SINGING TO IMPROVE YOUR ENCLISH SKILLS

Eliene Monteiro

Who has never sung any of their favorite songs before or even searched the lyrics of foreign songs in order to sing it? Singing is part of our lives, even if we are not professional singers. Related to learning a foreign language, we recognize that singing can be a great way of improving the language in several ways. However, there is not much research about this theme. Many authors just mention the use of songs in their theses, but they do not relate them with singing. Based on some research on the use of singing in language learning acquisition and in my own experiences, I decided writing this essay.

Singing is a great strategy if you want to improve your English abilities in several key skills. Thinking about the main reasons of why an English learner should use this tool, I am going to list four advantages: (1) It is great for pronunciation; (2) It helps you remember words; (3) It builds your self-confidence; and (4) It is good for your motivation.

First, singing is great for practicing pronunciation. By studying a little about the Stress in English phonetics, you learn about the Word Stress. Word stress is an important aspect of English pronunciation and it can easily identify a non-native speaker. Through using word stress in your speaking, you improve your pronunciation skills. Through listening to songs several times, especially sung by native speakers, your ears get used to the stress that each word has, and when you sing them, your voice tries to imitate the stress contained in the words.

Second, singing helps you build vocabulary and remember words. According to a new research published in the journal Memory and Cognition, phrases sung in a foreign language are easier to remember than when they are just said. It was discovered through a study with adults learning Hungarian. They were divided in three groups, the first one heard spoken English phrases and a Hungarian translation, the second heard a Hungarian phrase sung, and the third group heard Hungarian phrases spoken in a rhythm, as a chant. The results of this study showed that people who had heard the phrases being sung performed notably better than people from the other groups.

            Next, singing in a foreign language builds your self-confidence. High self-confidence has a  positive correlation with oral performance (HEYDE 1979), but several people get nervous when they have to sing in front of people, even more than when they are just speaking to them. In this way, if you can sing in front of people, speaking will be a simple activity. It is not necessary for you to be a member of a band to sing in front of an audience, a simple joke with your friends in a karaoke can provide opportunities to practice singing. Start singing in front of your friends can be the first step for you to build your self-confidence.

Lastly, singing is good for your motivation. Motivation is activated when you are involved, engaged and excited doing what you like while learning something. Why not do this to improve your English skills? Why not have fun with it? According to the renowned psychiatrist William Glasser (1990) “Fun is the genetic payoff for learning.” Music lovers know for sure what I am talking about because singing is a fun activity, your motivation to improve your English grows even though you do not might not even notice that you are learning.

             There are several easy ways for a person to start singing in order to improve his/her English. For example, youtube, a well known website, can help you to sing, you have just to type the name of the song you want to sing plus the word “karaoke” or “instrumental” that you will probably find a great version for you to sing while following the lyrics of the songs desired.

 Another tool is the app called The Voice: On Stage by StarMaker. You can download to your computer or cell phone. In this application there are four judges (like in the TV program “The Voice”) that turn their chairs for you if you sing well or on the pitch. While singing, you can follow the lyrics and there are backing vocals too. The more you sing, the more you can “buy” new songs through the coins the application gives you.

 Lastly, there is Karaoke Party, a website through which you can sing online and get a score based on your performance. All you need is a microphone to connect in your computer, and through this website you can also challenge your friends.

Learning a foreign language seems, for most people, like a difficult thing to do. But as with everything a human being does language learning requires strategies to be successful. For those who want to learn a foreign language, improving it can become an easy activity if you improve it through your passions, through things you really like to be involved in. Singing is a strategy that provides us a number of advantages that can help us to be successful in learning a foreign language.