Using Music to Stimulate Learners in L2 Writing



Using Music to Stimulate Learners in L2 Writing

"Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents."

Ludwig van Beethoven

By:

Henny Putri Saking Wijaya

Petra Christian University, Indonesia

Herwindy Maria Tedjaatmadja

Petra Christian University, Indonesia

Abstract

Writing in second language (L2) has the same stages as writing in first language (L1). However, many language learners experience difficulties in eliciting ideas in L2 writing. They need a stimulating tool to inspire them to write. As language teachers, we realize that most of our learners are interested in music. Despite the pervasiveness of music in our life, language teachers do not yet make use of it as a powerful vehicle to motivate learners to write. By using music in L2 writing classrooms, language teachers can change the atmosphere of teaching and learning that enables L2 learners to enjoy the writing process in the class. This paper is aimed to explore the potential use of music to stimulate learners in L2 writing. Every element of music can be exploited creatively to facilitate learners to elaborate their ideas in writing.

Keywords

enjoyment , L2 writing, music, stimulation

Introduction

Productive skills, namely writing and speaking, are difficult because they require more effort to produce and perform their ability in language. Writing is the most difficult skill to develop because of its recursiveness. Among the stages L2 learners undergo in writing, starting to write is the most frequent problem encountered (Hedge 2000: 308). Several techniques have been introduced, but somehow we as language teachers often neglect one powerful tool to stimulate ideas in L2 writing, music. It is everywhere and interesting for learners. Thus, we will explore further the use of music in stimulating learners to get ideas in L2 writing. First of all, the characteristics of L2 writing, the power of music, and how music stimulates L2 writing will be examined. Then, practical applications to integrate music in writing classrooms will be provided to help L2 writing teacher integrate music in their writing classrooms.

Why L2 Writing?

As a productive skill, writing has been a problematic subject even in our first language, what is more in the second language. Silva (1993) did research about L1 and L2 writing. He analyzed 72 research reports comparing English as a Second Language (ESL) writers to Native English Speaking (NES) writers or comparing L1 and L2 writing. This research found that writing in a second language tends to be “more constrained, more difficult, and less effective” than writing in the first language (cited in Weigle 2002: 35-36). In terms of writing style, for example, L2 learners often encounter problems since they have to adjust themselves in their ways of expressing ideas. Most English writing styles state the main ideas directly; meanwhile, some Asian writers are accustomed to writing the main ideas by “beating around the bush”. Furthermore, language proficiency can be some of the barriers preventing L2 learners from writing confidently and effectively. There are several words in L1 which have no equivalent translation in L2. Therefore, writing in a second language is more challenging.

As language teachers, we find out that writing has been the most difficult part for language learners to develop (Walker 1996), especially because it requires the production of the language. There are two language skills that require production of language, namely, speaking and writing. However, the development of the writing skill is the more difficult one of the two. For instance, in terms of structuring discourse, writing has to be “both coherent and cohesive” (Harmer 2001: 246). Harmer states that when writing is coherent it allows the readers to follow the presented ideas and points sequentially; meanwhile, cohesive writing links ideas together using various language features such as lexical repetitions, pronouns, and linkers like although and therefore (ibid.). In speech it is easier to structure discourse because there are more conversational patterns and formulaic phrases to employ, like ‘how are you?’ and ‘I’ll see you later’. Similar observation can be made regarding complexity. According to Brown (1994), written language tends to be characterized by longer clauses and a larger number of subordinators, while spoken language tends to have shorter clauses connected by coordinators, as well as more redundancy (e.g. repetition of nouns and verbs). Moreover, Littlewood (1995: 426) claims that writing is the art of “conceptualizing our message with the maximum possible accuracy and clarity”, which makes writing more complex.

In addition, being “recursive in nature” (Flower and Hayes 1984 cited in Cohen 1990: 106), L2 writing requires learners to undergo the same process of writing as in the L1 writing, which might “appear more than once and in different sequences” (Tribble 1996: 39) such as pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing (Tribble 1996; Proett and Gill 1986 cited in Richards and Lockhart 1996; Gebhardt 1980 cited in Hammond 1989).

In the pre-writing stage, they need to sort out or develop ideas. Brainstorming or clustering ideas, for instance, could be useful means to elicit learners’ ideas. In the drafting stage, then, they need to elaborate and explore their ideas into a piece of writing. The revision is also important to polish their work, in which they need to cut and to paste ideas, or even to make word changes (Harris 1993: 58). Finally, they need to edit or to check carefully the text “to ensure that there are no errors that will impede communication – errors of spelling, punctuation, word choice and word order” (Harris 1993: 59). All of these stages are recursive, even there are times when learners may need to revise the plan radically to make their writing better.

Writing also requires individual thinking process; in which teachers might not always be there to assist learners in developing their writing. What makes writing even more difficult, even for native speakers, is because “people set higher standards in writing” (Brookes and Grundy 1991: 2). Hence, writing process takes a lot of classroom time (Harmer 2004).

Obviously, it is an arduous process for learners to be able to produce one piece of writing. Learners might have problems in deciding what to write, even after they get the ideas, they still need more time to organize their thoughts into a systematic pattern. Unfortunately, in the classroom practice, no one can wait around for several weeks while ideas for writing slowly come to fruition (Harris 1993: 47).

There are some common problems in L2 writing. They are having difficulties in finding the right vocabulary, using the correct grammar, stating their opinions and many others. However, the most frequent problem often encountered by L2 learners is difficulties in eliciting ideas, as pointed out by Hedge (2000: 308). A research conducted in Indonesia showed 7 students out of 12 who were interviewed stated that they had no idea when the teacher asked them to do in-class writing (Wijaya 2006). Unfortunately, brilliant ideas might not come at the right time, they can come before you sleep or when you eat. What is worse, good ideas can get away if they are not written down (Cohen 1990: 106). Another possible problem is the lack of explicitness when expressing the idea. Sometimes learners are not able to express clearly what they want to say. Ideas go unchallenged in writing, since audience’s reaction usually comes after the writing is done.

Why Music?

Music is composed of elements such as melody, harmony, timbre, rhythm, tempo, and lyrics. According to Torres and Torres, those elements are related to each other in creating both harmonic and disharmonic music (cited in Severance 2004). All elements of music can be exploited to elicit ideas in writing. For example, the context, lyrics and rhythm provided in the song can stimulate learners’ imagination. Griffee (1992: ix) states that the elements of music can help creating friendly and cooperative atmosphere that is significant in language learning.

There has been a great deal of excitement over music research in the last twenty years. According to Hanshumaker (1980), music has the ability to facilitate language acquisition, reading readiness, and general intellectual development; to foster positive attitudes and to lower truancy in middle and high school; to enhance creativity; and to promote social development, personality adjustment, and self-worth (cited in Weinberger 1998: 36). A large number of research studies have been carried out on the impacts of music in the second language classrooms.

In the area of reading and writing, DiEdwardo (2004) conducted a research study in order to answer the question whether music in the language classroom setting can improve students’ reading and writing skills. The result shows that music can enhance these skills:

Statistical results of case study research have suggested that pairing music and linguistic intelligences in the college classroom improves students' grades and abilities to compose theses statements for research papers in courses that emphasize reading and writing skills.

(cited in DiEdwardo 2005)

In the area of writing, Wijaya (2006) conducted a study to find out whether music influences L2 learners in writing. The findings indicated the positive effects of music in enhancing L2 writing.

Nearly all the respondents confirmed that the use of music in their writing classrooms helped them in writing. They felt that listening to music while writing could make them relaxed and calm so that their ideas could flow easily. This supports Cross’ (1995) and Brewer’s (1995) ideas that music can create a relaxed environment. Moreover, the music could make the learners focus more on what they wrote.

The use of music in the second language classroom can also affect learners’ motivation in learning. According to a research study conducted by Weisskoff (1981), students who received the medium of commercially-recorded pop/rock music as an integral part of the instructional package in language arts scored significantly higher with regard to continuing motivation (cited in Eady and Wilson 2004). In this research study, Weisskoff made comparisons between alternate learning conditions – using music and no music – with respect to task performance and continuing motivation. The study pointed out that, “students who were almost always unmotivated became motivated because of music” (ibid.).

Music is known to bring psychological effects to its listeners. Most of the time, we feel happier when listening to joyful songs. We tap our fingers and feet unconsciously following the rhythm of the music. Sometimes our favorite music can help us recall our memory about certain moments.

There are several justifications of using music to stimulate learners in L2 writing.

- Music is universal. Undeniably, everyone – adult, children, teenagers, and old people – likes music. It is the universal language of all people in the world. Moreover, it can cater to different level of learners (Murphey 1992).

- Music is everywhere. It is hard to escape music and songs as they occupy more of the world around us. You listen to it when you go to restaurants, malls, or when you turn on your radio when you drive your car etc (ibid.). Some music can also be accessed for free, for example from the Internet where you can download or listen to.

- Music is relaxing. A wide range of research has indicated the significant effects music can bring to our brain. It has been used in the medical field as a sort of therapy for Music has been used as therapy to stabilize blood pressure, mental illness, depression, stress, insomnia and premature infants. Julius Portnoy found that music has powerful effects on our digestion and energy system. In a classroom context, music can provide variety and fun, and encourage harmony within oneself and a group. Music creates a happy and relaxed environment (Cross 1995: 164; Brewer 1995). Music is also used as a means of lowering anxiety and diminishing tension, and inducing the state of relaxed alertness considered optimal for second language acquisition (Racle 1980 cited in Krashen 1987: 145).

- Music can help people to build vocabulary. The repetition used in the song’s lyrics can help learners remember vocabulary easily (Griffee 1992). In addition, it is much easier to learn vocabulary in the context of the songs.

- Music is used in a meaningful context (Dakin 1968: 14; Griffee 1992). In general, lyrics in songs have theme lines, or story behind which makes learners can learn language in a meaningful context. “Also, songs offer rich background and social and historical context to language learning” (Griffee 1992: ix). “Songs can evoke historical period e.g. Christmas songs in Christmas season” (ibid.: 5).

- Music is highly memorable (Murphey 1992: 3) – creates a state of relaxed receptivity, its rhythms correspond in some way with basic body rhythms, its messages touch deep-seated emotional or aesthetic chords, its repetitive patterning reinforces learning without loss of motivation, stuck in my head.

- It is highly motivating (ibid.). Music, especially the popular one, can attract learners’ attention because it is close to the learners’ lives. The relaxing mood of music can expand their learners’ attention span and stimulate their mind to search for more ideas.

- It raises language awareness. Advanced learners are encouraged to identify the language pattern and the errors when they are exposed to lyrics which are grammatically incorrect or inappropriate.

Besides its strengths, there are a few drawbacks of using music in stimulating learners in L2 writing.

- Sometimes the songwriters use wrong grammar. In Love is Blind by Sarah Connor there is a sentence “it don't matter if you're black.” Grammatically, the sentence is incorrect because the auxiliary verb for “it” is “does” not “do”. However, teachers can also make use of this incorrect grammar to arouse learners’ linguistic awareness, if the learners’ proficiency level is adequate.

- Some songs contain difficult words and pronunciation because of various accents and some slang e.g. “I wanna know, wanna know what you were thinkin' ” in Gone by Tobymac.

That is why song selection is very important. There are several considerations in the song selection.

1. The class

We need to think about the age of our learners, the time allocation, their musical interest and proficiency level (Griffee 1992: 6-7; Murphey 1992).

2. The song

When selecting songs, teachers should also consider the vocabulary and the grammar to suit the learners’ level. Preferably, the songs should suit the writing topics (Griffee 1992: 7-8).

How Music Stimulates L2 Writing

Knowing all the advantages of using music, we will discuss further, how music can be used to stimulate L2 writing. All elements of music can be exploited to elicit ideas in writing. The context, lyrics and rhythm provided in the song can stimulate learners’ imagination. These elements are beneficial because writing itself is an act of imagination. “It is a concentrated inner dialogue calling on memory, logic, and creative visualization” (Myers 1995).

Griffee (1992: ix) states that the elements of music can help creating friendly and cooperative atmosphere that is significant in language learning. This coincides smoothly with the idea of desuggestopedia, proposed by Lozanov. He states that learners set up psychological barriers when learning (1978 cited in Larsen-Freeman 2000) in which we often find that writing can “create fear” for language learners (Horwitz and Young 1991, and Scarcella and Oxford 1992, cited in Oxford 1999: 65). However, the learning environment is able to change their negative feelings into positive ones. If the learning environment is comfortable and relaxing for learners to study in, the barriers can be reduced. Bringing music into classrooms is a way to minimize the psychological barriers learners have in learning. It is because listening to music can lower anxiety and diminish tension (Cross 1995: 164; Brewer 1995).

Desuggestopedia believes in the importance of music to reduce psychological barriers, which inhibit language learning. It “can activate the ‘paraconscious’ part of the mind, just below the fully-conscious mind” by using music (Larsen-Freeman 2000: 81). It also believes in the power of human brain (superlearning) that conducive learning environment will accelerate the language learning process (Brown 2000). Music is used to relax the learners’ mind psychologically by increasing alpha brain waves and decreasing blood pressure and pulse rate. Myers (1995) stated that

“There is no doubt that it has the power to put people in a better mood. A class in a good mood is much easier to work with than a class indifferent or numb from lectures, sleep deprivation, culture shock, and endless wrestling matches with a new language.”

Imagination can also be drawn out by listening to music. Music, for instance, can bring back powerful memories, learning experience and information, which might be forgotten because of human’s routines (Brewer 1995). Music can also soothe our soul and this comforting mood adds the creativity in our imagination. This can help learners solve the problems in starting to write. Music can also facilitate learners to express their ideas and feelings in L2 writing. Background music can also be played during the writing process to stimulate internal processing, to smooth the progress of creativity, and promote personal reflection; and even one study revealed that learners wrote twice as much with music than without (ibid.).

Practical Suggestions

The followings are some suggestions that can be used to help L2 learners in writing.

EFL Level : Elementary – Lower Intermediate

Writing Theme : Describing Someone You Know

Song : Destiny by Jim Brickman feat. Jordan Hill and Billy Potter

Lyrics : see Appendix 1

Activity :

➢ Teachers play the song and show the lyrics in the OHP

➢ Learners write an essay describing about a person they adore or love

EFL Level : Lower Intermediate – Intermediate

Writing Theme : Who Am I?

Song : Stay the Same by Joey McIntire

Lyrics : see Appendix 2

Activity :

➢ Teacher reads the lyrics

➢ Learners listen to the teacher and imagine the situation from the lyrics

➢ Learners write an essay describing about what they like and dislike about themselves

EFL Level : Upper Intermediate – Advanced

Writing Theme : Someone I Admire

Music : Freedom by Michael W. Smith (Instrumental)

Activity :

➢ Teacher explains the topic that learners will compose

➢ Learners listen to the music while they brainstorm their ideas

➢ They write a composition on the following topic:

“If you were born again, whom would you like to be?”

Conclusion

In conclusion, music can be an alternative way of stimulating ideas for language learners in writing. Its elements such as instrumentation and language/lyrics can be exploited more by writing teacher to make the writing activity more enjoyable and relaxing.

References

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