The purpose of this 5 week study was to determine if the introduction of English words to
ESL preschool students in the form of song lyrics would increase the students’ English
vocabulary retention and their use of 20 target English words. The intervention took place in an
ESL preschool classroom with 15 students aged 4-5. Each week during daily large group
instruction time, a song which incorporated 5 of the target vocabulary words was introduced and
learned by the students. The students were then observed later in the day during free play by the
teacher/researcher in order to record instances of target word use. Weekly journal pictures and
dictations were also analyzed for frequency of target word use. Data collected demonstrated that
the preschoolers did indeed learn the target English words and used them during free play. There
was an increase in knowledge of all target words with percentages between 6 to 80 percent.
Concrete words were learned at higher percentages than abstract words. In addition, analysis of
the journal pictures and dictations showed that students were incorporating the new vocabulary
into concepts they already knew. Use of singing songs to promote English vocabulary in these
ESL preschoolers was determined to be a motivating and effective teaching strategy