Informal language learning through music

Ala‐Kyyny (2012) offers a historical discussion of different kinds of learning, including a three‐way distinction between formal learning (often classroom‐based or leading to a certificate or qualification), informal learning (without an explicit goal to learn) and nonformal learning (usually having a learning goal in mind, but one that is set by the learner). Ala‐Kyyny's distinction between formal, informal and nonformal learning resonates with Folkestad's (2006) ideas, which come from a music education perspective. Folkestad argues that formal and informal learning can be thought of as opposing ends of a continuum, and that most learning situations involve an interactive mixture of “four different aspects of learning: (i) the situation, (ii) learning style, (iii) ownership, and (iv) intentionality” (2006, p. 135), and furthermore urges educators to teach a variety of traditional, popular, world and indigenous music. There is qualitative evidence that self‐reflective participation in informal music listening and discussions about those musicking experiences can have positive effects on emotional, mental, and physical health (Batt‐Rawden and DeNora 2005). But how do these concepts about learning transfer into additional language learning outside a classroom environment – and in particular, to the informal language learning that occurs when someone listens to a song in a new language?

Bridging from inside the classroom to informal language learning

Cheung (2001) argues that authentic foreign language music can form a bridge between formal and informal language learning; for example, students may encounter a song they enjoy in class and then access it via the internet to hear it again, watch the music video or even learn the lyrics by heart.

And as Engh (2013, p. 115) writes:

Huy Le (1999) extends this [metaphor of] bridging of formal and informal learning environments to include the bridging of the gap between teachers and students as well. By breaking down the boundaries or bridging the gaps between stereotypical “institutional” learning and the “informal” learning of our homes, work places and school grounds, we can continue to engage students in natural and authentic language that they will want to practice independently out of class.

(Jenkins and Dixon 1983; Harwood 1998)

Pemberton, Fallahkhair, and Mosthoff (2004) argue that listening to a song in a new language can lead to more self‐initiated learning through different strategies than those typically found in the classroom. It has also been argued that “various types of audio visual programs are considered to be authentic language materials which have the potential to provide the necessary language input for second language acquisition (SLA) in [an] informal setting by indirectly involving the language learners in the language learning process” (Bahrani et al. 2014, p. 1718).

Toffoli and Sockett (2010) investigated non‐English‐majors' informal English language use, with a survey of over 200 university students, revealing that the vast majority engaged in “incidental” leisure learning of English, including through music (with and without the lyrics as subtitles) and video/television programs, and (perhaps not surprisingly) that they engaged in more informal listening each day online than they read or wrote in English (often on interactive online forums and messaging boards). Key features of the language encountered through these online media are that the input is typically at B1 competency level, and it encourages productive (usually informal, written) output via commenting on the content of the lyrics, events in a TV series, etc. (Sockett and Toffoli 2012). This fits with Chik and Ho (2017)'s argument that developing and using skills in a new language for “recreational purposes” online are most likely to occur when the focus is on pursuing a different interest (such as photo‐sharing or digital gaming) and when the individual is autonomous and able to directly own her or his language use through engaging in such media.

Interestingly, Toffoli and Sockett (2015) conducted a survey of English language university professors in France which showed respondents believed less than half of their learners were using English informally outside class, even though this informal or incidental language learning clearly has implications for both what and how English is taught within the classroom. The professors believed that learning English informally was most beneficial for listening skills, with specific observations that these students: “are less disturbed by rapid speech, use current idiomatic expressions with appropriate pronunciation, have better comprehension, demonstrate better pronunciation in general, and are more fluent” (Toffoli and Sockett 2015, p. 14). By contrast, in a study of over 200 French university students that specifically focused on music, Toffoli and Sockett (2014) found great variety in their online music‐listening choices, but reported that 100% of the students listened to English‐language music outside class (for most, equaling hundreds of hours per year). In addition, the students' ability to translate lyrics from four popular English songs had a significant, positive relationship with the amount of time they typically spent listening to English‐language songs during their leisure time, showing that incidental vocabulary learning in a new language can take place through listening to songs outside a formal classroom setting.

Frith (2003, p. 100) argues that the emotional, social, and cultural sense of belonging made by young people's ownership of their musical preferences “is more important for their sense of themselves than what they watch or read.” Furthermore, music can be used as a tool for self‐management and self‐regulation (Batt‐Rawden and DeNora 2005, p. 290; Saarikallio and Erkkilä 2007), emotional expression, and communication (Trevarthen and Malloch 2002).

Because of the popularity of music listening at all ages, but particularly for the development of self in young people, songs have also been used to support independent language learning outside the classroom through specialized song worksheets developed for independent language learning (McCarthy 2009). While survey respondents reported vocabulary tasks, discussions about the lyrics and the culture, and writing exercises in the classroom, the range of informal language‐learning activities with music were more diverse and included listening to the song many times (including with friends), keeping a vocabulary or grammar journal using the song lyrics, reading the lyrics, watching music videos, singing, and karaoke because English songs are “cool” (McCarthy 2009).

Use of technology for informal language learning through music and songs

It has long been the case that educators have developed songs and musical resources to use in the classroom, including folk or traditional music (Spicher and Sweeney 2007) and children's songs, chants, and rhymes, some of which may contain simplified or targeted language. By contrast, the popular music and rap songs found by young people is more likely to contain authentic language, including examples of conversational speech typically found informal interactions (Schoepp 2001). With the advent of the internet and now with multimedia resources like YouTube at our fingertips, often with automatically generated subtitles via smartphone technology, this has become easier than ever (Bahrani and Sim 2012).

Recently, more research has begun to investigate how technology can support informal language learning. Alm (2015) explored the use of Facebook (which often uses an informal style of conversational communication) for informal language learning by collecting data from non‐native English speakers using an anonymous survey. The results showed that beginners, intermediate, and advanced learners used Facebook in different ways. One respondent commented on the utility of Facebook to keep in touch with native English speaker friends from afar, including keeping abreast of “their culture, what they are interested in, the music they listen to, the videos they watch, photos of them traveling around France, etc.” Toffoli and Sockett (2013) write that the extensive informal use of platforms like Facebook can develop learners' foreign language skills in ways that may mean their teachers are unaware of students' linguistic strengths and weaknesses in particular areas.

In general, the following linguistic benefits of using music and songs to support foreign language learning have been noted:

• Improved listening comprehension, speaking, and pronunciation (Ludke 2016).
• Vocabulary knowledge, including informal, idiomatic, and slang expressions (Milton 2008).
• Improved literacy and more automatized use of grammar (Saricoban and Metin 2000).
• Increased intercultural understanding (Cheung 2001).

Given the relatively small amount of established information about this topic and the new tools and technologies available to study it, we turn now to the question of what evidence we can find about how young people discover, listen to, and learn songs from another country or culture, and how this might lead to informal language learning. The remainder of this chapter explores how and to what extent foreign language learners report using music and songs as part of their (informal or nonformal) language learning, outside the classroom, to develop their ability to understand and communicate in the new language. The following sections provide specific examples of each of the linguistic benefits highlighted above and draw from real examples of young people's informal language learning through social media. Most of the examples come from www.narratives.hk (Hong Kong Archive of Language Learning; HALL 2016), which is a randomly collected dataset of responses from university students in Hong Kong about their most memorable experiences of learning English. Out of 3000 short audio, visual, and written narratives about their English language‐learning experiences from the HALL (2016) repository, 143 included at least one of the keywords “song,” “music,” or “lyrics” in the description. These narratives provide first‐hand material that exemplify the foreign language learning benefits highlighted above this paragraph, and aim to evaluate to what extent these learners have used music and songs to support these aspects of their English language learning.

Improved listening comprehension, speaking, and pronunciation skills

Listening comprehension can be difficult to measure, and as a result there is relatively less research about this second‐language skill compared to others (El‐dadi 2017). However, it is clear that both the quantity and quality of listening activities in the target language is important, in part because it can both underpin and reinforce the other language skills. According to Weaver, “on average, we can expect to listen twice as much as we speak, four times more than we read and five times more than we write” (cited in Morley 2001, p. 70).

A survey completed by 24 Vietnamese student teachers (McCarthy 2009) revealed that 75% listened to at least one hour of music in English each day, mostly in informal situations such as while commuting, while doing chores, as background music, or to relax while doing other everyday activities. In addition, 46% reported using English songs for independent language learning vs. 21% use within formal classroom activities. A full 100% reported practicing their English listening skills through songs.

Chen (2011) observes, in reflections about an English social club, that “song singing in particular is a good way of improving learners' confidence in their pronunciation and an understanding of speech rhythms in English” (p. 6) and that the more adva nced learners were able to support and “teach” the others through the enjoyable medium of singing popular English songs.

There are a number of examples from the HALL (2016) dataset in which students in Hong Kong mentioned improvements in listening comprehension, speaking, and pronunciation skills through listening to songs and learning lyrics outside a formal classroom environment. Of the 143 English language‐learning narratives, 53 of the descriptions included the word “listen,” 18 included “speak,” and 4 included “pronunciation.”

Student 4CJ118 (HALL 2016) said that performing in a musical theater piece helped her with listening, speaking, and pronunciation because of the aural and oral requirements that required a lot of practice. She also believed that listening comprehension was improved by listening to music in English and trying to write down as many of the lyrics as she could, and gradually she increased the pace of the music as her capacity improved.

Also from the HALL (2016) database, student 5CJ221 believed that the teaching of English in Hong Kong in schools was “very boring” and said that he “preferred to learn English myself – listening to music. And so I think sometimes I listen to music, so I watch a film or video so I can fully understand what the music [is] talking about, and it's the best – best way to learn English” [00:13].

Student 5CK742 (HALL 2016) said, “I remember when I was in secondary school and my teacher prepared some music pieces for us and he asked us to listen to the music and then try to write those lyrics on the paper, and then we will check the answer together. And I think this experience is interesting because it is the first time I know that I can learn English in a less formal way. I think I learned the accent…from pop music like Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne” [00:00].

Vocabulary knowledge, including informal, idiomatic, and slang expressions

Milton (2008) reviewed literature exploring the claim that foreign language learning activities outside the classroom can lead to substantial vocabulary gains, in part focusing on the role of music and songs in this type of informal foreign language learning. The findings that related to vocabulary acquisition from a song (in a variety of languages, with students having varying levels of proficiency in the languages) suggest an average uptake of 20–30 words per hour (a rate higher than that achieved from in‐class instruction), with all students achieving sizeable vocabulary gains and the observation that students greatly enjoyed the activity and wanted to “listen to these songs more than once a week [as prescribed within the study]” (Milton 2008, p. 234). He further argues that there is a benefit in the repetition of the song chorus and in the repetition of the same song for multiple weeks, which resulted in a “100% retention rate observed for frequently occurring words even after 3 months of non‐exposure to the language” (Milton 2008, p. 234).

Although the evidence clearly showed that vocabulary learning can be enhanced through the use of music, Milton cautions that there are two caveats: (i) Learners must be willing to carry out these informal language‐learning tasks; and (ii) “The learning…is definitely intentional and planned, although it has occurred outside of class. (…) The presence of the word tests each week provided exactly the kind of focus on form which Laufer suggests is a condition of successful learning (Laufer 2005). These tasks appear to be activities where learners can direct themselves through the process and derive very real gains from the process. Learning is not inevitable with these tasks, however, and they still require considerable autonomy and motivation on the part of the learner” (2008, p. 235).

A study investigating informal language learning with mobile technology revealed that “only 66 (38%) [of open‐ended response] participants [used] mobile devices to access authentic language, such as to listen to songs, watch videos or drama, browse news or blogs, and view Facebook or Twitter updates” (Lai and Zheng 2017, p. 6). This finding fits with the same study's Likert survey responses that participants tended to use mobile technology to personalize their learning (e.g. to look up a word or answer a question about the grammar) rather than using it to access authentic language or to communicate with others using the target language.

In McCarthy's (2009) report, 75% of the Vietnamese student teachers used songs for vocabulary learning and 62.5% used English songs to strengthen their reading skills.

Out of 143 English language‐learning narratives in the HALL (2016) repository, 30 of the descriptions included the keyword “vocabulary.” Several of the Hong Kong students believed that listening to songs outside the classroom helped them to learn new vocabulary, including informal, idiomatic, and slang expressions.

From the HALL (2016) repository, student 6SC065 remembered “We would learn English [as a 7‐ to 8‐year‐old child in a playgroup] in a casual way, by games, music (…) So I think it's very good to learn English as a casual way” [00:03].

Student 5CJ483 (HALL 2016) said that she enjoyed popular artists such as Coldplay, Adele, and RadioHead, and found the lyrics helpful for learning vocabulary: “Yeah, I will find what the meaning about these songs and I will search the websites and when I listen the song, I will see—I will try to listen to what they say, and the meaning” [08:01].

Also from the HALL (2016) repository, 5CJ234 first encountered songs in class during late primary school, and then “when the internet started to become popular, I soon searched the song” [00:44] herself. She liked popular English music artists such as Coldplay and Jason Mraz, and once she identified a song that she likes, she searched out the lyrics and used a dictionary to help her to fully understand the song's meaning.

Student 5CJ087 (HALL 2016) said that his secondary school English teacher asked the students to share their most memorable English song, which is how he discovered Katy Perry's Firework, “and this is – I think this song is cheering. And that song later became one of my favorite songs in my playlist. And I think learning English through the media, like videos or music, is the most effective and efficient way to learn” [00:25].

Student 5TT260 (HALL 2016) wrote that her secondary school teacher chose a variety of music to teach vocabulary words and phrases to use in daily life, [00:23] which she continued “because it is less boring and I can enjoy myself through listening to English –listening to music, or I watch movies” [00:36].

Improved literacy and more automatized use of grammar

Saricoban and Metin (2000) found that songs can support grammatical learning in a new language, in all skill areas including reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Through the natural repetition found in song lyrics, learners are experiencing new language input in a meaningful and enjoyable context, all of which is beneficial for foreign language learning. Saricoban and Metin (2000) also suggest that creating new song lyrics can support students' reading and writing skills and use of targeted grammatical features, which can then be extended into discussion in large or small groups (or online) about the new versions of the songs.

A recent study investigating informal language learning with new technology revealed that relatively advanced learners have their own opinions of which new technologies can support their learning (Trinder 2017). She suggests that there is a level of intentionality associated with informal language‐learning activities; for example, film and television series are popular choices that are perceived as motivating and beneficial for learning. By contrast, written communication in chatrooms or by email is less often associated with an explicit intention of improving language skills, instead focusing on information exchange.

In her preliminary survey responses, McCarthy (2009) found that 50% of the Vietnamese student teachers used English songs to support their grammar learning. Similarly, within the HALL (2016) repository of students in Hong Kong, fewer responses indicated that listening to music outside the classroom helped them to learn English grammar, which fits with McCarthy's (2009) observations. In total, out of 143 English language‐learning narratives, 9 of the descriptions included words related to “grammar” and 11 of the descriptions included the words “read” or “write” related to music and songs.

Student 5CJ471 (HALL 2016) used to watch YouTube and listen to music at home to work on her grammar, although she believed that this did not help her literacy skills: “I think I will remember things by hearing, so I sometimes only know how to say that word, but not – but I don't know how to spell it. Most of the time, yes” [02:45]. Student 4CN026 reported that during kindergarten, he “learnt simple English words and ph[r]ases through sources like singing the ‘ABC’ song and reading story books.”

After hearing Lana Del Rey's “amazing” song Young and Beautiful in McDonald's, student 6SV160 (HALL 2016) found many more songs by the same singer and reported reading song lyrics to support her English learning.

From the HALL (2016) repository, student 5TT042 said, “My most memorable English language‐learning experience was when I was a kid and I had a phonics teacher and she would always teach me, like, different phonicses, and she was the one who taught me how to spell banana, because I never knew how to spell banana. And she made up a song about how to spell banana. Yeah, that's how I learned how to spell banana” [00:00].

Student 5CN172 (HALL 2016) was an English major who hoped to teach the English language, and who enjoyed listening to English music as an extracurricular activity. She also read the blogs of her favorite singers, which helped to improve her English reading skills.

Respondent 4CJ088 said that her secondary school English teacher used songs for writing exercises and that the teacher used fun activities to teach them. The student also enjoys learning to play pop songs in English and Chinese on the piano, but did not specifically mention doing so to improve her English literacy skills [00:20].

Another HALL (2016) respondent, student 5TT329 reported that her most memorable English reading experience supported her pronunciation skills, which “happened when I read the lyrics for English songs, because I enjoy listening and singing the English songs from the Billboard [popular music chart]. So every time if I – if I want to sing it well, I really need to get familiar with the lyrics, so I will read it again and again until I'm quite familiar and I can sing it like my mother language.” [01:15]. Although she was unsure whether learning English song lyrics might help others with pronunciation, in her case she finds it useful because she loves singing, which means that she spends time on it.

Increased intercultural understanding

Music and songs have long been recognized as important cultural artifacts that can express the same range and amount of information as other cultural objects. Indeed, much of what we know of very early historical events and the origins of particular cultural traditions was passed down for generations orally (in the form of epic poetry, which was usually sung) before they were written (Rubin 1995; Rubin and Wallace 1989).

Cheung (2001) argued that students in Hong Kong who were learning English at school would be more motivated and achieve better English language outcomes when their teachers made use of texts from popular culture, including music, in their lessons. Cheung agrees with Frith (2003) that popular music can help young people to forge an identity that they share with others who like the same music, singers and bands. Quoting Domoney and Harris (1993, p. 235):

More time and attention to pop music in an English curriculum would increase student motivation because classroom activities would use their knowledge, their music, and their language.

Cheung (2001) argues that this can lead the student to engaging with the target language through more intrinsic means and following up outside of class, rather than learning material because they have to “for school.”

Sockett (2014) argues that informal learning happens throughout our lifetimes and helps us to understand the world around us, along with the “values, attitudes, behaviours, skills and knowledge which occurs in everyday life” (p. 10). However, Armour and Iida (2016) wonder whether popular music and popular culture (in their survey, Japanese pop music, manga, and anime) lead to anything other than “enchantment” in those who are aware of it, and whether that initial fascination might lead to more goal‐oriented or even formal study of the language.

From a music education perspective, Laird (2015) argues that empathy can be developed through music‐making experiences, including through singing together. It is possible, then, that singing along with music in another language might bring the learner to feel closer to others from that culture.

The HALL (2016) repository of students reflecting on their English learning in Hong Kong showed that some students believed that listening to English songs helped them to learn about different cultures of English speakers in other countries and communities. In total, eight included the word “culture” in the description.

Student 5CJ403 in the HALL (2016) dataset reported enjoying the inclusion of Western festivals and songs (such as Christmas carols) into the English language curriculum, commenting “I think this is a good integration between the – learning and having fun” [00:52] although none of that material was covered later in their English exams.

From the HALL (2016) repository, 4CJ091 [01:41] recommended that younger learners “might learn from […] other activities, like what they like, such as the movies or listen to some English music.” Similarly, student 4CJ127 said “Maybe I will let them [my future English students in mainland China] do less paperwork, let them watch more English videos or perhaps playing songs so they may get more in touch with English” [03:05].