An Investigation of the Students Use English Songs to Improve the Spoken English in Middle School.docx

An Investigation of the Students Use English Songs to Improve the Spoken English in Middle School.docx

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AnInvestigationoftheStudentsUseEnglishSongstoImprovetheSpokenEnglishinMiddleSchool

1.Introduction

    AstheeducationreformhavedevelopedindepthinChinainrecentyears,theimprovementofspokenEnglishiscomingtosuchaprominentpositionthatmoreattentionhastobepaidtoit.However,manyEnglishlearnerstodayarestillspeaking“Chinglish”,whichgreatlyhinderstheirspokenEnglish.Asisknowntoall,themainpurposeoflearningacertainlanguageisjusttocommunicate.Andsuccessfulcommunicationneedsbetteroralexpression.AsasecondlanguageinChina,Englishisnotsoeasytomaster,especiallyspokenEnglish.Whereas,ifEnglishlearnersusedifferentkindsofmethodeffectivelytoimprovetheirspokenEnglish,itmeanstheycanpracticetheircommunicationaspossibleastheycan,andtheymakeagreatprogressinspokenEnglishanditisasatisfactoryresult.

1.1Theaimofthisstudy

Asweallknow,oralEnglishplaysanimportantroleinourdailylife.SohowtoimproveoralEnglishbecomesveryimportantinEnglishlearning.InordertoresearchthefeasibilityofusingEnglishsongstoimprovethespokenEnglishofmiddleschoolstudents,theauthormakethisstudy.Onthebasisofthispoint,thethesiswilldiscussthisprobleminthreeaspects:

thecharacteristicsandadvantagesofEnglishsongs;thefeasibilityofusingEnglishsongs;howtouseEnglishsongstoimprovethemiddleschoolstudents’spokenEnglish.

1.2Thesignificanceofthisstudy

Inthetraditionallanguageclassroom,bothteachersandstudentshavepaidgreatattentiontogrammarandvocabularybutnotenoughtimetopracticelanguagecommunication.However,thespokenEnglishplaysanimportantroleinEnglishstudy.WithimprovingspokenEnglishbyEnglishsongs,wecanspeakmoreaccuratelyandfluently,whichhelpusfindouttheconfidenceandgetridofthefearsomewhenwespeak.Anditalsocanreduceburdenandimprovethequalityofstudy.Therefore,usingEnglishsongstoimprovethespokenEnglishofmiddleschoolstudentshasfar-reachingpracticalsignificance.

2.LiteratureReview

2.1 Positiveeffectsofmusicandimportanceofmusicintelligence

2.1.1Positiveeffectsofmusic

    Music,asoneoftheoldestformsofart,hasmanypositiveeffects.Underarelaxingcondition,ourbrainreceivesnewinformationfromoutsidetothegreatestextent.

“Scientistshavefoundthatthespeedandrhythmofmusicnotonlycancontrol,therhythmofhumanbody,butalsohasadirectinfluenceonhumanbrain.Pleasantmelodycancheerupaperson,makeapersonfullofhighspirit,andevenbringoutaperson’sactivemood,whichcanhelpthebrainmemorizethingsmorequicklyandhelptokeepthemforamuchlongertime.”[1]

    Singingisaneasywayofmemorizingsomething.“Melodyseemstoactasapathoracuetoevokethepreciseinformationwearetryingtoretrieve.”[2]

“Musicseemstoleaveaparticularlydeeptraceinourmemories:

thiscouldbeduetothefactthatitisrelatedtoaffectiveandunconsciousfactors.Itcouldalsoberelatedtothehypothesisthatitislessenergy-demandingbecausemusicalperceptionstartsbeforebirth.”[3]

  Nowthatmusichassuchpositiveeffectsasarementionedabove,wecanmakeuseofEnglishsongstomemorizeandenlargeEnglishvocabulary---withthecompanyofmusic.

2.1.2Importanceofmusicintelligence

“Gardner（1983）pointedoutinhis‘theoryofMultipleIntelligences’that‘Humanhassevenbasicintelligences,oneofwhichismusicintelligence.’Hebelievesthatmusicintelligenceisakindofabilitytofeeltherhythm,melodyofmusic.Itreferstosensitivitytobeat,pitch,strength,etc.,andresponsetoemotionalmeaningscontainedinmusic.Thosewhohavebettermusicintelligenceusuallyhaveanintuitiveandcompleteunderstandingoflanguage.Researchershavefoundthatdevelopmentofmusicintelligenceseemstohavesomekindofconnectionwiththedevelopmentoflanguageskills.Whatevertheageandwhicheverkindofdrawbackinlanguage,thosewhosemusicintelligencedevelopsbettershowgreaterabilityindistinguishingwordsoundsandmasterpronouncingskillsbetter.”[4]

AstudymadebyPeiZhengwei（2003）showsthat“thereisapositiverelationbetweenmusicintelligenceandstudents’Englishlisteningabilityandspeakingability.”[5]TheresultofherstudytellsthatEnglishlearnersshoulddeveloptheirmusicintelligencethroughvariousactivitiesrelatedtomusicinordertoheightentheirsenseofrhythmandinturntoimprovetheirspokenEnglish.DuanRuiling（1997）evermentionedthat“students’bigattainmentinmusic,orhighmusicintelligence,hasapositiveinfluenceontheirpronunciation.”[6]

2.2TherhythmofmusicandspokenEnglish

2.2.1AnalysisoftherhythmofspokenEnglish

Linguisticresearcheshavealreadyshownthateverylanguagehasitsownintonationanditsowntonalandrhythmicproperties.Englishisofnoexception.Itisatypicalrhythmicallanguage.“Stress-timinginEnglishisasignificantfactorthatmayseriouslyhinderlearners’effectivecommunicationiflearnersfailtoproducesatisfactoryrhythmicpatternsintheirspeech.”[7]

“FluentspokenEnglishisnotthesimpleaccumulationofaseriesofpronunciationsofwords.Actually,becauseoftherestrictionofrhythm,onlythosewordsthatarestressedcanbeheardclearly,andsomesoundsofthewordsthatarenotstressedareoftenweakened,omitted.Thusthereisastrikingcontrastbetweenstressandnon-stress.Additionally,harmoniousrhythmofspokenEnglishalsoneedsthecoordinationofsomeimportanttechniques,suchassoundlinking，co-articulation,pause,etc.Consequently,evenforthosewordsthatarestressedinasentence,theirpronunciationsarenotcompletelythesameaswhentheyareinthestateofisolation.ItcanbesaidthatEnglishspeechflowisjustlikeasmoothstreamofrunningwaterwithregularrisesandfalls.Itisquitedifficulttoimaginehowthiseffectcanbeachievedwheneverywordofasentenceispronouncedinthewayitispronouncedalone.”[8]

What’smore,Englishisatypicalrhythmicallanguage;andrhythmisadistinctivecharacteristicofspokenEnglish.“InspokenEnglish,thosewhosemotherlanguageisEnglishwillfollowthelawoftherhythmofspokenEnglish,sotheyspeakEnglishwithstrongsenseofrhythm.What’smore,thebetterwordsareorganized,themoreobvioustherhythmis.”[9]

Inaddition,spokenEnglishisnotentirelythesameaswrittenEnglish.AsforspokenEnglish,properwordsandcorrectgrammararestillnotenough-----successfulcommunicationrequiresmore.Onlywhenthespeakerusescorrectrhythmandstressesproperlycanheorsheexpresshimselforherselfaswellaspossible.

2.2.2TherhythmofmusicandspokenEnglish

    “Musicandlanguageshareseveralfeatures.Ontheonehand,bothstemfromtheprocessingofsounds;ontheotherhand,bothareusedbytheirauthorsorspeakerstoconveyamessage,althoughlanguageismuchmoreprecisethanmusic,whoseeffectismainlyemotional.Onanotherlevel,musicandlanguagehaveintrinsicfeaturesincommon,suchaspitch,volume,prominence,stress,tone,pausesandrhythm.”[10]

Soundsaretherootsofbothmusicandspeech.ThemelodicapproachtolanguagelearningismainlybasedontheevidencethatmusicalityofspeechhasaneffectnotonlyonthepronunciationskillsofEnglishlearnersbutalsoontheirentirelanguageacquisitionprocess.

Firstlet’sseeasentenceoftheEnglishsong—RedRiverValley:

——│05   1│3 3 ·3│3  2 3 │ 2 1---- ----

     From this val-ley they say youare   leaving,```

“Itisobviousthatthethreewords:

‘valley’,‘say’,and‘going’----thesearestressedwords----allfallonthefirstorthethirdtimeofeachsection,thatis,onthebeatorsecondarybeat.Thewords:

‘From’,‘this’,‘they’and‘are’arenotkeywords,sotheyoccupyonlyonetime.Whilethewords:

‘valley’,‘say’,and‘going’alloccupytwotimes;thatistosay,whenwesingthesewords,wehavetoprolongthem,andwealsohavetogivethesethreewordsfullpronunciation.”[11]

Differentlanguageshavedifferentrhythms.Therhythmofmusicsharemanysimilarfeatures.Theirsimilaritiesareasfollows:

（i）Stressalternateswithnon-stress

Inthemelodyofmusic,stressisrhythmwhichconstitutesthebasicelementofthemelody.And“Englishisastress-timedlanguage.”EachEnglishsentenceismadeupofrhythmgroups.Ineveryrhythmgroup,nomatterhowmanysyllables,thereisonlyonestressedsyllablesimilartobeatinmusicandthisstressedsyllableplaysakeyroleintherhythmofspokenEnglish.

（ii）RegularityoftheAppearanceofStress 

 Therhythmofmusicisregularlyrepeated;andtherepetitionisverystrict.Thisisanimportantfeaturethatmakesmusicdifferentfromnoise.TherhythmofspokenEnglishalsohasthefeatureofregularity.StressinspokenEnglishappearsinaperiodicalway,whichisthemanifestationoftherhythm.

（iii）Usestressmarkoffdifferentrhythmgroups

Inmusic,stressisrhythmbutitisusedtomarkoffsensegroups.InEnglish,stressisonlyusedtomarkoffdifferentrhythmgroups,notsensegroups.ManyEnglishlearnersconfuserhythmgroupswithsensegroupsinspokenEnglish.ThisinfluencestheirspokenEnglishbadly.

（

）Pause——animportantfactor

BothmusicandspokenEnglishhavepauses.InspokenEnglish,therearemanykindsofpauses,suchasphoneticpause,grammaticalpause,etc....

    Inaword,thesesimilaritiesbetweenmusicandspokenEnglishtellusthatenoughattentionshouldbepaidtomusicinpracticingspokenEnglish.

2.3Therelationshipbetweenspeakingandlist