The use of pop music in the teaching of culture: Italian songs in the classroom

The present work discusses the implementation of pop songs in foreign language curricula to teach culture. The project is based on two ideas: the effectiveness of songs as teaching and learning tools, and the centrality of culture in the foreign language classroom.;Research conducted within the Natural Approach framework supports my initial hypothesis identifying music as an effective instrument in foreign language learning. Practical suggestions from experienced teachers provide some guidelines on song selection and song exploitation to address the four language skills. With regard to culture, a major gap between theory and practice has been noted. In the reality of language classes, a traditional approach to both language and culture seems to prevail so that language competence is still identified with appropriate management of linguistic features and cultural competence is reduced to the knowledge of facts and behaviors. With the concept of "Intercultural Communicative Competence," the goal of foreign language classes shifts from learning what to say and how to say it, to acquiring instruments of cultural inquiry that the students can apply to any intercultural circumstance. The learners must be actively involved in the learning process both cognitively and affectively, and understand themselves in order to understand others.;Particular attention has been paid to how this approach to foreign language teaching is implemented in the Foreign Language Learning Standards (1996). A critical review of techniques to teach culture provides insight on practical applications within the adopted constructivist framework.;To support the choice of using songs to teach culture, the relationship between culture and music has been established and song-based activities, designed with this goal in mind, have been critically reviewed. After a discussion of the relationship between Italian music and Italian culture and society, and of the language in Italian pop music, a cultural unit consisting of four song-based lesson plans offers a concrete example of how to implement music in language curricula, and how to use it to investigate culture.