Investigating the relationship between students' habit of singing English songs and their pronunciation ability in a senior high school in East Jakarta

Pronunciation plays an important role in English proficiency and communication effectiveness. While previous research often focuses on listening to English songs, this study investigates the relationship between high school students' habit of singing English songs assessed through a questionnaire covering their singing frequency, song preferences, and perceived influence on pronunciation, and their pronunciation skills. This quantitative study utilized a correlational design involving 37 students from a high school in East Jakarta. Data were collected through a 20-item questionnaire measuring singing habits and a pronunciation test assessed in four aspects: articulation, intonation, fluency, and word stress. The pronunciation test was assessed by two English teachers using a standardized scoring rubric to ensure inter-rater reliability. Data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, Pearson correlation test, and Spearman correlation test. The results of the Pearson analysis showed a statistically significant but low correlation between students' singing habits and their pronunciation skills (r = 0.346; p = 0.036). Meanwhile, the Spearman test results supported this finding by showing a significant positive correlation that was in the low to medium category (r = 0.396; p = 0.016). These findings suggest that singing English songs may contribute to improving pronunciation, although other factors may play a more dominant role in shaping such abilities. This study highlights the potential for integrating singing activities into pronunciation instruction as a motivating, interactive and fun learning tool. In addition, the results of this study are expected to provide valuable input for English educators and curriculum designers to develop more effective pronunciation learning strategies by utilizing musical media. In practical terms, teachers can incorporate structured singing tasks into speaking lessons to promote pronunciation awareness and provide repetitive yet engaging phonological input. The results may inform the design of music-based pronunciation strategies that are both pedagogically sound and appealing to students.