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

Authors : Fateme Shahrokhi, Serap Önen

Pages : 34-54

Doi:10.33711/yyuefd.1544982

View : 48 | Download : 36

Publication Date : 2025-04-28

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :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.
Keywords : İngiliz Dili Eğitimi, kelime öğrenimi, metal müzik, CEFR seviyeleri, sözcük-dilbilgisel yapılar