THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

THUONG XUAN 3 HIGH SCHOOL

THE INITIATIVE FROM TEACHING EXPERIENCE

“USING SONGS TO ENCOURAGE GRADE 10 SCHOOLERS
TO LEARN LISTENING SKILL AT THUONG XUAN 3 HIGH
SCHOOL”

Teacher’s full name: Cầm Thị Hương
Position
: Teacher
The initiative of
: Teaching English


THANH HOÁ 2017
Table of contents
2.3. The solution of the problem........................................................................7
2.3.1. The seven-step process of the Action Research.......................................7


1. Introduction
1.1. Rationale
Regarded as an international language, English is spoken in most parts of
the world - and is considered the principle means of communication among the
trade, diplomatic, and airline communities. English has been a compulsory
subject among Vietnamese students for many years. Teaching English in
Vietnam will help our students take advantage of globalization, and teachers are
always seeking ways to improve their techniques for more effective lesson plans

school towards listening skill before implementing the use of songs in teaching
listening.
- Selecting and using English songs in teaching English listening to the
grade 10 students at Thuong Xuan 3 high school.

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- Evaluating the effectiveness of applying English songs in encouraging
grade 10 schoolers to learn listening skill at Thuong Xuan 3 high school to
provide implications for English language teaching.
1.3. The population of the study
Applying English songs in the class may bring about many benefits in
terms of effective grammar learning, listening, pronunciation, and it can be
implemented at different classes. However, in this research, we would like to
focus on the use of English songs in teaching listening and the participants are
only students of grade 10 at Thuong Xuan 3 high school, Thuong Xuan district.
There are 40 grade 10 schoolers involving in this study. They take part in
the listening lesson with the use of songs and do the questionnaire.
All the teachers of English in Thuong Xuan 3 high school, aged twentythree to thirty-one years old, also take part in my study. They shared their
advantages and disadvantages of teaching Engish listening here and observed
my class to find out if the song using have positive effects on the learners’
attitudes towards listening lessons.
1.4. The methodology
To fulfill the above aims, qualitative and quantitative method was chosen
for the study. All comments, remarks, assumptions and conclusion of the study
were based on the observation, data and analysis. Data collections for analysis in
this study were gained though the following resources:
- Survey questionnaires;
- Interview;

of control over the speed at which speakers speak; (2) not being able to get
things repeated; (3) the listener’s limited vocabulary; (4) failure to recognize the
signals; (5) problems of interpretation; (6) inability to concentrate and (7)
established learning habit.
From the students’ dificultties in mastering listening lessons, the educators
organizing the teaching ang learning process should plan their listening lesson to
encourage their learners to take part in the listening lessons positively.
2.1.2. Songs
According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2000, p.412), song is
“a short piece of music with words that you sing”. It may be written for one or
several voices and it is generally performed with instrument accompaniment.
Songs are part of daily life for most people. The benefits of songs inELT
have been well-documented by a myriad researchers. The benificial roles os
song using are revealed as the following:
Firstly, motivation is one of the things that can be gained by using songs in
foreign language classroom. Rogers (1999) found that “the use of songs creates
an atmosphere of interest in the study of English and can lead from a “teacher
centered” to a “student centered” class. Using music can lift the atmosphere in
class, or develop a non-threatening classroom atmosphere, bring in a boost of
energy and capture the children’s attention. Besides, English songs can motivate
them in their quest to learn English.
Secondly, songs can be catchy and re-usable. Songs are catchy and fun and
ESL students will feel happy to hear them many times till they can sing along. If
teacher plays the recording of a dialogue the second time, students may get
bored with it. However, songs can be reused without making students become
fed up with listening.
Thirdly, songs related to cultural aspects could be chosen to present to
students about social situations, historical events, geographical descriptions, and
others. The use of songs, according to Jolly (1975), gives students the
opportunity to acquire a greater understanding of the culture underlying the

subjects, so they spend little time learning English, and their skills are weak.
Though they have been studying English for many years, their focus has been on
learning syntax and grammar so they can pass regular examinations. Moreover,
because their parents are farmers who never use English in their daily lives, the
students receive little encouragement at home to develop vital communication
skills. As a result, most of the students do not know what they are studying
English for- except to pass their exams. Although they know it is important to
learn English in the modern life, they become bored with learning it. In each
class, there are only a few students really learning English- and it is those few
who are interested in learning it. The majority of the students usually forget
most the things they have learned as soon as their testing period is over. Once
the students lose their motivation for learning, the quality of their classroom
experience rapidly declines.
2.2.2. Students’ attitude and their difficulties in listening lessons
The student’s survey questionnaire “A” was constructed with 3 questions.
The data collected is presented- along with answers from each of the 40 students
who responded.
This data provided a baseline of the student’s attitude towards their English
language listening lessons, as well as their perceived difficulties. After the
students received their instructions, they put up privacy folders to block field-ofview from other students.
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Question 1: What do you think about the listening lesson in the text
book?

Figure 2.1. Opinions about the reading lessons
The chart in Figure 2.1 shows that about 25 of the 40 studentresponders thought that the listening lesson are difficult, while 16 students said
that they are boring. At the same time, only four students agreed that the content
of the listening lesson is normal. Only 7.5% of the students expressed the

90%
it is difficult to understand the main idea of the listening 35/40
87.5%
lesson
it is difficult to understand the details of the listening lesson 37/40
92.5%
doing listening tasks (answering questions, gap-filling..)
28/40
70%
the topic is too difficult for my level of background 20/40
50%
knowledge
Table 2.1: Factors that negatively impact student’s listening
As we can see from the table, Question 3 focuses on the student’s
expressed negative factors that impact their listening lesson - that is, the
subjective elements that they think and feel. Results were predicable: When the
students responded whether they had any difficulties in English listening lesson,
most of them say “yes”. However, they had an opportunity to quantify their
responses: Question 3 also includes the reasons why the students find listening
lesson difficult.
The statistical data shows that 67.5% of the students expressed that the
longer listening lesson, the harder time they had understanding the whole text.
90% of the students give the opinion that the factors which make the listening
lesson difficult is that there are too many new words. More importantly, 87.5%
of the students agree that it is difficult to understand the main idea of the
listening lesson, and a further 92.5% find it hard to catch the detail of such a
large section of text.
About 50% of the students state that the topics chosen by the authors of the
listening lesson pick subject with which the students have no prior background
knowledge. It would be better if the authors chose familiar subjects (ideally by

personally meaningful research questions to guide the inquiry.
Step 4: Collecting Data
Professional educators always want their instructional decisions to be based
on the best possible data. Action researchers can accomplish this by making sure
that the data used to justify their actions are valid (meaning the information
represents what the researchers say it does) and reliable (meaning the
researchers are confident about the accuracy of their data). Lastly, before data
are used to make teaching decisions, teachers must be confident that the lessons
drawn from the data align with any unique characteristics of their classroom or
school.
Step 5: Analyzing Data
Step 6: Reporting Results
Step 7: Taking Informed Action
When teachers write lesson plans or develop academic programs, they are
engaged in the action planning process. What makes action planning particularly
satisfying for the teacher researcher is that with each piece of data uncovered
(about teaching or student learning) the educator will feel greater confidence in
the wisdom of the next steps.
In this study, after identifying the topic ““Using songs to encourage grade
10 schoolers to learn listening skill at Thuong Xuan 3 high school”, we
identified two variables and two research questions. The data would be selected
by both qualitative and quantitative methods. Then we selected three English
songs which related to the topics of three units in textbook. These songs were
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taught together with the lessons. The three selected songs were integrated into
the lessons as follows:
Lesson
Songs

(4) Rearranging Sentences / Paragraph: The technique is done by giving
the sentence or paragraph hiatus to students. Students are asked to listen to the
spoken text and make sentences / paragraphs to be true.
2.4. The findings
2.4.1. Results of students’ survey questionnaire B: Teachers and
students’ attitudes toward the implement of English song
An additional set of data was collected after the researcher had applied
English song during the following four weeks of classroom teaching. The
students were asked to show their attitudes towards new listening lessons. Four
teachers taking part in this study served as observers while I conducted normal
teaching in the class. A song implementing questionnaire was given to students
after the four-week intervention phase to determine students’ attitudes toward
these innovative tools.
The questions included in the survey are shown in Table 1 below:
STT Students’ attitude
Numbers of students Percent
(per total of 40)
1
more relaxed
38
95%
2
more concentrated
36
90%
3
remember easily what has been learned 35
87.5%
4
more pleasant learning

learn new vocabulary and if they were taught the vocabulary through songs they
remember the words better. However, there were some students who are not in
agreement with the statement that if they work with the vocabulary through
songs, words are easier to remember. Besides, we can observe that most students
are more motivated by working with songs. Most students are also aware that
they concentrated more on the lesson when the teacher used songs in English
teaching.
The findings of this research study have established that the use of songs as
developed through different interesting activities are applicable to the primary
EFL teaching context. By using songs as means of teaching vocabulary, students
have progressive changes in perceiving vocabulary.
The findings have indicated that a considerable number of learners do not
feel stressed or bored, and overall they find songs interesting and motivating
learning material. It was also apparent from all the data that songs provided the
EFL language learners with an opportunity to learn not only in a fun but also in a
meaningful and memorable way. It also demonstrated that implementing songs
in the learning process would be beneficial for vocabulary learning, as reflected
in the observations and questionnaire with the students. The findings thus of this
study will have direct implications for language learning and also they could
have a potential impact not only on the primary but the wider education sector.
In spite of the fact that the findings of this research demonstrated a generally
positive response from the students, there were some responses which indicated
that the positive effects were constrained by some factors such as the fast rhythm
of the songs, the unknown words or the noise created during the use of songs
which prevented them from considering songs as applicable to their learning
situation. This was confirmed by a few students’ concerns expressed during the
focus group discussions, and it could perhaps discourage them from wanting to
work with songs. There is, however, sufficient evidence to support the
contention that it is up to the teacher to use songs wisely and implement them in
an effective, appropriate and imaginative way through interesting activities, in

25% is only one teacher!
Statistical analysis indicates a clear pattern of favorability among teachers
who observed a lesson plan utilizing English songs. It seems clear from the data
above that both students and teachers alike have favorable opinions of English
(both qualitatively and quantitatively).
2.4.2. Findings from interviews
When the students were asked further why they were not interested in the
listening lessons, many of them responded that the listening texts are too long,
and that too many new vocabulary words are introduced. In addition, they said
that the speakers’ voice make them embarassed. In response to the question
about what was hard in the lesson, some of them supposed the content items
were difficult; with the exception of two students reported that nothing was hard.
Several of them blamed the teacher’s methodology for their boredom to the
listening lessons.
When asked further about why they like English songs, they stated that the
“English songs” are visual and attractive to them. Others stated that they liked
English songs because they helped them understand the gist of the text and what
the teacher is talking about.
When teachers were asked if they liked using English songs in listening
lessons, three out of four of them agreed that it an effective technique to clarify
the structure and the content of the listening text. Only one out of four needed
more testing to determine a final answer. However, all four agreed that students
often like something attracting so they are attracted to the design of each English
song used in the lessons.

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Regarding their future use of English songs in their respective lesson plans,
all four teachers responded positively - although they admitted there would be

From this finding, some suggestions in the implication chapter will be
given as a guide to improve the above situation so that teachers can help their
students develop their listening comprehension skills effectively.
2.4.4. Discussion
Based on the data, the author conducted statistical analysis to discover
whether the problems facing the students could be quantified or not - and solved
by the accurate and appropriate use of English songs. This was the foundational
question that determined whether English songs could be effectively used in our
classroom settings - and whether our students were benefiting or not.
However, the data did provide sufficient evidence to answer these and other
vital academic questions. First, the positive effects of incorporating English
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songs into the listening comprehension portions of the lesson plans was reflected
in students’ survey questionnaire. A large majority of students claimed that
English songs helped them understand both the gist and the details of the
listening texts easily. Moreover, they found the lessons more interesting when
the teachers applied English songs to exploit the texts - instead of just doing
repeated tasks such as answering boring questions, or true/false statements, etc.
Second, the students chosen during the study had positive attitudes towards the
use of English songs in listening comprehension. They also projected their
awareness of the importance of developing listening skills in English.
The results of the teacher questionnaires and interviews were
overwhelmingly positive - both for the interventions effectiveness, and the ease
of implementation. The positive teacher perceptions are an important finding
because even if graphic organizers appear to be effective, if teachers find them
burdensome or difficult to implement in their classroom, they would avoid
integrating them into their classroom practices.
It can be said that using English songs is a realistic practice to encourage

During the intervention period, the author noticed the students paid more
attention to the listening and becoming more involved in the process of listening
lessons. The author also saw improvements in the students’ quality of work,
whether it was written or through discussions. By using English songs, the
students were able to map out parts of the text, allowing them to concentrate on
a specific part of the text, and apply that comprehension skill. This strategy
worked very well for the students that needed to focus on one part of the text at
a time to gain full understanding. Many students found more confident to
summarize the listening text.
In conclusion, my attempt to inspire my students is to encourage my
students to learn listening lessons. Both in class and outside class, the data
showed that the students became more focused, and they put more endeavor into
practicing listening. Despite these positive findings the author finds there are
still a few areas that should be improved in the future.
3.2. Implications for effective listening lessons
As the data analysis revealed, English songs can be used as an additional
technique to encourage my students to learn listening lessons. English songs
play an important role in representing the text structure, transforming dry text
into content suitable for discussion and absorption during classroom instruction.
Using English songs help teachers to interest and inspire their students to want
to comprehend the listening texts. The students find it more interesting to work
on a English songs.
Students will be more motivated during the lessons-perhaps creating their
own English songs for the passage. This improves their creativity and develops
their critical thinking.
Another important aspect of this study is the attitudes of the students. It has
been shown that a reader’s attitude has a direct effect on how well he or she
listen. During observation times the author noticed an increase in the enthusiasm
and motivation in her students utilizing English songs. Their willingness to
challenge themselves was rewarding for them and for their teacher.

vocabularies, and the insufficiency of their background knowledge. These are
larger issues that need time to realize improvement. Hopefully, these
aforementioned problems can be solved in the near future, in other studies, by
other interested scholars. And my own limitations should not be overlooked:
This thesis is written within the limited academic knowledge, methodology. I
have after six years in the classroom. Therefore, any mistakes or errors are
unavoidable. Yet I sincerely hope that the results of this small study will
motivate others to press on with greater and greater efforts to enlighten the
world of academic education as to the potential benefits of incorporating graphic
organizers into the study of foreign languages.
This study focused on the relationship between English songs and listening
comprehension; other studies can examine the relationship between English
songs and other language skills and components. Moreover, a replication of this
study may examine the effects of student - generated English songs in
comparison to teacher-generated ones on L2 learners’ listening comprehension
achievements.
Suggestions for further studies
Further research is needed in order to validate the findings of this general
topic. English songs are research-validated strategies that improve listening
comprehension; however, more studies should be conducted on student’s
improvements.
In summary, the author hopes that further studies will overcome all the
existing limitations of this study, and help to improve the quality of English
teaching and learning at Thuong Xuan 3 High School as well as at other high
schools in Viet Nam. It is hoped that the author’s efforts in this study may be a
great service to bettering education in Vietnam.

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encourage grade 10 schoolers to learn listening skill at Thuong Xuan 3 high
school”. Your assistance in completing the items is greatly appreciated. You can
be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the study.
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
I. PERSONAL INFORMATION
1. Full name: (optional)………………………………………...
2. Age: …………………………………………………………………...
3. Gender:
Male: Female: 
4. Where do you come from? Rural areas: 
Urban areas: 
5. How long have you been learning English? .....................................................
II. QUESTIONS
1. In your opinion, the listening lessons in your textbooks are:
A. normal
B. interesting
C. difficult
D. boring
2. How do you prepare your listening lesson before going to class?
A. very carefully
B. not carefully
C. carefully
D. without preparing
3. What do you find most difficult in the listening lessons?
A. the listening text is long
B. there are so many new words
C. it is difficult to understand the main idea of the listening
D. it is difficult to understand the details of the listening
E. doing listening tasks ( answer the questions, vocabulary guessing..)
F. the topic is difficult and I do not have a background knowledge about it

more concentrated
3
remember easily what has been learned
4
more pleasant learning
5
lesson seems harder
6
confused
7
lesson seems harder
8
others
………………………..
APPENDIX 3. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS
This questionnaire is designed for my research entitled “ Using graphic
organizers to enhance 10th graders’ reading comprehension”. Your assistance in
completing the items is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you will
not be identified in any discussion of the study.
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
I. PERSONAL INFORMATION
1. Full name: (optional)…………………………………………………………...
2. Age: …………………………………………………………………………...
3. Gender:
Male:  Female: 
4. Where do you come from? Rural areas: 
Urban areas: 
5. How long have you been teaching English? ...............................................
II. QUESTIONS
1. I find English songs effective with teaching listening comprehension.

Do you really want it (yeah). Do you really want it (yeah)
Here we go, ale, ale, ale. Go, go, go, ale, ale, ale
Tonight's the night we're gonna celebrate. The cup of life, ale, ale, ale.
We're gonna get it. Do you really want it
We're gonna get it. Do you really want it. Yeah
The cup of life, this is the one. Now is the time, don't ever stop
Push it along, gotta be strong. Push it along, right to the top
The feeling in your soul is gonna take control
Nothing can hold you back if you really want it
I see it in your eyes, you want the cup of life
Now that the day is here, gotta go and get it (yeah)
Do you really want it (yeah). Do you really want it (yeah)
Do you really want it (yeah)
Here we go, ale, ale, ale. Go, go, go, ale, ale, ale
Tonight's the night we're gonna celebrate. The cup of life, ale, ale, ale
Un, Dos, Tres, ole, ole, ole. Un, Deux, Trois, ale, ale, ale
Tonight's the night we're gonna celebrate. The cup of life, ale, ale, ale
Ale, ale (ale, ale). Ale, ale (ale, ale). Ale, ale (ale, ale). Ale, ale, ale
Ale, ale (ale, ale). Ale, ale (ale, ale). Ale, ale (ale, ale). Ale, ale, ale
2. My heart will go on
- Celine DionEvery night in my dreams . I see you. I feel you. That is how I know you go on.
Far across the distance. And spaces between us. You have come to show you go
on.
Near, far, wherever you are. I believe that the heart does go on. Once more you
open the door. And you're here in my heart and my heart will go on and on.
Love can touch us one time. And last for a lifetime. And never go till we're one
Love was when I loved you. One true time I hold to. In my life we'll always go
on.
Near, far, wherever you are. I believe that the heart does go on. Once more you
open the door. And you're here in my heart and my heart will go on and on.