Teaching English with Lyrics

Lv Jing-xia

【Abstract】?Lyrics?can?deliver?culturally?significant?messages?as?well?as?vocal?meanings.?These?messages?may?be?conveyed?through?metaphor?or?symbolism?or?other?rhetorical?devices，?which?are?important?in?English?learning.?So?lyrics?can?be?used?as?materials?of?language?teaching?and?learning.

【Key?Words】?English?????Teaching?????Lyrics

【中圖分類號】H319????????????????【文獻標(biāo)識碼】A???????????????????【文章編號】2095-3089（2015）17-0001-01

一、INTRODUCTION

Language?teaching?and?learning?can?be?extremely?tedious?when?lack?of?interesting?surroundings.?English?lyrics?have?the?characteristics?of?vivid?language，?simple?structure?and?rich?rhetoric，?and?are?popular?with?young?Chinese?students.?Lyric-assisted?English?teaching?proved?to?be?effective?in?practice.

二、?TEACHING?ENGLISH?WITH?LYRICS

Stylistically，?lyrics?can?be?appreciated?from?the?aspects?of?succinct?language，?rich?emotion，?varied?sentences?and?figurative?words;?syntactically，?lyrics?can?be?analyzed?from?the?points?of?cohesive?devices：?grammatical?device，?lexical?cohesion，?logical?connector?such?as?reference，?ellipsis，?substitution，?conjunction?and?lexical?cohesion?etc.?Culturally，?lyrics?can?be?studied?from?the?view?of?background?information.

2.1?Classical?Lines?in?Lyrics?Helps?English?Teaching

Classical?lines?usually?contain?profound?philosophy?and?spark?rational?glory.?Help?students?appreciate?these?lines?from?English?lyrics，?and?they?will?accomplish?twice?as?much?with?half?effort.

1.?Time?can?do?so?much?/?Are?you?still?mine？????（From?“Unchained?Melody”）

Oh，?my?love?my?darling，?/?I've?hungered?for?your?touch?/?A?long?lonely?time.

a.unchained?melody：?melody?that?cannot?be?chained;?chain→chained→?unchained

b.hunger?for：?long?for;?desire;??want?badly→?I've?always?hungered?for?a?book?of?English?songs.

2.2?Lyrics-Related?Information?Helps?English?Teaching

Edelweiss?is?a?very?popular?English?song?to?Chinese?people.?The?introduction?of?its?background?information?makes?the?meaning?beyond?the?lyric?clearer?so?that?students?can?appreciate?the?song?at?a?higher?level.

Edelweiss?is?a?German?word，?refers?to?a?type?of?plant?with?flowers，?growing?in?the?Alps.?In?this?song，?it?is?personalized?to?have?human?feelings?and?noble?character.

2.3?Analysis?of?Grammar??in?Lyrics?Helps?English?Teaching

Although?seemingly?simple?in?form，?English?lyrics?contain?all?kinds?of?grammar?phenomena，?which?can?be?taken?as?examples?in?teaching.

In?the?lyrics?of?Thriller，?we?can?find?a?group?of?nouns?supporting?the?topic?of?the?song?“Thriller”.?Summarization?on?these?words?can?be?constructive?for?the?appreciation.?These?words?are：?evil，?terror，?beast，?killer，?creature，?dead，?alien，?demon，?ghost，?chiller，?hound，?corpse，?and?funk.

While?appreciating?lyrics?（songs），?cohesive?devices?（grammatical?device：?reference，?substitution，?ellipsis?and?conjunction），?lexical?cohesion?（reiteration?and?collection）?and?logical?connector?can?not?be?neglected.?Within?English?lyrics，?examples?applying?these?devices?can?be?found?abundantly.?Examples?can?be?seen?in?the?following.

三、CONCLUSION?AND?SUGGESTIONS

The?above?analyses?are?just?some?examples?taken?from?English?lyrics，?from?which?one?can?see?that?English?lyrics?can?well?serve?the?purpose?of?language?learning.

To?do?lyrics-assisted?teaching，?some?basic?rules?should?be?observed.

Songs?selected?for?teaching?should?withstand?the?test?of?time，?being?healthy?and?positive.?A?song，?like?“My?Heart?Will?Go?On”，?which?is?enduring?in?the?English?song?world，?can?be?a?good?choice.

REFERENCES：

[1]Huang?Xiao-rong.?（2009）.?Probe?into?Grammatical?Cohesion?in?the?Lyrics?of?English?Songs，?JOURNAL?OF?LIUZHOU?VOCATIONAL?&?TECHNICAL?COLLEGE，?Vol.9?No.2，?pp.89-92

[2]XUE?Fan.?（2001）.?The?Course?of?Song?Translation，?Music?Research，?China?Academic?Journal?Electronic?Publishing?House?No.3?pp.13-20

[3]ZHAO?Hui，?RUO?Ping?（2005）.?The?Best?English?Songs?Appreciation，???EDUstar?E-?book??Retrieved?November?26?from?http：//wenku.baidu.com/view/dbc22d08763231126edb1109.html？pn=50

[4]?ZOU?Su.?（2008）.?Stylistic?Features?of?English?Lyrics，?Educational?Research?on?Foreign?Languages?&?Arts???Vol.22，?No.?2，?pp.25-27