USING SONGS TO REINFORCE THE LEARNING OF

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

SHAZWANI BINTI ABD RAHMAN

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

USING SONGS TO REINFORCE THE LEARNING OF

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

SHAZWANI BINTI ABD RAHMAN

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Science with Education (TESL)

Faculty of Education

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

April 2008

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Thank you so much

Mak & Abah

Kak long & Abg Long

Abijul

Amirul

Aiman

Aydan

8 Charmed Ones

Even if you don’t get this very often I mean it every time it’s said

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Praise to God, Allah the Almighty who has blessed and given me strength and

ability to complete this study. It was indeed a challenge for me, mentally and

emotionally. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor, Mr

Affendi bin Hashim, Faculty of Human Resource Development and Management,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, for his insight and encouragement in completing this

study. It is an honor to work with him.

I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the principal, En Othman bin Ahmad and

the deputy principal, En Maskor bin Suparlan of Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Pulai. I am

also grateful to the teachers of Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Pulai especially Cik Nazimatun,

Puan Latifah, and Puan Salina. I thank the children for participating in this study and

giving me all the more reasons to become an educator. I am indeed appreciative of the

assistance provided. Last but not least, I would like to thank En. Fidhlah and En. Rosli

from Jabatan Multimedia, Fakulti Pendidikan for their assistance.

I would also like to thank my parents, Mek Zum Mohamed and Abd Rahman

Ismail for their never-ending support and love. To my sister, Wahida, brothers, Farizul

and Amirul, brother-in-law, Azman, thank you for all the help they have given me. Not

to forget, to the two cutest things in the world, Aiman and Aydan for making my life

brighter than the sunshine.

Finally, to my dearest friends, thanks a bunch. I would not get this stage of life

with ease without moral and emotional support from them. They have made my journey

a fun one. You deserve your name to be mentioned here – Ana, Aida, Nad, Awe, Jaja,

Pka, and Anim.

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ABSTRACT

Malaysian students have always faced difficulty in understanding subject-verb

agreement (SVA). The reason for this to happen is because of interference from

students’ first language (L1). However, explicit teaching of this grammar point may

increase students’ level of anxiety. Therefore, teachers need to camouflage the teaching

by including fun elements in the lesson. Thus, this study aims to investigate the

effectiveness of using songs in enhancing the understanding of SVA. The study adopted

quasi-experimental design. Thirty-seven primary five pupils from Sekolah Kebangsaan

Sri Pulai were involved. They were divided into two groups, the experimental group and

the control group. The experimental group went through the song-based tasks in three

different sessions while the control group resumed normal lesson. The instruments used

in collecting data were pre-test, post-test, observation of the treatments from a recorded

tape, and students’ reflection sheet. Data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.

The findings showed that song-based activities are useful tools to reinforce the learning

of SVA and provide an enjoyable classroom atmosphere. Hence, it is highly

recommended that language teachers incorporate songs in grammar lesson.

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ABSTRAK

Pelajar-pelajar di Malaysia sering mengalami masalah dalam memahami

“subject-verb agreement” (SVA). Ini berlaku kerana terdapat gangguan daripada bahasa

pertama mereka. Tujuan utama kajian ini adalah untuk membantu para pelajar

memahami peraturan-peraturan dalam SVA. Walau bagaimanapun, pengajaran

tatabahasa secara eksplisit mungkin akan meningkatkan tahap kebimbangan pelajar.

Jadi, guru perlulah memasukkan elemen-elemen yang menyeronokkan dalam

pengajaran. Oleh yang demikian, kajian ini ingin menyiasat keberkesanan penggunaan

lagu dalam membantu pemahaman SVA. Kajian ini menggunakan rekabentuk “quasi-

experimental”. Tiga puluh tujuh pelajar tahun lima dari Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Pulai

yang terlibat dibahagikan kepada dua kumpulan iaitu kumpulan eksperimental dan

kumpulan kawalan. Kumpulan eksperimental menjalani pembelajaran menggunakan

aktiviti berdasarkan lagu dalam tiga sesi yang berlainan. Manakala kumpulan kawalan

meneruskan pembelajaran seperti biasa. Alat-alat yang digunakan untuk mengumpul

data ialah “pre-test”, “post-test”, pemerhatian rawatan dari pita rakaman, dan refleksi

pembelajaran dari para pelajar. Analisis data dilakukan dengan cara kuantitatif dan

kualitatif. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa aktiviti berdasarkan lagu dapat

memberikan faedah dalam menolong pelajar memahami SVA dan menyediakan suasana

pembelajaran yang menyeronokkan. Maka, adalah digalakkan untuk para guru bahasa

bagi menggunakan aktiviti-aktiviti berdasarkan lagu dalam pengajaran tatabahasa.

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION OF STATUS OF THESIS

SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION

TITLE PAGE i

RESEARCHER’S DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF FIGURES xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES xiv

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Background of the Study 3

1.3 Statement of the Problem 5

1.4 Purpose of the study 6

1.5 Objectives of the study 7

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1.6 Research Questions 7

1.7 Significance of the study 7

1.8 Scope of the study 9

1.9 Definition of Key Terms 9

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 11

2.2 Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah

(KBSR) 11

2.2.1 English Language Syllabus for

Primary School 12

2.2.2 KBSR Approach to Teaching Grammar13

2.2.1 Place of Songs in KBSR 14

2.3 What is grammar? 15

2.3.1 Subject-Verb Agreement (SVA) 16

2.3.2 The Rule of SVA 17

2.3.2.1 Simple Present Tense 17

2.4 Problems in Learning SVA 19

2.4.1 Interference from the Learners’

Own Language 20

2.4.2 Lack of Motivation 20

2.5 Songs 21

2.5.1 Past Researches on the Use of Songs 21

2.5.2 Advantages of Using Songs in English

Language Learning 23

2.5.2 The Concerns of Teachers 25

2.5.3 Using Songs to Teach Grammar 26

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2.5.4 Guidelines in Choosing Songs 28

2.6 Theoretical Framework 30

2.6.1 The Input Hypothesis 30

2.6.2 The Affective Filter Hypothesis 31

2.6.2 Adolescent Motherese 31

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 33

3.2 Research Design 33

3.3 Research Procedure 36

3.3.2 Pre-Test and Post-Test 38

3.3.3 Observation 39

3.3.4 Students’ Reflection 39

3.4 Respondents of the Study 40

3.5 The Pilot Test 40

3.6 The Treatments 41

3.7 Data Analysis 42

3.7.1 Pre-Test and Post-Test 42

3.7.2 Observation 42

3.7.3 Students’ reflection 43

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction 44

4.2 Results of pre-test 45

4.3 Comparison of pre-test and post-test 46

4.3.1 The experimental group 46

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4.3.2 The control group 49

4.3.3 The experimental and control groups 50

4.4 Implementation of the treatment 53

4.4.1 Researcher’s observation 53

4.4.2 Students’ reflection 55

4.5 Discussion 56

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Introduction 58

5.2 Summary of the research 58

5.3 Conclusion 59

5.4 Limitation of the study 59

5.5 Recommendations and suggestions 60

5.6 Future research 61

REFERENCES 63 APPENDICES A-O 68-106

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

1.1 Comparison between verbs used in Malay and English 5

2.1 Description of person in English 17

2.2 Three different forms of verb-to-be in simple present tense 18

2.3 ‘s’ inflection on singular and plural verb for third person

Subject 18

2.4 ‘s’ inflection on singular and plural verb for first and second

person subject 19

4.1 Pre-test result of both experimental and control group 45

4.2 Individual participant scores and percentage increase for

the experimental group 47

4.3 Individual participant scores and percentage increase for

the control group 49

4.4 Comparison between the experimental and control

groups’ performance 51

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

3.1 Threefold classification questions derived

from Trochim (2006) 34

3.2 Summary of the research design adopted 36

3.3 Framework of data collection 37

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

MILE - Malaysian International Language Exhibition

NST - News Straits Times

SVA - Subject-verb agreement

L1 - first language

MOE - Ministry of Education

KBSR - Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah

CV - Coefficient of variation

RD - Regression-Discontinuity

SPSS - Statistical Package for Social Sciences

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LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Letter of approval from Bahagian Perancangan dan

Penyelidikan Dasar Pendidikan Kementerian

Pelajaran Malaysia 68

B Letter of approval from Sektor Pengurusan Sekolah,

Jabatan Pelajaran Johor 69

C Sample of pre-test 70

D Sample of post-test 76

E Sample of students’ reflection sheet 82

F Sample of pilot test 83

G Sample of songs lyric used: You’re everywhere

by Michelle Branch 89

H Sample of songs lyric used: Complicated

by Avril Lavigne 91

I Sample of songs lyric used: Jenny by

The Click Five 93

J Sample of songs lyric used: Skater boy by

Avril Lavigne 95

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K Sample of songs lyric used: She has no time

by Keane 97

L Sample of songs lyric used: That’s my goal

by Shayne Ward 98

M Reflection analysis 100

N Example of students’ reflection sheet 102 O Example of personal comments 106

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Nowadays, the level of effort put up by Malaysians to improve their English is

surprisingly intense. Everybody wants to get a good grasp of this language since the

need to master it is no longer considered as an extra bonus but rather as a necessity. It is

because, English is considered as a gateway to a sea of knowledge. If one wants to

improve oneself, he or she needs to be able to use English decently. Prof Dr Mahani

Zainal Abidin says in her keynote address at the 5th

Asia-TEFL International Conference

2007 and the first Malaysian International Language Exhibition (MILE):

“English could help Asia sharpen its competitive edge, increase economic

growth as well as assist Asian businesses to be globally competitive.”

(The Star, June 9, 2007)

To achieve this target, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has introduced the use

of English as a medium of instruction in teaching Mathematics and Science subjects at

both primary and secondary schools. Apart from that, literature has been brought into

our school syllabus to enhance pupils’ acquisition of English. These undertakings prove

that MOE too is aware of the need to improve the level of English acquisition among

Malaysians.

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Besides that, private corporation such as the News Straits Times Press has

launched a program called School Sponsorship Program where individual or

organization can sponsor a school with newspapers for the students to read and for

teachers to use as a classroom activity. The program has been declared as successful to

improve the students‟ English proficiency as study shows that those who read the News

Straits Times (NST) between 20 and 30 minutes a day score better grades in their

English language examination than those who do not (NST, June 19, 2005).

With all sorts of programs run by both MOE and private sectors, the level of

English proficiency in Malaysia is still not up to a satisfactory level. Former Higher

Education Ministry, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, said that:

“We need to raise the standard of English language among our young people

… if we want to compete effectively in the global market.

… most of our students do not have a strong foundation in English

grammar. Without knowing when to use past or present tense, how can our

students be proficient in English?”

(The Star, Jan 21, 2007)

A strong foundation in English should be established as early as possible. It is

vital especially for the teachers to make sure that the students have already understood

all the necessary grammar points and language skills to be covered in the syllabus before

moving on to secondary school.

There are many strategies that students can adopt in understanding grammar

points. One of them is by listening to English songs. Songs lyrics should be treated the

same as any other texts. Therefore, grammar activities done with the help of a text can

also be used with songs lyrics. By using songs to teach grammar, the teacher has

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nothing to lose but to add variety to the lesson, increase students‟ motivation and extend

students‟ attention span.

1.2 Background of the Study

Learners of English always sigh at the sight of grammar. For most of them,

learning grammar is regarded as intricate and impossible to master. They have the

perception that only native speakers of English are able to do so. Students who lack

motivation to use English will feel unconfident in writing and speaking. Another reason

students feel unmotivated to practice English is because they are afraid of being laughed

at due to their incapability to string words accordingly.

The rules of language, governing the way in which words are put together to

convey meaning in different context (Nesamalar Chitravelu, et. al., 2005) is what

defined grammar. Forming an ungrammatical utterance or sentence is what most

learners of English as a second language fear most.

In teaching grammar, there are various types of strategies that can be

implemented by the teacher. Teachers have varied sources to help them in choosing

strategies that would benefit the students most. Teachers should bear in mind that

strategies employed by them should highlight suggested sentence patterns in context and

in a meaningful way so that they can be used both in speech and in writing (Sukatan

Pelajaran Bahasa Inggeris KBSR, 2001).

Hence, teachers should be able to find the techniques and activities that can

fulfill the above criteria and at the same time be able to engage students in the activities

and materials designed for them as well as motivate the learners.

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Teachers are bound to time-constraint in designing effective activities and

materials to be used during the teaching and learning processes. Therefore, teacher

should use those materials that are already available around them rather than developing

one themselves. These materials are always considered as authentic materials as they

are materials readily-available which is not written for teaching purposes, but for a real-

life communicative purposes (Winnie, 1995). The use of authentic materials, either

written or spoken, provides learners with a sense of „reality‟ (Nunan, 1989). Examples

of authentic materials are video clips, recording of authentic interactions, extracts from

television, radio, newspapers, signs, maps and charts, photographs and pictures,

timetables and schedules, and songs.

Songs have always been the background of our lives. We listen to songs

everyday. Therefore, songs become highly memorable. We have all experienced the

„song-stuck-in-my-head‟ phenomenon. It seems that songs lodge in both our short- and

long-term memory so they are relatively an easy way to remember quite a long chunk of

language (Davanellos, 1999). As a teacher, we should not take this behavioral

phenomenon for granted (Cook, 2000). Nonetheless, most of the teachers fail to realize

and make use of this situation. It is a waste since songs can be used as a powerful

medium for grammar teaching and learning of English.

The learning of grammar through songs has been discussed by Spaventa (1980)

in his article „Music, Music, Music‟. He proposed that the use of songs is good for

reviewing grammar points. According to him, after presenting and practicing an English

grammar point, a song which contains the grammar point can be a very effective method

of revising the point. However, Saricoban and Metin (2000) suggested that songs should

not only be used to revise grammar points but to use it in all phases of teaching

grammar. According to them, songs may be used for both the presentation and the

practice of the grammar lesson.

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1.3 Statement of the Problem

To be able to produce a quality product of English either in speaking or writing,

one needs to have a clear understanding of English grammar. It is important for us to

produce grammatically correct sentences and utterances for others to comprehend the

intended message. Ungrammatical sentences may convey contrasting idea as oppose to

the original piece of information.

Understanding the subject-verb-agreement (SVA) in learning English grammar is

essential. Students are often confused with the rules of SVA. It is because Malay

language does not use the same rules where it is not required for the verb to agree with

the subject in a sentence. Interference of students‟ first language (L1) causes learners

confusion. Consider these sentences:

Table 1.1 : Comparison between verb used in Malay and English

Examples of Malay Sentences Examples of English Sentences

Zila suka membaca novel. Zila loves to read novels.

Kami suka melancong ke luar negara. We love travelling to overseas.

Table 1 shows that the subjects in the sentences written in Malay do not

influence the verb, whereas, the subjects in the sentences that are written in English do.

For example, the verbs used in both Malay sentences are „suka‟ regardless of the number

of subjects involved. The sentences are then translated into English. However, the form

of the verb in each of the sentence is not the same in English. In the first sentence, the

root verb „love‟ has changed into „loves‟ while in the second sentence, the verb retained

its form as „love‟. It is because in English, the verb used should agree with its subject

whereas, in Malay, it does not.

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Learning grammar is undoubtedly complicated and at times difficult. Drilling

for the same sentence patterns can be exhausting and later will kill the motivation of the

students. Besides, this method is not parallel to Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah

(KBSR) syllabus that requires sentence patterns to be taught in context and in a

meaningful way. By using songs, teachers can introduce grammar points to students in a

more conducive environment in order to attract students‟ attention and develop their

interest towards learning grammar.

1.4 Purpose of the Study

In Malaysia, many of the students encounter problems in forming grammatical

sentences and utterances. Poor grammar can be seen even in newspapers and websites.

Below is an example of an ungrammatical sentence found on the number plates at a front

and back of the new Proton Saga car at a showroom in Taman SEA in Petaling Jaya as

published in The Star dated January 25, 2008.

“A New SAGA Begin”

Despite a total of eleven years spent under national school system learning

English, it has to yet shown its effect in helping students to master the language. People

are still making mistakes regarding SVA rules.

Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate the usefulness of songs in

strengthening the understanding of SVA. It also gives students the platform to see the

use of SVA in a real context. Apart from that, this research allows students to practice

the correct rules of SVA. It is hoped that this research can provide students with a fun

and enjoyable atmosphere and at the same time increase students‟ motivation while

learning grammar.

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1.5 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this research are to:

1. investigate the effectiveness of using songs to reinforce the learning of SVA.

2. find out how students feel towards learning grammar through songs.

1.6 Research Questions

It is hoped that this study will provide the answers to the following questions:

1. What impact does songs has on the learning of SVA?

2. How do the students feel after learning grammar using songs?

1.7 Significance of the Study

This study is carried out with the purpose of exploring new strategies to teach

SVA. It is hoped that the results of this study can assure teachers to use songs to

reinforce students‟ understanding of SVA as a variation to the existing methods in

teaching grammar. Hopefully, this would help in facilitating students to understand

English grammar better.

Furthermore, this study would be the starting point for teachers to make use of

songs to teach other grammar points, skills and vocabulary since the use of songs are

inexhaustible. This initiative would surely brings a positive environment to the

classroom, strengthen students-teacher relationship, increase students‟ motivation, and

the most importantly change students attitude towards learning English.

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In addition, based on the findings, it will be a good move if teachers start to

notice students‟ preferences of music and songs. Teacher can conduct a simple survey

asking for their favorite artists and songs and use it in the lesson. This will surely brings

an impact towards the teaching as teachers use the songs that are close to the students‟

hearts.

With the findings gathered from this research, teachers should take serious action

and start to include variations in their teaching. A committee of English teachers in each

school should start searching and collecting suitable songs lyrics to be used in language

classroom to address speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills as well as grammar

points and vocabulary. Teachers can set up a resource bank whereby all English

teachers are entitled to borrow the materials when needed. This step will surely lessen

teachers‟ burden as they will not have to do it on their own.

Moreover, it is hoped that the findings of this study would initiate MOE to

provide schools with commercially-produced educational songs. This will encourage

teachers to use songs in classroom and lessen their burden. It is because, to find a

suitable song to be used in any language lesson is very difficult. Teachers have to

consider a lot of aspects and analyze the songs in detail before utilizing it in order to

achieve the desired result.

Finally, it is hoped that all teacher training institutions would consider the

findings of this study to design a subject that can expose teacher trainees on how to

exploit songs in English classroom.

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1.8 Scope of the Study

This study involved students in primary five from Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Pulai.

One class from primary five was chosen based on recommendation by the school. This

research employed quantitative and qualitative research specifically quasi-experimental

since the researcher lack of time and resources to randomize the assignment of subject

and might interfere with on-going classrooms as well as the organization of classes.

Data were collected from a set of pre-test and post-test questions answered by the

experimental and control groups, observation done by the researcher, and structured

reflection by students who have undergone treatment sessions.

1.9 Definition of Key Terms

This section discusses the definition of key terms used in this research based on

its limitation.

1.9.1 Subject-Verb-Agreement (SVA)

This research focuses on the rules of SVA covered in KBSR for primary five.

This means that this research focuses on the singular and plural subjects excluding

collective nouns, determiners, infinitives, and, gerunds as the subject in a sentence. The

focus of the verb would be in present tense and on three types of verbs, namely main

verb, verb-to-be and verb-have.

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1.9.2 Effectiveness

To measure the effectiveness of using songs to reinforce the understanding of

SVA, the researcher has adopted a quasi-experimental research whereby the pre- and

post-test scores of the control and experimental group were tabulated and differentiated.

This is to measure any improvement made by the participants after being involved in 3

different sessions of treatments. The mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of

variation (CV) of both groups were compared to identify any significant improvement. If

there is one, the researcher assumes that by using songs, participants understand SVA

rules and thus is an effective strategy to be used by teachers in teaching SVA.