A Study on Elementary School Students’ Perceptions of Learning English Through Pop Songs

This study explores elementary school students’ perceptions of English pop songs in regular English classes at a Korean elementary school. Seven 6th graders participated in the study and they were divided into three groups based on their English proficiency level. Data were collected from their interviews, written logs, and group discussions for a qualitative analysis. The results indicate that low level learners associate pop songs with the auditory factor only, while intermediate and high level learners associate the songs with both auditory and visual factors. It is also found that each individual learner exhibits his or her own music preference in selecting pop songs for learning. In addition, the socialization effect, which evokes the sense of unity, is found among the English learners who attended the pop song lessons. Finally, the study presents the results that learning pop songs contributes to self-directed learning of English. Pedagogical implications on using pop songs for a teaching material are discussed.