Music on Vocabulary Competence, Writing, Reading Comprehension Thesis

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Music on Vocabulary Competence, Writing, Reading Comprehension and Motivation in English Language Learning in High-School

EFFECTIVENESS OF MUSIC ON VOCABULARY

The Effectiveness of Music on Vocabulary Competence, Writing, Reading Comprehension and Motivation in English Language Learning in High-School

Most English language learners in high schools show poor vocabulary competence. The main reason for this is the limited level of exposure to the language. It is generally understood and practically acknowledged that words form the basic unit of language structure. Therefore lack of sufficient vocabulary constrains students from effectively communicating and freely expressing their ideas.

Vocabulary competence is critical to developing reading comprehension skills. Lack of vocabulary development is detrimental to the development of metacognitive skill that is important in comprehending advanced texts. Comprehension is a major component of development of vocabulary, reading to learn. Therefore, reading comprehension it is quite challenging for students lacking adequate knowledge of meaning of words.

In addition, inadequate vocabulary is an impediment for students in the process of learning. Students who lack exposure to new words are unlikely to acquire the necessary skills in achieving fluency and this is most likely to lead to poor academic performance. There has been a clear establishment of the fact that academic achievement is dependent on growth in vocabulary acquisition (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002). Furthermore if students lack knowledge of vocabulary expansion, they are most likely to lose interest in learning. Therefore emphasis is laid on learning vocabulary, a job many students consider tedious. Many English language learners find themselves uninterested in learning the language because they find it a dry and challenging to learn. Consequentially, many students, despite the fact that they attend the lessons, develop a dislike in learning the language thereby losing interest in either learning or speaking it properly.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of using music on vocabulary competence, writing, reading comprehension and motivation in English Language Learning in High school students as a part of the learning process in the classroom. Many teachers of English as a second language as well as the learners consider vocabulary as a critical factor in learning the language. Therefore it is important to develop creative and interesting ways of teaching vocabulary in English class.

Thesis Statement

Incorporating music in English as second language class is effective in enhancing vocabulary competence, writing, reading comprehension and motivation in learning English as opposed to the traditional teacher fronted instructional methods.

Research Questions

1. Is there a significant difference in vocabulary competence between mean scores before and after the test for those embracing music as an English language teaching method?

1. Is there a significant difference in writing between mean scores before and after the test for those embracing music as an English language teaching method?

1. Is there a significant difference in reading English between mean scores before and after the test for those embracing music as an English language teaching method?

1. Is there a significant effect of using music to enhance motivation in learning English in high school students?

Setting of the Study

This study will be conducted within the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Educating more than 50,000 students early, SFUSD is the eighth largest school district in the State of California a state with the largest English language learners in the country (Batalova & McHugh, 2010). It will target specifically high school English language learners' in the bay area. To satisfy the objective of the study, these students will be selected from Lowell High School and Balboa High School and those chosen will be organized into groups of experimental and control.

Historical Background

The State of California has historically attracted immigrants since the gold rush era. Since then, the state has witnessed an influx of immigrants from different parts of the world. There are more than one million children in the state lacking English proficiency who attend schools in the state constituting a quarter of the total school population. Moreover, California's population is 12% of the United States of America; the schools contain over 40% of the number of speakers of English as a second language (Macias, 2000). This is a representation of the cases in each of the Counties and Cities in the State including San Francisco.

The Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974) was a turning point in the education for the English language learners in San Francisco. There were ramifications for the schools found to be non-compliant with the Supreme Court's ruling for equal educational access to ELL students.

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Under the Lau Remedies, schools were required to submit specific voluntary compliance plans to the Office for Civil Rights. Most of these plans incorporated bilingual instructional methods, which was adopted in many public schools and later dropped due to the diverse and large influx of immigrant in the eighties (Hakuta, Yuko, & Witt, 2000).

Since the Lau, the San Francisco school system still struggles with proper implementation of programs for English language learners. Despite SFUSD adapting various programs in a bid to advance education of ELL, vocabulary learning has been a neglected area in teaching the English language. Learning vocabulary is a complicated issue that needs to be adequately addressed in all English classrooms and specifically English language learners' class. Therefore more studies are needed in this area.

It is critical for second English language learners to acquire a large word bank as a long-term goal (Nation, 2001). Teaching vocabulary needs to be an integral part in the SFUSD English language learners Curriculum. It is therefore critical to further explore the challenges faced by ELL students and provide innovative ways of improving the teaching as well as learning vocabulary. A good starting point would be to explore effective strategies that can be adopted in instruction other than multilingual techniques. As a result, this study is conducted to examine the effectiveness of using music to enhance the English language learning among high school students in the SFUSD.

Importance of the Study

The application of conventional method in teaching English language has proved to be ineffective in language acquisition. Students find this dull and boring, thereby affecting their learning spirit. It is important for the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to incorporate new and interesting ways of instruction in order to meet the demands of the challenging world. This will assist students of varying ability by enabling them master language structure and vocabulary.

This study will be a significant endeavor in promoting new creative ways of instruction in English language classes and motivation for both teachers and learners. The study will specifically be beneficial to the learners and instructors of English as a second language when applying effective learning in their classroom setting particularly in different concepts related to the use authentic instructional tools. By understanding the learner's needs as well as the benefits of quality education, the instructors will be assured of a competitive advantage over their first language learners.

Scope of the Study

The overarching aim of the research is to examine effect of music in enhancing vocabulary competence, writing, reading comprehension and motivation as opposed to the traditional teacher fronted instructional methods. The study will be limited to the SFUSD high school students. It seeks to investigate four issues and examine their correlation with the use of music as an instructional tool in high school English class. There are different instruments used to investigate the issues and to capture data about the scope and relative effectiveness of music in an English class.

Definition of Terms

Plus Level: To describe the result above average score in English proficiency degree.

Base Level: To describe the result of average score in English proficiency degree.

Minus Level: To describe the result below average score in English proficiency degree.

Lau Remedies: A set of guidelines given in 1975 that transformed schools' legal functions into pedagogical directives.

Phonetic Qualities: The sounds of human speech qualities in linguistic. In phonetics, the speech sounds produced by the vocal cords.

Syntactic Qualities: Conforming to the quality of syntax. In linguistics, the study of the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. Syntax is one of the major components of grammar. Syntactic is the arrangement of words in a sentence.

Semantic Qualities: Regarding quality of signifiers. Semantic is the study of meaning, and the study of linguistic development by classifying and examining changes in meaning and form.

CHPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

This chapter includes the content of English Language learners, Using Music to Help English Language Learners, Words and Music, Theoretical View, Effect of music on the Mind, Music and Language Development.

Using Music to Help English Language Learners

One of the ways through which the English language has spread around the world is music. Many non-native English speakers, especially those who did not learn the language in class were first exposed to it through Popular Music (Xmarabout, 2010). Music has been found to have a positive influence….....

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