Impact of English Songs on Young Iranian EFL Learners’ Homophone Learning: Literacy in Focus
الموضوعات : نشریه تخصصی زبان، فرهنگ، و ترجمه (دوفصلنامه)Mohammad Mahdi Jalalizand 1 , Fatemeh Karimi 2
1 - English Department, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
2 - English Department, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
الکلمات المفتاحية: English songs, Homophones, Language acquisition, Literacy development, Young Iranian EFL children,
ملخص المقالة :
Teaching English to children can be challenging, particularly when addressing homophones, which often create confusion in spoken and written communication. This study investigated the impact of English songs on the homophone learning of young Iranian EFL learners. a quasi-experimental pretest-treatment-posttest design, the research involved two groups of 30 children: one group from 4 to 7 (preschool group) and another from 7 to 9 years old (primary school group). The participants in both groups listened to and sang along with songs, however, visual aids with spelling were applied for the participants of the 7 to 9-year-old group. Paired and independent t-tests were utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the songs in enhancing homophone learning. The results indicated that using songs significantly improved homophone learning of preschool and primary school learners, however, primary school students outperformed their preschool counterparts. Incorporating English songs, therefore, can be an effective strategy to improve the homophone learning of Iranian EFL children.
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