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The Song as an Unconventional Teaching Method for Foreign Languages

Received: 23 June 2018     Accepted: 19 July 2018     Published: 21 August 2018
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Abstract

Long ignored in the teaching of foreign languages, the song is considered, even today, as a too insignificant genre to be seriously studied. So, what songs the teacher can present to students and what can he do with them? In our paper we try to present an activity of understanding and exploitation of a French authentic sound document: «Avoir trente ans» (“Being thirty years”), composed and performed by the famous French singer and songwriter – Yves Duteil. The song is a whole, an ensemble of music, words and performing, which are combined, closely bound. Beyond the grammatical meaning, everything in the song helps us perceive and perform it. By leaning on the text of the song, the students are led to enter the “world” of the text by the guided and progressive identification of grammatical and lexical elements, in order to understand its significant structure and decipher the deep message of the author. The song helps the students directly take over, by themselves, the text of the song, in order to express and communicate, in a creative way, the emotions and feelings that it gave birth into them, from a listening situation. Thus, it would be desirable to choose songs which suggest an atmosphere or express an engagement (ideological, amorous, etc.) which provokes emotions, feelings or sensations that we would like to be communicated. Activities and games of type we present in the paper seem to give encouraging results to develop the desire of talking and communicating in the classroom.

Published in Education Journal (Volume 7, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20180703.12
Page(s) 51-55
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

French Grammar, Lexical Elements, Audio Document, Unconventional Teaching Method, Student’s Creativity

References
[1] O. Valenzuela and C. Villalón, “Improvement and innovation of teaching-learning processes of foreign languages at the University of Playa Ancha,” 2017. Retrieved from https://gerflint.fr.
[2] M. Jacquin and G. Simons, “Working on and from written texts in foreign language class,” Science du Jeu, no. 3, 2016. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org.
[3] M. F. Narcy-Combes and E. Huver, “Language interactions and didactics of languages,” Science du Jeu, no. 2, 2016. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org.
[4] M. Dubois, L. A. Johnsen, and A. Kamber, “Collaborative work in teaching/learning foreign languages,” Revue Internationale de Pédagogie de l’Enseignement Supérieur, vol. 34, no. 2, 2018. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org.
[5] L. Chiriac, “If you like music, you can “play” grammar,” Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 197, pp. 826-833, 2015.
[6] H. Besse, “For a contextualized teaching/learning of the “grammar” of French as a foreign language,” Carnets – Revue Électronique d’Études Françaises, no. 8, 2016. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org.
[7] H. Tine, “French in contexts: didactic, linguistic and acquisition approaches,” 2017. Retrieved from https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr.
[8] S. Wokusch, “The teaching quality of foreign languages and cultures,” Les Cahiers de l’ACEDLE, vol. 14, no. 2, 2017. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org.
[9] E. Benveniste, “The formal apparatus of enunciation,” Langages, no. 17, pp. 12-18, 1970.
[10] L. Schmoll, “The use of games in foreign language teaching: from traditional to digital,” Science du Jeu, no. 5, 2016. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org.
[11] J. S. López, “Communicative games and teaching/learning of foreign languages,” 2017. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org.
[12] C. Puren, “Three examples of methods. The didactics of languages-cultures as a field of research,” 2017. Retrieved from www.christianpuren.com.
[13] C. Del Olmo, “Understanding the stakes of learning strategies for becoming a teacher of French as a foreign language,” Cahiers de l’APLIUT, vol. 35, no. 1, 2016. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org.
[14] M. C. Fougerouse, “An intercultural approach to teaching/learning French as a foreign language,” Synergies France, no. 10, pp. 109-122, 2016.
[15] M. Faraco, “Language class: theories, methods and practices,” 2017. Retrieved from www.lpl-aix.fr.
[16] A. R. Seara, “The evolution of methodologies in teaching French as a foreign language from traditional methodology to the present day,” 2017. Retrieved from https://qinnova.uned.es.
[17] Y. Duteil, “Being thirty years,” 2017. Retrieved from http://www.greatsong.net.
[18] J. Thépanie, “Biography of Yves Duteil,” 2017. Retrieved from http://blog.yvesduteil.org.
[19] “Short biography of Yves Duteil,” 2017. Retrieved from http://www.edmartin.com/fr/bio-yves-duteil-1787.
[20] C. Trénet, “The soul of poets,” 2017. Retrieved from http://www.paroles.net.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Laura Chiriac. (2018). The Song as an Unconventional Teaching Method for Foreign Languages. Education Journal, 7(3), 51-55. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20180703.12

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    ACS Style

    Laura Chiriac. The Song as an Unconventional Teaching Method for Foreign Languages. Educ. J. 2018, 7(3), 51-55. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20180703.12

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    AMA Style

    Laura Chiriac. The Song as an Unconventional Teaching Method for Foreign Languages. Educ J. 2018;7(3):51-55. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20180703.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20180703.12,
      author = {Laura Chiriac},
      title = {The Song as an Unconventional Teaching Method for Foreign Languages},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {7},
      number = {3},
      pages = {51-55},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20180703.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20180703.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20180703.12},
      abstract = {Long ignored in the teaching of foreign languages, the song is considered, even today, as a too insignificant genre to be seriously studied. So, what songs the teacher can present to students and what can he do with them? In our paper we try to present an activity of understanding and exploitation of a French authentic sound document: «Avoir trente ans» (“Being thirty years”), composed and performed by the famous French singer and songwriter – Yves Duteil. The song is a whole, an ensemble of music, words and performing, which are combined, closely bound. Beyond the grammatical meaning, everything in the song helps us perceive and perform it. By leaning on the text of the song, the students are led to enter the “world” of the text by the guided and progressive identification of grammatical and lexical elements, in order to understand its significant structure and decipher the deep message of the author. The song helps the students directly take over, by themselves, the text of the song, in order to express and communicate, in a creative way, the emotions and feelings that it gave birth into them, from a listening situation. Thus, it would be desirable to choose songs which suggest an atmosphere or express an engagement (ideological, amorous, etc.) which provokes emotions, feelings or sensations that we would like to be communicated. Activities and games of type we present in the paper seem to give encouraging results to develop the desire of talking and communicating in the classroom.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20180703.12
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    AB  - Long ignored in the teaching of foreign languages, the song is considered, even today, as a too insignificant genre to be seriously studied. So, what songs the teacher can present to students and what can he do with them? In our paper we try to present an activity of understanding and exploitation of a French authentic sound document: «Avoir trente ans» (“Being thirty years”), composed and performed by the famous French singer and songwriter – Yves Duteil. The song is a whole, an ensemble of music, words and performing, which are combined, closely bound. Beyond the grammatical meaning, everything in the song helps us perceive and perform it. By leaning on the text of the song, the students are led to enter the “world” of the text by the guided and progressive identification of grammatical and lexical elements, in order to understand its significant structure and decipher the deep message of the author. The song helps the students directly take over, by themselves, the text of the song, in order to express and communicate, in a creative way, the emotions and feelings that it gave birth into them, from a listening situation. Thus, it would be desirable to choose songs which suggest an atmosphere or express an engagement (ideological, amorous, etc.) which provokes emotions, feelings or sensations that we would like to be communicated. Activities and games of type we present in the paper seem to give encouraging results to develop the desire of talking and communicating in the classroom.
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Author Information
  • Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University, Timi?oara, Romania

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