The Effect of English Popular Songs on Learning Motivation and ...

13WHAMPOA - An Interdisciplinary Journal 56(2009) 13-28<strong>The</strong> <strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong> on Learning Motivation andLearning PerformanceYi-Chun Chen 1 • Pi-Ching Chen 21 Department <strong>of</strong> Foreign Languages and Literature National Cheng Kung University,Taiwan2 Department <strong>of</strong> International Business Chang Jung Christian University, TaiwanABSTRACTFor language educators and practitioners, how to effectively motivate students to learnhas long been a crucial concern issue. Among all the factors that affect learning motivations,teaching styles and teaching materials might be regarded as the most essential elements to betaken into consideration for achieving a more successful teaching and learning. <strong>The</strong> objective<strong>of</strong> this study was to explore whether the use <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs can enhance elementaryschool students’ motivation for learning <strong>English</strong>. It was also an attempt to investigate therelationships between learning motivation and learning performance. Five intact six-gradeclasses <strong>of</strong> a public elementary school in Tainan city were selected to be the study subjects inthe one-semester research. Four <strong>English</strong> popular songs were chosen as the teaching materials.After the instruction, a questionnaire was distributed to collect data for further analysis. Of atotal <strong>of</strong> 166 questionnaires, 131 were valid, yielding a response rate <strong>of</strong> 79%. <strong>The</strong> results <strong>of</strong>this study showed that the majority <strong>of</strong> students were interested in learning <strong>English</strong> popularsongs and their learning motivation also increased after engaging in this creative teachingactivity. As for learning performance, students felt that their <strong>English</strong> abilities, especiallylistening ability, have improved after learning the songs. <strong>The</strong>re was a high correlation betweenlearning motivation and learning performance. Pedagogical implications based on the findingswere provided.Keywords: Creative teaching, Motivation, <strong>English</strong> popular songs, EFL learnersІ.IntroductionIt is widely accepted that motivationplays an important role in successfullanguage learning. According to theNine-Year Integrated Curriculum in Taiwan,one <strong>of</strong> the major goals for <strong>English</strong>education at elementary schools is toenhance students’ learning motivation anddevelop their study interests. In theexamination-oriented instruction likeTaiwan, textbooks are served as the main oreven the only resource for <strong>English</strong> learning.This kind <strong>of</strong> limited exposure to the targetlanguage may not only decrease students’learning motivation but also stifle their13

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong> on Learning 17Motivation and Learning Performancefosters creativity” is the one that agrees withwhat our government has been advocating.In 2002 the Ministry <strong>of</strong> Education regulated<strong>The</strong> White Paper on Creative Education.Teachers at all levels <strong>of</strong> different disciplinesare encouraged to seek innovative ways toimprove the effectiveness <strong>of</strong> teaching andlearning. That is, creative teaching is highlyvalued.Creative teaching refers to teachingthat results from the teacher’s creativity, notto teaching that is intended to develop thelearner’s creativity. Even so, creativeteaching enhances students’ performance(Schacter, Thum, & Zikfin, 2006).According to Chiu (2007), creative teachingcan be understood by four renowned Ps <strong>of</strong>creativity: person, process, product andplace/environment. Environment can beseen as the most comprehensive element, forit can work as a provider <strong>of</strong> resources orconstraints. Without the environmentalsupport, a learner may not have the chanceto display his or her creativity within. <strong>The</strong>physical environment is one aspect <strong>of</strong>learning. By building a creative learningspace, it is found that students become moreactive in the learning process (Jankowska &Atlay, 2008). Moreover, an appropriateatmosphere that makes students enjoylearning is also important. <strong>The</strong> person, thatis, teachers are one crucial component <strong>of</strong>students’ learning environment.Teachers can exert an influence onstudents through their own actions. If a topicis presented in more interesting ways, it islikely that students care more about the topic.<strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> positive emotions in theclassroom is essential to learning. “Fun” asone <strong>of</strong> the positive emotions is veryimportant for young learners and theemotional reaction caused by the nature <strong>of</strong>an event is what makes an event memorable(Gilbert, 2002). For example, novelty is amotivating factor that stimulates the learningpotential <strong>of</strong> learners. <strong>The</strong>refore, to makestudents more engaged in learning, bringingin some variety or material which is leastexpected from time to time might be a goodchoice.2.3 <strong>Songs</strong> in Language TeachingFor young EFL learners, carefullychosen materials are quite important.Among all the materials used in class, songsare <strong>of</strong> great value. <strong>The</strong>y can provide asubstantial amount <strong>of</strong> auditory input, andwhich is most important at early languagelearning stage. Much previous research hasprovided insights into the advantages <strong>of</strong>learning <strong>English</strong> through songs in theclassroom (Schoepp, 2001; Mora, 2000; Liu,2006). For helping learners to develop theirmultiple intelligences, Simpson (2000) believesthat through well-planned teaching activities,linguistic intelligence and musicalintelligence can benefit each other.Teachers may adopt songs in the EFLclassroom for many reasons and they mainlycome from three different aspects: affective,cognitive and linguistic (Schoepp, 2001).First, songs can create a relaxing,entertaining and non-threatening classroomatmosphere in which learners lower theiranxiety filter and be more open to learning.Second, the nature <strong>of</strong> songs is repetitive andit facilitates automaticity in languagedevelopment process. To combine both17

18 affective and unconscious factors together,the power <strong>of</strong> ‘song-stuck-in- my-head’(SSIMH) phenomenon (Murphey, 1990)appears. Singing is an easy way <strong>of</strong>memorizing something and melody seems tohelp us retrieve the information effortlessly.Third, some songs consist <strong>of</strong> colloquial<strong>English</strong> which can prepare learners forinformal conversation in real life situation. Inaddition to these three reasons mentionedabove, songs can also be a culturally-richresource and easy to be handled in a lesson(Murphey, 1992).However, some songs on studenttextbooks are very ‘artificial’, that is, theyare composed based on the specific sentencepatterns or vocabulary that the students justlearned. <strong>The</strong>refore, sometimes the songs arenot good and this might partly explain whystudents, especially sixth graders, don’t wantto sing at all. Another main reason is thatsixth grade students think that the songs ontextbooks are simply too ‘childish’ for them.<strong>The</strong>se days, six-grade students (about 12years old) are more mature than we think.<strong>The</strong>y are just like teenagers who are easilyto be influenced by popular culture.Domoney and Harris (1993) asserted thatpop music was probably the most frequentand meaningful exposure to <strong>English</strong> outsidelearners’ <strong>English</strong> classes. <strong>The</strong>refore, popularsongs can be effective materials that relate<strong>English</strong> learning to students’ daily life.In conclusion <strong>of</strong> literature review,motivation is essential to language learningand one way to increase the learningmotivation is by creative teaching. Hence,the present study centers attention onmotivational aspects <strong>of</strong> using one creativeelement, <strong>English</strong> popular songs, in EFLclassroom. By conducting the research, theresearcher hoped to get promising resultsand provide insights into language teaching..Methodology3.1 SubjectsParticipants included 166 six-gradestudents from five classes in an elementaryschool in the northern district <strong>of</strong> Tainan City.However, for students who hadn’tcompleted all the items on the questionnaireor ticked the same box on both Item 14 andItem 15, they were excluded from thepresent study. In the end, a total <strong>of</strong> 131six-grade students constituted the studysubjects, including 62 male students (47.3 %)and 69 female ones (52.7 %).3.2 MaterialsTo create a more enjoyable learningenvironment for young learners to learn<strong>English</strong>, a total <strong>of</strong> four <strong>English</strong> popularsongs were introduced during the wholesemester. <strong>The</strong> titles were “Seasons in theSun” by Westlife, “You Raise Me Up” byWestlife, “You'll Be In My Heart” by PhilColins as well as “Way Back Into Love” byHugh Grant and Haley Bennett. In class, allthose songs were presented by the CD player.In addition, the teacher also providedstudents with parts <strong>of</strong> the films to introducethe main plots <strong>of</strong> the songs about “You'll BeIn My Heart” and “Way Back Into Love”.<strong>The</strong> rationale <strong>of</strong> incorporating these<strong>English</strong> popular songs into schoolcurriculum was that they not only motivatestudents to learn but also provide a contextto help students review sight vocabulary. Instudents’ textbook, Enjoy which was18

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong> on Learning 19Motivation and Learning Performancedeveloped by Educational Bureau <strong>of</strong> TainanCity, there was a section in each lesson thatrequired students to read and spell certaintarget words. Since that most <strong>of</strong> the targetwords were from Dolch Basic Sight WordsList, students have learned the list from theirfifth grade. <strong>The</strong>refore, it was assumed thatstudents could recognize most <strong>of</strong> the wordsin the lyrics.3.3 InstrumentTo understand the improvement <strong>of</strong>students’ abilities through <strong>English</strong> songlearning, a questionnaire was designed bythe researcher herself for a further study.Besides the main survey items, there weretwo items about students’ backgroundinformation and an invitation letter to fill inthe questionnaire. A total <strong>of</strong> 17 survey itemswere designed to investigate whetherstudents were motivated to learn <strong>English</strong>through the teaching <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popularsongs. Moreover, this study also examinedhow young learners felt after learning<strong>English</strong> through popular song singing. Allitems <strong>of</strong> the survey questionnaire weresubdivided into two categories. One wasrelated to the variable <strong>of</strong> “learningmotivation”, and the other was “learningperformance”. In addition to the 16 items,the final item (Item 17) was an open-endedquestion designed for the students to expresstheir opinions about which song theyenjoyed most and why they liked thespecific song.Except Item 15, all the other surveyitems were designed in positive statements.Participants indicated the extent to whichthey felt each item was true for them on a4-point scale. <strong>The</strong> scoring system was“strongly agree (SA)” to be scored 4 points,“agree (A)” 3 points, “disagree (DA)” 2points, and “strongly disagree (SD)” 1 point.Furthermore, for collecting the qualitativedata for references, one open-ended question(Item17) designed to provide students with achance to state or express their perceptionsor opinions about the use <strong>of</strong> popular songs inthe class, was not scored by numbers.3.4 Description <strong>of</strong> the Treatment<strong>The</strong> duration <strong>of</strong> the present study lastedfor one semester. Since the four <strong>English</strong>popular songs were used as the supplementalmaterials to their <strong>English</strong> textbook, theinstructional time was intermittent. That is,each song was introduced after the end <strong>of</strong>one lesson. On average, 15 minutes perperiod were reserved for the appreciation <strong>of</strong>one <strong>English</strong> popular song and the studentshad two class periods per week. <strong>The</strong> studentswere exposed to the song 30 minutes a weekfor three continuous weeks. To sum up, therewas a total <strong>of</strong> six-hour instructional timewithin 12 weeks..Results and Discussion<strong>The</strong> collected data was analyzedthrough SPSS 10.0. In order to check if thestudents were attentive when completing thequestionnaire, Item 15 was designed as theopposite statement <strong>of</strong> Item 14. That is, Item15 describing about the difficulty <strong>of</strong> theteaching materials was separately countedand discussed. This meant there were 14survey items (Items 1-13 and 16) in the19

20 questionnaire divided into two groups.Seven survey items (Items 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9,and 16) were related to the variable <strong>of</strong>“learning motivation”, while the other sevenitems (Items 3, 4, 5,10,11,12, and 13) wereidentified as “learning performance”.Table 1 presents the mean scores <strong>of</strong>the survey items about young learners’learning motivation. <strong>The</strong> mean scores above3 points meant that students agreed with thestatements, so the first two items with highmean scores were selected to discuss further.As for the variable <strong>of</strong> learning motivation,Item 6 was the highest one (M = 3.27) whichsuggested that students were motivated bylearning <strong>English</strong> popular songs and theywanted to improve their listening ability.<strong>The</strong> result was assumed that this wasprobably because some pronunciations <strong>of</strong>the words were hard to be discerned in thesong. It might be quite challenging forstudents to hear every word clearly. <strong>The</strong>second highest was Item 2 (M = 3.26) whichindicated that students were very interestedin learning <strong>English</strong> popular songs.On the other hand, the lowest meanscore <strong>of</strong> the variable about learningmotivation was Item 9 (M = 2.72) whichshowed that students did not want toenhance their writing ability by singing<strong>English</strong> songs. <strong>The</strong> result was reasonablebecause the teacher did not emphasize thewriting ability. That is, the major purpose <strong>of</strong>using <strong>English</strong> popular songs was just tocreate an enjoyable learning environment tomotivate students to learn <strong>English</strong>interestingly.Table 1. <strong>The</strong> mean scores <strong>of</strong> the survey items about learning motivationSurvey Items M SD RankItem 1 2.98 .95 5Item 2 3.26 .86 2Item 6 3.27 .86 1Item 7 3.11 .94 3Item 8 3.04 .96 4Item 9 2.72 1.02 7Item 16 2.96 1.08 6Note. N = 131Table 2 presents the mean scores <strong>of</strong>the seven survey items about students’learning performance. <strong>The</strong> mean scoresabove 3 points meant that students agreedwith the statements. As for the variable <strong>of</strong>learning performance, the highest meanscore was Item 4 (M = 3.23) which meantthat students thought that learning <strong>English</strong>popular songs was helpful to their <strong>English</strong>learning. <strong>The</strong>n, the second high mean scorewas Item 5 (M = 3.09) which indicated thatstudents might expect to learn foreignculture better through the appreciation <strong>of</strong><strong>English</strong> popular songs.On the contrary, the lowest meanscore <strong>of</strong> the variable about learning20

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong> on Learning 21Motivation and Learning Performanceperformance was Item 13 (M = 2.49) whichshowed that students did not feel that theirwriting ability has improved after learning<strong>English</strong> popular songs. This result seemedreasonable because the teacher did notemphasize this ability. <strong>The</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong> using<strong>English</strong> popular songs was just to create amore interesting learning environment toengage young learners in <strong>English</strong> learning.Table 2. <strong>The</strong> mean scores <strong>of</strong> the survey items about learning performanceSurvey Items M SD RankItem 3 2.98 .96 4Item 4 3.23 .89 1Item 5 3.09 .94 2Item 10 3.08 .92 3Item 11 2.87 .96 6Item 12 2.91 .96 5Item 13 2.49 1.00 7Note. N = 131Table 3 presents the correlationcoefficient between two variables, learningmotivation and learning performance. Thisstudy discussed the relationship between thetwo variables named young learners’learning motivation and their learningperformance. From the averages <strong>of</strong> the twocategories, the study found that the sum <strong>of</strong>mean scores about the seven items related tothe variable <strong>of</strong> learning motivation werehigher than those <strong>of</strong> learning performance.<strong>The</strong> two subcategories had a highcorrelation.Table 3. <strong>The</strong> relationship between learning motivation and learning performanceM SD rLearning Motivation 21.34 5.32Learning Performance 20.65 5.28.855 Note. N = 131; p< .05; p< .01; p< .001In terms <strong>of</strong> students’ learningmotivation, this study found that there was agender difference. According to Table 4,female students (M = 23.72) had a higheraverage mean score than male students (M =18.69). <strong>The</strong> t-value showed that there was asignificant difference between male studentsand females. That was to say, femalestudents were more motivated than malestudents after this learning activity.21

22 As for students’ performance <strong>of</strong>learning <strong>English</strong> through popular songsinging, this study also examined thedifference between male and female students(see Table 5). <strong>The</strong> study found that the meanscore <strong>of</strong> female students (M = 22.72) washigher than that <strong>of</strong> their counterpart (M =18.32) and the t-value showed significantdifference (p < .001). This result indicatedthat female students more agreed that their<strong>English</strong> had improved after learning <strong>English</strong>popular songs.Table 4. T- test <strong>of</strong> gender difference in learning motivationN M SD r tMale 62 18.69 5.37Female 69 23.72 4.00.474 -6.120 Note. p< .05; p< .01; p< .001Table 5. T- test <strong>of</strong> gender difference in learning performanceN M SD r tMale 62 18.32 5.28Female 69 22.72 4.35.418 -5.226 Note. p< .05; p< .01; p< .001This study also investigated teachingmaterials itself. According to Table 6, themajority <strong>of</strong> students agreed (M = 2.90) thatlearning <strong>English</strong> popular songs was easierthan the contents <strong>of</strong> their textbooks. Amongthem, female students agreed that the songswere easier, while male students’ responseswere approaching “agree”. <strong>The</strong> result wasprobably because the chosen songs hadmany sight words in them and they havebeen taught these high frequency wordsfrom fifth grade. However, the result was alittle surprising and stood in direct contrastto what Peacock (1997) claimed. InPeacock’s study, participants said thatauthentic materials were hard tocomprehend and difficult.Table 6. Gender difference about Item 15n M SDMale 62 2.74 1.17Female 69 3.04 .95Average 2.90 1.0722

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong> on Learning 23Motivation and Learning PerformanceNote. N = 131As for the influence <strong>of</strong> extra <strong>English</strong>classes, the data collected from the personalinformation, this study found that only 11out <strong>of</strong> 131 students (approximately 8.4%)never attend after-school <strong>English</strong> classes.Owing to the relatively small percentage <strong>of</strong>all; therefore, the researcher didn’t considerthe attendance <strong>of</strong> after-school <strong>English</strong>classes as a moderating variable in the study.Finally, as for students’ responses tothe open-ended question <strong>of</strong> Item 17, moststudents expressed that they like the songentitled Way Back Into Love most. <strong>The</strong> veryreason was simply because the melody <strong>of</strong>the song sounded pleasant. Nevertheless, theresearcher wondered if this response wasbecause they just learned this song orbecause the teacher showed them parts <strong>of</strong>the film which made them feel moreconnected to it.To sum up, based on theabove-mentioned results, the studyconcluded that most <strong>of</strong> the students enjoyedand appreciated learning <strong>English</strong> throughpopular song singing. <strong>The</strong> more importantfindings were that they were motivated tolearn <strong>English</strong>, and that they wanted toenhance their listening ability. As for genderdifferences, female students tended to bemore motivated and performed better in<strong>English</strong> learning..ConclusionBased on the results and discussionspresented above, the major findings weresummarized. We found that overall classmotivation had significantly increased aftercreative teaching. Students were motivatedto become more active learners. Accordingto students’ responses, it could be elicitedthat most <strong>of</strong> the students were fond <strong>of</strong>learning <strong>English</strong> popular songs and theywere interested to learn more after thisactivity. As for what aspects did studentsfind motivating, listening, speaking andreading abilities were the ones that studentswanted to improve. It was also important tonote that students felt that their <strong>English</strong>abilities had improved after learning these<strong>English</strong> popular songs.In the light <strong>of</strong> these findings, someimplications for elementary school <strong>English</strong>teachers in Taiwan were given. To beginwith, since creative teaching by using<strong>English</strong> popular songs could increasestudents’ learning motivation, it might beworthwhile to adopt this intrinsically moreinteresting material to make effectiveteaching and learning. Moreover, <strong>English</strong>popular songs could be used to practice thefour skills - listening, speaking, reading andwriting - together. Since students wereinterested in lyrics and enjoying singingthem, they might be eager to talk about thesongs or learn to read the vocabulary andsentences <strong>of</strong> the lyrics. Most important <strong>of</strong> all,as Amabile and her colleagues (Amabile etal., 1994) indicated that intrinsic motivationcan be a contributing factor to creative work.That is, students could be encouraged togenerate mental fantasies or to create theirown work after the appreciation <strong>of</strong> the song.<strong>The</strong> true meaning <strong>of</strong> creative teaching was23

24 to foster learners’ creativity. <strong>The</strong>refore,rather than being considered as discrete,marginal items, <strong>English</strong> popular songs couldbe valuable materials to be integrated intoschool curriculum (Domoney & Harri,1993).As for future research, it was suggestedthat motivation can be further analyzed tosee which type <strong>of</strong> motivation could beenhanced after creative teaching, such asintrinsic/ extrinsic or integrative/instrumental.In addition, a high learning motivation wasexpected to have a substantial impact onlearning gains. It might be good to have apre-test and a post-test to examine students’actual performance instead <strong>of</strong> just aself-report questionnaire. For instance,because the lyrics <strong>of</strong> the song can provide agood context to learn sight words, it is fairlyworthy to further explore to see if students’reading and writing abilities improve afterthe creative learning.References:[1] Amabile, T. M., Hill, K. G.., Hennessey,B. A., & Tighe, E. M. (1994). <strong>The</strong> workpreference inventory: Assessing intrinsicand extrinsic motivational orientations.Journal <strong>of</strong> Personality & SocialPsychology. 66(5), 950-967.[2] Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles <strong>of</strong>language learning and teaching. NewYork: Longman.[3] Burden, P. R. (2000). Powerfulclassroom management strategies:Motivating students to learn. ThousandOaks, CA: Corwin Press.[4] Cheung, C. K. (2001). <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong>popular culture as a stimulus to motivatesecondary students’ <strong>English</strong> learning inHong Kong. ELT Journal, 55(1), 55-61.[5] Chiu, M. S. (2007). Approaches to theteaching <strong>of</strong> creative and non-creativemathematical problems. InternationalJournal <strong>of</strong> Science and MathematicsEducation.[6] Domoney, L., & Harri, S. (1993).Justified and ancient: Pop music in EFLclassrooms. ELT Journal, 47 (3),234-241.[7] Gardner, R. (1985). Social psychologyand second language learning. London:Arnold.[8] Gilbert, I. (2002). Essential motivation inthe classroom. London:RoutledgeFalmer.[9] Holt, J. N. (2001). Motivation as acontributing factor in second languageacquisition. <strong>The</strong> Internet TESL Journal,7(6). Retrieved May 5, 2008, fromhttp://iteslj.org/Articles/Norris-Motivation.html[10] Jankowska, M., & Atlay, M. (2008).Use <strong>of</strong> creative space in enhancingstudents’ engagement. Innovations inEducation and Teaching International,45(3), 271-279.[11] Liu, C. Y. (2006). Analysis <strong>of</strong> the songsin elementary school <strong>English</strong> textbooks.Master’s <strong>The</strong>sis, Southern TaiwanUniversity <strong>of</strong> Technology.[12] Mora, C. F. (2000). Foreign languageacquisition and melody singing. ELTJournal, 54(2), 146-152.[13] Murphey, T. (1990). <strong>The</strong> song stuck inmy head phenomenon: a melodic Din inthe LAD? System, 18(1), 53-64.[14] Murphey, T. (1992). Music & song.Oxford: Oxford University Press.24

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong> on Learning 25Motivation and Learning Performance[15] Peacock, M. (1997). <strong>The</strong> effect <strong>of</strong>authentic materials on the motivation <strong>of</strong>EFL learners. ELT Journal, 51(2),144-156.[16] Petrides, J. R. (2006). Attitudes andmotivation and their impact on theperformance <strong>of</strong> young <strong>English</strong> as aforeign language learners. Journal <strong>of</strong>Language and Learning, 5(1), 1- 20.[17] Schacter, J., Thum, Y. M., & Zifkin, D.(2006). How much does creativeteaching enhance elementary schoolstudents’ achievement? Journal <strong>of</strong>Creative Behavior, 40(1), 47–72.[18] Schoepp, K. (2001). Reasons for usingsongs in the ESL/EFL classroom. <strong>The</strong>Internet TESL Journal, 7(2). RetrievedMay 5, 2008, fromhttp://iteslj.org/Articles/Schoepp-<strong>Songs</strong>.html[19] Semmar, Y. (2006). An exploratorystudy <strong>of</strong> motivational variables in aforeign language learning context.Journal <strong>of</strong> Language and Learning, 5(1),118-132.[20] Simpson, J. M. (2000). Practicemultiple intelligences in EFL class.TESOL Journal, 9(1), 32.[21] Sternberg, R. (2007). Creativity as ahabit. In Tan, A. (Ed.), Creativity: Ahandbook for teachers (pp. 3-25). HA:World Scientific.[22] Thanasoulas, D. (2002). Motivation andmotivating in the foreign languageclassroom. <strong>The</strong> Internet TESL Journal,8(11). Retrieved May 3, 2008, fromhttp://iteslj.org/Articles/Thanasoulas-Motivation.html[23] Warrington, S. D., & Jeffrey, D. M.(2005). A rationale for passivity andde-motivation revealed: Aninterpretation <strong>of</strong> inventory results amongfreshman <strong>English</strong> students. Journal <strong>of</strong>Language and Learning, 3 (2), 312-335.[24] Wright, T. (1987). Roles <strong>of</strong> teachers &learners. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.25

26 Hello, everyone!Appendix 1.Questionnaire on Appreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong>I am very glad to have taught you the <strong>English</strong> subject through <strong>English</strong> popular songs duringthe whole semester. Through this questionnaire, I’d like to learn how you felt about <strong>English</strong>popular song singing and if the appreciation <strong>of</strong> popular songs improved your <strong>English</strong> learning.Please check the appropriate boxes that best represents your opinions or situations.Many thanks for your participation and cooperation!Sincerely yours,Debbie Chen<strong>English</strong> TeacherA. Personal Information1. Gender: Male Female2. I’ve attended after-school <strong>English</strong> classes Yes, I have. No, never.B. About Appreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong>Survey Items SA A D SD1.I want to learn <strong>English</strong> well through the appreciation <strong>of</strong><strong>English</strong> popular songs.2. I am very interested in learning <strong>English</strong> popular songs.3.4.5.6.7.8.I am confident that I can learn the vocabulary and sentences inthe lyrics.I feel that <strong>English</strong> popular songs are helpful for my <strong>English</strong>learning.I get to learn foreign culture better through the appreciation <strong>of</strong><strong>English</strong> popular songsI want to enhance my <strong>English</strong> “listening” ability through theappreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs.I want to enhance my <strong>English</strong> “speaking” ability through theappreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs.I want to enhance my <strong>English</strong> “reading” ability through theappreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs.9. I want to enhance my <strong>English</strong> “writing” ability through the26

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Songs</strong> on Learning 27Motivation and Learning Performance10.11.12.13.14.15.appreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs.I feel that my <strong>English</strong> “listening” ability has improved throughthe appreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs.I feel that my <strong>English</strong> “speaking” ability has improvedthrough the appreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs.I feel that my <strong>English</strong> “reading” ability has improved throughthe appreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs.I feel that my <strong>English</strong> “writing” ability has improved throughthe appreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>English</strong> popular songs.I feel that learning <strong>English</strong> popular songs is more difficultthan learning from the textbook.I feel that learning <strong>English</strong> popular songs is easier thanlearning from the textbook.16. I want to spend more time learning <strong>English</strong> popular songs.17. Of all the songs we appreciated this semester, which one is your favorite? Why?_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Note. SA = Strongly Agree; A = Agree; D = Disagree; SD = Strongly Disagree27

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