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Article published In:
Interdisciplinary approaches to the language of pop culture
Edited by Rocío Montoro and Valentin Werner
[English Text Construction 16:2] 2023
► pp. 169–196

Mental health songs

Corpus-based analysis and implications for EFL education

| University of Bamberg
| University of Bamberg

This study explores how mental health is represented and discussed in English-language pop song lyrics. To this end, a specialized corpus of mental health songs, understood as songs that explicitly mention or refer to issues related to mental health and resilience, is analyzed through a combined linguistic/language-educational lens. The aim is to describe these songs linguistically in order to discuss opportunities as well as limitations for the development of mental health literacy in EFL classes. It emerges that relevant lyrics possess the potential to familiarize learners with the relevant discourse of mental health and mental disorders, and several practical language-educational suggestions are offered. On a general note, it is argued that lyrics not only offer starting points for the development of linguistic and literary competencies, but also for a critical examination of a complex, highly relevant, and timely topic.

Keywords: lyrics, media, music, pop culture, Sustainable Development Goals
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Music, song lyrics, and mental health
  • 3.Data and methodology
  • 4.Analysis of mental health songs
    • 4.1Keywords
    • 4.2N-grams
    • 4.3Key semantic domains
    • 4.4Themes
  • 5.Implications for EFL education
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/etc.00059.wer
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