USING SONGS TO ENHANCE THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TO BEGINNER LEARNERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BENIN 2

Abstract

Songs are valuable educational tools for learning and teaching foreign languages. This work aims to find out how songs are used to teach EFL and to identify the difficulties related to their use in teaching EFL. To carry out this study, the mixed methods design has been used and a questionnaire was administered to 20 EFL teachers in two secondary schools in Abomey-Calavi in Benin Republic. The analysis of the data has revealed that all the teachers use songs to teach their EFL classes. Most of the teachers (65%) reported that they use songs at the beginning of their lessons and the remaining teachers resort to songs at the end or during their lessons. In addition, only 55 percent of the teachers reported that they use songs to introduce their grammar lessons or to strengthen grammar lessons previously taught. The teachers also mentioned three major difficulties related to the use of songs in EFL teaching. They complained that it is difficult for them to get songs and even if they succeed in getting songs, those songs are not always relevant to the purpose of their lessons. Finally, they reported that students make many pronunciation errors while singing. Given these findings, it was recommended to sensitize teachers on the need to mainstream songs in their instructional practices and to conduct empirical investigations through classroom observations on the actual use of songs in EFL classes.