This experimental study examines two modes of auditory input(i. e., speech and song) to determine their relative effectiveness in teaching listening in Korean elementary school English. The study starts with the hypothesis that song-type inputs are mo...
This experimental study examines two modes of auditory input(i. e., speech and song) to determine their relative effectiveness in teaching listening in Korean elementary school English. The study starts with the hypothesis that song-type inputs are more effective than speech-type inputs in improving not only listening but also the other skills.
The subjects chosen for this study were 100 students in the fourth grade at Kongju National Teachers’ College Elementary School in Kongju, Korea. They were divided equally into two groups, i.e., 50 for the speech-type group and 50 for the song-type group.
The students were given two phases of instruction. The first phase was eight weeks’ silent period during which the two types of auditory input were given to students on a four-hour-a-week basis. The second phase was ten weeks’ regular instruction period during which listening and speaking activities were employed. An identical auditory ability test was given at the end of each phase and the general achievement test was given at the end of the second phase.
The result shows that the song-type inputs were superior to the speech-type inputs in facilitating auditory memory retention and overall achievement during the regular instruction period, although their superiority was not apparent during the silent period.