The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of two methods: singing and reciting English songs for the development of English language skills. The premise of this study is to advance the concept of using songs and recitation in early language teaching of English as a second language. We were especially interested in short- term and long-term English language skills achievements and the impact of the two mentioned methods in the area of functional English literacy. We were also interested which methods were preferred by the students. The study was conducted at two elementary schools in Slovenia. The students were 75 native Slovenian-speakers, fourth-graders, aged 12 years. All the students were asked to learn four songs. The students in two classes learned two songs through reciting and two through singing. In another two classes both activities were arranged in the opposite way. The teacher was a classroom teacher with special music and English knowledge. The lesson planning focused primarily on the students' active collaboration and on restoring "relax attention", which is needed for efficient learning. The school environment resembled the natural speaking environment of young children. Different activities and learning resources like games, moving, singing, tales and different crossword puzzles, flash cards, pictures, balls and other facilities were used in the lessons.During the lessons we observed the students, helped them with their pronunciation, stimulated them to write English words and answered their questions. Two weeks after each learning unit containing new song short-term evaluation of audible, oral (vocabulary and pronunciation), reading and writing skills was performed. After dealing with all the songs and their repetitions long-term evaluation was made. The functional English literacy of all the songs was examined at the same time. The efficiency of audible, oral, reading and writing skills was separately checked for each student. Correct pronunciation, reading, writing and identifying by hearing were examined by using chosen vocabulary. Each word was evaluated separately. Students' opinions were collected through questionnaire. Selected data were processed by descriptive statistical methods. The data indicated that the reciting was more efficient for the improvement of oral skills and reading skills at short-term examination. Both methods were equally successful in short-term checking reading skills and long-term results of reading, audible and writing skills. Singing had the best influence on the improvement of writing skills at the time of final checking. The processes of teaching have to include various aspects. It is very important to stimulate thinking activities, to consider students' personal characteristics and to include different activities. If the recitation was the most efficient method to conquer oral skills, singing is more important for motivation and long term attention. With regard to the results obtained, it is best to teach new contents (songs) by reciting and reinforce that knowledge by repeating singing. Both methods of teaching and learning are only a part of different methods and activities and make the learning process efficient and enjoyable.