The Use of Music and Singing in The Class Room For Enhancing The Listening Skill of West Tirunelveli Engineering Students - A Survey

The International Research Specialist ISSN: 2350-1499 (Online); 2350-0751 (Print)
International Journal of Recent Trends in English Language Teaching (ELT),

Education, Psychology and Allied Researches
Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal Run by Dr. JK Research Foundation, Chennai, India
Volume: 2nd & Issue: 5th (January – March’2015) PP: 14-22 Date: 25-12-2015
THE USE OF MUSIC AND SINGING IN THE CLASS ROOM FOR

ENHANCING THE LISTENING SKILL OF WEST TIRUNELVELI
ENGINEERING STUDENTS – A SURVEY
By: Mr. A. Rathina Prabhu, Dr. B. Jeyanthi and Dr. B. Thenmalar Bharathi
Authors’ Particulars:
Mr. A. Rathina Prabhu*,
Associate professor,
A. R. College of Engineering and Technology,
Therkkumadathur,
Ambasamudram - 627 423,
Tirunelveli,
Tamilnadu,
India.
E-Mail: holymarbles@gmail.com
Mobile: 0091 9944216699
Dr. B. Jeyanthi**,
Associate professor
Anna University,
Tirunelveli Region,
Tamilnadu,
India.
E-Mail: breezejeyanthi92@gmail.com
Mobile: 0091 9791422130
Dr. B. Thenmalar Bharathi***,

Associate professor,
RMD Engineering College,
Kavaraipettai – 601206,
Gummidipundi Tk
Thiruvallur district,
Tamilnadu,
India.
14
E-Mail: bharathi.rmdec@gmail.com
Page
Mobile: 0091 9442591174

Available in on line at www.journalsindia.com
Copyright @ 2014 Dr. JK Research Foundation, Chennai, India. All rights reserved.
Title of the Paper: THE USE OF MUSIC AND SINGING IN THE CLASS ROOM FOR ENHANCING THE
LISTENING SKILL OF WEST TIRUNELVELI ENGINEERING STUDENTS – A SURVEY
Authors: Mr. A. Rathina Prabhu, Dr. B. Jeyanthi and Dr. B. Thenmalar Bharathi
Pages: 14-22 / Date of Publication: 25/03/2015
Authors’ Introduction:
Mr. Rathina Prabhu. A* is an Associate professor at A.R.College of Engineering
and Technology, Tamilnadu, India. He is the head of the Department of English and teaches
English as a foreign language. His area of research interest includes innovative language
teaching methodology and fluency development.
Dr. Jeyanthi. B* is an Associate professor at Anna University Tirunelveli Region;

Tamilnadu, India. She holds a PhD in Literature and teaches English as a foreign language.
Her research interest includes Language assessment, nature of class room and rural student’s
development.
Dr. B. Thenmalar Bharathi*** is an Assistant Professor in English of Science and

Humanities Department, since February 2002. She has got thirteen years (13) of teaching
experience in engineering colleges. She has obtained her Under Graduate, Post Graduate and
M.Phil degrees in English Literature from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University,
Tirunelveli. She completed her Doctoral Degree in University of Madras in the field of
English Language Teaching. To her credit, she is the author of 4 books on Feminism and
Technical English I & II. Besides she has published 10 papers in both national and
International journals. She has also presented 26 research papers in both national and
international conferences in the field of ELT. She evinced her interest both on English
Literature and English Language Teaching.
when the teacher has innovative methods. It is a
Abstract: pure fact that practice is the only way to come out
T
eacher motivation, of this issue, and giving practice with singing
willingness to learn English Songs in the class room (SESC) crafts this
(interest), confidence are the task incredibly easy. The main goal of the study is
straight clincher in to explore the need of Music and singing in the
classroom learning. Students class room for teaching listening. Joyous learning
rarely respond to the as well as teaching creates the learning process
conventional method of teaching listening. fecund. This paper attempts to study the avant-
Teachers ought to kindle interest to acquire a garde methods of teaching listening to the young
fruitful outcome. Teachers may develop their learners of west Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu.
teaching procedures. They may persistently alter,
diverge, and adapt teaching learning methods on Key words: Teaching listening, Interest,
the basis of the performance of the learners. Methods, Singing English Songs in the
Learner centered methods are entertained in the class room (SESC).
modern era. Teaching listening is a cushy task only
Introduction:
G
ood communication undoubtedly exclaims the importance of
skills require good listening “if speaking is silver, then
knowledge about listening is gold. Listening is a process of
listening skill. Listening skill is the hearing something .There is a common
fundamental skill. It is very difficult to notion that listening is different form
15
communicate with others devoid of proper hearing .But, as a matter of fact, hearing is
listening skill. A Turkish proverb the first step to listening. Creating
Page

thoughtful attention is indispensable to effectively and proactively. Hearing is the

listen something. Many Learners believe first step to listening. A child starts
that there is zilch in listening. They deem listening when it is in the womb of its
it is not required to put much effort to mother. Listening is not a new thing to a
listen something. But, actually, listening child .Therefore, hearing something will
skill is the most important in the learning lead them to learn other skills also. It is the
process of any new Language. prime job of a teacher to kindle the
students to learn listening skill. Modern
The best way to understand
learners are unaware of the importance of
people is to listen to them. An average
listening skills. If the teacher is going to
person normally speaks 100 to 175 words
follow the same conventional method,
but he / she listens more than 800 words
students will not have the tendency to
per minute. Active listening involves in
learn anything. So changing the
this process. Research says, we listen only
conventional method is indispensable.
40 to 50 percentages what we hear. So it is
obligatory to be trained well. We need to
Active Listening:
put into carry out a lot to master this skill.
L
anguage learning
Since listening is a skill, it ought to be
depends on active
acquired from hard practices. Acquiring
listening. Active
this skill is not going to happen in a little
listening helps to
period or in a fraction of second .One has
reduce problems and increase cooperation
to do successful practice to obtain this
and understanding. Most of the speakers
skill. Most of the learners are not taught
would not bother about their listeners.
how to do effective listening and most of They just want to show their talent and
the time yet the teachers also bothering knowledge to the students. They
about the outgoing sounds rather than the accentuate the students to listen their plain
incoming signals. We could have come lectures. Students from rural side of west
across persons talking without space but Tirunelveli could not understand even a
they would not ready to listen to a single single sentence from the mouth of the
word. God has given two ears and one teacher. It is no good to censure the
mouth shows that listening has to be done students blankly. One possible solution is
16
a lot. The main goal of the innovative to improve learners’ attitude through
getting them familiar with the process
Page
methods is to make the students to listen

involved (Taylor, 1981). There are abound Apparently, they sleep inside the class
factors behind the lack of active listening room or they will be a passive listeners .In
skill. The situation of the students befalls the class room of rural West Tirunelveli
the most important reason for the lack of colleges, more than 75 percentage of
active listening skill. Rural students have students are passive listeners where
no proper knowledge about language and English as their medium of Learning .
its importance. The situation of the
learners and their parents, background and Reasons for the Lack of Communication
community made them to lead animosity Skills:
towards language learning. The students
T
o make out the reasons
are sound in their technical knowledge but for the lack of
regrettably they could not articulate these communicative skills, a
through words in English . Even though survey was conducted
they learned more than twelve years, they among 30 students from an engineering
couldn’t make single flawless sentence in college of a rural West Tirunelveli. Here
English. They just wanted to pass in their
are some reasons for the lack of
examinations .They score good marks in
communication skills. A) No interest to
the examination but they cannot speak
learn English B)No importance given to
good English. English has been taught
English C) Mother tongue Medium
only for clearing their exams not for their
D)circumstances and at last E) low
life or for their job or future. So, for the
motivation from the teachers .
students from rural side, it is very hard to
understand the lecture or listen to the class.
17
Page
Figure I: Reasons for the lack of communication skills.

The responders uttered a crystal students. Creating interest towards

clear image that most of the students are language is the only solution to solve this
not interested to learn English .As a result, issue.
kindling interest towards the language is
Singing English Songs in the Class
very vital and a principal duty of a teacher.
Room (Sesc) Method:
Nunan (1993) believes not until we expand
S
inging in the class room
students’ and teachers’ understanding of
is a collective activity.
the processes involved in language
Kipper suggests that
learning, it is tough to create anything.
group participation in
Innovative teaching methods ought to be
singing affects them a lot. Music and
followed in order to draw the attention of
singing help to remove boundaries of the
the students. As per listening is concerned,
students (Herman, 1987). Singing in the
‘learn through songs’ is one of the
class room helps on receptive vocabulary
innovative methods .This paper discusses
skills .Learners ought to be entertained
the significance of the method Singing
and at the same time they must be taught
English Songs in the class room (SESC).
.This is the prime objective of this method
Kindling Interest: .In these method, learners learn through
L
earners from rural West English songs. English songs are like alien
Tirunelveli are not very songs for the students. Learners could have
good in their heard English songs once in their life time.
communicative skills Learners ought to listen continuously in
.They never show interest to learn other order to make practice. Singing the song
tongue (English). Understanding the level will help the students to involve in their
of the students is very important .The activities .There are plenty of advantages
teachers ought to find out the mode to aid in this innovative method. But systematic
them out. But most cases, teachers wanted approach will help the learners to learn
to make the students to listen their plain successfully.
lectures, therefore they compel them to do Pronunciation:
P
so .This made them to sleep inside the ronunciation plays a vital
class room or become day-dreamers. If the role. But this is often
18
learners are not ready to listen, the neglected by teachers as

Page
teachers are not bothering to penalize the

well as the learners of west Tirunelveli. come to the class with the preparation
Pronouncing words are more important before play the song. The teacher has to
than learning grammar, vocabulary and select a song and make sure that there are
sentence construction because it is no use no politically incorrect words in it.
of having multiple words if others can’t Thorough check up has been made before
understand them. Iyadurai, (1992) states playing the songs .And the lyrics of the
that, albeit, language has got letters, words songs can be downloaded from the
and sentences, it made up of Sounds. internet. There are plenty of sites where
Language starts with the ear. Using right the teachers can download the lyrics. And
tone is more important than speaking. paste it in the Microsoft word document.
Understand the language correctly is the The font style and the size of the font can
prime objective of the right tone. Bad be selected by the teacher according to the
English pronunciation confuses people and need of the students. These files can be
often gets irritated. There is a commonly – stored in the class system and can be
held notion that learning pronunciation is played one or two times before the actual
one of the hardest skills. As a matter of play.
fact, it is very easy to learn. This will be
During Listening & Singing:
very easy only when the learners become
A
t first, Audio file can be
active listeners. In order to speak clearly
played without lyrics.
and confidently every learner should do
The teacher instructs
one simple thing that is practice, practice,
the students to hear the
practice … Practicing English songs will
song and make them to write the abstruse
help the learner to get in touch with the
words on the note book. The teacher plays
pronunciation. Again, SESC method helps
the song again to grasp more words. Now
to enhance the pronunciation of the young
the third time teacher plays the song with
learners of West Tirunelveli.
lyrics. Therefore, Students understand the
Preparation before the Task: hard words (hard to understand the
T
he best teachers always pronunciation of the words) with the help
think about their class of the lyrics .In order to understand the
and their plan of new words, the teacher helps the students
19
teaching and learning. to find out the meaning of the words from
Page
(Jeremy Harmer, 1991).Teachers ought to the dictionary or from the peer group.
Finally, teacher plays the song. At last ask listen more English songs. Testing can be
them to sing the song for pronunciation done effectively and immediately. Singing
practice. a song in the class room makes the learner
active all the time. Imitation via learning
Benefits of the Method: helps the learners to remember the words
B
est Edutainment method always with right tone.
.Here entertainment and
Result and Discussions:
education joins
T
o find out the impact of
together. There is no
the new innovative
point of monotonous and boring feeling. It
technique (SESC), a
helps to listen actively and learn new
survey was conducted
vocabularies. It abets to learn
among 30 students from an engineering
pronunciation, voice modulation and
college of west tirunelveli, Tamilnadu.
accent too. It motivates the students to
Fig: 2 Impact of new method

Finding showed that 80% of the students are not ready to learn even the
students are much eager to listen the song native speakers teach. Therefore, the
and sing in the class room .This innovative maximum of students are much willing to
method is a big boon for the engineering learn through this method .The teachers
students. Language learning should not be can adopt this method in order to teach
20
a burden to the students .The rest of 20% effectively and joyfully.

Page

Conclusion: students of West Tirunelveli .First of all,
U
nderstanding the teacher has to change the wrong mind set
ground reality of the of the students at any cost. So they have to
students ensures motivate the students in order to get the
quality education desired learning mind set.
.Quality education is the only way to lead
Then, the teacher ought to follow
the students into the International level .In
the innovative methods to teach English
the modern globalized universe, it is
.The fundamental purpose of education is
inevitable to trade around the world.
to teach the mind to think .This is the
English qualification may become an entry
golden words of great scientist Einstein
necessity for any job. (David Graddol,
.The teacher ought to teach the mind to
1997)For this, medium like English plays
think. It is very hard to teach the whole
a very vital role since English has become
thing about communication in a stipulated
internationally accepted Global Language.
time .But the teacher has to motivate the
It is certain that English Language leads
students. That will be the most efficient
them globally to attain a good position.
work of every teacher. As discussed
But how to learn this skill is the million
earlier, kindling interest is very important
dollar question of every West Tirunelveli
.Using innovative or model methods alone
Engineering Students. Unfortunately,
can help the students to learn English with
students of West tirunelveli engineering
full interest. SESC is the new innovative
colleges are not showing much interest in
method to enhance listening skill
learning English .There is lot of factors
.Conventional listening method did not
behind this issue. Fear about the language
serve the purpose fully whereas this
,wrong speculation about learning process
modern innovative method serves the
,wrong motivation are some of the reasons
purpose completely. The change will
that they are not ready to show their
change the minds of the young learners to
interest towards learning English . It is
listen completely, interestingly, willingly
very important to kindle interest among
and joyfully. Learners ought to understand
students. It is the prime duty of the teacher
the reason why they are learning. Once
to kindle interest among students .Teacher
they learnt, it will be a life time gift for
has to do the major work .only then,
21
them .Especially pronunciation is

change will happen in the minds of the
Page
concerned ,learners can catch very easily

as mentioned in the sample song the word  Harmer, Jeremy .1991.The Practice
‘circle ‘ must be pronounced the same way of English language Teaching.
of the song .In no doubt that Listening for
 Iyadurai, P.1992.English phonetics
the specific purpose with modern
for beginners . Jones publications.
techniques lead them into any height.
 Nunan, D. (1993). Syllabus Design.
References:
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Chaudhari Smruti (2014) "Using
Movies In A Literature Classroom"  O’Connor, J.D. 1967. Better
The International Research English Pronunciation. Cambridge
Specialist: International Journal University Press .
of Recent Trends in English  Schunk, H. (1999). The Effect of
Language Teaching (ELT), Singing Paired with Signing on
Education, Psychology and Allied Receptive Vocabulary Skills of
Researches (2014): ISSN: 2350- Elementary ESL Students. Journal
1499 (Online); 2350-0751 (Print) of Music Therapy, XXXVI(2), 110-
th
PP: 21-31 Dt.25 December’2014, 124.
www.journalsindia.com C/o. Dr.  Taylor, H. M. (1981). Learning to
JK Research Foundation, Chennai, Listen to English. TESOL
India. Quarterly, 15(1), 41-50.
 Graddol, David .1997.Teaching
young language learners .Oxford:
Oxford University Press
22
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The International Research Specialist ISSN: 2350-1499 (Online); 2350-0751 (Print)

International Journal of Recent Trends in English Language Teaching (ELT),

THE USE OF MUSIC AND SINGING IN THE CLASS ROOM FOR

Dr. B. Thenmalar Bharathi***,

Mobile: 0091 9442591174

Dr. Jeyanthi. B* is an Associate professor at Anna University Tirunelveli Region;

Dr. B. Thenmalar Bharathi*** is an Assistant Professor in English of Science and

Available in on line at www.journalsindia.com

thoughtful attention is indispensable to effectively and proactively. Hearing is the

methods is to make the students to listen

Figure I: Reasons for the lack of communication skills.

The responders uttered a crystal students. Creating interest towards

learners are not ready to listen, the neglected by teachers as

teachers are not bothering to penalize the

Fig: 2 Impact of new method

a burden to the students .The rest of 20% effectively and joyfully.

Available in on line at www.journalsindia.com

Conclusion: students of West Tirunelveli .First of all,

them .Especially pronunciation is

concerned ,learners can catch very easily

Available in on line at www.journalsindia.com

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