The Use of Songs in Teaching Foreign Languages

Author(s): Yukiko S. Jolly

Source: The Modern Language Journal , Jan. - Feb., 1975, Vol. 59, No. 1/2 (Jan. - Feb.,
1975), pp. 11-14
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers
Associations

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/325440

REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/325440?seq=1&cid=pdf-
reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations and Wiley are collaborating with
JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Modern Language Journal

This content downloaded from

78.30.14.150 on Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:44:16 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SONGS IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES 11

REFERENCES
the
the vocational
vocationalapplication
application
of language
of language
skillsskills
to to
Adler, Kurt, Phonetics and Diction in Singing:
a
a specific
specificfield
fieldofof
interest,
interest,
students
students
quickly
quickly
lost lost
Italian, French, Spanish, German. Minneapolis:
the
the negative
negative attitude
attitudeso common
so common among amongnon- non-
University of Minnesota Press, 1967. 161 p.
language
languagemajors.
majors.ByByeliciting
eliciting
their
their
suggestions
suggestions
Belisle, John Michael. A Study of Some Factors In-
and
and ideas
ideasinin
terms
terms of of
teaching
teaching
techniques
techniques
fluencingwe
Diction we
in Singing. (Typrewritten ms.
succeeded
succeededinin giving
giving
themtheman active Bloomington,
an active
role role
in the in Indiana),
the 1965. 239 p.
Coffin, Berton. Phonetic Readings of Songs and Arias.
development
development ofof
the
the
course.
course.
Boulder, Colorado: Pruett Press, 1964. 361 p.
Thus,
Thus,by bydeveloping
developing an an
essentially
essentially
practical
Halliday, practical
John R. Diction for Singers. Provo, Utah:
"service"
"service"course
coursefor
for
voice
voice
students,
students,
the Depart-
the Depart-
Brigham Young University Press, 1968.
ment
mentof ofFrench
French and
and
Italian
Italian
explored
explored
innova-
Marshall, innova-
Madeleine. The Singer's Manual of English
tive
tive teaching
teachingtechniques
techniqueswhich
which
maymayDiction.
well wellNew prove
prove York: G. Schirmer, 1953. 198 p.
useful in other areas and learned to deal Pfautsch, Lloyd. English Diction for Singers. New
York: Lawson-Gould Music Publishers, 1971.
with pronunciation problems which
149 do
p. not
usually occur in standard correctiveTrusler,
phonetics
Ivan. Functional Lessons in Singing. Engle-
courses. wood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1960. 134 p.

The Use of Songs in Teaching

Foreign Languages
YUKIKO S. JOLLY, University of Hawaii

I. Relationship Between Language and Music

the
the "speech"
"speech"of
ofa agiven
givenlanguage
language
ends
ends
and
and
thethe
"song"
"song" categorization
categorizationbegins.
begins.One
Oneethnomusi-
ethnomusi-
cologist
cologist has
IT HAS BEEN a longtime desire of mine to hasattempted
attemptedthis,
this,but
buteven
even
hishis
proposal
proposal
leaves
leaves an
explore more extensively the potential benefits an imprecise
imprecise"grey
"greyarea"
area"
between
between
thethe
which can be derived from the systematic and two
two and
and is
is inapplicable
inapplicabletotocertain
certaincultures.'
cultures.'
TheThe
theoretical
theoretical
careful utilization of songs in the teaching of a comparison
comparison of
ofsongs
songstoto
speech
speechshould
should
foreign language. During the past three yearsperhaps
perhaps
I be
be left
leftforformore
moredetailed
detaileddiscussion
discussion
in in
have had the opportunity of teaching begin- other
other papers.
papers. It
It should
should be
besufficient
sufficient forfor
ourour
ning and intermediate Japanese (conversation) purpose
purpose here
here to
to recognize
recognize briefly
brieflythe
thepoints
points
of of
similarity
similarity as
courses in which I have been able to use Japanese asaatheoretical
theoreticaljustification
justification
forfor
thethe
useuse
of
songs as supplements to long established lessons, songs
songs inin language
language teaching.
teaching.
and have found the results of my limited experi- AtAt the
the risk
risk of
ofoversimplification,
oversimplification, wewemight
might
ence in this area to have been most rewarding. Iconsider
consider songs
songs as
asrepresenting
representing "distortions"
"distortions" of of
the
the normal
feel that language teachers may be missing a great normal speech
speechpatterns
patternsofofa language.
a language.ThisThis
deal by not exploiting songs and other rhythmic is not
not to
to imply
implyanything
anythingderogatory,
derogatory, but
but
to to
rec-rec-
language compositions as classroom teachingognize
ognize that
that songs
songsand
andnormal
normal speech
speech
areare
on on
thethe
aids. same
same continuum
continuumof ofvocally-produced
vocally-produced human
human
sounds.
sounds. Both
The close relationship between language and Bothhave
haverhythmic
rhythmic and
andmelodic
melodiccon-
con-
music is an easily recognizable one. Both entitiestent,
tent, and
and represent
representforms
formsofof
communication
communicationin in
have significant common elements and similari- a linguistic
linguistic sense.
sense.
ties. Songs might be looked upon as occupying In simplified
simplifiedgraphic
graphicform,
form,wewe
might
might
consider
consider
the middle ground between the disciplines of a linear
linear scale
scaledepicting
depictingeveryday
everyday "speech"
"speech"
pat-
pat-
terns at the left-side of a horizontal line with
linguistics and musicology, possessing both the
communicative aspect of language and the en- increasing degrees of "distortion" or "affected-
tertainment aspect of music. Indeed it may be1George List, "The Boundaries of Speech and
an impossible task to describe the point at which
Song," Ethnomusicology, Vol. 7, 1963, pp. 1-16

This content downloaded from

78.30.14.150 on Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:44:16 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
12 YUKIKO S. JOLLY

ness" toward the right. Moving along this imagi-

Studies in the relationship between language
nary line, we would have "heightened speech"and the rhythmic and tonal elements of music
(such as in political speeches, sermons, or have
dra-been conducted in a number of countries
matic exaggerations) first in line as we moved
besides the United States.4 A recent article by
to the right; next, "dramatic speech" (such as
Professor Sadanori Bekku of Sophia University
in Japanese kabuki or noh plays); "chant"discusses
or the rhythmic structure of the Japanese
"auctioneering" further along; and finally
language.' Professor Bekku states that the Japa-
"songs" on the far right.2 This is admittedly nese language is based on a rhythmic structure
not a perfect analogy, for the definitionof ofa 5-7 syllabic sequence, such as is found in
"song" itself will vary from culture to culture. the formalized forms of haiku and tanka poems."
Yet it should be sufficient to illustrate our basic As we gain more insight into the rhythmic
emphasis: songs, although quantitatively differ- elements of language through these various
ent from normal speech in terms of amounts of studies, it becomes more apparent that songs
"distortion" present, are qualitatively similarhave a more important and sophisticated place
linguistically and therefore represent valid ma- in language teaching than we have previously
terial for study within the broad framework of accorded them. More than providing a welcome
language learning. Songs not only represent respite from the tedium of everyday language
material for study, but represent a "method"drills, songs may be used to teach specific lan-
of language study within themselves. guage elements. The balance of this paper at-
A further point of theoretical justificationtempts to point out some of the uses of songs as
relating to the use of songs in foreign language they relate to the foreign language teaching
education might be found in the inherent rhyth- situation.
mic nature of life itself. The everyday routines
of our culture are obvious reflections of manyII. Implications for Classroom Pedagogy
varied rhythmic patterns, so it is not strange Let us consider the use of songs in a foreign
that our language is also rhythmically con-language classroom where vocabularies and
trolled. An intriguing research experiment con- grammar are carefully chosen in response to
ducted by two medical doctors in Boston indi-the students' level of mastery. There would
cated that babies respond to and are influencedappear to be little doubt regarding the effective-
by the rhythmic patterns of the language spokenness of songs in raising or at least maintaining
to them.3 Through a frame-by-frame study of
sound films taken of infants (some only 12 hours *Ibid., p. 3.
:'William S. Condon and Louis W. Sander, "Neo-
old) while they were being spoken to by an
nate Movement Is Synchronized with Adult Speech:
adult, the doctors were able to establish that Interactional Participation and Language Acquisition,"
the babies' movements became synchronized Science, January 11, 1974, pp. 99-101.
with the rhythm of the speech patterns used by 4For instance, Nicolas Ruwet, "Les Methodes
d'analyse en musicologie," Liber Amicorum Andre
the adult speaker. This response by the listener
Souris (Revue beige de musicologie, 18), 1966. A
to the speaker's speech pattern has been termed translation is available in Japanese, "Ongakugaku to
"interactional synchrony." The authors of theGengogaku," Gengo, Vol. 2, No. 5, 1973, pp. 354-
above report emphasize that infants move in361 and 491 by Kazuko Inoue of International Christian
precise, shared rhythms in response to the or-University, Tokyo.
ganized speech structure of their culture (per- 5Sadanori, Bekku, "Yonby-shi Bunka-ron," Gengo
Seikatsu, No. 265, October, 1973, pp. 31-39.
haps thousands of times) before they actually 'If the reader wishes to see the close relationship
use them in speaking the language. The study between 5-7 syllabic sequence and the quarter-time
also indicates the important influence and value rhythmic pattern, use the following examples and
recite them to a 4-4 time beat accompaniment:
that rhythm has in language acquisition. This
Haiku example:
innate responsiveness to the rhythm in the
Asagao ni/tsurube torarete/morai-mizu/.
speech patterns of a culture's language may have Tanka or Waka example:
valuable pedagogical implications in our lan- Okuyama ni/momiji fumiwake/naku shika no/
guage teaching methods. Koe kiku toki zo/aki wa kanashiki/.

This content downloaded from

78.30.14.150 on Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:44:16 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SONGS IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES 13

the students' motivation in such a situation. If reinforcing course features, such as those dis-
the songs are presented along with atten-cussed below.

tion-catching, colorful visual aids to further (1) Pronunciation

strengthen their value, the effectiveness of the It would seem to be a basic postulate that the
songs as teaching aids can be enhanced evennative or folk songs of a given culture naturally
further. The students' response to the use offollow or reflect the basic meter, pitch, dynamics
songs under these circumstances would notor other phonological elements and patterns of
represent mere mechanical, drill-style repetition,its language. Music is written to complement
but rather active participation in the pleasant the lyric or vice-versa. Trying to match English
flow of melody. words with a native Chinese tune may be an
In Japanese conversation courses taught byextremely difficult task since the latter is in-
the author, appropriate songs were adopted fortended for a tonal language of different meter
use in classes consisting of 15 to 20 students per and dynamics. The result would probably sound
section. These songs were selected in accordance unnatural to a listener-even those who did not
with the objectives of the lesson, season of theunderstand either language.
year (as related to Japanese culture), holidays, On the other hand, Japanese lyrics seem to be
and other lesson criteria. Seeking to more ac-more easily fitted to Western music because the
curately assess the value of songs as teaching language structure is more adaptable. The basic
aids in the classroom, special class evaluationsdifference between the phonological elements-
were requested at the end of each semester. especially the element of accent-of the English
The students were asked to rate songs (along and the Japanese languages is that the former
with other class activities) according to theiris stress-timed while the latter is syllable-timed.
usefulness on a scale of 1 to 5 (ranking fromThe Japanese syllables are short (composed of
"not useful" to "very useful"'). When songsusually a vowel or a consonant-vowel cluster)
were used as lesson supplements during two and approximately equal in length for each
successive semesters, a significant majority ofmoraic utterance, and they therefore provide a
the students rated the songs as being "veryconvenient unit for the application to a musical
useful" (80% and 91% respectively) with the note. The syllable-timed language seems to al-
1 to 5 rating never dropping below a "neutral"low for less distortion than the stress-timed
3. Student responses generally indicated that the language in which the application must fit the
songs served both psychological and educationalnormal length of syllable per musical note re-
needs. In terms of mood, many students indi-gardless of the number of phonemes or gra-
cated that the songs created a relaxed and en-phemes.
joyable atmosphere in the classroom and livened (2) Grammatical Structure, Vocabulary and
up the pace of the lessons; others felt relievedIdiomatic Expressions
from the usual tedium of the classroom and Songs ordinarily provide both literary and
resultantly more receptive. Educationally, the colloquial expressions, which is evidence that
songs were viewed by most students as a means they may be more than just "fun" materials to
of increasing vocabulary, studying Japanese cul- be adopted in addition to the textbook. If the
ture, and discovering the relationship between words of the songs are selected with an effort
language and culture. to further develop the learner's cognition and to
One of the weaknesses of the mechanical pat-
add relevant vocabulary items, the songs become
valuable teaching materials in themselves. For
tern normally associated with the audio-lingual
approach to second language teaching is thatan enthusiastic teacher, it does not require much
such repetition often causes boredom, and con-
time to locate songs which contain grammatical
sequently students gradually lose their motiva-
structures identical to those being taught in
tion. The use of songs, on the other hand, con-
class: everyday expressions, dialogue-style "ques-
tributes greatly to the elimination of such bore-
tion and answer" songs, narration (or ballad)
dom while maintaining the positive rewardsstyle of songs or even those intended to accompany
the drill approach. Songs are also effectivesomein motor skills. Each of these song types can

This content downloaded from

78.30.14.150 on Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:44:16 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
14 YUKIKO S. JOLLY

be a valuable teaching tool capable of aiding

may contain words or expressions inappropriate
significantly in the accumulation and review
to the main thrust of the particular lesson. As
of morphological and syntactic units and vo-
is the case with any teaching aid or teaching
cabulary items, provided that songs are carefully
methodology, its success or failure is very much
chosen and correctly adapted. dependent upon the teacher using it-such is
(3) Cultural Exposure the case with songs in the foreign language
classroom.
The use of songs also gives students the op-
portunity of acquiring a greater understanding
IV. Conclusion
of the cultural heritage which underlies the
target language. Songs can be selected which My purpose in presenting this paper is to
state a case for the more extensive use of songs
relate to seasonal and historical, as well as moral
in foreign language teaching. Based on the re-
or allegorical aspects of the everyday lives of the
sults of the cited studies in the area, as well as
people. Also to be considered are songs which
are derived from fables, songs requiring psycho-from my own empirical observations in the lan-
guage classroom, I believe that there is an in-
motor skills or with specific purposes, as well as
nate
songs with religious implications. Songs are often receptiveness in us to respond to the rhyth-
mic patterns of language. By using songs as
written to express the deeper feelings of the
teaching
people. The subjects of songs tend to be those aids in the foreign language classroom,
we
things or ideas to which the stronger emotions are merely capitalizing on this natural re-
sponsiveness.
are tied, whether it be joy or sorrow, love or
Now that we are aware of some theoretical
hate. Songs become then a direct aventue to the
basic values of the culture. usefulness and applicability of songs in a foreign
language classroom, it appears that we will be
III. A Word of Caution required to go a step further. Our intuitive
The songs adopted for use in the language feelings will remain only ideas unless they are,
classroom should not contain unfamiliar gram- in some way, proven by means of study and
matical structures, nor grammar or vocabulary experimental research.7 This is a task for those
items not within easy association of the material of us who are interested in developing more
already presented. Also they should not contain pedagogically effective teaching media to further
unusual pitch jumps or subjects not appearing investigate this subject in the future.
in the main textbook which confuse comprehen-
The author is currently conducting a research ex-
sion. It cannot be said, therefore, that there are
periment, "Psycholinguistic Research on Retention
no negative effects possible from the use of songs
Efficiency in Language Acquisition Through Such
in language teaching. Some songs could deviate Rhythmic Means as Verses and Songs." The results
from the desired phonological patterns or the and report of the experiment are expected to be com-
ordinary syntactic arrangement, while others pleted in late Spring, 1975.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS

in foreign
While subscription-rates of many other December of 1975 will, therefore, be affect
by Modern
language journals take the elevator The the increase. Institutional and foreign st
scription
Language Journal continues to take the stairs.rates will remain at $8.00. In 1976
price
Regretfully the Executive Committee of the of
Na-single copies of the current issue wil
tional Federation of Modern Languageincreased
Teachersto $2.50 (from the present $2.00),
Associations at its 1974 Annual Meetingto $3.00 for a single copy of a back issue fr
decided
that the annual subscription rate for the previous five years (1971-1975). In 1976
individual
subscribers to the Journal must be raised from
price for a complete volume of back issues
be $15.00.
$6.00 to $7.00, effective January 1976. Sub-
scribers who renew their subscriptions expiring

This content downloaded from

78.30.14.150 on Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:44:16 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms