‘Thank you for the music’: examining how songs can promote vocabulary learning in an EFL class

ABSTRACT

Pop songs have been claimed to provide a noteworthy source of second language (L2) input. While listening to songs in English is one of the most commonly reported out-of-class activities among EFL learners, little research exists as to how different teaching approaches to the use of songs in the EFL class can enhance students’ vocabulary learning. The present study aims to investigate two different instructional approaches to the use of songs in the L2 class in order to learn how to maximise vocabulary learning through this input source. Two groups of grade 8 Italian EFL learners followed a short treatment that used English pop songs in different conditions, which differed in instructional focus (explicit vs. implicit). The results of the study suggest that although vocabulary significantly improved in both conditions, the explicit approach led to more durable gains.

KEYWORDS:

• Vocabulary learning
• explicit instruction
• incidental learning
• L2 songs
• L2 listening
• teenage EFL learners

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-110536GB-I00).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).