Научно -исследовательская работа на английском языке What songs in English are worth to learn by heart to improve and to practice your English? обучающейся 9 класса МОУ Еловская СОШ Хамматовой Вероники

XXXV краевой конкурс исследовательских работ учащихся

в области естественно-математических, социально-гуманитарных

и эколого-биологических наук

Еловский муниципальный район

МОУ «Еловская средняя общеобразовательная школа»

Социально-гуманитарный блок

Лингвистические аспекты английского языка

What songs in English are worth to learn by heart to improve and to practice your English?

Хамматова Вероника

МОУ «Еловская средняя

общеобразовательная школа»

9 класс

89223790241

Крылосова Елена Леонидовна

МОУ «Еловская средняя

общеобразовательная школа»

учитель иностранных языков

89519479811

Пермь - 2015

Content

Introduction 2

Chapter I. The role of songs in learning foreign languages 4

Chapter II. The empirical research of songs 7

Conclusion 11

Sources 12

Appendix 13

Introduction

Everyone knows that English is a world language nowdays. English is the most widespread language on earth and a major world language.

Every person who wants either to get a quality education or earn a high salary, must know standard English, because it will remain for international communication.

The English language covers a great variety of things from television, radio, newspapers and magazines to the Internet: artistic, scientific and technical literature; technical, technological and patent papers; scientific works. English is also a main language of international conferences, airports and air traffic control, medicine, diplomacy, and international competitions. No doubt we should study it.

Today, there are many different techniques, technologies and methods for learning the English language. Students from our school have English lessons from 2 to 11 class: 2 hours a week at primary school and 3 hours a week at secondary school. Not all students study English successfully and have a low motivation. This is a problem.

Taking into account the fact that most students today have mobile phones, and according to the results of our survey, 79% of school children use them regularly for listening to songs in English, we suggest a method of learning English through songs we have chosen. This method has not been developed for its practical use. That's why our research is relevant.

The object is the students of Elovo's school, the subject-songs in English.

The hypothesis is that there are some songs in English which are worth to learn by heart to know English better. The purpose is to choose the authentic, useful songs in English to make the list of ten top English songs which are worth to learn by heart to know English better.

To achieve the aim we have solved the following problems:

1. make and do a survey among the students of the school and making .

2. research the songs

3. get the criteria for choosing the best songs

4. choose the best ten songs according the criteria

Scientific novelty is in the criteria we have created for choosing songs in English which were not have been used before.

The results of our research will be useful and valuable for the students and teachers of our school, for the schools of Elovo's district and for all English language lovers. We plan to place the results of the research in the Internet.

Chapter I. The role of songs in learning foreign languages

Music is one of the most effective ways to influence the feelings and emotions of people. Music follows our life from birth to death. Different people like different music and songs, and the majority of people listen to their favorite songs on the radio, TV, in mobile phones. Music is a part of the culture. Every nation has got its own culture. To understand deeper their cultures, the way of life, traditions and customs you should listen to their songs.

In XIX century the scientist I. Dogel found some interesting facts about music. Firstly it influences blood pressure, heart's muscle, rhythm and depth of breathing. Some Russian surgeons turn on music during complex operations because all the processes in the bodies go faster and more harmoniously. The well known doctor and academician Behtepev believed that music has a positive effect on circulation of the blood, breath. So using songs by learning foreign languages is very important and useful.

In schools of ancient Greece singing the lyrics was taugt. The writer K.D. Ushinskii believed that choral singing in the classroom is an effective pedagogical method for organizing, integrating students, increasing their feelings and motivation. The well-known teacher Jan Amos Kamenskii ¹ wrote that the person who does not know music is like the person who can not write. Mr. Levy said that music was one of the most effective ways to influence the feelings and emotions of students and an effective psychological stimulus.

G. Blello and K.Helvig also wrote about connection between art and foreign languages: "Music and art are easy to understand, inspire people to act creatively and influence the cultural consciousness, stimulate and individual language expessions."²

These authors describe the basic functions that combine music and foreign languages:

1) physiological (promotes memorization);

2) psychohygienic (promotes relaxation, unloading);

3) emotional (causing feelings);

4) socio-psychological (reinforcing dynamics in the group);

5) cognitive (thought processes contributing to);

6) the function of the unconscious exercises (complex language structures memorized on an unconscious level);

7) Communication (sociable);

There are some methodological advantages of using songs in learning foreign languages. Songs help to practice English and expand vocabulary. Songs help English learners to use their vocabulary in a new context that develops linguistic flair and increases associative links in memory. Songs help to understand the realities of the country, all meanings of different expressions. Songs help to develop students' skills in understanding stylistic features of foreign languages and the specifics of foreign cultures.

Songs are a good way to absorb and to activate grammatical phenomena of language. There are so-called educational songs for learning the most common constructions. They are rhythmic, accompanied by explanations, commentaries, as well as tasks and exercises the purpose of which is to check understanding and to discuss the content. Singing in a foreign language masters pronunciation, develops musical listening. Short songs help to improve the pronunciation, articulation as well as the rules of stress, especially rhythm, melody, ³and so on.

Songs, especially authentic, are an important element of foreign language and therefore they deserve rapt of attention. More than that songs are a great method to increase the interest for the foreign language as well as for the language itself. Learning through the songs ⁴is also an effective way of practicing language skills, especially at the senior level of learning⁵.

An important source of communicative skills is learning songs from different eras and of different genres and styles. For example, if we compare a song of the postwar period and a song of the '90s we will see differences in text linguistics and socio-cognitive content.

Based on the lessons of the lyrics phrases and individual lexical items the student can express independence and creativity.

Resumes: music is one of the most effective ways of influencing feelings and emotions any person and a part of live. Learning through songs is a perrning and expanding vocabulary, as include new words and expressions. Songs contribute to mastering the skills of foreign language pronunciation, develop an ear for music, songs promote team building, help uncover the creative abilities of each. The song, especially authentic, is an important element of any language, and an excellent tool to increase interest in both the language is spoken, as well as to the language itself.

Chapter II. The empirical research of songs

To begin with we made a survey. 48 students from Elovo's secondary school were asked. The purpose of the survey was to identify musical preferences of adolescents and their ways of working with songs.

The survey showed ⁶ that in the playlists of the students dominate the songs in English, and only 4 percent ⁷of schoolchildren listen songs not in English. This fact proves the advantage of English songs and gives us hope that the songs we have chosen carefully will be useful and valuable for teenagers and popular among them.

According to the survey the most popular principle while choicing music ⁸ is pleasant and cachy tune - 75%, then come good lyrics - 66%. These results made us think of the certain criteria for selecting songs in English. So they should be well-known and popular and have a nice melody.

Important in the survey for us was the fact that only 6% of respondents ⁹ always translate texts of foreign songs, 15% try to translate lyrics sometimes and 54% do not do it at all. Taking into account our wish to increase the percentage of students who "always translate the lyrics" for better practicing English and learning new words, we have done the translations of the ten top songs we had chosen. We have chosen some websites where students can choose any other song in English for learning it by heart. The list of these websites is situated as an addition together with our list of the ten top songs.

The following facts surprised us: 2% of the respondents ¹⁰ can sing more than 10 songs in English, 31 % of students know the lyrics and can sing from 2 to 10 songs, 67 % of of the respondents know 1-2 songs. We think the singing competition "A New Wave in Elovo's school" where schoolchildren sing songs in English and that has been held for 4 years is a nice way to improve and to master English language.

Almost 70% of schoolchildren ¹¹ believe that English songs will be useful to them in the future. The most popular answer is to expand the vocabulary (54%), then comes "to write works and compositions" (33%), after that goes "to communicate" (25%). The survey showed that 35% of respondents hardly remember the lyrics of the songs, which they had learned for the school singing competition "New Wave in Elovo's school." We are glad that 27 % of children are sure they will be able to sing them at any time.

Based on the results of our survey we have created and definited three main features for selecting songs which are worth to learn by heart to improve and to practice English: according to

• the number of the unique words in a song

• useful and the most widespread grammar constructions

• useful topics

In order to select the songs we looked through the lyrics of 71 English songs, 10 of which have been selected according to the criteria above.

1) "Rock And Roll Music", The Beatles, 91 unique words; grammar constractions: imperative mood Let smb. do smth., subordinate clauses with conjunctions if, unless, until; modal verbs can, must; Present Progressive; the topics: music, musical styles, instruments, holidays and traditions

2) "When I am sixty four", The Beatles, 106 unique words; grammar constractions: subordinate clauses with conjunctions if, when; imperative mood, Present Future, Future in positive and interrogative sentences; the topics: a person's appearance, family and family relationships, domestic duties and housework;

3) "My Heart Will Go On" Celine Dion¹², 70 unique words; grammar constractions: the verb to be in Present Simple, Present Future, Past Simple; the topics: relationships, recognition, promises

4) "Go Down, Moses" Louis Armstrong, 44 unique words; grammar constractions: imperative mood Let smb do smth., subordinate clauses with conjunctions if, when; the topics: Biblical story, historical facts

5) "What a wonderful world" Louis Armstrong, 69 unique words; grammar construction: I see (watch) smth. (smb.) do (doing) smth.; expression of admiration What a ...!; the topics: nature, the beauty of the world, what do people around you

6) "I've just called to say "I love you", Stevie Wonder; 100 unique words; grammar construction: negative before the noun, Rresent Perfect, Interrogative sentences with a question word, Comparison with Like, modal verb Could; the topics: nature, holidays, events, people's feelings.

7) "Help!", TheBeatles, 76 unique words; grammar construction: expressing requests using imperative verbs, PastSimple for describing events in the past, subordinate clauses with conjunctions if, when; Present Progressive for describing feelings at the moment; the topics: feelings and emotions of people, life stages

8) "Yesterday", The Beatles, 58 unique words; grammar construction: positive and negative in Past Simple for descriptions of events in the past, modal verb Have To in Past Simple; the topics: love, relationships between people, thinking about actions

9) "Raindrops on roses", Waltz, 78 unique words; grammar construction: using "these are" and "a few" before countable nouns, Participle II in complex adjectives; the topics: nature, human emotions, objects and things in human life

10) "God, save the Queen!", the national anthem of the United Kingdom, 58 unique words; grammar construction: modal verb May, Imperative mood, address to, superlative degree of adjectives; the topics: patriotism, homeland, friendship, the duties of the Queen, feelings of a person.

So our ten songs will help to repete 26 basic grammar constructions¹³.

Conclusion

We have chosen Ten Top songs ¹⁴ in English according to our three criteria. We have confirmed our hypothesis that there are some songs in English, which are worth to learn by heart to know English better. According to our criteria the songs should be chosen:

1. according to the number of unique words. According to our research, the song should contain from 44 to 106 unique words. To count the number of words you can by using the program we have found in the internet "Count of unique words".

2. in the song there should be at least 3 valuable grammar constructions.

3. according to the topics. The song should have some valuable topics

According to our criteria, we have chosen the "Top Ten" of songs in English, which help you to improve your English by the next way: 21 topics, about 519 English words, 26 grammar constructions.

The results of the survey confirmed the importance and relevance of the research we have done. The product of our research is a CD that has already been used by all my classmates and schoolchildren from other schools of Elovo's district.

The aim of the work is achieved.

The results of our research can be used by the students and the teachers of our Elovo's school and the schools of Elovo's district to prepare for the traditional event at our school "Singing contest ​​"New Wave in Elovo's school" as well as the results of our research can be used by all English -lovers. We plan to place the results of the research in Internet.

Sources

1. Все песни BEATLES\Пер., сост., вступ. ст., примеч., схемы гитарных аккордов С. Кознова, - М.: Терра; Саратов: Издательство С.В. Кознова, 1997, - 224 с.

2. Кауфман, К.И. HappyEnglish. ru: [Текст] учебник англ. яз.для 7 кл. общеобраз. учрежд. / К.И. Кауфман, М.Ю. Кауфман - Обнинск: Титул, 2006. - С. 37

3. Гебель С.Ф. Использование песни на уроке иностранного языка. [Текст] //ИЯШ №5, 2009. - с. 28-30

4. Ляховицкий М.В., Применение звукозаписи в обучении иностранному языку. Учебное пособие для ВУЗов. [Текст] - М.: Высшая школа, 1979. - С. 22-23

5. bunakovateacher.ru/songs/

6. planetcalc.ru/3204/

7. music.zakon.kz/91062101-the-beatles-rock-and-roll-music.html

8. lyricstraining.com/

9. bunakovateacher.ru/songs/

10. amalgama-lab.com/

Appendix 1

Celine Dion «My Heart Will Go On»

(the text and music are from the website: myzuka.org/Song/216577/Celine-Dion-My-Heart-Will-Go-On)

Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you
That is how I know you go on.
Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have cometo show you go on.

Near,Far,wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more, you opened the door
And you're here in my heart,
And my heart will go on and on.

Love can touchus one time
And last for a lifetime
And never let go till we're gone.
Love was when I loved you,
One true time to hold on to
In my life we'll always go on.

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more, you opened the door
And you're here in my heart,
And my heart will go on and on.

You're here, there's nothing I fear
And I know that my heart will go on.
We'll stay, forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on.

Ценные грамматические конструкции в песне:

• глаголto be в Present Simple и Past Simple

• оборот there's всокращённой форме

• Present Future

• PresentSimple (включая модальные глаголы let, can+ Infinitiveосновного смыслового глагола)

• Past Simple

• Обороты для выражения собственных убеждений: Ibelievethat, Iknowthat

• PresentPerfectдля выражения значимости происходящего действия

Количество уникальных лексических единиц, которые вы можете выучить или повторить с помощью песни - 70

Словарь словосочетаний и выражений для перевода песни:

Выражения расположены в алфавитном порядке

1. Every night -каждую ночь

2. Far across the distance and spaces between us - (здесь)между нами непреодолимое расстояние

3. Forever this way you are safe in my heart - только ты навсегда занял мое сердце

4. I believe that - я верю в то, что

5. I feel you - я чувствую, будто ты рядом

6. I know - мне известно, я знаю

7. I know that my heart will go on. - я знаю, что буду жить

8. I see you - я вижу тебя; (здесь)ты мне снишься

9. In my dreams -в своих снах, мечтах

10. Last for a lifetime - навсюжизнь

11. Love can touch us one time - настоящая любовь приходит лишь раз

12. Love was when I loved you,
    One true time to hold on to
    In my life we'll always go on. - вспоминая каждое мгновенье, проведенное рядом с тобой, мое сердце начинает учащенно биться

13. My heart will go on and on - пока бьется мое сердце, я буду тебя любить

14. Near, Far, wherever you are - близко ли, далеко ли, где бы ты ни был.

15. Never let go till we're gone - не уйдет до самой смерти

16. Once more - однажды

17. That is how - это словно, это будто

18. The heart does go on - сердце продолжает биться

19. There's nothing I fear - мненечегобояться

20. To show you go on - чтобы дать знать, что ты жив

21. You go on - ты живешь, ты продолжаешь жить

22. You have come - тыпришел

23. You opened the door - тыоткрылдверь

24. You're here - ты рядом

25. You're here in my heart - я в тебя влюбилась (влюбился)

Appendix 2

ТЕБЕ МОГУТ ПОНРАВИТЬСЯ ЭТИ САЙТЫ

lyricstraining.com/ - полностью направленный на изучение песен сайт, удобный в использовании, для разных уровней подготовки, с широкой базой материала
bunakovateacher.ru/songs/ - раздел на сайте также направлен на изучение песен, достаточно много материала, представлен 61 видеоклип с текстом и переводом песен.
amalgama-lab.com/ - сайт посвящен переводу песен, там можно найти качественные переводы текстов с разных языков

planetcalc.ru/3204/ -сайт для подсчёта количества оригинальных ЛЕ в песне

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

1 Ляховицкий М.В., Применение звукозаписи в обучении иностранному языку. Учебное пособие для ВУЗов. [Текст] - М.: Высшая школа, 1979. - С. 22-23

2 Гебель С.Ф. Использование песни на уроке иностранного языка. [Текст] //ИЯШ №5, 2009. - с. 28-30

3 Гебель С.Ф. Использование песни на уроке иностранного языка. [Текст] //ИЯШ №5, 2009. - с. 28-30

4 Гебель С.Ф. Использование песни на уроке иностранного языка. [Текст] //ИЯШ №5, 2009. - с. 28-30

5 Кауфман, К.И. HappyEnglish. ru: [Текст] учебник англ. яз.для 7 кл. общеобраз. учрежд. / К.И. Кауфман, М.Ю. Кауфман - Обнинск: Титул, 2006. - С. 37

6 Приложение 2

7 Appendix 3

8 Appendix 3

9 Appendix 4

10 Appendix 4

11 Appendix 5

12 Appendix 1

13 Appendix 2

14 Appendix 6

15