Using and exploiting songs in the classroom; do they work? a case study in teaching efl to students of junior high schools in Indonesia

This study has mainly attempted to find out whether or not using songs in teaching EFL class works; looking from the aspects of students’ enthusiasm, interest, participation, and their performance in pronunciation. It also aims to examine the types of songs used in teaching this level of students. Additionally, it will assess if the use of songs in teaching and learning process in the classroom can improve the students’ performance and achievement in listening and vocabulary by using mixed method, which is a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The results reveal that using and exploiting songs in the classroom really work. All students show their enthusiasm, interest, and participation in teaching and learning activities through songs in the classroom and they can pronounce English words clearly. Some of them can even do that accurately. They actively and eagerly participate during the lesson. These have been shown by the results of interview and direct observation. Several songs have been chosen to teach this level of students based on some particular criteria: the songs have to relate to their lessons in the textbook that they use, the level of difficulty has to be suitable with their level of education, and the songs have to contain the language functions and the grammar points to be taught. Another result is that the students’ performance and achievement, especially in listening and vocabulary have been better. This has been proved by the improvement of their scores in the post-test (compared to the ones in the pre-test).