Music-mediated Pedagogy to Boost Efl Students’ Listening Engagement and Fluency in Emi Contexts: A Scoping Review (2015–2025)

TL;DR

This paper reviews how using music in English language teaching improves students' listening skills and engagement, especially in English-medium instruction settings.

Contribution

The study provides a scoping review of music-based pedagogical approaches for EFL learners in EMI contexts from 2015 to 2025.

Findings

Music-based interventions like song listening and lyric analysis improve listening engagement and fluency.

Digital platforms such as Spotify and YouTube enhance interactive learning experiences for EFL students.

Quantitative results show significant improvements in test scores and motivation after music-based teaching.

Abstract

Over the past decade, studies in EMI contexts describe a range of music-based interventions for EFL learners that generally fall into several categories. Many interventions rely on song listening as the core activity. Some studies use song listening alone, while others combine it with activities such as lyric analysis, dictation, gap-filling, or group discussion. Digital platforms—via Spotify, YouTube, LyricsTraining, and other web-based tools—have also been deployed to deliver authentic music experiences and provide interactive feedback. A smaller set of studies reports the use of music cloze exercises, jazz chants, pop music selections, children’s songs, humorous songs, and even singing paired with body movement or drama to enhance engagement and fluency. Quantitative reports detail meaningful improvements. For example, one study documented an increase in mean engagement scores from 3.06 to 7 following a 10-week song listening intervention, while another showed test scores rising from 65% to 82% when song listening was coupled with lyric analysis. Other studies note enhancements in reduced form recognition, listening comprehension, and overall motivation. Together, these findings illustrate that music-based interventions—whether grounded in traditional song listening or enhanced by digital and interactive components—are associated with increased listening engagement and measurable gains in fluency.

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