Using songs to teach past tense to weak ESL students

DISSERTATION

DECLARATION
I.................student of.............. that this dissertation “to investigate the effectiveness of using
songs to teach past tense to weak ESL students” has been prepared by myself. I have taken
support of other literatures and all these sources have been faithfully cited in thesis. I declare that
there is no issue of plagiarism.
Date
Signature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I want to thank to my professor for their full support, without him it would not be possible for
me to complete this thesis. I thank to my parents and family members for encouraging me and
always be with me. Their encouragement has helped me to deal with difficult situations
effectively. Finally yet importantly, I like to thank to my friends, they always have believe in
me. Their motivation and support has helped me to complete my thesis.

ABSTRACT
The main aim of this dissertation is to identify effectiveness of using songs to teach past tenses
to ESL learners. Small kids like to dance on songs, if teachers involve such kind of activity in
classroom then it increases interest of students and enhance their understanding as well. Study
involves pre, posttests in order to measure whether songs have improved marks or grades of
learners or not. To find out answer 20 participants involves in this research. Results describe that
by using song in teaching practices grades of the learners have been improved. Now they are
able to understand this English language and are able to apply tenses to frame a clear sentence.
Interview with students and teachers conducted in this dissertation to analysis perception of both
these people regarding effective of using songs to teach English past tenses to ESL learners.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
Preface.........................................................................................................................................1
Background of study....................................................................................................................1
Problem statement.......................................................................................................................5
Purpose of study..........................................................................................................................5
Research objectives......................................................................................................................5
Research questions.......................................................................................................................5
Significance of study...................................................................................................................5
Theoretical framework of research..............................................................................................6
Definition of terms.......................................................................................................................8
Study limitations..........................................................................................................................8
Chapter summary.........................................................................................................................9
Summary......................................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................11
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................23
Introduction................................................................................................................................23
Research design.........................................................................................................................23
Methodology..............................................................................................................................26
Data collection...........................................................................................................................30
Population and sampling............................................................................................................31
Data analysis..............................................................................................................................32
Validity and reliability...............................................................................................................33
Ethical consideration.................................................................................................................33
Chapter summary.......................................................................................................................34
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION..............................................................35
Introduction...............................................................................................................................35
Data Analysis.............................................................................................................................35
Discussion..................................................................................................................................53
Summary....................................................................................................................................53
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................53

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................53
Recommendations......................................................................................................................56
Limitations.................................................................................................................................56
Implications of future study.......................................................................................................56
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................58
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................61
Appendix 1: Pre-test & Post- test..............................................................................................61
Appendix 2: Interview from students........................................................................................61
Appendix 3: Interview with teachers.........................................................................................61
Appendix 4: Observation...........................................................................................................62

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Preface
ESL learners face many problems to understand English language and use it properly in
their studies. As they have no knowledge about grammar and use of tenses thus, they get failed
to form correct sentences (Using American Popo songs in EFL classrooms, 2015). This
demotivates these students and they get failed to do well in their studies. Music and use of songs
is the best method to teach students past tenses. Study has huge scope as this can give brief idea
to teachers about new way of teaching tenses and developing sentence formation capabilities of
the children. Present study will give overview of effects of song in teaching simple past tense to
low proficiency ESL learners. It will use literatures of other authors to support arguments.
Furthermore, dissertation will select appropriate research methods for conducting this
investigation in an effective manner and will give proper justification for chosen techniques.
Background of study
Language plays a significant role in the life of human beings. People take support of
language for interacting with others properly. But when person has to use second language or
has to acquire new idiom then it creates difficulty for individuals to communicate with others. It
is very important for ESL learners to have good knowledge of grammar so that they can interact
with other students properly and can study well. Singing is the instrument that creates enjoyable
moment in the life of kids (Language learning through music, 2012). Language and music are
interrelated components. Singing supports in meeting educational and psychological needs of
learners and make them confident to interact with peers efficiently. Music assists in developing
knowledge about words and recognising expressions. Singing is a significant tool that aids in
reducing anxiety, stress level of kids and raising their interest towards new language. It impacts
positively on the learning skill of individuals to a great extent.
Grammar plays a significant role in making effective communication. Use of appropriate
grammar assists in proper sentence formation (The role of music and songs in teaching English
vocabulary to students, 2015). By this way, individuals can convey right message to the person
without any confusion. ESL students are facing huge issue in using the past tenses that impact on
their studies as well. One of the best methods to teach simple past tense to low proficiency ESL
learner is use of songs (Cohen, 2014). Each student has some kind of musical intelligence. Songs

enhance their interest and students pay more attention on applying the correct tenses while using
second language. Students with low proficiency feel under confident. In such condition, music
can raise their confidence and make them able to interact with others properly.
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