Songs provide opportunities for real language use
According to Sharpe (2001), songs provide an occasion for real language use in a fun and enjoyable situation. She claims that singing is a vital part of the life of a young child, inside and outside the school, and incorporating the foreign language into this fundamental activ- ity is another way of normalizing it. Young children readily imitate sounds and often pleasurably associate singing and playing with rhythms and rhymes from an early age.
Schoepp (2001) believes that the follow- ing three patterns emerge from the research on why songs are valuable in the ESL/EFL classroom:
1. Affective reasons: A positive attitude and environment enhance language learning. Songs are an enjoyable activ- ity that contribute to a supportive, non-threatening setting with confident and active learners.
2. Cognitive reasons: Songs contribute to fluency and the automatic use of mean- ingful language structures.
3. Linguistic reasons: In addition to build- ing fluency, songs provide exposure to a wide variety of the authentic language students will eventually face in non- academic settings.