Teaching English with Lyrics
2015-05-30LvJing-xia
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
【中图分类号】H319 【文献标识码】A 【文章編号】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
