Auxiliary tools in English teaching: ''pop'' songs

There is a very interesting and remarkable idea relating to songs. It is common belief that a language is easier to express in songs than in speech. Julian Dakin asserts that "for most learners, singing or reciting a rhyme is much easier than talking" (Dakin, 1992: 5). It is possible to find some reasonable explanation for this fact when considering the beginning of a child's life. Their very first utterances are sounds like humming, spluttering, muttering, whooping, which resemble more the sound of singing than that of talking.
Nowadays, songs are played almost everywhere ali around the world and it is exactly in schools that the best and the most of the immense potential they have could be used. Actually, Candlin, in the preface as series editor that Songs in Action (Griffee, 1992) was a part of, argues for the importance songs may provide as an historical and social cultural context to the language being acquired. He states:
"To be sure, songs bave a piace in the classroom for helping create that friendly and co-operative atmosphere so important for language learning, but they can offer much more. They offer insights into tbe culture and especially the stories and myths of different societies, providing a window into the frames of reference and values of the peoples whose language we are learning." (Candlin, 1995: ix)

Songs can be used in many ways. The four skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) can be practiced, and, in the same way, linguistic aspects like vocabulary, grammatical structures, and rhythm, stress, fluency and pronunciation.
Songs, then, are "especially good at introducing vocabulary because they provide a meaningful context for the vocabulary" (Griffee, 1995: 5). However, it depends on the choice of songs, since there are also some songs without meaningful context. From the grammatical point of view, they "provide a natura! context for the most common structures such as verb tenses and prepositions" (Griffee, 1995: 6).
Regarding pronunciation, songs can be very helpful because they provide the authentic language with ali the difficulties (like, for instance, connected speech, different pronunciation of the same sound, difficult pronunciation of some words, etc.) that learners could encounter.
There are several ways songs can support practicing these problems. Students should be exposed to authentic language as much as possible in order to strengthen their ability to understand it.
Connected speech is the way English is usually spoken, but unfortunately not always in English lessons. "Many learners are accustomed to hearing a very careful, clear pronunciation of words, such as native speakers might use when talking very emphatically or saying words in isolation" (Rixon, 1986:38). However, native speakers usually connect the words, and when the "words are used in a connected natural utterance, some of their sounds are different to those used in very careful speech, and they may become harder for learners to recognize" (Rixon 1986: 39). Songs help learners practice the described subject matters because they "provide rea! and 'catchy' examples of how whole phrases are pronounced often to the extent that students find it difficult to pick out individuai words. The music further emphasizes the 'flow' of the words. Moreover, songs, like other spoken texts, are full of contractions" (Rixon 1986: 39).
F or learners of English certain sounds may be difficult to pick out because they do not exist in their mother tongue. In this respect, songs can help learners because "the rhymes in songs provide listeners with repetition of similar sounds, and when the students choose to listen to songs time and again, they are indirectly exposing them to these sounds", repeating them, getting better at recognizing them, and finally producing them.
Songs have a very important role for teachers and students because, as Varela (2003) signals, songs develop ali the linguistic abilities and put into function both the cerebral hemispheres. This author remarks that songs can be used to:
- teach vocabulary
- practice pronunciation
- correct common mistakes
- stimulate the debate in the classroom
- teach culture and civilization
- show the linguistic varieties of the language
- encourage creativity
- develop the listening and reading comprehension
- develop the oral and written expression
- review morpho-syntactical aspects
- motivate students to learn the foreign language
- develop the rhythmic and musical sense
Therefore, ali authors agree that songs are of great educational value for their importance in both the cognitive and emotional development of people, being a source of stimulation in any learning process. [...]