The Effects of Web-Based American Music,Lyrics,Definitions,and Explanations on Taiwanese ESL Learners

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of American music, lyrics, vocabulary definitions, and song explanations during online music study on listening comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and lifestyle literacy in Taiwanese ESL learners. One-hundred-eight ESL learners from 2 large comprehensive universities in Taiwan participated. The results of this study suggest that online music study (as carried out in this particular investigation) does not improve listening comprehension skills in ESL learners. In addition, the results suggest that simply listening to online music does not increase vocabulary level in ESL learners. Instead, the addition of written lyrics and hypertext links to definitions of key terms is required to improve vocabulary level significantly. Finally, the results suggest that simply listening to online music does not improve lifestyle literacy in ESL learners. Instead, the addition of written lyrics is required to improve lifestyle literacy significantly.

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