Enriching EFL Middle School Learners’ Vocabulary through the Use of Pop Songs The Case of Third Year Pupils at Awragh Sisters Middle School in Biskra

Abstract

Abstract Though vocabulary is important in the accomplishment of appropriate and efficient communication for foreign language, it is noticed that the majority of English foreign language (EFL) learners are not able to interact orally because they lack vocabulary. This may be because of the teaching strategies used by the teacher or the limited exposure of the target language. Accordingly, the present study seeks to investigate the role of English pop songs as a teaching material to enrich EFL middle school learners’ vocabulary. We hypothesized that if EFL learners listen to pop songs, they will benefit and enrich their vocabulary as well as have positive attitudes on using pop songs in the classroom. To test the hypothesis, the researcher adopted a mixed method approach and opted for three data collection tools which included a pretest to evaluate the pupils’ vocabulary and a post-test to determine their development as well as a classroom observation to observe their progress and a questionnaire to investigate pupils’ attitudes and perceptions. The target population for this study was third year pupils at Awragh Sisters’ middle school in Biskra, which consisted of 96 pupils. However, only one group of 33 pupils was conveniently chosen to be our sample. The group was taught vocabulary through pop songs for six sessions. After the interpretation of the data quantitatively and qualitatively, the findings revealed that the t-value is (14.59) and the corresponding p-value is (Sig=.000) which is less than p-value 0.05. In addition, the observed statistics (14.59) is greater than the critical value (1.69). As a result, we concluded that this increase was 95% due to the use of pop songs. Therefore, the alternative hypothesis ‘if EFL learners listen to pop songs they will benefit and enrich their vocabulary as well as have positive opinions on using pop songs in the classroom’ was confirmed. This justifies the effectiveness of using pop songs as a pedagogical technique to enrich EFL middle school learners’ vocabulary.