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

<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