Many of my English students, from years eight through to twelve, hate reading. Hand out anything longer than an A4 page to read and I’m sure to get a chorus of complaints. Although this is disheartening, I’m sure other teachers will attest to the fact that trying to get some teenagers to read is like drawing blood from a stone. Many students suffer from a lack of motivation, especially those who find reading challenging (Newsom, 1979; Cook, 1974).
But recently I’ve decided to do try harder to increase their engagement. As teachers of young students, we are constantly looking for new ways to engage our students and increase participation levels (Hagood, 2012). This year, I have begun using music extensively in my year nine class with fantastic results.
I got the idea to incorporate more music in my English lessons while teaching a unit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander poetry. I found that my students were highly disengaged when reading poetry by Oodgeroo Noonuccal, but became genuinely engaged when I incorporated Yothu Yindi’s Treaty and Archie Roach’s Took The Children Away. They actually participated in the lesson without complaining about the content. Eureka!
After this success, I decided to incorporate music into more of my lessons. My next step was to include music in the explicit vocabulary acquisition program that we use, STRIVE. Every Monday I give my students a text to read, from which I select a number of challenging vocabulary words which become our focus for the week. In the past I have simply found articles and stories from the internet (which I believed were engaging), but still the groans continued. Since I started to use pop song lyrics instead of just articles, the results have been excellent. Not only are the students reading the text without complaint, they’re reading it out loud! And, with many amazing singers in my class, they’re singing it IN TUNE!
Although we can’t sit around singing and playing with pop songs every lesson, boosting their confidence in themselves and their reading through the use of pop songs has a definite flow-on effect, with my students seeming more confident in reading other non-lyrical texts when required.
The importance of popular culture in adolescents’ lives cannot be underestimated (Hagood, 2012). Therefore, as logic would suggest, popular culture is a significant factor in providing relevant and engaging lessons to students (Vera, 2011).
Studies have shown that even in kindergarten, the use of popular culture to teach early literacy skills has been done successfully (Vera, 2011). Pop songs have also been successful in helping ESL and NESB students become more confident in the English language (Setia et al., 2012).
Not only this, but it is a known fact that there is a connection between the processing of language and music in the brain. (Setia et al., 2012). Research also suggests that the use of music aides in both short- and long-term memory (Blum, 2013). These are all welcome added benefits.
There is just so much that can be done with song lyrics and music. This year, I have used pop song lyrics to look at literary features, tone, rhythm, rhyme structure and figurative language. I use pop songs for comprehension activities using QAR guides, and I’ve even asked students to correct the grammar in songs.
Yes, these lessons can get rowdy, but I’m not someone who believes classrooms should be silent. I would much rather see my students excited, engaged and enthusiastic than uninterested, unexcited and uninspired.
It is said that music brings people together. This is definitely my experience, and I am having great results with my students, even if it means I need to spend a whole lesson listening to Nicki Minaj.
REFERENCES
Blum, L. (2013). Music, Memory, and Relatedness. International journal of applied psychoanalytic studies (1742-3341), 10(2), 121-131. DOI: 10.1002/aps.1354
Cook, C. (1974). Using pop songs to teach reading??? Reading World(0149-0117), 13(4), 276–280. DOI: 10.1080/19388077409557239
Hagood, M. (2012). Risks, rewards, and responsibilities of using new literacies in middle grades. Voices from the Middle, 19(4), 10-16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1011487033?pq-origsite=summon
Newsom, S. (1979). Rock ‘n Roll ‘n Reading. Journal of Reading, 22(8), 726-730. http://www.jstor.org.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/stable/40031594
Setia, R., Rahim, R, Nair, G., Adam, A., Husin, N., Sabapathy, E., … Seman, N. (2012). English songs as means of aiding students’ proficiency development. Asian Social Science, 8(7), 270-274. DOI: 10.5539/ass.v8n7p270
Vera, D. (2011). Using popular culture print to increase emergent literacy skills in one high-poverty urban school district. Journal of early childhood literacy(1468-7984), 11(3), 307-330. DOI: 10.1177/1468798411409297
IMAGE ATTRIBUTION
FXBoxx. (2012). Colourful audio equaliser [Image]. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from http://videohive.net/item/colorful-audio-equalizer/6440890
Light bulb moment [Image]. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from http://www.spiral16.com/blog/2011/11/has-social-media-monitoring-given-you-that-light-bulb-moment/
Mr Burns Excellent [Gif]. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from http://www.reactiongifs.com/mr-burns-excellent/
Song lyrics [Image]. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from http://bobbyowsinski.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/top-10-most-misquoted-song-lyrics.html
Youths, popular culture and texts 
This is such a great concept! Without a doubt many students listen to songs but in my experience they rarely look at the lyrics any deeper than a catchy tune. Getting them to speak the lyrics in their normal voice may give them the pathway to a deeper understanding of what the song is actually about. I also believe that music creates an environment that is conducive to learning. Perhaps one of the most important reasons students are engaging with this form of literacy learning is that they are actually finding the content relevant to them. I often think students sometimes feel the literature we give them to read is completely irrelevant or “old” but through using the songs they are listening to everyday, stronger and more relevant connections can be made.
Gardner’s (1985) research on Multiple Intelligences would also support this idea. Through understanding that people use different skills and talents while learning, classrooms should also offer different approaches to meet these individual needs. Musical Rhythmic learners are aware of tone, pitch and timbre, so using rhythm and songs can only increase their interest and attention (Gardner, 1985). Not to mention the benefits of building teacher and student rapport, as well as keeping us “oldies” up to date with what is trending with today’s youth.
Gardner, H. (1985). Frames of Mind : The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
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This was really interesting – it is quite astounding to see the impacts and influences of music on literacy – yet for some reason it is not something we see in practice very often. I think there is a great argument for using music and song lyrics in the classroom to encourage critical thinking and analysis, However, an article I read by Christianakis (2011), suggested that there were even greater benefits in using lyrics – particularly rap lyrics as more than just a scaffold and bridge for critical literacy . She suggests a hybrid approach that not only uses rap lyrics as a pedagogical tool, but also allows students to bring together their multiple language practices from home,their peer worlds and popular culture to break down the hegemonic stronghold in the curriculum. Her study revealed how students use popular culture as “textual toys” when they use rap to “revoice, reorganise and rearticulate” media to achieve a social intertextuality in their school work. To be honest I am not sure why I haven’t thought about using songs and lyrics in my classroom before, but with the results you have had in your classroom I certainly have some food for thought regarding creating a connected learning environment in my classroom – through music!
Reference
Christianakis, M. (2011). Hybrid Texts: Fifth Graders, Rap Music,and Writing Urban Education, 46, 1131-1168,doi: 10.1177/0042085911400326
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