Idioms in “We Are the World”: A Pedagogical Tool for Teaching Figurative Language in ELT Classrooms

Abstract

Throughout the world, people enjoy songs. In many ways, songs are instrumental but frequently not used sufficiently in English Language Teaching. It is sure, that they give students real-life situations that help them learn new vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. Everyone knows that teaching idioms is especially hard because they do not have literal definitions and are deeply rooted in culture. This research examines the effectiveness of song-based training in improving idiom comprehension among advanced English language learners, thereby addressing a significant gap in the literature. It specifically concentrates on 18 meticulously chosen idiomatic terms from the popular song “We Are the World”, celebrated for its global influence and comprehensible lyrics. The study included a group of forty BA English students who were purposefully chosen and then randomly put into either a control group or an experimental group. The control group learnt idioms the old-fashioned way, which usually meant learning definitions and memorising them by heart. The experimental group, on the other hand, learnt idioms through a new method that used songs. This experimental strategy focused on fully immersing students in the song’s lyrics and getting them involved in several interactive exercises that were meant to help them understand the idioms’ meanings and how to use them. Both groups took pretests and posttests over a period of many weeks to carefully measure their understanding of idioms. The quantitative analysis of the test results clearly showed that the song-based teaching strategy significantly improved students’ understanding and long-term memory of the idiomatic expressions that were the focus of the lesson.  Moreover, qualitative observations and student feedback revealed significantly elevated levels of student involvement and motivation in the experimental group relative to their peers getting conventional instruction. These results strongly indicate that using actual song content, such as “We Are the World”, serves as a more effective and engaging pedagogical instrument for acquiring idiomatic expressions.