外语专业毕业论文学唱英文歌曲对英语学习的重要性

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1、 上饶师范学院 毕业论文 题 目:学唱英文歌曲对英语学习的重要性 学生姓名： X X X 学 号 06050X0X 系 别： 外 语 系 专 业： 英 语 班 级： 2006 级（X）班 指导教师： X X X 二0一二年 The significance

2、 of English songs in English learning A Thesis Presented to School of Foreign Languages Shangrao Normal University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts By Vea Smith Under the supervision of Chinavea

3、 April 2012 Abstract The paper aims at analyzing the function of English songs in the course of learning English. Song is not only a form of music, but also a very important kind of learning instrument. English songs can help students conquer not only pronunciation, improve their sense of rhy

4、thm and tone, but also heighten the cross-cultural learning awareness, and inspire their interest and motivation in writing. Through my research, most students think English songs are useful to English learning. I will demonstrate my results and figures to show the function and the importance of Eng

5、lish songs in learning English. The conclusion is that English songs are helpful to English acquisition and English learners should make use of them to learn English. Key words English songs; English learning; learning instrument 摘要 本文旨在分析英文歌曲在提高英语中的作用。歌曲不仅是音乐的一种形式，也是学习的一种工具。英文歌曲可以帮助学生战胜发音问题

6、，提高他们的韵律，并且提高跨文化交际意识，激发他们的在写作方面的学习兴趣和动力。通过我的研究，大部分学生都觉得英文歌曲对英语学习很重要。我会通过我的调查结果和数据显示英文歌曲对英语学习的重要性。结论是英文歌曲对英语的掌握有重要作用，英语学习者应该充分利用他们来学习英语。 关键词 英文歌曲；英文学习；学习工具 Contents Abstract (English) Abstract (Chinese) 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1 2 The necessity of using

7、English songs in English learning…………………...…….. 2 3 The significance of English songs in spoken English……………………………….3 3.1 liaison……………….………………………………………………….…...…3 3.2 incomplete plosive…………………………………………………….….…...4 3.3 rhythm and tone…….………………………………………………….….......5 3.4 blurting out beautiful se

8、ntences................................................................….....5 4 The significance of English songs in writing…………………………………....... 5 5 The significance of English songs in cross culture awareness………………. ….…6 6 Results ………………………………………………………………………….….8 7 Conclusions……………………………………………

9、……………...……………8 Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………...9 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………...9 Appendix………………………………………………………………….…….….10 1. Introduction Recently, I have made a survey about the significance of English songs in learning E

10、nglish. It was a survey among about 100 sophomore students majored in English from Shangrao normal college. Most of them believe that English songs are helpful in their speaking, writing and culture awareness and they show interest in how English songs function in learning English. It has also prove

11、d that most students can not speak fluent English from the internet survey. Facing the reality, in the listening stuff of English published in the 1980s, the editors already had a quite clear knowledge of the unique role English songs in promoting English teaching. From the internet there are also a

12、 lot of articles written about improving English by singing English songs “You can increase English Proficiency when you learn English songs. Whether you have a little son or daughter who is trying to learn a foreign language, or you are trying to learn one yourself, you should not underestimate the

13、 power of songs! The use of music and rhythm is an ancient way to teach new languages and surprisingly enough, it is a good technique that can be integrated into today' lessons. You'll find that when you start singing songs in a language that is foreign to you that your ability to pronounce the word

14、s and put sentences and grammar together becomes improved. Learning English and other languages through songs can make the entire process significantly easier for you.”(Refer to note 1). “The owner of a large chain of English schools in Brazil suggested to me that adult contemporary pop songs whose

15、lyrics contained concentrated areas of grammar would be of great benefit to ESL students.” (Refer to note 2). For instance, “In And Out” was edited by Shanghai Foreign Language Press, widely used as listening materials for college students to practice. In primary school, numerous English songs are

16、arranged to help students to cultivate and stimulate the interest of learning English. Such as “Happy Birthday to You”, “Are You Sleeping” “Doe Ray Me”, “Hands Up, Hands Down” etc. Those English songs are not only aimed at certain purpose which had been mentioned, but also enlarging vocabulary, impr

17、oving pronunciation and writing, breaking the dreary atmosphere in class and heightening the cross-culture awareness.. I have conducted research which students agree with the important role English songs play in above aspects. Apparently, they know that English songs are necessary in helping studen

18、ts to improve their English. “There is a positive relation between music intelligence and students’ English listening ability and speaking ability.” (Pei Zhengwei,2004:35) The vital point is that English songs have a direct relationship with the sound which is related with the sound in the language

19、that students speak. Once they start to open their mouth, they can speak well. 2. The necessity of using English songs in learning English There is no doubt about the important role which English has played in the world today. Everywhere, no matter the country is large or small, people own their

20、 language, and uses it for communication. The frequency of speaking is definitely higher than that of writing. As an English learner, he or she should gain the ability of communicating in English, so that there is a necessity to learn spoken English well. . However, many Chinese people are speaking

21、chinglish although students get at least six years’ English teaching in their middle school. This shows that traditional teaching method, known as “cram” or “duck-style” model for a long time, lacks of vitality and interest and ignores the communication function of English. Isolated grammar structur

22、es and sentence rules make learners feel dull in the process of English learning. Its direct consequence is that the students become passive learners. Gradually losing enthusiasm becomes students’ main problem. They bury themselves in pursuing higher marks in their paper test, which only include rea

23、ding, listening, writing except oral part. That seems to offer reasonable excuse for students to avoid speaking. That usually happens in middle schools, especially in high school. They ignore the application of English, and do not know that English is a language in which most of the time is used in

24、speaking rather than writing. Hence, it is urgent for them to realize the fact that they should attach much importance to spoken English. That tells us that it is inevitable for us to arose students’ interest and pay more attention on speaking. Music makes it possible. At the beginning of human soci

25、ety, most of the farmers expressed their feelings by singing. Now that people hold a deep affection in songs, which have a prominent significance on language learning, because they can motive students to learn and make learning interesting, why not take advantage of songs to practice oral English?

26、Songs and language has two same features, one is to convey the message, and the other is the procession of sounds. We speak brilliant English from four ingredients: pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, and the component of what we say (we regard it as words). We can change the last one at will. But t

27、he other three elements need to practice with the passage of time. An English song involves pronunciation, tune, rhythm, lyrics. Compared with speaking English, singing an English song almost accord with the former. Singing is sort of speaking. Since we know the truth, we can improve our spoken Engl

28、ish and the ability to communicate in English by singing English songs. Music perception starts before birth, so it is less energy demanding. Pleasant melody can cheer up a person, which can help the brain to memorize things more quickly and keep them for a longer time. So students can make use if

29、English songs to memorize words and enlarge vocabulary. And music provides a relaxing condition, in which students can easily receive the information naturally. People trend to learn more and better when they are happy as their minds are in a good order. “Happy people are productive people” as the E

30、laineone said. English songs can stimulate the central nervous system of English learners through sound wave, as a result a kind of good emotions can be developed; it can evoke spirit and arouse intelligence activities so that cognitive and emotional psychological of English learner resonance vicari

31、ously. Thus the happy feeling comes into being with the beautiful melody flowing in the air, and that benefits the learning motivation. English learners will learn faster and more likely to spend more time on practicing speaking English, and improve it dramatically. It also has proved that develop

32、ment of music intelligence seems to have some kind of connection with the development of language skills. Whatever age and whichever kind of drawback in language, those whose music intelligence develops better show greater ability in distinguishing word sounds and master pronouncing skills better. P

33、eople always like the songs which express the emotions. When a language is used by singing and listening to the songs, the function of communication has been brought out. 3. The significance of English songs in spoken English Students can benefit greatly from singing English songs, as they will

34、practice and correct their pronunciation. “The pace of songs is sometimes fast and sometimes slow which requires more accuracy in pronunciation, liaison, skimming, stress etc. is especially helpful to the pronunciation of English learners” (Xu Ping, 2008:53-55). 3.1 Liaison There is no doubt that

35、 there are many liaisons appearing in English. Let’s have a look at the definition of liaison: liaison means the linking of sounds or words. This is a term used in phonology to refer to one type of transition between sounds, where a sound is inserted at the end of a word, if particularly, the follow

36、ing word begins with a vowel, and liaison always appears in a sense of group. The final consonant of the proceeding word is united to the initial vowel of the next word in the same sense group. When the English learners begin to sing the song with lots of liaison, they will start to handle them in t

37、he process of singing, or they will end up with wrong voice, as the paces of the rhythms wait for no man. Furthermore, it also sounds more beautiful. For example, “your eyes” always appears in English songs, and it frequently use liaison, reads [jɔː raiz], “In your eyes, I found the greatest surpri

38、se (from That Where You Find The Love)”, “When the stars are in your eyes, and the sun in her smile (from Westlife)”. “Here I am” reads [hiəraiæm] when the singer singing the song Here I Am, respectively sung by the band Air Supply and singer Bryan. Another example, when we singing the song “Never

39、Say Goodbye”. If I could take this moment forever Turn the pages of my mind To another place and time We would never say goodbye. We will admit that those words are sung in the form of liaison. If⌒I reads [ifai], pages⌒of reads [peidʒzəf], place⌒and reads [pleisænd]. The technique of sound lin

40、king is so obvious that we can use of it to achieve fluency which is an important factor in spoken English. In the course of singing, students can learn the skill of liaison spontaneously. After a long time of practicing, students utterly master the ability of liaison. 3.2 Incomplete Plosive Plos

41、ive is a consonant sound that is made by complete stopping in the flow of air out of your mouth and then suddenly letting it out. For example, when saying b or t. when a plosive sound not actually pronounced but only the speech organs are put to the position for it and the closure is held for the us

42、ual time of pronouncing it, it is known as incomplete plosive. It takes place in a word when a plosive is followed immediately by another plosive, or a fricative. It may also take place at the junction of words. Incomplete plosive also plays an important role in oral English. Lots of students can n

43、ot speak fluently because they don’t know how to handle it in the application of speaking English. But through singing English songs, students gradually hold the technique of incomplete plosive. As there are a great deal of incomplete plosive in English songs, students are able to master it by imita

44、tion. For example, students will easily found that the Michael Learns To Rock’s popular “Take Me To Your Heart” have to skim a lot parts if they want to sing a fair-sounding song like the singer. Hiding from the rain and snow Trying to forget but I won't let go Looking at a crowded street List

45、ening to my own heart beat So many people All around the world Tell me where do I find Someone like you girl Take me to your heart Lyrics in these sentences “but, won’t, let, at, street, heart ” skims [t], “around, find” skims [d], “take” skims [k] pronunciation in the practical singing. In a

46、 word, students can master the ability to skim the pronunciation of [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g] properly. When any of those phonemes appears in the songs, it should be skimmed. 3.3 Rhythm and Tone To command excellent spoken English, students not only need correct grammars and words, but also hav

47、e a good rhythm and tone. Beautiful English songs are different from noise because they have nice rhythm, which causes a nice melody. In a rhythm group, a syllable is stressed similar to beat in music and this stressed syllable plays a key role in the rhythm of spoken English. The rhythm of music is

48、 regularly repeated, which is also a feature in spoken English. When one can sing an English song well, he will naturally know which syllable to stress, and master the regularity of the sentence, now how to pause and speed. These appear in a periodical way in spoken English. When one has mastered th

49、ese well, his spoken English will have a good rhythm. In fact, singing is sort of speaking. Tone is also an important factor in spoken English. When one sings an English song, he imitates the pitch of the words, and he will put all the emotion into it, spontaneously, he has a good tone of English.

50、3.4 Blurting out beautiful sentences Just as “you can be the one you just wanna be”, people like to deliver themselves through singing songs. Singing English songs means speaking English. Singing the lyrics means speaking the words and sentences. Sometimes this action is even superior to your own w

51、ords, for the lyrics are kind of art. Thereby, you can practice your spoken English by singing English songs instead. And instead of boring study methods, singing songs has great maneuverability. You can do it every time and everywhere. After so many times of singing, English learners will memorize

52、the lyrics. Reciting the lyrics will be as easy as falling off a log. The lyrics will stay in their mind unconsciously; they improve their standard of spoken English unconsciously. Whenever the words are needed, they will be able to blurt out elegant words unconsciously because the lyrics become the

53、ir own words to express themselves. For instance, when expressing the deep love for the beloved, the lyrics “bring you everything you ask for, nothing is above me (from when you tell me you love me)” can be blurted out by English learners. When expressing how strong the resolve of the speaker is, t

54、he lyrics “Now I won’t give up, nor I will break down. Sooner than that my life will turns around (from Some One Watching Over Me)” can be blurted out smoothly. The speaker also can blurt out “you raise me up so I can stand on mountains, you raise me up …to more than I can be (from You Raise Me Up)”

55、 to show the gratitude for the help from our families. 4. The significance of English songs in writing We all know that good writing has correct use of the words. Good writers always try to get the apposite word that is completely right for his purpose. But we always get confused which words t

56、o use because we even don’t command the words we remember. Some words and phrases are not comprehensive enough for English learners to memorize only. “Students with poor English are more afraid of remembering words, more difficult to memorize words. Singing English songs may stimulate the emotions a

57、nd imagination of students in an easy way, it would achieve better memorizing results unconsciously. Therefore it could avoid the baldness during learning and remembering words” (Lan Yanping, 2007:66-67). It is necessary for them to practice more so that they could have better ideas about when, how,

58、 where should the word and phrase can be used. Singing English songs enable the singer to master the words and phrases with the help of tune, as the tune must accord with the lyrics. That will impress the singer more deeply. For example, we don’t know the meaning of carrying on, and then we can unde

59、rstand it from “carry on till tomorrow, there is no reason to look back.” The level of writing ability of English learners will benefit from singing English songs. Besides directly using English lyrics, rewriting is well-known in writing skills; a lot of people use this way to achieve many admirable

60、 writings. “Students practice rewriting according to English songs, they can taste the feelings of the songs; Think the meaning of the songs by themselves. It may not only stimulate their interests in writing, but also enhance their confidence in writing. They will have more writing materials and ha

61、ve more feelings in words, and their writing ability and their writing skills will be improved” (Cong Ainong, 2006:62-63). Some of the lyrics are also used in the process of writing, which makes their essay beautiful. 5. The significance of English songs in cross culture awareness It is obvious

62、that songs often display the complexion and the spirits of a nation. It involves many elements, like the meaning of life, the value of life and the way of life. The content of songs often reflects the cultural styles of different times and as well as different areas. Some people believe that differe

63、nt styles of songs are the images of their living situations. They deliver their feelings through songs, thus make the songs different in different times, and diversity follows. English learners can dig out useful information of culture through singing English songs. There are plenty of English son

64、gs about the experience in life; they glasses the way people live. English learners seize the way people live in the English spoken countries by singing these songs. For example, the song Real to Me: Picnics in the garden and the children they can play The first day of the summer and I'll laze her

65、e all the day And we'll invite the family round and drink some English tea Then I raise up my finger and watch football on TV The above song describes a way of life in British. It included family, children, drink tea; watch football on TV, all of these is images of British way of life which can h

66、elp student gain a better understand of culture of English country. These sorts of songs are included Yesterday Once More, Lemon Tree. Some types of English songs are trying to demonstrate us the negative things surrounding our life. If we listen to the songs we are on our way to know the world situation. Such as Where Is The Love: What's wrong with the world mama? People living like they are got no mamas … Overseas ya we trying to stop terrorism But we still got terrorists here living I