Pop Songs on the Development of Oral English Fluency in High School Students.

Abstract

High school students in Ecuador present limitations in their English oral communicative competence; consequently, teachers are researching and implementing new methodologies and strategies to foster this language teaching and learning process. This paper analyses the use of pop songs in English for the development of oral fluency in high school students in the Canton of Chone, particularly at the "Cinco de Mayo" school. The strategy of using pop songs is useful to enhance students' fluency, as many young people currently listen to music in English, and it is a good way of motivating them towards its learning, so this represents a pedagogical opportunity to integrate this authentic resource into the classroom. The research was exploratory and descriptive in nature and used a qualitative and quantitative methodology with interviews to teachers and students, and techniques such as pre-tests and post-tests in order to analyse students' improvement. The population consisted of 120 students and a sample of 40 students, besides 3 English teachers. The findings revealed that the systematic integration of pop songs into the teaching-learning process enhances pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary development, fluency, and speaking confidence, while addressing classroom diversity. Furthermore, affective aspects such as stress or anxiety showed a significant decrease.