STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE USE OF SONG LYRICS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

A Skripsi

Submitted to the Faculty of Language Education

In A Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

Sidik Kurnianto

20110540090

English Education Department Faculty of Language Education Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE USE OF SONG LYRICS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF

UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

A Skripsi

Submitted to the Faculty of Language Education

In A Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

Sidik Kurnianto

20110540090

English Education Department Faculty of Language Education Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

Statement of the Authenticity

I am a student with the following identity: Name : Sidik Kurnianto

NIM : 20110540090

Program Study : English Education Department Faculty : Faculty of Language Education

University : Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

Certify that this thesis with the title of “Students’ Perception towards the use of

Song Lyrics in Learning English at EED UMY” is definitely my own work. I am completely responsible for the content of this thesis. Others’ opinion or findings included in this thesis are quoted in accordance with ethical standards.

Yogyakarta, August 27th 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Alhamdulillahirrobil’alamin, my highest gratitude and honor goes to Allah

Subhanahu Wa’ Ta’ala for always guiding, strengthening and blessing me so that I

could finish my skripsi. This skripsi would not be completed without having many supports from many people around me. I would like to express my gratitude to my family; Bapak Hadi Prayitno (Dad), Ibu Siti Marchamah (Mom), mbak Laili Nur Fitriyanti, mbak Eri Murniasih and mbak Eri’s husband Syariffuddin. I hope they

always get healthy and see my success in the future, and I do always need their support and prayer to reach the success. My deep gratitude and appreciation go to mr. Gendroyono, S.Pd., M.Pd as my best supervisor, for his valuable time,

guidance, suggestions and motivating during the process of doing this skripsi. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the skripsi examiners: Ms. Noor Qomaria, S.Pd., M.Hum and Ms. Ika Wahyuni Lestari S.Pd., M.Hum. Thanks for their insightful comments and encouragement. I also thank to all lecturers of

Table of Contents

Title Page... i

Approval Page ... ii

Statement of the Authenticity ... iii

Acknowledgement ... iv

Abstract ... v

Table of Contents ... vii

Chapter One: Introduction ... 1

Background of the study ... 1

Statement of the Problem ... 4

Limitation of the Problem ... 4

Formulation of the Problem ... 5

Purpose of the Study ... 5

The Significance of the Study ... 5

Chapter Two: Literature Review ... 7

Perception ... 7

Song lyrics ... 8

Advantages of Using Song in Learning ... 9

Linguistic resource ... 10

Affective/psychological resource ... 10

Vocabulary mastery ... 11

The use of song to improve learning ... 12

Vocabulary ... 12

Pronunciation ... 13

Listening ... 14

Challenges of using song in learning ... 14

Teachers do not take the music seriously ... 15

Song can disturb adjacent lessons ... 15

Teacher can lose control of the class easily ... 15

The vocabulary of the songs is too poor ... 15

The expressions are different to the rules of grammar ... 15

Conceptual Framework ... 16

Review of related research ... 18

Chapter Three: Methodology... 21

Research Design ... 21

Research Participants ... 22

Research Setting ... 22

Data Collection Method ... 23

Data Analysis ... 23

Chapter Four: Finding and Discussion ... 25

The Advantages of the Use of Song Lyrics in Learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta... ... 25

Students’ vocabulary is enriched ... 26

Students are able to identifying grammar ... 27

Students’ listening skill is improved ... 28

Students are able to practice their pronunciation ... 28

The advantages related to affective/psychological resource ... 30

Students motivated in learning English ... 30

Students feel pleasure when using song lyrics ... 31

The advantages related to cognitive resource ... 32

The challenges towards the Use of Song Lyrics in Learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta... ... 33

Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendation ... 38

Conclusion ... 38

Recommendation ... 40

References ... 41

Abstract

Based on the researcher’s experience in learning English, the media that is

used commonly in teaching and learning is using songs. Song is believed to be able to help students to learn foreign language. This research was to find out the perception towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (EED UMY). There are two research questions in this research, (1) what are the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY, and (2) what are the

challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY. The methodology of this research was qualitative. The interviews were conducted to three students of EED UMY from batch 2013 as the participants of this research. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed in three steps of coding: the open, axial, and selective coding.

The result showed that there were three advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English: (a) Linguistic resources, which contained four points that consisted of vocabulary, grammar, listening, and pronunciation. The students are able to enrich their vocabulary, identifying the structure of the

grammar, next, students can practice their listening skill, and also the students can examine their pronunciation. (b) affective/psychological resources, which was categorized into two ideas, motivation and pleasure. The students’ motivation can be increased, and also using song lyrics also can be pleasure to students. (c) Cognitive resources, the students’ knowledge were increased. On the other hand,

challenges/difficulties; the students confused about the vocabulary, and students also confused about the intonation and accents of the song. Next, the students also confused about the grammatical of the songs that sometimes unstructured. Then, the tools in the class while learning using song lyrics also could be the challenges. Additionally, the condition of the class is also caused the challenges when EED UMY students learn English using song lyric. Shortly, this research concluded that song lyrics has many advantages and some challenges in learning English at EED UMY.

Chapter One Introduction

In this chapter, the researcher discusses the background of this research. The researcher also explains the statement of the problem, limitation of the problem, formulation of the study, purposes of the study and also gives detail description of the significance of the study.

Background of the Study

In English education, there are many ways in teaching and learning. Every lecturer at EED UMY had different teaching methods based on their subjects in teaching at EED UMY. According to Gloria (2013) variety of instructional materials should be visible in each classroom so that learning will be full of fun and interesting. Teachers have both traditional and innovative method of learning. In traditional method, according to Rengarajan (2000) the teacher is the sender and the source. The educational material is the information or message, and the student is the receiver of the information. While the innovative method is the role of student is more important than teachers. The concepts of paper less and pen less classroom are emerging as an alternative to the old teaching learning method (Sachou, 2010).

In traditional style, the teacher usually used teacher’s centered learning. In this method the teacher’s role is a central and active, furthermore, it’s a teacher

monotonous. The teacher should use various strategies in teaching. One of strategies that can be used by teacher is using several media to support the teaching and

learning process.

Media is used to support the teacher to make student enjoy the class and relax with the material that will be delivered. Rengarajan (2000) also stated that the teacher uses multimedia to modify the contents of the material. It will help the teacher to represent in a more meaningful way, using different media elements. These media elements can be converted into digital form, modified and customized for the final presentation. By incorporating digital media elements into the project, the students are able to learn better since they use multiple sensory modalities, which would make them more motivated to pay more attention to the information presented and retain the information better.

There are many media that can be used in teaching, for example, use the picture, audio, video, etc. Using audio in the teaching is the good choice for the students’ interested, especially, using song and music in teaching and learning.

that is used commonly in teaching and learning is using songs. Song is believed to be able to help students to learn foreign language.

In learning language, there are several majors of learning. The students must be mastering the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, the students also have to master other competencies, and they are pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Song also can be used in various learning activities, for example to introduce new language, practice the language, fix the language, as a transition between one to another activities and also to give more energy for the students.

Based on the researchers’ experience in learning, the use of songs are able to improve the researcher’ knowledge in learning English. In fact, just a few of lecturers

at EED UMY apply songs in language teaching and learning in the classroom of EED UMY in order to achieve the learning objective. Because, the lecturer had their own teaching strategies based on their subject. Also, when the researcher studying in EED UMY, the researcher has learnt through various method that the lecturer usually used, however, in fact, there are many students at EED UMY who love and listen to music at most of their time on their mobile phones and MP3 players. Based on the

researcher’s experience, almost every day the researcher listened to English song.

Statement of the Problem

As explained in the background, the researcher was interested in knowing the students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in English Education Department

of UMY; there are some advantages and the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of UMY. The use of song lyrics in learning English was rarely used as a method of teaching and learning English in the classroom. Based on the advantages and the challenges of songs, the researcher is interested at finding the students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in

learning English.

Limitation of the Problem

The researcher believed that students of EED UMY have various perceptions towards the use of song lyrics in learning English. The use of song lyrics is actually can be beneficial in several aspects; the students can improve their speaking,

listening, pronunciation, and etc. There are also the challenges of using song lyrics in learning process. In short, the researcher wants to investigate the students’ perception

towards the use of song lyrics in learning English.

Formulation of the Problem

Based on the background above, the researcher formulates two research questions as follow:

1. What are the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY?

2. What are the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY?

Purpose of the Study

Based on the research questions, this research is purposed as follow:

1. To find out the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY

2. To find out the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY.

Significance of the Study

This research will give several advantages. They are supposed for the students, the lecturer and the other researcher.

The students. After knowing the Students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in learning English, the students may find many different perceptions so that the students can apply it in learning. Students who face several challenges may use this research as reference so that they can find any elucidation.

Hence, this research it may encourage lecturer to implement song lyrics in teaching and learning process.

Other researcher. The result of this study might be used for other researchers who are interested to conduct the same area of this study. The findings of this study can be used as a reference to conduct further different research design or

Chapter Two Literature Review

This research focuses on students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY. This chapter provides some concepts and theories used as the foundation of this research. This chapter reviews theories and previous studies related to the research topic. There are several points that are discussed in this section including perception, song lyric, song to improve learning, advantages of using song, and challenges of using song, conceptual framework and review of related research.

Perception

Akande (2009) defines perception is the cognitive impression that is formed

of “Reality” which in turn influences the individual's actions and behavior towards

that object. In other words, that entire situation that we feel or see in around is the process of perception works which influences us to act something with that object or event. In short, perception is personnel's actions and behavior towards preservation of information resources (object) would be premised on their perceptive ability.

Rao and Narayan (1998) emphasize that perception ranks among the important cognitive factors of human behavior or psychological mechanism that enable people to understand their environment. They state that perception is the single most important determinant of human behavior, stating further that there can be no behavior without perception. Though focusing on managers in work settings, Rao and Narayan draw attention to the fact that since there are no specific strategies for

understanding the perception of others, everyone appears to be “left with his own

inventiveness, innovative ability, sensitiveness and introspective skills to deal with

perception.”

From those explanations above, the researcher conclude that perception is

someone’s view or interpretation about activities or events which exists in people on

the surrounding. Perception is integrated with activities so that stimulus can come from the individual. Moreover, perception is changes from the sensory information and makes it into something meaningful information.

Song Lyric

According to Oxford dictionary, song is a sort of music with words that be sung. Song is a short musical work set in a poetic text with equal importance given to music and to the words. It may be written for one or several voices and it is generally performed with instrument accompaniment.

According to Zahro’(2010) Song is an interesting media that offers the high imagination. The language of song usually is easy to be understood. It gives

relation will make the students have bravery to ask the teacher about everything. Sophya (2013) stated that the song is a great "tool" to help the students learn English. More specifically, the song is believed to be able to motivate students during the learning of English.

Zahro’(2010) in the same work also stated that lyrics are set of words that

make up a song. Lyric can be studied from an academic perspective. Lyric can also be analyzed with respect to sense of unity it has with its supporting music. Lyric is simple word of song. The lyric or song texts are not only as a complement of the song, but also as an important part of the music elements which determine the theme, character and mission of the song. It can also make sense be stable. To know the sense of the song, we can feel the rhythm and melody, harmony and voice of the singer by the singing of the song. A music composition is not always a sequence of melody with a lyric.

So, the researcher concluded that song lyric is a package of melody that has rhythms and words. The composition without a lyric on its melody called an instrumental music. On the contrary, the one with lyric is called a song. The music composition performed by a song contains an attractive aspect. The attractive aspect is language. The language which consists of a sequence of words, give new

dimension of the music, which cannot be found in the other composition, instrumental music.

According to Brewster, Ellis, and Girard (2002), there are many advantages of using songs as learning resources. First, song is a linguistic resource, second, songs are affective/psychological resources, third, songs are cognitive resource, and fourth, songs are a culture resource and social resource.

Linguistic resource. Songs and languages might have some similar features. By using songs, people can express themselves. Similar to songs, language is also a means used by people to express their thought, feeling or concern about particular things. In this case, song is a media to introduce new language, and also as a media to evaporate grammar and vocabulary. Furthermore, using English songs in teaching English grammar might be an instructive approach. It is recommended that English teachers make the most of English songs in teaching grammar in the right time. The methods can vary from one teacher to another (Vinyets, 2013). Ramírez (2013) stated that using songs went beyond filling in the blanks, translating the entire lyrics,

singing the songs and analyzing the variety of pronunciations; the students had to be active agents. Songs also presents language that students have known in new form and more pleasing. The song also allows the repetition of language naturally and fun. A song can be used to develop all language skills as integrated, including improving

students’ pronunciation skill.

A weak affective filter means that a positive attitude towards learning. If the affective filter is strong the learner will not search for language input, and consecutively will not be open for language acquisition. The teachers have to provide a positive

atmosphere conducive to language learning. And songs are one method for achieving this weak affective filter that teachers need to promote language learning. Using rhythm, chanting and songs can increase the attention and interest of the students while motivating them to learn. Song is not the things that scares and threaten to

students. Songs can build students’ confidence. For example, as a proof that the

students had mastering something in English language, they proudly sing English song in front of their friends confidently.

Cognitive resource. Song can help students’ memorization, concentration, and coordination. Students become more sensitive to a rhyme sign as a tool to interpret the meaning. According to Davies (2000) Music connects the functions of the right and left hemisphere of the brain so that they work together and make learning quick and easy. Brain function is increased when listening to music and studies have shown that music promotes more complex thinking. It can make

connections between emotions, thinking and learning. Schoepp (2001) stated that, the repetitive style of the song lends itself to an activity in which students create their own present progressive sentences based upon their own interest.

a particular person, class, or profession.Vocabulary is the most important and basic thing in language learning. Therefore, students have to master vocabulary as a foreign language. According to Setiawan (2010) mastering a large number of vocabularies is very important for foreign language learners. Without mastering it, of course, foreign language learners will get some difficulties in developing the four language skills. Hence, Setiawan in the same work stated that vocabulary is a fundamental component of second language proficiency; one of the primary goals of language learning is to know the meanings of the words. It is needed to communicate successfully in the second language.

In short, from those advantages of songs above, the use of songs in learning resources is very important to make students easily understand in learning, also songs can make students more motivated, because songs can build students confidence,

practice the students’ concentration and memorization in learning activities.

The Use of Song to Improve Learning

The use of song lyrics is believed to be able to improve students’ English learning. There are some aspects of learning that can be increased by using song lyric.

be achieved because songs helps the students to enjoying the learning process and song makes students easily to remember the new words by sing the song and doing the action of the song make students know what the lyric or a new word is mean without asking another person or looking them up in a dictionary.

So, vocabulary is knowledge about words and word meanings. Vocabulary has role to express something meaningful. Therefore, vocabulary is one aspect of language that should be learnt. Vocabulary mastery is very important in order to able to speak, write, and listen; the one thing that learners should know is vocabulary first.

In addition, according to Murphey (1992) as cited in (Vinyets, 2013), presents different reasons why songs should be used. Some of these reasons and advantages include that it is easier to sing the language than to speak it. Then, songs act both in short and long term memory. Next, songs contain repeats that teachers can use. Also, songs are more motivating than repetitions in other texts. Further, songs lead students to identify themselves with the text. Last, songs make the group relax, have fun at the same time they give harmony to the group.

According to Ratnasari (2007), one very effective thing to teach students’

pronunciation is by having the students train themselves in their daily lives through their own interests. Some students probably prefer to play games to enrich their vocabulary, other may sing or listen to English songs or may be read poetry to improve their listening ability, pronunciation and the English fluency

Listening. The other advantage of using song lyric in English learning is that song lyric can improve student listening skill. Murphey (1990) suggests that many English teachers have long recognized that song and music work well in language classes. The statement shows that teachers can use song as a media to overcome the

students’ difficulties in listening and improve their listening ability.

According to Hidayat (2013), the media of teaching and learning process, in this case songs, not only help the teacher to teach listening but also provide and interesting way for the students to achieve the learning goals. The media has contributed a lot in making the students understand well the delivered lesson. The content of the songs may become one of influential factors which may determine the

improvement of the students’ listening ability. The use of songs also should consider

students’ need so that it will help students to learn and achieve the learning objective.

The teacher ability in selecting teaching material will also influence the use of songs

in improving the students’ listening ability.

Challenges of Using Song in Learning

hand, songs also had some challenges. Murphey (1992) exposes some disadvantages of the use of the songs.

Teachers do not take the music seriously. In this case, the teachers do not seriously give the materials for the students. There are some teachers who do not like the music so that it could be ineffective in their teaching.

Song can disturb adjacent lessons. There are several problems in learning with songs. One of them is that the teacher will be afraid because teaching with songs might disturb the lesson plan, or will go out of the lesson plan that have been made.

Teacher can lose control of the class easily. In the classroom, the teacher have role to control the students. By using songs in the classroom, the students will enthusiast and attractive to follow the material that deliver by using songs, besides that, students will automatically more crowded because with songs in classroom it is noisy, so that the teacher might be lose the control.

The vocabulary of the songs is too poor. In several songs, there are monotonous lyrics. Thus, the listeners are not able to enrich their vocabularies.

The expressions are different to the rules of grammar. Sometimes, in songs there is grammatical error, because the musicians are not really focus on the grammar, and this can lead to making mistakes.

some students may have difficulty in studying through music. Third, Inefficient sound systems in schools may cause problems while listening to songs. Fourth, the types of music favored by students may not be matching with each other. Fifth, songs which are not grammatical or those involving complicated sentence structures may confuse students. Sixth, in some songs, there may be embarrassing parts which cannot be explained to students. The last, repetition of a limited number of words may cause the song to seem boring or ineffective.

Conceptual Framework

This research purposed at investigating the students’ perception towards the

use of song lyrics in learning English at English Educaation Department of UMY. It focused on advantages the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Educaation Department of UMY.

Firstly, this research tried to investigate the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Educaation Department of UMY. Linguistic resource, affective/psychological resource, cognitive resource, culture/social resource are including the advantages towards the use of song lyrics.

Figure 1.1

The use of song lyrics

in learning English

Advantages 1. Linguistic resource

2. Affective/psychological resorurce 3. Cognitive resource

Challenges

1. Teacher can lose control of the class easily

2. The vocabulary of song is too poor 3. The expressions are different to the rules of grammar.

4. Inefficient sound system

Review of Related Research

Alipour, Gorjian, and Zafari (2012) have researched about the effects of songs on EFL learners' vocabulary recall and retention. The aim of the research was to examine the effects of songs on vocabulary learning of upper-level language learners based on their gender. The data were collected from 60 males and females aged from 20 to 32 in Ahvaz, Iran. The participants had no coverage to an English speaking community and had no contact with native speakers of English. The instruments and materials of this research was Test, which mean there was one test for each genre. There were 30 items in each test in which the learners were asked to answer in 20 minutes. The research showed that there was a significant difference between males and females in learning vocabulary through songs. However, the study mainly stated

that using song is good for students’’ vocabulary mastery.

result also expected to help students easily to understand the difficult words by singing the song, because songs make learning vocabulary enjoyable, fun and interesting.

To investigate whether or not the use of songs significantly improves

students’ listening skill, Hidayat (2013) conducted a research entitled “The Use of

Songs in Teaching Students’ Listening Ability”. This quasi experimental research

involved two classes of students of a public junior high school in Sumedang. The data were collected through pretest, posttest and questionnaires. In analyzing the collected data, quantitative research method was employed. Furthermore, the data taken from questionnaires were also investigated to find out the difficulties faced by the students listening comprehensions through songs. The study found that the use of songs likely

improves students’ listening comprehension skills. The use of songs is likely to

improve the students’ listening comprehension skill.

To describe how songs influence the students’ achievement in pronouncing English words, Ratnasari (2007) conducted a research entitled “Songs to Improve the

Students’ Achievement in Pronouncing English Words”. In constructing this study,

the writer collected data from the classroom action research. The subjects of this study were 30 students of year seventh of MTs ANNUR in the academic year 2006/2007. In doing this study, the writer used an oral test method or sound of production. The action was done through teaching learning process. Based on this study, it is found that the use of songs in teaching English is effective to improve the

Chapter Three Methodology

This third chapter of the research talks about research methodology. It consists of research design, research participants, research setting, data collection method, and the last is data analysis.

Research Design

The research was conducted using qualitative research. According to Lambert (2012), a qualitative descriptive approach needs to be the design of choice when a straight forward description of a phenomenon is desired. It was an approach that is very useful when researchers want to know, regarding events, who were involved, what was involved, and where did things take place. Creswell (2003) stated practice of research (such as writing a proposal) involves much more than philosophical assumptions. Philosophical ideas must be combined with broad approaches to research (strategies) and implemented with specific procedures (methods). Thus, a framework is needed to combine the elements of philosophical ideas, strategies, and methods into the three approaches to research. According to Glass and Hopkins (1984), descriptive research involves gathering data that describes events, and then organizes, tabulates, depicts and describes the data collection.

This research explored the students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department UMY. Thus, descriptive

and the researcher wanted to know the detail information, opinion and understanding about the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of UMY. The study was a qualitative research because the researcher used interview to collect the data and want to know students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics

in learning English at English Education Department of UMY. Research Participant

The participant criteria of the research were students of English Education Department of UMY batch 2013. This study used purposive sampling to choose the participants. The participants that were included in this research were three

participants and they were two males and one female student. The following were some reasons why the research used students of batch 2013 as the participants. The reason was because that they had experienced about the use of song lyrics in learning process. Next, the reason was that the researcher selected the students who love listen to English song. Therefore, the researcher wanted to explore students understanding in different perception about main topic of this research.

Research Setting

The researcher chose English Education Department of UMY as the setting because it was very accessible both for the researcher and the participants.

Data Collection Method

In data collection method, several steps were applied. In collecting the data, the researcher used in-depth interview. Interviews were particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant’s experiences (McNamara, 1999). The interviewer can

pursue in-depth information around the topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses.

Initially, the researcher constructed interview guideline. The interview guideline was used as a basic question to the interviewee. After that, the researcher selected the participants. Then, the researcher contacted and arranged the meeting with the participants to do the interview. In an interview, the researcher used recorder to record and take note to write down several important points in the interview. In collecting the data, the researcher used Bahasa Indonesia instead of English is to ease the participants to explore their opinions when answering the interview questions. Therefore, the process of interview could be running well.

Data Analysis

questions. After that, the researcher coded the transcript with by giving sign for information that is important from the respondents. Khandkar (2003) stated that in the process of open coding, the concepts emerge from the raw data and later grouped into conceptual categories. The goal was to build a descriptive, multidimensional

preliminary framework for later analysis. As it was built directly from the raw data, its process itself ensured the validity of the work. Then, the data was grouped by the researcher under certain name based on criteria which are decided by the researcher. Secondly, the researcher did the axial coding. The researcher categorized the

Chapter Four Findings and Discussion

This chapter explains the findings of the study about students’ perception towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The finding from interview is explained in this section. This section is divided into two topics. The first is about the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The second topic is about the challenges towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The finding is strengthened by the

quotations from the interviewees. The identities of the participants in the quotations are shown as Awan, Mamat, and Mawar. Following the finding, the researcher puts

the discussion. The discussion is experts’ statement or other previous related research

that is in line or contradictory with the finding of this study.

The Advantages of the Use of Song Lyrics in Learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

In this section, the researcher found some findings based on the first research question about the advantages of using of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The researcher took three participants from batch 2013. The finding shows that there are three major advantages of the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY. The

cognitive resources. The aforementioned advantages are detailed in the following section.

The advantages of the use of song lyrics related to linguistic resources. One of the advantages of the use of song lyrics is regarding on the linguistic resources. Advantages of using song towards linguistic resources can be defined as some part of English learning that are affected on its development by using song lyric. Specifically, this research found the linguistics resources into four criteria namely vocabulary, grammar, listening, and the last pronunciation. These four criteria are detailed in the following section.

Students’ vocabulary is enriched. This research had found that vocabulary is one of English part that might be improved when students are using song lyrics in learning. It is believed that using song lyrics can easily, rather than other methods, to

improve students’ vocabularies. Not only sharpen the students’ known vocabularies,

using song lyrics can ease students to enrich and memorize new vocabularies. This is proofed by the statement of Awan: “emm.. We can enrich vocabulary and also we can

practice pronunciation. I think that’s all what I have got”. Mamat also said: “emm..

the advantages? Emm I got a lot of new vocabularies, and I can remember the vocabulary, so I can improve and enrich my vocabulary”.

From the participants’ statement, it is clear that using song lyrics really had

experts’ postulate and research. Nurkhaeni (2010) stated that by using English song

in teaching vocabulary, student could easily understand and memorize new vocabulary. It means that, learning English using songs can make students easily enrich their vocabulary.

In line with the participants’ statement about the effectiveness in using song lyric, Burhayani (2013) stated that the effectiveness can be achieved because songs helps the students to enjoying the learning process and song makes students easily to remember the new words by sing the song and doing the action of the song make students know what the lyric or a new word is mean without asking another person or looking them up in a dictionary. Indeed, as Setiawan (2010) mentioned, vocabulary is a fundamental component of second language proficiency; one of the primary goals of language learning is to know the meanings of the words.

Students are able to identifying grammar. Grammar is also a linguistic resource that can get advantage from using of song lyric in learning English in EED

UMY. This research showed that students’ grammar mastery is improved by learning

with song lyrics. For instance, students can make good sentence when they

understand the grammar well. Since students’ grammar is improved by learning

English using song lyrics, the students’ ability to make sentence is also improved. This is explained by Awan : “emm.. Another advantage? It could be grammar, so we can take a look to the song lyrics that we listened we can practice how to make a

good sentence”. As Mawar explained: “so the advantages . . . Oohh, this one’s

Undeniably, from the statement above, the researcher found that grammar is one of the advantages of using song lyrics in learning English. EED UMY students’ grammar mastery could be improved through learning using song lyric. In further

analysis, the researcher also found other experts’ finding that is in accordance with

this finding. According to Brewster, Ellis, and Girard (2002) stated that song is a media to introduce new language, and also as a media to evaporate grammar and vocabulary. This ensures that using song lyric in English learning really had

advantages towards students’ grammar skill.

Students’ listening skill is improved. From this research finding, listening might be the most obvious skill that will improve the students were listening to a song and using song lyrics. Practically, students listen to the song and hear every words or sentences from the song. While listening, students could read song lyrics so that the students could understand the words and its pronunciation. This surely

increases students’ listening skill. Awan said: “when we use song, there is a speaker.

It also can increase our listening skill”. In line with Awan, Mamat also stated “the

advantages are many… we can improve our listening skill” (P2.3)

From the statements, this research has shown that using song lyric in learning English has advantages to EED UMY students. The teachers can use song as a media

to overcome the students’ difficulties in listening and improve their listening ability

(Hidayat, 2013).

with listening skill itself, pronunciation skill could be improved by listening to a song and read the song lyric in one time. The process of acquiring this advantage was almost as same as improving listening skill. When the students heard a word or phrase on a song and read the word in song lyric, the students could understand easily how to speak the word or phrase. In other words, student speaking skill, especially pronunciation skill was also increased. The participants of this research were in agreement to this statement. Awan said “I enjoy the most knowing how to pronounce a word. So if the song comes from abroad, they pronounce it very well. So I can understand how to say a word in correct way”. Mamat also added “…we listen and also I can practice my pronunciation”. And Mawar stated that “I could be more sensitive to the songs, ooh, one is the grammar and also is how to pronounce. So, the point is it makes me more confident when I listen to the English context”.

From the participants’ statement, it is obvious that using song lyrics also had

advantages towards students’ pronunciation skill. In a further analysis, the researcher

found some experts’ finding which is in line with current research’s finding. Ramírez (2013) stated that a song can be used to develop all language skills as integrated,

including improving students’ pronunciation skill. This phenomenon had been found

The advantages related to affective/psychological resource. In the analysis of the finding of this research, the researcher found that using song lyric in English

learning gave advantages toward EED UMY students’ affective or psychological

resources. According to Krashen (1983) for optimal learning to occur the affective filter must be weak. A weak affective filter means that a positive attitude towards learning. Song is not the things that scares and threaten to students. Songs can build

students’ confidence. This can be meaning that song lyric can give advantages

towards affective/psychological resource. Mainly, there were two main points from the affective/psychological resources that got advantages from learning English using song lyric namely motivation and pleasure.

Students motivated in learning English. Students’ motivation to learn

English can be increased by using song lyric. This research had found that students of EED UMY were motivated to learn English by using song lyrics. This was explained by Mamat “… so we can enjoy and be happy, and also we more motivated to learn

English”. Mawar also added “the positive motivation is could be more confident to

speak, and also more motivated to study English more”.

Based on the participants’ statement, using song lyric in learning English can

be a motivation because it also increased students’ confidence. Other statement was delivered by Mawar who said “the point is that it makes me more confident when I listen to English context”.

Shortly, it is clear that using song lyric really gave advantages to students’

fun and could increase their confidence. In a further analysis, the researcher also

looked at previous experts’ findings. According to Sophya (2013) stated that the song

is a great "tool" to help the students learn English. More specifically, the song is believed to be able to motivate students during the learning of English. It means that, the songs are able to encourage the students to get more struggles to learn English. Murphey (1992) as cited in (Vinyets, 2013) also explained that songs contain repeats that teachers can use. Also, songs are more motivating than repetitions in other texts. Further, songs lead students to identify themselves with the text.

Students feel pleasure when using song lyric. This research found that using song lyric in learning English can be pleasure to student. Therefore, in other words, using song lyric in English learning gave advantages to students of EED UMY. Most students agreed that using song lyric was a pleasure that motivated them to learn English. Some students believed that using song lyric was a fun activity. These are several statements from the participants of this research. Mawar said “that is fun because I can sing in the same time. That is interesting”. Mamat also stated “I was enjoyed. I mean, that is not too serious. We can relax, but we also learn”.

From the statement above, it is clear that using song lyric had advantages

towards student’s English learning. Learning English using song lyric is a fun

activity. In the researcher’s further analysis, the finding of this research had similarity

act both in short and long term memory. Next, songs contain repeats that teachers can use. Also, songs are more motivating than repetitions in other texts. Further, songs lead students to identify themselves with the text. Last, songs make the group relax, have fun at the same time they give harmony to the group.

The advantages related to cognitive resource. This research found that cognitive resource as the advantages of using songs in learning English. Cognitive resource means knowledge or language hard skill that the students learn in the language learning. There are many advantages of using song lyric for EED students toward cognitive resource.

First, students’ knowledge is increased when they use song lyric in learning. This is because listening new song can acquire new vocabularies and knowledge about general life. As Awan explained “ we listen to that song repeatedly, so we can also memorize the lyrics. So, we can understand the meaning and enrich our

knowledge”.

One of the knowledge got from the song is also the accent of the singer. This research revealed that by using song lyric in learning English, not only did the listening skill increase, but the students’ knowledge on the variety of accents also increased.

advantages, I can be more aware to a song. Oohh, this one’s grammar is like this, the pronunciation is like this, and so on”.

From the findings, it is obvious that learning English using song lyric was advantageous for EED UMY students in their cognitive development. This finding is in accordance with other expert’s analysis. Indeed, song can help students’

memorization, concentration, and coordination. Students become more sensitive to a rhyme sign as a tool to interpret the meaning (Schoepp, 2001).

The Challenges towards the Use of Song Lyrics in Learning English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

In this sub chapter, the researcher highlights the second research question

about the students’ perception toward challenges of the use of song lyrics in learning

English at English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah

Yogyakarta. According to Terhune (1997) as cited in Keskin (2011), each student has a different way of learning; some students may have difficulty in studying through music. In the same idea, Murphey (1992) had found that some disadvantages may appear when using songs. Based on the data obtained from the interviews, three of the participants stated that the use of song in learning English at EED UMY got some challenges/difficulties.

English linguistic. From this research, it was revealed that students were difficult to understand some vocabularies. This was explained by the participants of this research. As Awan stated that “probably, the difficulty is vocabulary, to understand some vocabulary we have to take a look the dictionary first to interpret the meaning”. He also added “we are still unfamiliar with the words, or we have not heard before” in line with Awan, Mawar also stated “perhaps my cognition is low. Then, the words are advanced, the vocabularies are advanced”

From the statements above, it is clear that vocabularies became one of

students’ challenges in learning English using song lyrics. When the students did not

know what they heard, they simply could not understand the meaning. In fact, Murphey (1992) asserted that in several songs, there are monotonous lyrics, so that, the listeners are not able to enrich their vocabularies. This was believed as the difficulties of using song lyric in EFL classes. Apparently, this condition was also happened in EED UMY.

The second challenges are difficult to comprehend the grammar that

sometimes is unstructured. In fact, grammar is something that is contained in a song.

Also, students’ mastery in grammar could have influence in learning English using

and verb. So, it sometimes makes us little bit confused”. In accordance with Mamat, Mawar also added “Umm, sometimes the grammar was much unstructured, that

makes me not understand”.

From the statements above, it is clear that song lyrics’ grammar or structure may sometimes be confusing for the EED UMY students. The researchers further analyze this finding. The result was that indeed in a song, the artist sometimes does not put attention to grammatical structure of the lyrics. According to Murphey (1992), sometimes, in songs is grammatical error because the musicians are not really focus on the grammar. Thus, this can lead to making mistakes. In addition, there are some difficulties in using song in teaching and learning. According to Terhune (1997) as cited in Keskin (2011), some songs are not scientific. Therefore, some teachers and students do not think that they are effective tools in education. Moreover, songs which are not grammatical or those involving complicated sentence structures may confuse students.

The other challenges of EED UMY students faced while learning English

with song lyric are song’s accent. This research had found that due to variety of

accent in a song, the students could get difficulties in getting the lyric of the song because they simply did not hear well the song. This was explained by Mamat.

“The difficulties, sometimes I do not get at all what the artist said because

Moreover, intonation in a song also could be the challenges for the students in English Education Department of UMY. The participants of this research perceived difficult in listening the intonation. This is proofed by the statement of this Mawar who stated “the intonation and rhythm that is too fast sometimes make me hard to get the meaning of the song”.

From the statements above, it was clear that in EED UMY, students were also face challenges when learning English using song lyrics because of song’s intonation and accents.

The next challenges mainly came from the ineffective tools in the use of song lyrics in classroom, and also the environment of the class that sometimes is crowded. The researcher had revealed that the use of song lyrics might have several distractions and challenges poor quality of sound system. In other words, when the audio to which the students hear or listen to was not in a good quality, the students could not get the pronunciation of certain words in a song. The ineffective media player did become challenge to the EED UMY students in learning English using song lyric. As indicated by Mamat: “it is… the speaker utility. Sometimes the speaker is not clear

enough to hear”. Agreed with Mamat, Mawar also said that “sometimes the sound

speaker was not clear. The song was actually clear but sometimes the output speaker

was unclear”.

Based on further exploration of this research, beside the ineffective media player, learning English using song lyric also might be distracted by class

stated that inefficient sound systems in schools may cause problems while listening to songs.

In fact, this research also had revealed that students tended to be noisy in class which uses song as learning media. This is explained by Mamat as a participant of this research.

“Sometimes the class is noisy. Moreover, when the pronunciation getting

difficult, they students liked to ask each other and this makes me get

distracted and less concentration” (P2.12)

Chapter five

Conclusion and Recommendation

This chapter contains the conclusion of this study. It summarizes the background of the research and how the researcher conducted this study. This chapter also exposes the findings of the study which are based on the research questions and also proposes suggestions.

Conclusion

The main goal of this research was to reveal the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at English Education Department of

Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta based on the students’ perception. Based

on the finding and discussion in previous chapter, it could be concluded that students of English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta have various advantages. The advantages were related to linguistic resource, affective/psychological resource, and cognitive resource.

The advantages of using song lyrics in linguistic resource are vary, first, it is advantages related to linguistic resources is vocabulary; the students’

advantages that students got from the use of song lyrics in learning English. Students practice the pronunciation by listening to song, to make students’ pronunciation fluently.

The other advantages that participants got in the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED of UMY were affective/psychological resource. In the affective/psychological resource, the students got some advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED of UMY. Students feel motivated to learn English. The students also admitted that their confidences are increase related to the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED of UMY. They are easily to speak in English. In addition, the students feel enjoy when they learn English using song lyric.

This research also revealed cognitive resource as the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning EED of UMY. The students’ knowledge on several accents in the world is increased. Then, students’ knowledge on awareness

of the grammar in the song is also increased.

running well. Additionally, the condition of the class is also caused the challenges when EED UMY students learn English using song lyric.

Recommendation

After conducting this research, there are some recommendations which are proposed by the researcher for students, lecturers, and further researcher.

Students. The students of EED UMY can use song lyric when they are learning English. The finding of this research has explained many advantages that the students can get from song lyrics. So, when the students of EED UMY learn using song lyric, they will be easier to learn English. In addition, the challenges towards the use of song lyrics could be considered for the students to give more attention to those problems. Hence, the students can try to overcome those challenges.

Lecturers. That the finding of this research indicated the benefits of using song lyric in English learning in EED UMY, the lecturers are suggested to add activities of learning by using song lyric. Hopefully, it can make a fun and

enthusiast class but the students could still learn English well. Moreover, there are challenges towards the use of song lyrics. Thus, the lecturer can help students to overcome the problem.

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Research Question

Category Sub-Category Questions

What are

Advantages Linguistic resource Apa saja manfaat yang anda dapat ketika belajar

What are the advantages towards the use of song lyrics in learning English at EED UMY?

Title Category Points

Students’

Linguistic Resources Awan: - Awan dapat mengembangkan vocabulary.

-Awan juga belajar grammar dengan melihat lirik lagu.

- Awan juga dapat berlatih listening menggunakan lagu.

Mamat: - Mamat merasa kosakatanya semakin bertambah.

- Mamat juga berlatih listening dengan menggunakan lagu. - Mamat berlatih pronunciation.

belajar menggunakan lagu. Mawar: - Mawar juga dapat mengetahui cara pengucapan (pronunciation).

- Mawar juga dapat berlatih listening.

Affective/psychological Resource

Mamat: - Mamat juga lebih termotivasi untuk belajar bahasa inggris.

- Mamat merasa senang dan enjoy ketika belajar menggunakan lagu. Mawar: - Mawar menjadi lebih percaya diri.

- Mawar menjadi mudah berbicara bahasa inggris.

lagu.

- Awan merasa yang paling berpengaruh adalah

pronunciationnya dapat menjadi lebih bagus.

- Awan mencontoh aksen-aksen pronunciation dari American dan british.

Mawar: - Mawar menjadi lebih peka terhadap lagu.

Title Category Points

Awan: - Awan mengalami kesulitan memahami vocabulary pada saat belajar menggunakan lagu.

- partisipan merasa asing dengan beberapa isi lirik dalam lagu.

Mamat: - Mamat mengalami kesulitan tidak bisa menangkap dengan jelas isi lirik dalam lagu tersebut karena aksennya.

- Mamat mengalami kesulitan dengan tata bahasa dalam lirik lagu yang tidak sesuai dengan strukturnya.

- Mamat merasa kebingungan dengan masalah gammar.

- Mamat mengeluhkan media pendukung (speaker) kurang efektif.

- Mamat juga mengeluhkan dengan kondisi kelas yang menjadi berisik. - Mamat kehilangan konsentrasi ketika

kondisi kelas mulai rame. Mawar: - Mawar kesulitan memahami grammar yang kurang jelas pada lagu.

- Mawar mengalami kesulitan

mengartikan vocabulary yang asing (expert).

- Mawar mengalami kesulitan pada intonasi atau ritme dalam lagu yang terlalu cepat.