EYL Reports - CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

           This chapter presents a conclusion drawn from the findings and discussions in the previous chapters. Suggestions to the teachers of English and the students are also offered.

5.1      Conclusion

            Teaching English to young learners has become a trend nowadays. In every school, English is taught as one of the main subjects. In teaching young learners is not like teaching adults, children have their own way of learning. Since children like to play and have fun, the learning and teaching process should be suited with the nature of the children themselves. One of the forms of fun activities for children is through music, and songs are the common form of music that children know.    

            Since English has become an International language, more and more people learn English. The importance of English as a world language ahs made people to learn English as early as possible. In Indonesia for example, English is taught even before the children enter the playgroup, there is a special class for children who are still around two or three years old. This is supported by the fact that the optimum age for children to learn a foreign language is when they are still in a very young age.

            The nature of children is that they like to play and have fun than studying. Play is a need of every child and it is an important childhood activity that helps children master all developmental needs. Play is the work of childhood and is important for learning and development. One of the forms of play that children are familiar is music, in the form of songs. The singing games and chants are the embodiment of symbolic play and imitation.

           These activities help the children to move from sensorimotor experience to a symbolic transformation of it (Isenberg, 1993). Music helps children develop cognitive skills, as well as enhances language skills, by singing song, children learn language appreciation, vocabulary, and rhyme (Shipley, 1998). Another thing is that songs and rhymes are learned by heart, and this may form part of a child’s linguistic