Faculdade de Ciencias Sociais , Humanas e artes

Estudos Igleses

Universidade de Cabo Verde

Research Writing III

Research Paper

Thesis statement:

Music facilitates the learning process and it should be implemented in English classes, because

students enhance intelligence, increase motivation and develop their skills in academic

achievement.

Kely Fernandes de Pina Tavares

January 31st, 2020

 3.0 Methodology

In this chapter, the researcher will define the research methods used to conduct this

present study. Throughout this chapter, it will be analyzed and explained how music can

facilitate the English learning process. Thus, the researcher will present the following items:

Research approach:

The researcher used the quantitative experimental design because the reason was to

manipulate the independent variable (in this case music), and examine its effects on the

dependent variable (English learning process). Also, a quantitative research was conducted in

order to test the hypothesis, and also to establish the correlation between music and learning

process. Thus, an experiment was done by the researcher.

Research method:

The method used was quasi-experiments method, in which the researcher worked with

the nonrandomized control-group pretest–posttest design. This method is about group

comparison and pretest–posttest, and also it includes some assignments for the participants. It

involved 2 different groups in this study. The researcher did pretest and posttest, in which the

experimental group was observed, exposed to the experimental treatment, and then observed

again. After that, a group comparison was done to see if the hypothesis is proven correct or

incorrect.

Sample and participants:

 Experiments without participants are invalid and it is quite impossible. The researcher

adopted 2 groups of English students as the target population, and they represent the wider

population of English language learner in Cabo Verde. The researcher decided to work with 8th

grade English students because they have contact with English but they have challenges with

learning English. So, it was provided dynamic ways to show them that there is still a hope to

improve their speaking skills. The 2 groups had 48 students (19 males and 29 females), with ages

between 13-15, and they attended the classes in the afternoon. As they had 3 English classes per

week, the researcher worked with their teacher. Also, they are beginners and they speak Creole

language all the time instead of English inside and outside of the classroom. Some students asked

if the researcher was a teacher in training. For this reason, the researcher explained and let them

know that their information would be used in a study. The students agreed and their collaboration

was extremely important during those 3 weeks.

School:

The school that was chosen to perform the study was the school Escola Secundário Abilio

Duarte (ESAD). This school is located near to the UNICV Campus in Palmarejo-Santiago-Cabo

Verde. This school has students from 7th to 12th grade that study in the morning and afternoon

period. The language of instruction is Portuguese but there are some other languages that is

teaching there like English, French and Mandarin. On the other hand, students speak their native

language, Creole, all the time.

Techniques and tools:

 Music has been seen as an entertainment from generation to generation, but it can be a

powerful tool to learn a language, including English. Then, music was used as a way to improve

speaking skills in this study. The researcher used music that had a lot of vocabulary and was rich

in grammar. For instance, the song used to teach the students present simple and present

continuous was the song "All of me" from John Legend (Appendix 1). Moreover, the researcher

did a pretest and posttest. The pretest and posttest were about observation and some basic

questions for some student (Appendix 2). And also, it was done some assignments and exercises

such as fill the branches with verbs, underline the verbs from the lyric, create sentences, some

research, and homework all about present simple and present continuous.

Procedures:

First of all, 2 groups were chosen to work with. One group was the control group and the

other one the experimental group. The class was for 50 minutes per group, and the researcher

used music to introduce English in one group and no music in another. The study was conducted

over a period of 3 weeks, and 3 classes per week. Nonetheless. according to the syllabus, during

that 3 weeks students had to learn present and past continuous. In the first week the pretest was

done by the researcher, which was observation in the classroom and questions for both groups

(Appendix 2). The following week, the treatment was implemented on the experimental group.

The treatment was based on music. Also, lyrics was used to help them with the music and its

understanding (Appendix 1). All the students received a paper copy of the lyric and the

researcher encouraged them to sing along the music. The music was played just once because

time was insufficient, but they could appreciate and take advantage of it. Actually, the first

exercise was to underline verbs in present simple and present continuous from the lyric. Finally,

the last week the researcher did the posttest for both groups. For all the classes there was a lesson
plan to follow, including ice-breakers, games, exercises, etc. In addition, all the activities and

instruction done in the classroom was the same for both groups. The only difference was the

music that was used just for 1 group. The pretest and posttest were the same question for the

same students. Also, the researcher did a rubric for self-evaluation of the students (Appendix 3)

4.0 Results:

The data for this study was collected from a pretest and a posttest. The researcher

randomly selected 5 students from each group to accomplish the pretest and the posttest. It was

difficult to choose the 5 students because students were afraid to speak English, and also because

they do not like English. The pretest and posttest were based on observation during the classes

and then ask them some basic questions. Students were afraid to develop their thoughts and even

to answer some of those questions, even repeated or translated by their teacher.

The questions used to collect data were 10 simple questions, and the students were

evaluated by 4 features very important in speaking: pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency and

grammar structure. Moreover, the score was from a scale of 0 to 5. The scores in each feature

represent how the students are in relation to the feature (Figure 1 and Figure 2).

Figure 1.

Pretest Score
Experimental Group Control Group
Gender Pronunciation Vocabulary Fluency Grammar Total Gender Pronuntiation Vocabulary Fluency Grammar Total
Male 2 2 1 4 9 Male 5 4 3 4 16
Female 4 4 4 5 17 Male 4 3 3 5 15
Female 3 4 3 5 15 Female 5 5 5 5 20
Male 4 4 3 4 15 Male 5 5 5 5 20
Male 3 4 3 5 15 Female 4 4 3 4 15

Figure 2.
 Posttest Score
Experimental Group Control Group
Gender Pronunciation Vocabulary Fluency Grammar Total Gender Pronuntiation Vocabulary Fluency Grammar Total
Male 5 4 5 4 18 Male 5 4 3 4 16
Female 5 5 5 5 20 Male 4 4 4 4 16
Female 5 4 4 4 17 Female 4 5 5 5 19
Male 3 4 3 4 14 Male 5 5 5 5 20
Male 5 5 5 5 20 Female 4 4 3 5 16

The hypothesis of this study is the amount of English music increases, then speaking

skills will improve. The researcher predicted that will prove correct, and during the treatment

phase it was clarified that the students learn better with music. The posttest shows a great

improvement of the experimental group after using music as a way to teach (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

Posttest Score
Experimental Group Experimental Group
Gender Pronunciation Vocabulary Fluency Grammar Total Gender Pronuntiation Vocabulary Fluency Grammar Total
Male 2 2 1 4 9 Male 5 4 5 4 18
Female 4 4 4 5 17 Male 5 5 5 5 20
Female 3 4 3 5 15 Female 5 4 4 4 17
Male 4 4 3 4 15 Male 3 4 3 4 14
Male 3 4 3 5 15 Female 5 5 5 5 20

Before the treatment the pretest showed that the students’ scores of experimental group

was lower than the students of control group. In fact, the level of the experimental group students

in English class was worse than the control group (Figure 1) according to the 3 weeks that the

researcher had been there. After the treatment experimental group showed a great development

in relation to the control group (Figure 3).

Figure 3.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to test how music can facilitate the English learning

process. The researcher predicted that more exposed to the music, the greater the learning. Thus,

the hypothesis was supported by the results. Students of experimental group were taught with

music and they learned better and quickly. According to Eady and Wilson (2004), music helps

students to learn more, and more effectively. This means, the brain activates a continued learning

process to extend what it cached. It can be said that those students were aware but they needed a

boost to learn more.

Moreover, the researcher combined music and lyrics as a good way to improve students’

speaking skills. Songs are full of repetitions of words and phrases, and such repetitions help the

brain to remember learned content and important things. In the same light, Polyquin (1988)

suggested that the value of using songs in language instruction is to improve speaking skills.

Nevertheless, students of control group contradicted the hypothesis. The researcher did not use
music to teach them, but they showed that they also learned just by their effort, intelligence and

attention. To complement, Baddeley stated that the more practice individuals get, the better the

results will be because they will reach the level of automaticity, which “allows a relatively

automatic output with little or no attentional capacity required for processing”, (1998, p.88).

Recommendation

Music motivates students, and when students are motivated they learn quickly. The

researcher recommends the usage of music as a teaching method. The use of songs can also

stimulate students' cognitive function and working with songs can make the lessons more

interesting and more appreciated. Teachers that “teachers can use music when students are doing

the activities during the class and not only at the beginning of the class” (p. 67). Is spite of listen

and repeat, it is a way to practice and be familiar with the words. Just attending classes,

completing tasks and speaking are not enough. So, language teachers should encourage their

students to involve their language through music accompanied with lyrics.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that this study manifested unexpected results about music

and learning process. Music is clearly an important factor that contributes to learn English

because it helps students on their speaking skills. Also, the study proved that music does

facilitate but there are other factors that influence the learning process. The usage of music in the

classroom had a positive and productive environment, and positives impacts on the students.

Therefore, the researcher believes that the usage of music in the classroom will definitely affect

the students’ academic achievements positively.

Reference list:

All of Me (2003). Letras. Retrieved from: https://letras.mus.br/john-legend/all-of-me/.

All of Me (n.d). Youtube. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/450p7goxZqg.

Baddeley, A. (1998). Human Memory: Theory and Practice. New York: Allyn and Bacon.

Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices. Florida:

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating

Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Boston: Pearson Education.

Eady, I. & Wilson, J. D. (2004). The Influence of Music on Core Learning. Education. Winter:

ProQuest Research Library.

Leedy, P. D. & Ormrod, J. E. (2015). Practical Research: Planning and Design. London:

Pearson Education.

Polyquin, G. (1988). La Chanson et la Correction Phonetique (Song and Phonetique Correction).

Quebec: International Center for Research on Bilingualism.

Appendix
Appendix 1
Lyrics

All of me- John Legend

What would I do without your smart mouth

Drawing me in, and you kicking me out
Got my head spinning, no kidding,
I can’t pin you down
What’s going on in that beautiful mind?
I’m on your magical mystery ride
And I’m so dizzy, don’t know what hit me,
but I’ll be alright

My head’s under water but I’m breathing fine

You’re crazy and I’m out of my mind

‘Cause all of me Loves all of you

Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
Give your all to me I’ll give my all to you
You’re my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I’m winning
‘Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you

I give you all of me

And you give me all, all of you, ohh ( end)

How many times do I have to tell you

Even when you’re crying you’re beautiful too
The world is beating you down,
I’m around through every mood
You’re my downfall, you’re my muse
My worst distraction, my rhythm and blues
I can’t stop singing, it’s ringing, in my head for you

Give me all of you

Cards on the table,
we’re both showing hearts
Risking it all, though it’s hard
Appendix 2

Example of questions that was asked during the pretest and posttest time:
1. What is your name?
2. Where do you live?
3. How old are you?
4. What do you like to do in your free time?
5. Do you like English? Why?
6. Do you speak English with your parents and friends?
7. Do you like music?
8. What is your biggest dream?
9. How you classify your study? Why?
10. How many times you spend studying?

Appendix 3

Rubric for Self-evaluation

Name of the students Vocabula Pronunci Fluency Grammar

ry ation structure

1-
2-
3-
4-
5-
6-
7-
8-
9-
10-

The evaluation is numerically, from 1-5, according to their answer:

1. For bad;
2. For quite bad;
3. For not bad and not good;
4. For good;
5. For very good.