A Small-Scale Corpus Study of Metal Songs: Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 22 Sayı: 1, 34 - 54, 28.04.2025

Fateme Shahrokhi , Serap Önen

Öz

Music is an integral part of our lives, resonating with nearly everyone, and its unique qualities have garnered the interest of English Language Teaching (ELT) scholars, particularly in vocabulary acquisition. Numerous studies have investigated the educational potential of various genres, however metal music remains largely underexplored. This corpus study seeks to address this gap by analyzing the educational value of metal songs in ELT. It analyzes the CEFR levels of words and idioms, as well as the prominent lexico-grammatical structures in a corpus of approximately 3,000 words, employing a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The findings show that about 80% of the words fall within the A1, A2, and B1 levels, though a significant portion at the A1 level are function words. In contrast, most idioms are classified at the C2 level, followed by C1 and B2 levels. The study also identifies five frequent lexico-grammatical patterns, such as personal pronouns, determiners, imperatives, modal verbs, and metaphors/similes. These patterns contribute to a conversational tone in metal lyrics while fostering critical thinking and creative language use among learners.

Anahtar Kelimeler

English language teaching , vocabulary learning , metal music , CEFR levels , lexico-grammatical structures

Metal Şarkılar Üzerine Küçük Ölçekli Bir Derlem Çalışması: Metallica’nın ‘The Black Albüm’ü

Öz

Müzik, hayatımızın ayrılmaz bir parçasıdır ve neredeyse herkesin ruhuna dokunur. Bu eşsiz özellikleri, özellikle kelime öğrenimi bağlamında, İngiliz Dili Eğitimi (ELT) alanındaki akademisyenlerin ilgisini çekmektedir. Çeşitli müzik türlerinin eğitsel potansiyelini araştıran çok sayıda çalışma yapılmış olsa da metal müzik büyük ölçüde göz ardı edilmiştir. Bu derlem çalışması, ELT’ de metal şarkılarının eğitsel değerini analiz ederek bu boşluğu doldurmayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmada, yaklaşık 3.000 kelimeden oluşan bir derlemdeki sözcüklerin ve deyimlerin CEFR seviyeleri, ayrıca öne çıkan sözcük-dilbilgisel yapıları hem nicel hem de nitel yöntemlerle incelemektedir. Bulgular, kelimelerin yaklaşık %80’inin A1, A2 ve B1 seviyelerinde olduğunu, ancak A1 seviyesindeki kelimelerin önemli bir kısmının yapısal sözcükler olduğunu göstermektedir. Buna karşılık, deyimlerin çoğunluğu C2 seviyesinde sınıflandırılırken, bunu C1 ve B2 seviyeleri takip etmektedir. Çalışma ayrıca beş sık kullanılan sözcük-dilbilgisel yapıyı tespit etmiştir: kişi zamirleri, belirteçler, emir kipleri, modal fiiller ve eğretilemeler/benzetmeler. Bu yapılar, metal şarkı sözlerinde konuşma tarzı bir ton oluştururken, öğrenenlerin eleştirel düşünme ve yaratıcı dil kullanımı becerilerini geliştirmelerine katkı sağlamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

İngiliz Dili Eğitimi , kelime öğrenimi , metal müzik , CEFR seviyeleri , sözcük-dilbilgisel yapılar

Kaynakça

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