流行歌曲教學對英語文法結構記憶影響的效益研究－以台灣國中學生為例

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(1)國立臺灣師範大學英語學系碩士論文 Master’s Thesis Department of English National Taiwan Normal University. 流行歌曲教學對英語文法結構記憶影響的效益研究－以台灣國中學生為例. The Effect of English Pop Songs on the Retention of A Novel Grammar Structure: A Study of Taiwanese Young EFL Learners.. 指導教授：劉. 宇. 挺博士. Advisor: Dr. Yeu-Ting Liu 研究生：左. 金. 瑞. Graduate: Chin-Jui Tso. 中華民國一百零四年一月 January 2015.

(2) 中文摘要第二語言學者常指出歌曲有助於增加學生學習動機。然而有關歌曲對增進語言能力的實證研究卻相當缺乏。因此，本研究旨在探討流行歌曲對英語文法結構記憶影響的效益，著眼於： (1) 流行歌曲的聽覺輸入對英語文法結構記憶的影響。(2) 流行歌曲中不同的聽覺輸入對英語文法結構記憶的影響。以及 (3)不同的聽覺輸入對於不同學習風格者在英語文法結構記憶的影響。本研究以三個班共 94 位九年級生為對象。此三個班被隨機指派為歌唱組、朗讀組、以及控制組。並依不同學習風格，將各組內的受試者分為：聽覺學習者、視覺學習者、以及平衡學習者。實驗課程共計四週，所有組別皆閱讀四首歌曲的歌詞。而在實施方法上，歌唱組聆聽流行歌曲，朗讀組只聆聽歌曲的朗讀，而控制組則無歌詞的聽覺輸入。研究結果顯示，流行歌曲的聽覺輸入結合了音段和旋律，有助於英語文法結構的記憶。此外，不同學習風格不會影響英語學習者對流行歌曲在文法結構上的記憶。最後，根據研究發現，本文提出流行歌曲在英語文法結構教學上之建議以作為教學者的參考。. 關鍵字: 流行歌曲、聽覺輸入、學習風格、英語學習。. i.

(3) ABSTRACT Researchers of second language learning have often suggested that songs are effective in motivating learners. However, empirical research investigating the effect of songs to help learners achieve higher language proficiency is sparse. Therefore, the present study intends to shed some light on the effect of pop songs on the retention of past subjunctive mood. The focus of the investigation is threefold:(1) the effect of the auditory input in pop songs on the retention of the target grammar structure in an implicit learning context, (2) the effect of different auditory inputs of songs on the retention of the target grammar structure, and (3) the effect of learners’ preferred learning styles with different treatments on the retention of the target grammar structure. The participants were 94 ninth graders from three classes. The three classes were randomly assigned as the sung group, the spoken group, and the control group. The participants in each group were further divided into auditory learners, visual learners, and balanced learners according to their preferred learning styles. During the four-week experiment, all of the groups read the lyrics of the four songs. However, the sung group listened to the songs; the spoken group listened to the spoken form of the songs (i. e. without the melody), and the control group received no additional auditory input. The results of the present study showed that pop songs did facilitate the retention of the target grammar structure. Further, the best facilitation of pop songs came from the combination of the melody and the spoken form of the lyrics rather than the spoken form alone. What’s more, regardless of learners’ preferred learning styles, the auditory input in pop songs could facilitate the retention of the target grammar structure.. ii.

(4) Keywords: Pop Songs, Auditory Input, Learning Styles, English Learning.. iii.

(5) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The thesis would not have been accomplished without the assistance and support of many kind people around me. First of all, I am deeply indebted to my advisor, Dr. Yeu-Ting Liu. His expert guidance and insightful advice helped me overcome the obstacles and led me to the way to complete the thesis. Without his supportive encouragement, I would have already given up. He showed a great example of being a teacher and I really learn a lot from him as a researcher and as a student. My gratitude also goes to my committee members, Professor Mei-Zhen Wu and Professor Mae-Han Chen, for giving me valuable suggestions which made my thesis more complete and solid. I would also like to show my gratitude to my classmate in TESOL program at NTNU, Mandy Ku. She is such a nice person and always provides me with. constructive advice. I am really glad that I have a partner like her! Finally, I must express my long-lasting gratitude to all my dear family, especially my husband and my sister. My husband showed great support and took care of my boy when I was busy writing. My sister, Lan, was always there for me when I was depressed and gave me constructive advice. Their endless love gave me strength to carry on.. iv.

(6) TABLE OF CONTENTS 中文摘要.......................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ iv CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1 1.1 Motivation and Background ............................................................................ 1 1.2 Rationale and Scope of the Study .................................................................... 5 1.3 Research Questions .......................................................................................... 5 1.4 Significance of the Study ................................................................................. 6 1.5 Organization of the Study ................................................................................ 6 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................. 7 2.1 Songs as a Mnemonic Device .......................................................................... 7 2.1.1 Songs as a Mnemonic Device for Text Recall ...................................... 7 2.1.2 Songs and Grammar Retention ........................................................... 10 2.2 Different Sound Forms in Dual-Modality Input of Songs ............................. 13 2.2.1 The Effect of the Combination of Prosody and Segments Plus Visual Modality ....................................................................................................... 15 2.2.2 The Effect of Segments Plus Visual Modality .................................... 16 2.3 Learning Styles .............................................................................................. 19 2.3.1 Style-based Instruction........................................................................ 20 2.3.2 Assessing Learners’ Learning Styles ................................................... 21 2.4 Major Findings and Limitations..................................................................... 23 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 25 3.1 Participants ..................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Instruments ..................................................................................................... 26 3.2.1 Pretest of the Target Grammar Structure ............................................ 26 3.2.2 Immediate Posttests of the Target Grammar Structure ....................... 27 3.2.3 Delayed Posttest of the Target Grammar Structure............................. 28 3.2.4 The CRT .............................................................................................. 28 3.2.5 Feedback Questionnaire of Song Instruction ...................................... 29 3.3 Materials ........................................................................................................ 30 3.3.1 Pop Songs Selected for the Learning Sessions ................................... 30 v.

(7) 3.3.2 The Target Grammar Structure ........................................................... 31 3.3.3 Treatment ............................................................................................ 32 3.4 Procedures of the Study ................................................................................. 33 3.5 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 36 CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS .................................................................................... 37 4.1 The Overall Performance of the Target Grammar Structure Tasks ................ 37 4.2 The Effect of Pop Songs on the Retention of the Target Grammar Structure 40 4.3 The Effect of Different Auditory Input of Songs on the Retention of the Target Grammar Structure.................................................................................... 42 4.4 The Effect of Learners’ Preferred Learning Styles with Different Treatments on the Target Grammar Structure ......................................................................... 43 CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION ....................................... 46 5.1 Summary of the Findings ............................................................................... 46 5.2 Discussions of the Research Questions.......................................................... 47 5.2.1 The Effect of Pop Songs on the Retention of the Target Grammar Structure ....................................................................................................... 47 5.2.2 The Effect of Different Auditory Input of Songs on the Retention of the Target Grammar Structure ...................................................................... 50 5.2.3 The Effect of Learners’ Preferred Learning Styles with Different Treatments on the Retention of the Target Grammar Structure ................... 52 5.3 The Pedagogical Implications ........................................................................ 53 5.4 Limitations of the Study................................................................................. 56 5.5 Suggestions for Future Research ................................................................... 56 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 59 APPENDIXES ............................................................................................................. 62 Appendix A: Pretest of the Target Structure (Delayed Posttest of the Target Structure).............................................................................................................. 62 Appendix B: Posttest of Target Structure 1.......................................................... 66 Appendix C: Posttest of Target Structure 2.......................................................... 70 Appendix D: Posttest of Target Structure 3 ......................................................... 74 Appendix E: Posttest of Target Structure 4 .......................................................... 78 Appendix F: The CRT .......................................................................................... 82 Appendix G: Feedback Questionnaire of Song Instruction ................................. 88 Appendix H: "If I Were A Boy" by Beyoncé Knowles ........................................ 90 vi.

(8) Appendix I: "If Today Was Your Last Day” by Nickelback ................................ 92 Appendix J: "If This Was A Movie" by Taylor Swift........................................... 94 Appendix K: "If You Could See Me Now" by The Script ................................... 96. vii.

(9) LIST OF TABLES Table 1. The Mean Scores of the Target Grammar Structure Tasks. ....................... 38 Table 2. One-way ANOVA of the Pretest and the Delayed Posttest. ....................... 39 Table 3. Summary of Repeated-measures ANOVA. ................................................ 40 Table 4. Summary of Mixed-design ANOVA of the Three Groups. ....................... 41 Table 5. Post Hoc Pairwise Comparisons of the Three Groups................................ 41 Table 6. The Mean Scores of the Target Grammar Structure in the Nine Groups. .. 43 Table 7. The Summary of Mixed-design ANOVA of the Nine Groups. .................. 45. viii.

(10) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The Dual-modality Input in Songs. ........................................................... 14 Figure 2. The Dual-modality Input in Assisted Repeated Reading. ......................... 17 Figure 3. The Procedures of the Study. .................................................................... 35 Figure 4. The Mean Scores of the Target Grammar Tasks. ..................................... 40. ix.

(11) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Motivation and Background Songs and the singing of songs are a prevalent teaching modality in the EFL context due to the felicity of the singing, the novelty of singing in an academic. environment, and the authenticity of a natural activity engaged by native speakers in the target language. Due to the artificial nature of most classroom curricula, learners do not naturally perceive classroom learning as relevant to their real lives and rarely apply classroom learning in this way. As a teaching modality, popular songs allow the instructor to convey the sense that the targeted language is natural, which enables students to see that lessons can be meaningfully deployed in all situations. The learners’ understanding of the targeted language as socially relevant, rather than just academically appropriate, creates the motivation to learn and to apply the skill outside of the classroom. Although there exists a consensus that songs are effective in motivating learners (Cifuentes, 2006; Chen & Chen, 2009; Selcedo, 2010), there is sparse research investigating the effective use of songs to help learners achieve higher language proficiency. Moreover, there exist doubts regarding whether songs have a positive influence on the learning outcome of the target language. Even where there are no doubts about the efficacy of songs in a classroom, there lacks a clear guideline on how to deploy songs as an effective teaching material. Among the scant research on the use of songs to motivate language learning in an EFL context, the dominant research attributes the value of songs in language learning to their service as a mnemonic device. Selcedo (2010) claimed that the. 1.

(12) melody of songs could potentially serve as a mnemonic device because teachers are able to simultaneously provide learners with more elaborate dual-modality input (auditory and visual input) through listening to and reading the lyrics. In addition to the dual-modality input, the repetitive nature of songs promotes memorization through its content as well as through the learning process. In respect to other content, songs have a highly repetitive structure in both the use of repeating choruses and the choice of re-referencing words and images. The process of teaching a song involves the teacher instructing the learners to listen to the song numerous times in order to be familiar with the lyrics and the melody. The repeated listening, singing and reading of the song lyrics are believed to accelerate the process of familiarity. In this vein, Mora (2000) proposed that repetition in songs had a positive effect on text recall. She suggested that since songs expose learners to the lyrics, which contain language forms, syntactic structures, and vocabulary, while learners are repeating the songs and lyrics, they are also internalizing the formal features of language. This internalization thus occurs without depleting learners’ attentional resources and explains how the learners are more likely to retrieve the language forms embedded in the lyrics more effortlessly, hence automatizing their second language skills. The current understanding of the power of songs is based on their mnemonic value arising from the repeated dual-modality input provided by music-assisted language learning. Notwithstanding these studies, a critical question remains: why are dual-modality input and repetition the keys to the success of music-assisted learning? Existing studies have not directly explored the above inquiry. However, insights from. 2.

(13) a different research paradigm, repeated reading, shine some light on this critical question. Similar to the repetitive nature of songs, repeated reading puts an emphasis on repetition, viz., repeated exposure to the target vocabulary or form in question. In addition to repetition, there are still some other similarities among songs and repeated reading. First, both are meaning-oriented activities. When learners are doing these activities repeatedly, they are not simply doing drills over and over again. On the contrary, they focus on the meaning of the readings or the songs. Second, assisted repeated reading provides learners with dual-modality input of the texts to be read just as songs provide learners with dual-modality input of the lyrics. Due to these similar features, repeated reading may potentially serve as a theoretical framework for using songs in language learning and provide ex ante picture for the hypotheses for the questions regarding the efficacy of music-assisted language learning. In this vein, findings of repeated reading will be discussed in Chapter 2. To prepare readers for the discussion in Chapter 2, essential information about repeated reading will be briefly described below.. Repeated reading Repeated reading, originally designed for L1 learners with reading disabilities, is a pedagogical practice that aims at promoting learners’ reading comprehension, which is defined as the reading fluency and accuracy of word recognition, through reading the same text multiple times. Learners can read the materials vocally (Samuel, 1979) or subvocally by themselves (Anderson, 1993). They can also read while or after listening to an auditory input of the textual material (Dowhower, 1987). This close reading with auditory input is termed “assisted repeated reading.” In the latter. 3.

(14) procedure, the most important pedagogical elements are repetition and dual-modality input of the reading materials. For the first pedagogical element, researchers proposed that through reading the same text repeatedly, learners would become familiar with the text, and the word decoding would become faster or without conscious effort. The decrease of attentional resources, due to repetition, would leave more attention for higher-level processing for meaning. In other words, assisted repeated reading decreases attention needed to decode the text, promotes the accuracy of word recognition, and leads to better reading comprehension. The second important pedagogical element is the dual-modality input of the reading materials. Proponents of assisted repeated reading believe that by accompanying textual reading with auditory input, learners are allowed to draw on their better-developed auditory speech system to support the decoding of the textual material. When learners read the textual material along or after the auditory input, the sounding out helps learners pay more attention to process the prosodic cues, such as intonation and pauses. These prosodic cues could help learners segment sentences into smaller chunks, either on the principle of meaningfulness or of syntactic rules. Smaller chunks can be processed more easily than whole sentences and thus may lead to better reading comprehension by the learners. Drawing from these insights, this study intends to generate hypotheses on which the effect of songs on language learning can be tested. Although implications of research on repeated reading cannot be directly linked to pop songs, they may provide an ex ante picture of the effectiveness of pop songs in this study.. 4.

(15) 1.2 Rationale and Scope of the Study Even though songs are widely used in language classrooms, little empirical research exists to elucidate the effect of songs in terms of language learning, and the research is limited to an L1 or ESL context. Little research has been conducted in the foreign language-learning setting. Therefore, there is a need to add to the body of empirical evidence to show the effect of songs in the EFL context. At the same time, there is even less research discussing how to effectively implement songs into teaching. The provision of such guidelines will increase teachers’ willingness to incorporate songs into instruction. To fill the knowledge gap, this study investigates the effect of using songs on the learning of syntactic structures. The reason for choosing syntactic structures as the focus of the study is that when learners are memorizing the lyrics of the pop songs through listening and singing, they may also memorize some prefabricated sentences or phrases. Therefore, it is likely that those memorized sentences or phrases will be retrieved more easily. From their ease of retrieval, the embedded syntactic structures will also be memorized and even learned.. 1.3 Research Questions The research questions in the study are proposed as follows. 1.. Does the auditory input in pop songs facilitate junior high school (Grades 7–9) students’ retention of the target grammar structure (the past subjunctive mood) in an implicit learning context?. 2.. If so, what’s the source of the facilitation? Does it arise from the spoken form of the song lyrics, or does it arise from the combination of melody and the spoken form of the song?. 5.

(16) 3.. Is the effect of different inputs on the retention of the target grammar structure related to learners’ preferred learning styles (auditory, visual, and balanced)?. 1.4 Significance of the Study This study aims to investigate the effect of using pop songs on the learning of syntactic structures. The significance of this study can be examined from two perspectives: pedagogical and theoretical. There are some pedagogical contributions that may be provided by this study. First, it may demonstrate whether songs can serve as effective material in language learning and may offer pedagogical implications for junior high school teachers in curriculum design. Second, the study will provide teachers with teaching guidelines for the implementation of songs in an EFL context. In addition to the pedagogical contribution, this study attempts to add a theoretical framework for using songs and shed light on future research for the efficacy of songs in EFL context.. 1.5 Organization of the Study The thesis is organized as follows. Chapter One provides the instructor’s motivation and general background information of using pop songs in the EFL context supplemented with a brief introduction of repeated reading which will be the theoretical framework of using songs. Chapter Two will offer a literature revi ew of the research. topics, including (a) songs as a mnemonic device (b) different sound forms in dual-modality input of songs, and (c) learning styles. In Chapter Three, the methodology adopted in this study will be illustrated. The results will be presented in Chapter Four. Finally, discussion of the findings and pedagogical implications will be provided in Chapter Five. 6.

(17) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW This study investigates the effects of songs on retention of a target grammar structure in a junior high school. To investigate the stated research questions, relevant literature is reviewed in this chapter. Three sections of literature are presented. In section one, studies on songs as a mnemonic device for grammar structures and text recall are reviewed. In section two, the effect of different sound forms as a mnemonic device will be discussed. In section three, the relationship between dual-modality and learning styles will be reviewed and discussed. Finally, major findings and limitations in the previous studies will be summarized.. 2.1 Songs as a Mnemonic Device According to Ashcraft (1994), the term “mnemonic” referred to a learning device or a rehearsal strategy that helped memory. Ashcraft stated that memory involved three levels of cognitive processing: “the acquisition, retention, and retrieval of information.” He claimed that most instances of forgetting were caused by “retrieval difficulty.” From Aschcraft’s perspective, the rhythmic and prosodic features of music can serve as a memory fulcrum for the desired information. In this vein, since songs also include music, they are often considered to be a mnemonic device. In the following sections, relevant studies that investigated the effect of songs as a mnemonic device for text recall and grammar retention will be reviewed.. 2.1.1 Songs as a Mnemonic Device for Text Recall The earliest empirical evidence of songs as a mnemonic device can be found in Wallace’s (1994) study. Wallace conducted a series of experiments to investigate 7.

(18) the effects of music on retention of the verses in folklore ballads. In one experiment, sixty-four undergraduates heard three verses of two folklores ballads either as spoken words or as songs. For the participants in the sung group, they listened to the three verses sung to the same melody five times while the participants in the spoken group listened to the three verses in the spoken condition. The participants were instructed to recall the verses and to write down what they had heard. They were asked to do the recall tasks after the first, second, and fifth trials, and the number of exact words recalled was scored. The results showed that the participants in the sung group performed significantly better than those in the spoken group. What is more, participants in the sung group also recalled more words than the spoken group in the delayed posttest after twenty minutes. The researcher thus proposed that sufficiently learned music would facilitate recall of the text and would serve as an effective encoding and retrieval cue in initial and short-term retention learning. In a subsequent experiment to determine if hearing one sung verse (therefore unfamiliar to learners) would still facilitate the recall of the text, the researcher selected the first verse of the three verses in the folklore ballads from the previous experiment. The participants in the sung group would listen to the first verse in the sung condition only once while the participants in the spoken group would listen to the first verse in the spoken condition only once. By this design, the participants in both groups received the same number of inputs in either the spoken or the sung condition. Except for the different material, the experimental procedures are identical to the first experiment. Thirty-nine undergraduates participated in this experiment. They first listened to one verse and then were asked to recall it and write it down. The participants were asked to recall the lyrics after the first, second, and fifth trials, and. 8.

(19) the number of exact words recalled was scored. A delayed test was conducted ten minutes after the fifth trial. The results revealed that participants in the spoken group recalled significantly more words than those in the sung group. The researcher thus suggested that when the melody was not repeated or not sufficiently learned, music would not facilitate the recall. Furthermore, music might even become a distraction as another piece of information that needed to be processed by the learners. The findings of the two experiments from Wallace’s (1994) study supported the assumption that music is effective in facilitating the recall of the text when it is sufficiently learned. To verify the findings in the above experiments and to further confirm that the melodic repetition is necessary for the learning and recall, Wallace (1994) conducted another experiment. In this experiment, forty-eight master students listened to a previously unheard folklore ballad. The participants were assigned to one of three groups and listened to the verses in the ballad in one of three conditions: spoken, sung to the same melody, and sung to three different melodies. It was hypothesized that the repetition of the melody in the sung-to-the-same-melody group would facilitate text recall while the insufficiently learned melody in sung-to-three-melodies group would not facilitate text recall. Other procedures in the experiment remained identical to the previous experiments except that there was no delayed test. The result showed the participants in the sung-to-the-same-melody-group performed significantly better in the immediate text recall than the other two groups. The researcher hence proposed that the repetition of the melody is crucial in facilitating the learning and recalling of tasks. In other words, singing with the familiar melody (i.e., the sung-to-the-same-melody condition) resulted in better memorization in the learning process.. 9.

(20) To sum up, Wallace’s experiments suggested that sufficiently learned music increases effectiveness in the retention of texts. Based on the studies, the structure of the melody provided learners with the structure of the desired verses and lines. Therefore, when the melody was familiar to learners, learners find it easy to mentally rehearse the accompanying text (or lyrics); the melody can effectively serve as a memory anchor for the learners to internalize the morphosyntactic structure embedded in the verses and lines of the lyrics. Accordingly, songs with familiar tunes could possibly facilitate not only the retention of texts but also the retention or learning of the target grammar structure. Subsection 2.1.2 will provide a more in-depth review of relevant empirical studies.. 2.1.2 Songs and Grammar Retention In the previous section, studies of songs as a mnemonic device for text recall were reviewed. These experiments suggested that songs—in particular ones with familiar tunes—could also serve as a mnemonic device for the target grammar structure. In this vein, Abbott (2002) declared that the repetitive nature of songs provided recurrent grammatical structures; therefore, songs can be used as good material for grammar learning. Jolly (1975) also suggested that teachers could select songs which included target grammar structures as teaching material for grammar learning. Nevertheless, few empirical experiments were implemented to establish the effectiveness of songs on grammar learning and retention. In the following section, reviews of two studies that focused on the effect of songs on grammar learning and retention will be presented. To investigate students’ grammar learning and retention, Lin (2011) conducted an experiment in which the participants were provided with grammar practice through. 10.

(21) drills as well as English songs. In this eleven-week treatment, the teacher covered five lessons in the textbook and provided each group with explicit grammar instruction. After each lesson, the participants in the control group practiced target grammar points through drills while the participants in the experimental group not only practiced target grammar points through drills but also listened to songs with target grammar points. After the fifteen-minute activities, students took an immediate posttest and then a delayed posttest after one month. The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in both grammar learning and retention of grammar points. That is to say, songs facilitated the learning and the retention of the target structures in an explicit learning context. However, in such an explicit learning context, songs only served as supplementary material in the grammar instruction. This study suggested that songs made grammar instruction more effective and could serve as indirect evidence of the effectiveness of songs on grammar learning and retention. Therefore, to examine the effect of songs, a study that is conducted without grammar instruction (i.e., in an implicit learning context) is required. Lee (2013) conducted a study that investigated the effect of songs on the learning and retention of the grammar structure in an implicit learning context. The participants in this study were 76 ninth graders in a junior high school. The participants were randomly assigned into three groups: the Experimental Group A (the sung group), the Experimental Group B (the spoken group), and the Control Group. In this four-week treatment, the control group and the two experimental groups read the song lyrics of four English pop songs with the same grammar structure. All of the groups read the same text (the song lyrics) and were instructed to. 11.

(22) learn the vocabulary and the meaning of the songs through identical activities during the learning sessions. Although all the participants read the same text, the song lyrics were presented in different ways to the three groups. A pretest of the target structure (the past subjunctive mood) was employed to ensure that the target structure was novel to the participants, and a posttest was conducted to see the effect after the treatment. The control group listened to the song only once with no additional auditory input. The spoken group listened to the song only once and then listened to the spoken recording, and practiced the song lyrics by reading aloud. The sung group listened to the song several times in each class session and practiced the song lyrics by singing. The results showed that pop music failed to facilitate the participants’ learning and retention of the target structure. Lee argued that the ineffectiveness of learning the target grammar structure might have resulted from the low motivation among the control and experimental groups. First, the participants were students who already had received admission to their ideal senior high schools; therefore, they may have lower extrinsic motivation for learning. Furthermore, some of the songs selected in the study were regarded as old-fashioned so that the participants seemed to pay less attention to these songs. Despite the overall ineffectiveness of songs in the learning process, there were some noteworthy details that implied songs might still serve as effective materials in an implicit learning context. First, many sung group participants claimed they learned the target structure even though the posttest result did not support the claim. Lee argued this discrepancy might suggest the participants’ partial mastery of the target structure. In other words, the participants might have acquired some knowledge or awareness of the target structure due to the music treatment but might need more. 12.

(23) practice to achieve mastery. Second, several participants from the sung group also demonstrated implicit learning and seemed able to distinguish the right form of the target structure (the past tense that required the subjunctive mood) even without explicit learning. Based on the preceding studies, pop songs can potentially become a beneficial mnemonic device for text recall when learners are familiar with the melody of the songs. Pop songs may also serve as a mnemonic device for grammar learning and retention in an implicit learning context with a more systematic selection of the songs. That is to say, high motivation may lead to better learning and retention of the target grammar structure.. 2.2 Different Sound Forms in Dual-Modality Input of Songs In the previous section, the effectiveness of songs on the retention of texts and grammar structure was discussed. However, an important question is yet to be addressed: why do songs facilitate the retention? In our daily lives, when people listen to songs, they receive only auditory input. However, in a classroom setting, songs provide auditory input while the song lyrics serve to be good reading material—visual input—for classroom activities. Due to the dual-modality input provided by songs, language teachers using songs as a pedagogical practice usually design activities drawing both on the song lyrics and the phonological aspect of the lyrics, such as simply reading out the song lyrics or singing along with the melody. The inclusion of both visual and auditory input would potentially initiate both the phonological loop and the visual-sketchpad of working memory to more effectively rehearse (and hence retain) the attended input (Baddley, 2003). Consequently, the information would stand a better chance to be stored in. 13.

(24) long-term memory. The above contention is reminiscent of the dual-modality theory which states that there are two separate yet connected mental representations for visual and verbal information. When a piece of target information is encoded both visually and verbally, learners may have a greater retention of it because the input is more elaborate. In this way, dual-modality input may lead to better retrieval of the song lyrics and thus enhance the acquisition value of pop songs. In this vein, if we take a closer look at the dual-modality input in songs, we may observe there are two sources of auditory input. The auditory modality in songs consists of the spoken form of the lyrics (i.e., segments) and the melody of the songs (i.e., prosody). Figure 1 below illustrates the dual-modality input provided by songs.. Songs. Visual input. Song lyrics. Auditory input. Segments (Spoken form of the lyrics). Prosody (Melody). Figure 1. The Dual-modality Input in Songs. Following this contention, if it is the dual-modality input in pop songs that promotes language learning, a further question emerges: which kind of dual-modality input would result in a better effect: (1) the combination of segments and prosody plus visual input; or (2) segments plus visual input? The following subsection will discuss studies that come to bear on this important distinction.. 14.

(25) 2.2.1 The Effect of the Combination of Prosody and Segments Plus Visual Modality In this subsection, a brief review and discussion of the above-mentioned study that investigated the effect of songs on the retention of the target structure will be presented. Lee’s (2013) compared the effect of pop songs on the acquisition of a formal morphosyntactic structure under three learning conditions. All the participants— irrespective of their learning conditions— read the same text (visual input) but received different forms of auditory input. The control (visual-only) group listened to the song only once and there was no other auditory input. The spoken group listened to the song only once and then listened to the spoken recording and repetitively practiced the song lyrics mainly by reading the lyrics out loud. The sung group, in contrast, listened to the song several times and practiced the song lyrics by singing. In other words, the control group received only visual modality; the spoken group received segments plus visual input, and the sung group received the combination of prosody and segments plus visual input. Lee argued that only the familiar melody could facilitate the retention; at the same time, songs that were heard only once— the learning condition in the control group— would not confound the outcome. The result, however, did not reveal any significant difference among the three groups. According to Lee (2013), this ineffectiveness among groups might arise from the lack of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation during the learning process. Despite this, there was retrospective data that suggested the music treatment did contribute to the retention and implicit learning of the target structure in this study. Some of the sung group participants, who scored almost perfect scores in the posttest, reported that they tended to choose the past tense, which was required in the target structure (i.e., past. 15.

(26) subjunctive mood). They seemed to be aware of the target structure and acquired it during the music treatment. In light of this, Lee argued that if teachers can promote learners’ motivation by choosing songs that are more appealing to learners and by involving learners in the classroom activities, the effectiveness of songs would be even more obvious. To substantiate this contention, further studies that investigate the effect of different sound forms plus visual input are warranted. To this end, empirical evidence has shown that the combination of prosody and segments plus visual modality may have the potential to facilitate the retention of a particular target structure. However, much remains unknown about the effect of segments plus visual modality—an issue that will be discussed in the ensuing section.. 2.2.2 The Effect of Segments Plus Visual Modality Although language learners may benefit from the spoken forms (i.e., segments), there are only limited empirical studies which proved the effectiveness of segments plus visual input, and these studies are mainly conducted in a different paradigm, repeated reading. Despite this, repeated reading shares many similarities with songs: they are both meaning-oriented activities and offer learners repeated dual-modality input (both visual and auditory). Most importantly, they both require the learners to successively revisit and hence familiarize the target forms in the same context. Due to the above similarities, findings of repeated reading research may shed some light on the potential effect of segments plus visual input in songs. The dual-modality input in assisted repeated reading is illustrated in Figure 2.. 16.

(27) Repeated reading. Visual input. Auditory input. Texts. Segments (Spoken forms of the texts). Figure 2. The Dual-modality Input in Assisted Repeated Reading.. In the following paragraphs, two repeated reading studies that explored the acquisition value of dual-modality input (segments plus visual input) will be reviewed (Han & Chen, 2010; Zahar et al, 2001). Studying the language acquisition progress of a heritage learner of Chinese, Han and Chen (2010) investigated the effect of assisted repeated-reading-based instruction on both intentional and incidental foreign vocabulary acquisition. The subject spoke fluent Chinese, but her literacy ability was behind her speaking ability. The materials were chosen based on the subject’s interest so that she would be motivated for the reading process. The study consisted of 20 treatment sessions and 3 testing sessions. In each of the one-hour treatment sessions, there were two phases. The first phase was a self-directed assisted repeated reading of the material, wherein the subject worked alone to read while listening to an audio recording as many times as she wanted. Thereafter she would choose four to five target words and practice writing them. The second phase was explicit instruction on the vocabulary from the previous reading. The researcher would have the subject read the material and then provided the corrective feedback on word recognition and explained the meaning of the material when needed. The researcher would evaluate the participant’s ability to. 17.

(28) write the target words through sentence dictation. After the evaluation, corrective feedback was given to the subject. After the instruction, seven tasks were conducted to test the recognition and production of the participant’s intentional and incidental vocabulary acquisition. The result of the tasks showed that the repetition-based instruction had a positive effect on intentional as well as incidental vocabulary acquisition. More specifically, in the isolated recognition of the incidental vocabulary task, the subject recognized more than half of the incidental vocabulary. This outcome suggested that the segments plus visual modality provided in the assisted repeated reading helped enhance the incidental acquisition of the vocabulary. Although the result showed significant vocabulary gains, the researcher could not make a strong claim that the dual-modality input provided by repeated reading was the determining factor that caused the difference since the researcher also provided other explicit teaching strategies—including both explicit corrective feedback and writing practice. These pedagogical practices might be confounding factors that could have improved the subject’s vocabulary knowledge in this research. To investigate learners’ implicit vocabulary acquisition through reading, Zahar et al (2001) recruited 144 male seventh-grade ESL learners. The participants had been placed into five proficiency levels: from beginners to bilingual. During the experiment, all participants would first listen to a recording of a Greek myth. At the same time, they were required to repeat with the auditory input while reading the texts of the story. They were asked to try to understand the meaning of the story on their own. After listening to the story, they were told to reread the story on their own as many times as they would like to within the class period. A vocabulary test of the target words was conducted as the pretest and posttest to examine the effect of the treatment. 18.

(29) on implicit vocabulary acquisition. The result showed that there were positive vocabulary gains among the five different proficiency groups, increasing by an average of 2.16 words out of the 30 target words. The researchers hence argued that assisted repeated reading facilitated vocabulary acquisition for learners with different proficiency levels. Overall, segments plus visual input in repeated reading seemed to have a positive effect on vocabulary acquisition. It is important to note that the findings of repeated reading should not be directly generalized to the learning context of pop songs. Nevertheless, these findings can provide an ex ante picture of the potential facilitative role of “segments plus visual input” in pop songs in language learning. To sum up, although the preceding studies investigated the effects in different domains of language learning: syntactic structure and vocabulary acquisition, two corollaries can be made based on the studies in this section: 1) The combination of visual input and segments may facilitate language acquisition; 2) The combination of visual input and songs (segment + prosody) may also facilitate language acquisition. However, it is yet to be established which sound form (prosody + segments vs. segments alone) is more effective on retention of the target structure. The above inquiry is critical for teachers because it provides them with pedagogical guidelines for choosing more effective material for learners.. 2.3 Learning Styles In the above section, a presumption was made that the dual-modality input in songs provides learners with more elaborate input and may thus lead to better. 19.

(30) retention of the information. This presumption prompts further investigation of whether the efficacy of dual-modality input in songs would change as a result of learners’ preferred learning styles (i.e., visual and auditory learners). In this section, related literature of style-based instruction will be reviewed and then a discussion of assessment of learning styles will be provided.. 2.3.1 Style-based Instruction It has been widely accepted that learners with different preferred learning styles may need different instruction. In this attempt, Rohrer and Parshler (2012) reviewed literature on learning styles and found there were only about 20 appropriately designed studies in science and medicine. The result of most studies did not support the idea of tailoring instruction to learners’ preferred learning styles is effective. Three studies with a positive result were not able to offer persuading evidence for style-based instruction because of methodology problems (e.g., no measures of the data provided and unknown effect size). Rohrer and Parshler thus suggested that, from a practical view, style-based instruction was “demanding” because learners had to be assessed by expensive tests first and then teachers should provide different versions of each class for different learners. Thus, style-based instruction was not necessary “unless its benefits were large.” They further suggested that instead of providing different instructions, teachers should focus more on “developing the most effective and coherent ways to present particular bodies of content, which often involve combining different forms of instruction.” In other words, instead of providing instruction based on learners’ preferred styles, the more appropriate and effective method is to combine different kinds of. 20.

(31) instruction and materials in the classroom. In this vein, since songs provide an eclectic combination of both visual and auditory input. Learning through songs may result in a better outcome for both visual and auditory learners.. 2.3.2 Assessing Learners’ Learning Styles The preceding review revealed that style-based instruction might not be necessary. However, to test this conjecture, choosing an appropriate learning-style assessment is important. In this section, a discussion of the prescriptive assessments will be made to provide a more appropriate way to determine students’ learning styles. Most of the learning-style assessments that were implemented in schools consist of a self-report questionnaire. Below are two items extracted from a learning style questionnaire used in a junior high school in Taiwan: 1. Listening to teachers’ lectures helps me memorize the content better than reading the textbook. 2. I prefer listening to the news instead of reading the newspaper. The problem with this kind of self-report questionnaire is that it is based on conscious retrospection of the learning experience and may not capture how a learner’s mind functions or processes the language in real-time. Unveiling the degree to which learners rely on a given modality in real-time linguistic input processing is difficult because the learners may not always be aware of this specific reliance. Such a specific input processing modality preference could be accurately captured only by a “time-sensitive” instrument. Leveridge and Yang’s (2013) Caption Reliance Test (CRT) provides a plausible and time-sensitive instrument to determine learners’ input processing modality preference.. 21.

(32) CRT test items consist of comprehension exercises and multiple-choice comprehension questions. To answer a CRT item, learners will first listen to a short speech or dialogue supported by simultaneous textual caption. Learners are not instructed to rely on a specific modality; instead, they are neutrally instructed to try to answer the comprehension questions based on their understanding. To unveil learners’ preferred modality in real-time language processing, discrepancies between the audio texts and visual textual caption are structured in some CRT items. The CRT consists of 75% congruent comprehension items—in which the audio texts and visual textual caption match with each other—and 25% incongruent items—in which a specific word in the visual textual caption does not match the audio texts. The proportion of the congruent and incongruent items in a CRT is decided so that the incongruent items are not obvious to learners. In answering an “incongruent” CRT comprehension question, learners may hear: Man: Do you know where the library is? Woman: Just keep going for two blocks and you’ll see it. However, they will read “Do you know where the hotel is” in the caption. Learners’ responses in answering the corresponding comprehension question (see below) offer insight to their preferred modality in real-time input processing. Question: Where does the man want to go? A. Library. B. Hotel. C. Restaurant. Leveridge and Yang assumed that learners who rely more on the visual modality may tend to read the visual caption first and thus choose B in the above comprehension test; whereas learners who rely more on the auditory modality may. 22.

(33) tend to listen to the audio texts first and may therefore choose A. In other words, after answering all the incongruent CRT items, if learners tend to match the visual caption more than the audio, their preferred modality in real-time language processing will be regarded to be visual. In contrast, if learners tend to rely more on the audio and are not interrupted by the mismatched visual caption, their preferred modality in real-time language processing is auditory. This design provides an easily conducted test for language teachers and researchers. Compared with the traditional conscious self-report questionnaire, language teachers and researchers can determine learners’ preferred modality in real-time language processing with a more objective, outcome-oriented testing method. To sum up, CRT can capture the learners’ real-time language processing preferences and may provide further insights on the efficacy of dual-modality on learners with different learning styles.. 2.4 Major Findings and Limitations The major findings and limitations in the aforementioned studies are summarized as follows. 1.. In the implicit learning context, research suggests songs may help learners to be aware of the target structure and thus may facilitate the learning and retention of the grammar structure, but few empirical experiments exist to verify this.. 2.. The dual-modality input in songs (visual and auditory input) provide learners with more sophisticated encoding and retrieval cues for memorization and thus may lead to a better effect on language learning.. 3.. The auditory input in songs consists of the spoken form (segments) and the melody (prosody). The combination of visual input and segments may facilitate. 23.

(34) language acquisition. However, the combination of visual input and songs (segments + prosody) may facilitate language acquisition as well. A comparison of these two kinds of dual-modality input is urged to provide more effective guidelines for teachers. 4.. Researchers and teachers support the contention that learners with different learning styles may call for different styles of instruction. However, literature of the style-based instruction did not prove the effectiveness of style-based instruction.. 5.. Most learning styles are assessed through a conscious self-report questionnaire that may not accurately capture the preferred modality in real-time language processing. A “real-time” instrument, CRT, may offer a more accurate evaluation of learners’ preferred modality in real-time language processing and thus provide an insight for the effectiveness of songs on learners with different learning styles (i.e., visual and auditory).. 24.

(35) CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY In this chapter, the design of the present study will be described in full detail. This chapter consists of five sections. The first section describes the background information of the participants. The second section details the instruments used in this study, including the pretest and posttests of the target grammar structure, the Caption Reliance Test (CRT), and the feedback questionnaire. The third section describes the materials selected for this study, including the songs used, the target grammar structure, and the treatment. The fourth section outlines the procedures of the present study. The final section illustrates the data analysis.. 3.1 Participants The participants were 94 students in the ninth grade at the same junior high school in Taoyuan County, taught by the researcher. The students were from three intact classes: Class A (31 students), Class B (32 students), and Class C (31 students). These students had four English classes a week, with 45 minutes per class session. All of the students had more than six years of English instruction prior to the ninth-grade. The students were 50 male and 44 female students, and their age ranged from 14 to 15 years old. From the outset, the three intact classes were assigned to one of three groups: Experimental Group A (the sung group), Experimental Group B (the spoken group), and the Control Group. In order to exclude those participants who were already familiar with the songs, a written survey was given. Upon listening to the song or reading the lyrics on the. 25.

(36) handout for the first time, participants in every group answered two questions: (1) Have you heard the song before? (2) If yes, please describe the main idea of the song with two or three sentences. The participants could answer the questions in either English or Chinese. The data of the participants who had heard the song before and made a correct description of the main idea of the song were excluded from further analysis because they were assumed to be familiar with the language in the song lyrics. Some of the participants in the three groups had heard “If I Were A Boy” prior to the instruction (five in the sung group; three in the spoken group, and seven in the control group). However, all of them failed to describe the main idea of the song. As for the other three songs, no participants in the three groups had heard them prior to the instruction. Therefore, no data of the participants was deleted. 3.2 Instruments The instruments that were applied in the present study included a pretest, four posttests, a delayed posttest of the target grammar structure, a CRT, and a feedback questionnaire of the song instruction. Each test will be explained in greater detail in the subsequent subsections. 3.2.1 Pretest of the Target Grammar Structure The aim of the pretest was to determine if any participants had already learned the target grammar structure (i.e., the past subjunctive mood) before the experiment. The pretest of the target grammar structure (see Appendix A) was a cloze test that included thirty multiple-choice items with three options. Of the thirty multiple-choice items, only ten focused on the target grammar structure, and the other twenty served as distracters, which included other grammatical points that the participants had learned in the previous five semesters. An example of a test item containing the past subjunctive mood is listed below:. 26.

(37) If I ____ you, I would ask my parents for help. (A) were (B) am (C) is (D) I am not sure. During the test, the participants were required to read the test item and then to choose the best option to fill in the blank. An option (D) was added to every test item to prevent participants from guessing the correct answer. Disregarding the twenty distracters, the experiment used the ten target test items to evaluate the student’s previous knowledge for the research. Participants who got the correct answers for more than six target grammar structure items were assumed to have knowledge of the target grammar structure, and their data on the following target grammar structure tasks were excluded from the final analysis. Prospective participants were those who failed to answer correctly on more than four target test items. After the pretest, the data of one participant in the sung group, one participant in the spoken group, and six participants in the control group were deleted because their scores were higher than six. Therefore, there were 30 participants in the sung group, 31 participants in the spoken group, and 25 participants in the control group.. 3.2.2 Immediate Posttests of the Target Grammar Structure The aim of the immediate posttests of the target grammar structure was to determine if the participants had learned the target grammar structure without explicit teaching. During the instruction, the participants were exposed to four different songs, and immediately after each song had ended, the participants were required to take a posttest.. 27.

(38) The administration and the grading policy of the immediate posttests were identical to the pretest of the target grammar structure in all other respects (see Appendix B, C, D, and E).. 3.2.3 Delayed Posttest of the Target Grammar Structure The aim of the delayed posttests of the target grammar structure was to investigate participants’ learning retention of the target grammar structure two weeks after the instruction. The delayed posttest was identical to the pretest of the target grammar structure (see Appendix A).. 3.2.4 The CRT As noted earlier, the CRT was used to determine the participants’ preferred modality in real-time language processing (visual and auditory). The CRT in the present study included forty test items (see Appendix H). Each test item contained a listening. comprehension exercise and a multiple-choice comprehension question. Among the forty test items, ten were designated as incongruent items, which meant the audio text did. not match the visual textual caption. The other thirty test items, termed congruent items with matching audio text and visual captions, served as distracters so that the participants were unaware of the incongruent items. The proportion between the two types of items was based on the guidelines provided by Leveridge and Yang (2013). The CRT items were presented to the participants on Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007. When the test was administered, it was described as a comprehension test, and the participants were instructed to answer the test items through their understanding of the dialogue. To answer each test item, the participants were required to listen to a dialogue with a simultaneous caption on the projector. The participants were not. 28.

(39) informed whether the test was a listening test or a reading comprehension test, nor were the participants instructed to rely on a particular input. The two modalities were simply presented and the participants had to comprehend the dialogue with both modalities. The CRT focused on the performances of the participants on the incongruent items. If the participant’s answer was dominantly influenced by the caption, the participant got one point for the visual modality in the test item. If the participant’s answer was dominantly influenced by the audio, the participant would get one point for the auditory modality. When the participant’s points were aggregated and placed along the visual and auditory modality spectrum, participants who got more points for the visual modality than the auditory modality were considered as “visual-modality learners” while participants who got more points for the auditory modality than the visual modality were considered as “auditory-modality learners.” As for those participants who got the same points for both visual and auditory modality, they were considered “balanced-modality learners.” Participants’ scores on the pretest, posttests and delayed posttest of the target grammar structure would be analyzed to see if there was. any. effect. of. their. preferred. real-time. processing. modality. (visual/auditory/balanced) on these tests.. 3.2.5 Feedback Questionnaire of Song Instruction The questionnaire’s instructions (see Appendix G) were given in Chinese to ensure full comprehension by the participants. The questionnaire was divided into three sections. The first section contained questions about the participants’ background, including gender, age, and number of years spent learning English. The second section graded the participants’ opinions and attitudes toward song instruction using a four-point Likert scale. In this section, participants had to respond to 15 questions by. 29.

(40) checking “Strongly agree,” “Agree,” “Disagree,” and “Strongly disagree.” For coding, “strongly agree” represents 4 points, whereas “strongly disagree” indicates 1 point. The last section consisted of 5 open-ended questions where the participants would express their unstructured feedback about the song instruction. Their responses would offer interesting insight and further research directions.. 3.3 Materials 3.3.1 Pop Songs Selected for the Learning Sessions The present study selects four English pop songs as the teaching materials based on Lems (1996) and Abbott (2002)’s criteria: 1. The song lyrics should fit the learners’ level. Based on this criterion, the learners should be able to comprehend the lyrics without difficulty, and the threshold of comprehension. was. defined. by. the. recommendation. of. Laufer. and. Ravenhorst-Kalovski (2010). Their research states that coverage of 95% known words in a text can ensure its comprehensibility. Therefore, the songs selected in the present study had lyrics containing at least 95% of the words covered in the national curriculum standard of the basic 2000-word list which participants were expected to have mastered by the age of research participation. Therefore, the researcher assumed that learners could. understand the meaning of the lyrics. 2. The song lyrics should be related to the lesson which the teacher wants to introduce to the learners. Therefore, the songs included in the present study were songs with the past subjunctive mood (i.e. the target grammar structure). 3. The song lyrics should contain repetition of the target grammar structure. Based on this criterion, the chorus of the selected songs contained the target grammar.. 30.

(41) Since the chorus is the part that is repeated in the songs, it provides more practice for the target grammar structure than any other parts of the song. 4. The song has to be popular with learners. Lee (2013) suggested that popular songs chosen in the EFL context should be recently released or popular among the participants. This criterion can be operationalized in two aspects. First, songs should be. released within ten years so that they would not be viewed as old-fashioned. Second, the entirety of the Billboard chart “The Hot 100” can serve to generate candidate songs. The Billboard chart “The Hot 100” is a summary of a song’s single sales in retail stores, radio airplay, digital downloads, and streaming activity (e.g. YouTube) and serves as an indication of mass popularity. To adhere to this criterion, the songs selected in this study were on “The Hot 100” and released within the last ten years. With a careful adherence to the above criteria, the four chosen pop songs were: If I Were A Boy by Beyoncé Knowles, If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickelback, If This Was A Movie by Taylor Swift, and If You Could See Me Now by The Script (See Appendix H, I, J, and K). 3.3.2 The Target Grammar Structure The present study intended to examine whether the musical mnemonic could help the participants to learn and retain the target grammar structure in an implicit learning context. All four pop songs utilized in this study contained the past subjunctive mood as the target grammar structure. The selection of the target grammar structure was based on Lee’s study (2013) criteria. First, the subjunctive mood structure can be assumed to be a novel grammar structure for participants in the ninth grade since it is scheduled to be taught in the tenth grade. Second, the target grammar structure has a familiar form that would reduce the difficulty of comprehension. The past subjunctive mood structure, presented in if-clauses, would not be difficult for the participants to. 31.

(42) learn on their own because the participants’ learning of if-clauses in previous semesters would have provided a familiar basis. In other words, they are linguistically prepared for the structure. Therefore, considering of the participants’ proficiency level, the past subjunctive mood was chosen as the target grammar structure. An example of this target grammar structure is: “If I were a bird, I would jump out and fly away.”. 3.3.3 Treatment During the learning sessions, all the participants would receive the same printed lyrics and have the same classroom activities with the lyrics. For each song, there were two group activities during the learning sessions. In the first activity, each group received several strips of paper. On each strip, there was one verse of the song lyrics. Each group had to put the strips in the right order and then send one representative to write their answer on the blackboard. In the other activity, each group were required to have a discussion about the feelings toward the song and then send one representative to write one or two sentences on the blackboard. The only difference among the three groups was the presentation of the song. For the sung group, participants listened to the songs and were encouraged to sing along. For the spoken group, participants listened to the spoken form of the lyrics in audio recordings and were encouraged to repeat after the auditory input. For the control group, participants were given the handouts of the song lyrics without any auditory input; what’s more, they were instructed not to read the lyrics aloud. The teacher would walk around the class to make sure that the participants do so.. 32.

(43) 3.4 Procedures of the Study The present study was conducted in the spring semester of 2014 for four weeks. The three participating classes were randomly assigned into one of three groups for the duration of the experiment: the sung group, the spoken group, and the control group. Each class had four lessons every week and each lesson lasted 45 minutes. Before the instruction, the participants would take the pretest to determine if there was knowledge of the target grammar structure. One day after the pretest, the CRT was conducted and the results were used to investigate if learners with different preferred real-time language processing modality would perform differently in the study. After that, the three groups were given the four English pop songs without any explicit teaching instruction. Each song was listened to five times during the two learning sessions, either in the form of songs (for the sung group) or in the spoken forms (for the spoken group). The frequency was a balance between the availability of classroom time and the established research recommendation by Abbott (2002) and Zahar et al (2001). Abbot (2002) suggests that songs should be listened to at least three times in the classroom while Zahar et al (2001)’s study showed that the average frequency of most learned vocabulary was seven. Considering the limited classroom time and learning fatigue which frequent repetition may cause, the researcher determined the frequency of five as a minimal encounter. A posttest was conducted immediately after each song was presented. Therefore, there were four immediate posttests to measure the effect of the song on the learning of the target grammar structure. After the learning sessions concluded, participants in the sung group filled out a feedback questionnaire. In addition, two weeks after the learning. 33.

(44) sessions, a delayed posttest was conducted to measure the retention of the target grammar structure. Figure 3 below illustrates the procedures of the study.. 34.

(45) Experimental Group A ( The sung group). Experimental Group B ( The spoken group). Control Group. Pretest of the target grammar structure ↓ The CRT ↓ Classroom activity: Ordering ↓ Listen to the spoken form of the song. Listen to the song. Read the song lyrics. ↓ Class session one. Listen to the spoken form of the song. Listen to the song. Read the song lyrics. Classroom activity: Discussion about the feelings toward the song. ↓ Song instruction1. Listen to the spoken form of the song. Listen to the song. Read the song lyrics. ↓. Class session two. Listen to the song. Listen to the spoken form of the song. Read the song lyrics. Listen to the song. Listen to the spoken form of the song. Read the song lyrics. ↓ Immediate posttest of the target grammar structure Song instruction 2. Repeated the steps of Song instruction1. Song instruction 3. Repeated the steps of Song instruction1. Song instruction 4. Repeated the steps of Song instruction1 Questionnaire of song instruction. None ↓Two weeks interval. Delayed posttest of the target grammar structure. Figure 3. The Procedures of the Study.. 35. None.

(46) 3.5 Data Analysis The study aimed to investigate the effect of song instruction on the target grammar structure in an implicit learning context. To investigate if the auditory input of pop songs facilitates the subjects’ learning and retention of the target grammar structure and which kind of auditory input results in the facilitation, the scores of the pretest, posttests, and delayed posttest of the target grammar structure of the three groups (the sung group, the spoken group, and the control group) were analyzed by a Mixed-design ANOVA. In this Mixed-design ANOVA, the independent between-subjects variable was “group,” the independent within-subjects variable was “time,” and the dependent variable was “test scores.” Further, to determine if the subjects’ preferred modality in real-time language processing has influence on the effect of the learning and retention of the target grammar structure, the participants in the three groups were divided into nine smaller groups based on their preferred learning styles. A Mixed-design ANOVA was used to analyze the data of the nine smaller groups. Similarly, in this analysis, the independent between-subjects variable was “group,” the independent within-subjects variable was “time,” and the dependent variable was “test scores.”. 36.

(47) CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS The aim of the present study is to explore the effect of pop songs on the retention of the target grammar structure for Taiwanese EFL learners. The independent variable was the scores of the target grammar structure tasks, including the pretest, the posttest 1, the posttest 2, the posttest 3, the posttest 4, and the delayed posttest. The dependent variable was the different treatments in the three groups (i.e., the sung, the spoken, and the control group) and learners with different preferred learning styles (i.e., the auditory,. the visual, and the balanced learners). The assessment scores mentioned above were analyzed through SPSS to answer the research questions of the present study.. This chapter is comprised of four sections. The first section presents the overall performance of the target grammar structure tasks in the three groups. The second section presents the results of the effect of pop songs on the retention of the target grammar structure (i.e., the past subjunctive mood). In the third section, the results of the effect of different auditory input of songs on the retention of the target grammar structure will be presented. The fourth section presents the results of the effect of learners’ preferred learning styles with different treatments on the retention of the target grammar structure.. 4.1 The Overall Performance of the Target Grammar Structure Tasks Table 1 shows the summary of the means and standard deviations of the target grammar structure tasks of the three treatments in this study.. 37.

(48) Time. Pretest. Posttest 1. Posttest 2. Posttest 3. Posttest 4. Delayed posttest. Treatment. Mean. Std. Deviation. The sung group. 1.60. 1.37. The spoken group. 1.54. 1.56. The control group. 2.32. 1.54. The sung group. 2.36. 1.80. The spoken group. 1.64. 1.92. The control group. 3.08. 2.25. The sung group. 3.06. 2.01. The spoken group. 2.48. 2.04. The control group. 2.68. 1.74. The sung group. 2.80. 2.15. The spoken group. 1.61. 1.90. The control group. 2.44. 2.06. The sung group. 2.76. 2.81. The spoken group. 2.00. 1.71. The control group. 2.89. 1.60. The sung group. 3.16. 2.16. The spoken group. 1.90. 2.65. The control group. 3.00. 2.59. The sung group (N=30); The spoken group (N=31); The control group (N=25) Table 1. The Mean Scores of the Target Grammar Structure Tasks. In the pretest, the mean scores of the three groups were 2.32 (the control group), 1.60 (the sung group), and 1.54 (the control group). Thus, at the beginning, the participants in the control group got the highest mean scores of the three groups. 38.

流行歌曲教學對英語文法結構記憶影響的效益研究 －以台灣國中學生為例

流行歌曲教學對英語文法結構記憶影響的效益研究－以台灣國中學生為例