Optimizing Nursery Rhymes to Promote Interests towards Learning English among Young Learners in Indonesia

Abstract

This study focused on whether the use of nursery rhymes in ESL classroom could significantly promote the interests towards learning English of the elementary students in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Eight third grade level students participated in this study with the intervention of two elementary teachers. The quasi-experimental research design was employed. The experimental group has taught English language using nursery rhymes while the control group was taught using the conventional method over a period of eight weeks. A survey based on questionnaires regarding their interest towards learning English, which was used as the instruments to gather data for the study in the pre-intervention and post-intervention. The findings indicated that the optimisation of nursery rhymes significantly promoted the students’ interests towards learning English. The students from the experimental group affected higher interests on their preferences in learning, teacher’s performances, communication, and interaction. These students also took more class activities’ participation, and they were more confident to improve their English compared to their counterparts in the control group. Due to its interesting nature, this study concluded that the use of nursery rhymes can significantly enhance the students’ interests towards learning English. This study affirmed that nursery rhymes provided strong pedagogical innovation and stimulated motivation for the students. Hopefully, the ministry of education in Indonesia and the teachers’ training institution might train teachers to use nursery rhymes to promote the young Indonesian learners’ interests towards learning English.