Children’s songs and vocabulary learning

Abstract

The use of children’s songs in the classroom is very helpful for teachers because they can motivate young learners and engage them to learn in a different way. The use of authentic materials such as songs in the classroom is beneficial because learners can listen to different accents and useful phrases, as well as, they can improve their vocabulary better. The aim of this investigation was to analyze how the use of children’s songs influence vocabulary learning in young learners from the sixth year of the Unidad Educativa “Blaise Pascal”. This research work used a quantitative approach. Moreover, the population used to conduct this investigation was 21 students from the sixth year of Unidad Educativa “Blaise Pascal”. Following that, to collect the data a test from Cambridge (Key for schools) was applied to know the level of the vocabulary of the students. The part of the test considered was the listening part which contains 5 parts, but for this investigation, 3 parts were considered; parts 1,3, and 4. With the results of the pre-test is evident that young learners have problems with the development of the vocabulary because the maximum score was 6,7 and in the post-test, the maximum score was 8,7 which shows an increase in vocabulary after the treatments. Furthermore, a T-test was applied in order to prove what hypothesis was accepted and what was rejected. After that, the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. Finally, the results of the t-test demonstrate that the use of children’s songs has a positive effect in the classroom to develop vocabulary. Applying this multimedia resource in the classroom is effective because it helps young learners learn more with fun.