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

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 me...

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Main Authors: Fateme Shahrokhi, Serap Önen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi 2025-04-01
Series:Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi
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Online Access:https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4196789
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author Fateme Shahrokhi
Serap Önen
author_facet Fateme Shahrokhi
Serap Önen
author_sort Fateme Shahrokhi
collection DOAJ
description 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.
format Article
id doaj-art-7b7933f8108a49048c28df87bfc2b782
institution OA Journals
issn 1305-2020
language English
publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi
record_format Article
series Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi
spelling doaj-art-7b7933f8108a49048c28df87bfc2b7822025-08-20T02:20:33ZengVan Yüzüncü Yıl ÜniversitesiVan Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi1305-20202025-04-0122134541655A Small-Scale Corpus Study of Metal Songs: Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’Fateme Shahrokhi0https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1245-2202Serap Önen1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7738-1938İSTANBUL ÜNİVERSİTESİ-CERRAHPAŞAİstanbul Üniversitesi - CerrahpaşaMusic 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.https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4196789i̇ngiliz dili eğitimikelime öğrenimimetal müzikcefr seviyelerisözcük-dilbilgisel yapılarenglish language teachingvocabulary learningmetal musiccefr levelslexico-grammatical structures
spellingShingle Fateme Shahrokhi
Serap Önen
A Small-Scale Corpus Study of Metal Songs: Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’
Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi
i̇ngiliz dili eğitimi
kelime öğrenimi
metal müzik
cefr seviyeleri
sözcük-dilbilgisel yapılar
english language teaching
vocabulary learning
metal music
cefr levels
lexico-grammatical structures
title A Small-Scale Corpus Study of Metal Songs: Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’
title_full A Small-Scale Corpus Study of Metal Songs: Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’
title_fullStr A Small-Scale Corpus Study of Metal Songs: Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’
title_full_unstemmed A Small-Scale Corpus Study of Metal Songs: Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’
title_short A Small-Scale Corpus Study of Metal Songs: Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’
title_sort small scale corpus study of metal songs metallica s the black album
topic i̇ngiliz dili eğitimi
kelime öğrenimi
metal müzik
cefr seviyeleri
sözcük-dilbilgisel yapılar
english language teaching
vocabulary learning
metal music
cefr levels
lexico-grammatical structures
url https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4196789
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