A study of the effect of immediate feedback on the teaching behaviour patterns of secondary school music teachers

Abstract

In the last few decades, a shift of research in education has taken place. The study of the events which take place in the classroom has become a major concern in education because, research findings have shown that more teachers fail because of inability to cope with interpersonal relationships with students than fail due to lack of subject matter.

This study examines various problems identified in classroom instruction by the Kenyan researchers who have studied classroom discourse. Classroom discourse in music has yet to be studied.

The study aimed at studying teacher-pupil interaction patterns in music classrooms, to analyze the teaching behaviour patterns of secondary school music teachers and to provide immediate feedback to individuals teachers.

To analyze the teaching behaviour patterns objectively, a modification of Flanders Interaction Analysis Category (FIAC) System was used in order to accommodate the practical, aural and visual aspects of music teaching.

It was assumed that students' learning in music can be observed effectively through direct observation of the behaviour of teachers in the classroom and that immediate feedback would help teachers resolve discrepancies between their aims and implementation in class, thereby improving the teaching of music.

Effective teaching in music was considered to be the type of teaching which provided students with musical experiences (Listening to music and making music) during classroom instruction.

The study was conducted in two stages - a training stage followed by the main study. The purpose of the training was to train the researcher on how to observe and code classroom interaction reliable. In the early stage of training, the researcher and three other trained observers in the system coded pre-recorded music lessons until consistency in coding was established, after which the researcher and two of the three trained observers analyzed and coded live music lessons taught by two selected music teachers. The two teachers were selected music teachers. The two selected were selected from the government secondary schools in Nairobi and Kiambu districts. The coding of the lives lessons was done until an inter-observer reliability of 0.88 was established. The inter-observer reliability was worked out using Scott's method.

Soon after training, the researcher embarked on the main study. The sample for the main study comprised of 13 music teachers selected from 12 government secondary schools in Nairobi and Kiambu districts. The teachers were observed teaching forms I, II and III.

For each teacher, five music lessons were observed, spreading over a period of one term. Each lesson was observed for 40 minutes but the coding was done for the middle 30 minutes, which were considered to represent the body of the lesson. After each observation, teachers were provided with feedback on their teaching behaviour patterns, in the form of frequency distribution, immediately after the lesson.

The data obtained was analyzed both descriptively and statistically. The analysis of data revealed that the music teachers spent most of their time in class with verbal and illustrated types of lecture and in giving directions.

The study therefore recommends that more investigations be done on this line with a bigger representative sample of the Kenyan schools offering music, in an effort to obtain a more comprehensive view about the teaching behaviour patterns of music teachers.

It was hoped that the findings in this study would be useful to the inspectorate division of the Ministry of Education in respect to music teaching in schools and in Teacher Training institutions in Kenya.