ACHIEVEMENT OF USING ENGLISH SONGS FOR ENHANCING ENGLISH VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE AND LISTENING STRATEGIES OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENGLISH FOR COMMUNICATION AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN THE LOWER SOUTHERN REGION OF THAILAND

Abstract

The study aims to: 1) examine the achievement of using English songs for enhancing English vocabulary knowledge of English as a foreign language (EFL) second-year students majoring in English for Communication at a public university in the lower southern region of Thailand, and 2) to study the learning strategies of vocabulary through listening to English songs of the students. 48 second-year students majoring in English for Communication at a public university in the lower southern region of Thailand were purposively selected as the participants of the study. 5out of 48 who possessed the highest scores of post-tests were interviewed to seek the listening strategies. The instruments used to collect data were pretest, posttest, and semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed by mean ( ), percentage (%), standard deviation (S.D.), and t-test for dependent samples.

The research findings indicate that: 1) The posttest results show a significant improvement in English vocabulary compared to the pretest results at a statistical level of 0.05; 2) The most effective strategy for learning vocabulary from songs is to use English subtitles while watching music videos, followed by noting unfamiliar words. In conclusion, the use of songs to develop English vocabulary knowledge has a positive impact on the students, enabling them to apply their knowledge for educational purposes and daily life.