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51DEVELOPING PRODUCTIVE SKILLS THROUGH SONGS IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES Ahmatova L.B.
Ahmatova Lola Botir qizi - Teacher, DEPARTMENT OF PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL DISCIPLINES OF FRENCH, UZBEK STATE WORLD LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY, TASHKENT, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: the purpose of this article is to identify the ways of teaching and enhancing students' productive skills through songs and find the appropriate lesson plans according to their levels and interest. The power of song and its particular use can be one of the useful, helpful and easily memorable ways how to acquire a language with ease and delight.This research examined students' interest in the classroom, instructional strategies and alternative assessment promoting motivation. The question of how to develop comprehension of FL students through songs, language learners has been a neglected area in a foreign language research, and even the few available analyses lack an adequate research base.
Keywords: reception, productive activities, self- reliance, explicitness, transactional language, stimuli, song lyrics, de-motivation.
UDC 81-139
Introduction. "It is not as obvious as with receptive skills but songs can also significantly contribute to the development of writing and speaking - which is together referred to as productive skills". 1 The production of written and spoken texts is dependent on several factors. Teachers are expected to introduce different texts as models (listening and reading as an input) and encourage students to produce texts of their own. Reception and production depend on each other. Productive activities must be creative. Vocabulary drill or gap-fill exercises are not considered tasks to practise productive skills. Neither is dull copying of model texts. The elements of self-reliance (formal letters) and imagination (narratives) are of crucial importance.
"Writing demands a greater degree of explicitness, since writers and their readers are separated in time and space. They therefore can't rely on immediate feedback in order to clear up misunderstandings." 2
''In creative writing we should encourage students to use their imagination and life experience. Writing is stereotypically considered an individual activity but it can be also practised in pairs or larger groups - and the results are often very interesting. ''3
Songs can help to develop writing skills in several ways, written texts being both a means and an end of song activities: taking notes of the song lyrics.; taking notes of the mood of the song - emotional associations aroused in the listeners; song report; CD review, concert review; Completing the lyrics; students can write their own (alternative) lyrics; writing an essay about the interpreter; about the kind of music students like to listen; rewriting or/and interpreting the story of the song
"Notes taken from the listening passage can be re-worked into full written form, and you do useful work on the differences between the spoken and the written form of the same information."4
1 Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Third Edition. Harlow: Longman ELT- 2001, p. 246.
2 Thornbury, Scott. An A-Z of ELT. London: McMillan Publishers, 2008, p. 249.
3 Murphey, T. Music & Songs. Oxford University Press-1992.
4 Rixon, Shelagh. Developing Listening Skills. London: McMillan Publisher -1990, p. 117.
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Moreover, writing is not a typical aim of lesson plans based primarily on listening. We can nevertheless use other activities (reading, listening and speaking) as a springboard to practise both creative and purposeful writing.
Our research has shown that students consider speaking the most important and useful skill. 40% of respondents stated that they would prefer to focus on speaking in their lessons and for 43% of them communication is the main reason for studying Romano-Germanic languages. Indeed, "learners who master the language are called its "speakers".''1 It is however a very long and sometimes tiresome process to become capable of speaking in the foreign language: "one frustration commonly voiced by learners is that they have spent years studying French and English, but still can't speak it."2 "One of the main difficulties, of course, is that speaking usually takes placespontaneously and in real time, which means that planning and productionoverlap. If too much attention is paid to planning, production suffers, and theeffect is a loss of fluency. On the other hand, if the speaker's attention is directedsolely on production, it is likely that accuracy will suffer, which could prejudiceintelligibility. In order to free up attention, therefore, the speaker needs to haveachieved a degree of automacity in both planning and production." 3
Often students feel afraid of being embarrassed by producing mistakes. Last but not least, classroom environment might seem to them artificial, out of touch with real-life situations. In order to prevent these problems, we have to make sure that: the topics are carefully chosen and students find them interesting. We cannot expect them to express their opinions if they do not have any (political situation in Far East does not seem an appropriate topic for adolescents, while contemporary music does); students have something to say - if they seem "stuck", we can provoke discussion by using pictures, giving them some hints, pre-teaching useful vocabulary etc4; we introduce variety - we have to teach both interactional ("social") and transactional ("practical") language5 -everybody is involved. To prevent embarrassment we might encourage group-work which is usually preferred by shy students6; students use adequate level of language -we should monitor their work and help them if necessary. However we should not over-correct them since it often results in de-motivation and frustration. Students should be told that while accuracy is certainly very important, fluency is the main aim of speaking activities. The level of French, English or German should be "lower than that used in intensive language-learning activities in the same class."
Conclusion. Speaking itself consists of a great deal of listening because it usually takes two to participate in a conversation. That is why these two skills should be practised together7.
As we have seen, songs present an almost inexhaustible reservoir of stimuli and it depends only on us if and to what extent we are able to exploit their potential.
References
1. Anderson Anne and Lynch Tony. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. P. 16.
2. Harmer Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Third Edition.-Harlow: Longman ELT, 2001. P. 256-258.
3. Murphey T. Music & Songs. Oxford University Press., 1992.
1 UR, Penny. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press- 2004, p. 120.
2 Thornbury, Scott. An A-Z of ELT. London: McMillan Publishers -2008, p. 208.
3 Rost, M. Listening in action. Prentice Hall International -1991.
4 Rixon, Shelagh. Developing Listening Skills. London: McMillan Publishers, 1990, p. 64-65.
5 Nunan, David. Language Teaching Methodology. Hemel Hempstead: Phoenix, 1995, p. 21.
6 UR, Penny. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. p. 121.
7 Anderson, Anne and Tony LYNCH. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. p. 16.
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4. Nunan David. Language Teaching Methodology. Hemel Hempstead: Phoenix, 1995. P. 21.
5. Rixon Shelagh. Developing Listening Skills. London: McMillan Publisher, 1990. P. 117.
6. Rost M. Listening in action. -Prentice Hall International, 1991.
7. Thornbury Scott. An A-Z of ELT. -London: McMillan Publishers, 2008. P. 249.
8. Penny U.R. A Course in Language Teaching. -Cambridge: Cambridge University Press., 2004. P. 120.
