLIMINAL ONES *

Repetition, as used in traditional teaching methods and rightly condemned by modern theorists, induced a trance-like state which incorporated neither pleasure nor interest. Any success was entirely dependent upon the 'brainwashing' aspect of chanting facts or visual repetition whilst writing.

In contrast, musical repetition provides an unexpected jolt to the memory, reawakening emotions and .......YES!......certain linguistic titbits! How does it work? Teachers sow their pedagogic seeds; DJs unwittingly nourish them, enabling them to embed themselves deeper and deeper into students' memories.

Every time a chosen song is heard, it has a gentle brainwashing effect, reminding the listener of the relevant teaching points, regardless of time or place. This melodic nudge to the memory could be consolidated further if the listener sings in accompaniment, thereby practising the relevant points of the lesson time and again. Repetition cannot be ignored as a learning aid - it hammers knowledge in!

Learning a musical instrument requires regular practice on a 'little and often' basis. Language learning too would benefit from a similar approach, but this is not always possible. The English language is so vast that the chances of regularly hearing and practising specific vocabulary and/or grammatical points once lessons have finished can be remote. Commercial music not only reminds the listener of certain teaching points, but also permanently links those same points with any place where the songs are heard, ie: home, bars, shops, discos, offices, even ghetto-blasters in the street, etc. Hence places themselves become subliminal reminders of the song and the original lesson, which may well have been given years earlier - effectively, prompts which can no longer be actively dismissed from the mind. See the following 3-stage diagram:-

Stage 1: MEMORABLE INPUT

Enjoyable lesson, using a commercial song, which arouses certain emotions

Song likely to be heard and recognised in discos, pubs, homes, shops, streets, etc.

Stage 3:  SUBLIMINAL REMINDERS

Visits to people and places which have past associations with the song, ie: the song was heard when dancing/lunching/shopping alone or with someone else, etc.

By comparison,  specially-produced songs can only be heard during the lesson(s) and even then a lack of enthusiasm might be detected from younger students with limited musical desires, thus making them even less memorable. Conscientious students who request a copy of the song, may play it several times later in a deliberate attempt to reinforce the lesson; however, this practice might not continue for long, particularly once the learning environment has been left, or other songs have vied for attention and won. The point being here that repetition which depends entirely upon a student's whim is unlikely to be maintained. Under such circumstances, clearly step 3 could never be reached. Therefore, few could argue in favour of these songs when presented with the advantages of commercial ones.

THE END

Copyright 2002, Bibi Baxter, Musical English Lessons International. All rights reserved.

LINKS

• Return to Index

• Return to the top of this page