Enhancing EFL Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Through Taylor Swift’s Song “Opalite”: Students’ Perceptions

Sep 29, 2026

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Vocabulary mastery is a crucial component of English language learning, yet many EFL students still face difficulties when vocabulary is taught through traditional, decontextualized methods. Song-based learning provides more meaningful and engaging vocabulary exposure. This descriptive qualitative study explores EFL students’ perceptions of using Taylor Swift’s “Opalite” to improve vocabulary mastery, especially noun vocabulary.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Vocabulary mastery in EFL

Traditional vocabulary instruction

Song-based vocabulary learning

| Journal of Innovative and Creativity
Journal Homepage: [https://joecy.org/index.php/joecy](https://joecy.org/index.php/joecy)
[e-mail:](e-mail: journaljoecy@gmail.com)[ ](e-mail: journaljoecy@gmail.com)[journaljoecy@gmail.com](e-mail: journaljoecy@gmail.com) | Faculty of Education University of Pahlawan Tuanku Tambusai ISSN 2775-771X (Online)
ISSN 2962-570X (Printed)
6 (1) 2026, Page 6799-6804 | | --- | --- | Enhancing EFL Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Through Taylor Swift’s Song “Opalite”: Students’ Perceptions Intan Putri Dianti1, Cici Situmorang2, Melia3, Muhammad Ilyas Mahesa4 1,2,3,4Institut Prima Bangsa Cirebon Corresponding Author: Intan Putri Dianti, [intanputridianti6@gmail.com](intanputridianti6@gmail.com) Published: Januari 2026 | ABSTRAK
Penguasaan kosakata merupakan komponen penting dalam pembelajaran bahasa Inggris; namun, banyak mahasiswa EFL masih mengalami kesulitan ketika kosakata diajarkan melalui metode tradisional yang kurang kontekstual. Pembelajaran berbasis lagumenawarkan paparan kosakata yang lebih bermakna dan menarik. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi persepsi mahasiswa EFL terhadap penggunaan lagu “Opalite”karya Taylor Swift dalampembelajaranuntuk meningkatkan penguasaan kosakata, khususnyakosakata nomina. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif dengan melibatkan 15 mahasiswa EFL semester pertama Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar (PGSD) di Institut Prima Bangsa Cirebon, Indonesia. Data dikumpulkan melaluiwawancara semi-terstruktur setelah mahasiswa mengikuti kegiatan pengisian lirik lagu (yl rics gapill). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa mahasiswa memersepsikan pembelajaran kosakata melalui lagu lebih menarik dan membantu dibandingkan pembelajaran konvensional, karena kosakata disajikan dalam konteks yang bermakna, mendukung pembelajaran kosakata secara tidak langsung, serta menciptakan suasana belajar yang lebih santai dan meningkatkan motivasi mahasiswa dalam pembelajaran kosakata.
Kata Kunci: Penguasaan kosakata, Mahasiswa EFL, Pembelajaran berbasis lagu, Persepsi mahasiswa
ABSTRACT
Vocabulary mastery is a crucial component of English language learning; however, many EFL students still experience difficulties when vocabulary is taught through traditional, decontextualized methods. Song-based learning offers more meaningful and engaging vocabulary exposure. This study aims to explore EFL students’ perceptions of the use of Taylor Swift’s song “Opalite”in learning to enhance vocabulary mastery, particularly noun vocabulary. This study employed a descriptive qualitative method involving 15 first-semester EFL students from the Elementary School Teacher Education (PGSD) program at Institut Prima Bangsa Cirebon, Indonesia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews after students participated in a lyrics gap-fill activity. The findings indicate that students perceived vocabulary learning through songs as more engaging and helpful than conventional instruction, as vocabulary was presented in meaningful contexts, supported incidental vocabulary learning, and created a more relaxed learning environment that increased students’ motivation in vocabulary learning.
Keywords: Vocabulary mastery, EFL students, Song-based learning, Students’ perceptions | | --- | | © The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0](http://creativecommons.org/lic

FAQs

What problem does the study address in EFL vocabulary learning?

It addresses difficulties EFL students experience when vocabulary is taught using traditional methods that lack meaningful context.

What approach does the study examine to improve vocabulary mastery?

The study examines song-based learning using Taylor Swift’s “Opalite,” focusing on noun vocabulary.

How were the students’ perceptions collected and analyzed?

Students participated in a lyrics gap-fill activity, then provided data through semi-structured interviews for descriptive qualitative analysis.

Sep 29, 2026

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