A Study on the Use of Songs to Improve Students’ Pronunciation and Listening Skill

Abstract

The aims of this research are to describe how is the process of teaching listening and pronunciation by using songs and to find out if the use of songs can help improve students’ pronunciation and listening skill at English education department. This study is a classroom action research. The population of this research was students of the second semester at English Education Department. The sample of this research was class B in Intermediate Listening subject and the total students involved  in this research were of 23 students. The instruments of this research were tests, in the form of oral test and written test, observation sheetsand documents. The implementation of this research was conducted in two cycles, every cycle consisted with the steps of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The findings in the analysis show that the action research was successfull, because the results of quantitative data obtained for the first cycle was 39.3 % of the total number of students declared not succeeded and the second cycle 86.9 % of the total number of students declared successful and the results of qualitative data through observation sheets and documents showed that the use of songs can improve students’ pronunciation and listening skill. There is an increase in student learning outcomes of intermediate listening subjects after using the songs in teaching and learning activities. Based on the findings it is concluded that the use of songs could improve students’ pronunciation and listening skill. Furthermore the use of songs is effective as a media to improve students’ pronunciation and listening skill. Thus this research may suggest that the use of songs should be used routinely in each learning activity because in the activity the students would be able to comprehend what they learn. It is recommended, the use of songs which are simple, enjoyable, pleasurable, comfortable, and easy to learn may help students’ learning.

Key Words: Songs, English Foreign Language, Pronunciation, and Listening