Music to their ears? Exploring Hungarian EFL teachers' beliefs about the educational potentials of songs

Abstract Despite the established value of music for language learning, in that, the bulk of empirical studies that corroborate its usefulness, teachers still eschew its incorporation in the classroom as song materials remain underutilized. The ideological basis of this discrepancy is poorly understood as little is known about English language teachers' beliefs and practices regarding song-assisted instruction. To illuminate this uncharted area, the present exploratory interview study sought to elicit responses from five Hungarian EFL instructors at a well-recognized university in Budapest. Considering the importance of constantly revisiting and enhancing the quality of English instruction, this study will rebound to the benefit of EFL education namely the integration of arts and contributes to a better understanding of teachers' attitudes towards the use of songs as instructional materials. While acknowledging songs' relevance including their motivational and mnemonic properties for facilitating vocabulary retention, the findings reveal that teachers encounter various challenges related to their classroom applications, namely copyright infringement, student-related factors such as age as well as level of proficiency, and lyrical appropriateness. Implications of this inquiry involve the recognition of Hungarian teachers' pedagogical concerns and the need for future research to seek practical strategies for implementing musical materials in the language classroom.