AFFECTIVE-MOTIVATIONAL PROCESSES, PARENTS' BEHAVIOR PERCEPTION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC

THEORY

Barbara Smolej Fritz, ETRŠ Brežice, Krško Elementary Music SchoolCirila Peklaj, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of ArtsBoštjan Bajec, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts

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INTRODUCTION

MUSIC THEORY AS LEARNING CONTEXT

♫ SOLFEGGIO

♫ THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE

♫ PERFORMANCE AND INTERPRETATION

OF SELECTED MUSICAL PIECES♫ LISTENING

♫ CREATION

acquiring music language

developing students’ competencies for analytical music reading and writing

SELF- REGULATED LEARNING

Self-regulated learners are students who are (meta)cognitively and (meta)motivationally aware of what they are doing and what needs to be done to successfully attain set goals (Boekaerts, 1996).

planning, initiating, monitoring, controlling their own learning

AFFECTIVE-MOTIVATIONAL COMPONENT OF SRL and ACHIEVEMENT

ANXIETY

SELF-EFFICACY

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

(BOUFFARD, MARCOUX, VEZEAU & BORDELEAU, 2003; BORKOWSKI & THORPE, 1994; MCCORMICK AND MCPHERSON, 2003; PEKLAJ & PEČJAK, 2002; PINTRICH & DEGROOT, 1990; PUKLEK-LEVPUŠČEK, 2001)

(PINTRICH AND DEGROOT, 1990; GAGE AND BERLINGER, 1992; IN MARENTIČ-POŽARNIK, 2000; PEKLAJ, 2001)

PARENTS' INVOLVEMENT AND CHILDREN’S LEARNING BEHAVIOUR

• PARENTAL ASPIRATION, EXPECTATION, INTEREST, ATTITUDES, ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL (HONG AND HO, 2005)

• LONG LASTING EFFECT (BRONSTEIN, GINSBURG AND HERRERA, 2005; GOTTFRIED, FLEMING AND GOTTFRIED, 1994; KEITH, KEITH, QUIRK, SPERDUTO, SANTILLO AND

KILLINGS, 1998; STAGE, 1998).

• SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO CHILD’S MUSICAL DEVELOPMENT (HOWE AND SLOBODA, 1991; SLOBODA AND HOWE, 1991).

Parental practice

Parental style (Spera, 2005)

AIM OF THE STUDY

♪ how some motivational and emotional processes are connected with achievement in MT

how perceived parents’ behaviour is connected with achievement in MT

what are the best predictors of student achievement

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METHOD

PARTICIPANTS

♫ 457 FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS FROM TEN DIFFERENT ELEMENTARY MUSIC SCHOOLS IN SLOVENIA

♫ 153 BOYS AND 303 GIRLS

♫ THEIR AVERAGE AGE 13 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS

INSTRUMENTS

1. MOTIVATIONAL - EMOTIONAL QUESTIONNAIRE AT MUSIC THEORY LEARNING (MQMTL)

• 47 ITEMS

• STUDENTS ANSWERED ON A FIVE-POINT LIKERT SCALE

• CONTAINED FOUR FACTORS:

APPLICABILITY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF MT (e.g. I think that

knowledge about scales is useful for instrument learning)

ANXIETY (e.g. I feel anxious and uneasy before MT classes ),

SELF-EFFICACY AND INTEREST (e.g. I can understand even the most difficult content at MTL.)

DIFFICULTY AT AURAL TASKS (e.g. I find auditory recognition of chords difficult.)

THE CRONBACH RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS : 0.91, 0.88, 0.73, 0.75

2. QUESTIONNAIRE OF PARENTS’ BEHAVIOUR PERCEPTION (QPBP)

• 21 ITEMS

• STUDENTS ANSWERED ON A FIVE-POINT LIKERT SCALE

• CONTAINED FOUR FACTORS:

PARENTS’ HELP AND STIMULATION (e.g. PARENTS HELP ME IF I AM IN A TROUBLE.)

DISAPPROVAL (e.g. IF I GET A BED GRADE AT MT, I AM SCARE TO TELL PARENTS.)

LACK OF CONTROL (e.g. PARENTS ASK TEACHER AT MT HOW I PROGRESS.)

ALLOWANCE OF AUTONOMY (e.g. PARENTS ALLOW ME TO DEVOTE MORE ATTENTION TO THAT SUBJECTS OF MT, WHICH ARE MORE INTERESTING FOR ME.)

THE CRONBACH RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS: 0.83, 0.67, 0.96, 0.50.

INSTRUMENTS

INSTRUMENTS

3. THE MUSIC THEORY ACHIEVEMENT TEST (MTAT)

• CONTAINED TASKS COVERING: SOLFEGGIO, MUSIC THEORY KNOWLEDGE AND RECOGNITION OF SOME MUSICAL PIECES

• EACH CORRECT ANSWER WAS SCORED WITH 1 POINT

• RESULTS WERE CONVERTED INTO Z-VALUES

• CROMBACH RELIABILITY COEFFICIENT: 0.93 FOR THE FIFTH GRADE TEST, 0.95 FOR THE SIXTH GRADE TEST.

PROCEDURE

♫ ALL INSTRUMENTS WERE GROUP ADMINISTERED

DURING THE REGULAR CLASSES IN THE SECOND PART

OF THE SCHOOL YEAR

♫ STUDENTS’ FINAL GRADES AT MT WERE ALSO

COLLECTED

♫ STATISTICAL ANALYSES (correlations, hierarchical

multiple regression) WERE PERFORMED WITH THE SPSS

PROGRAMME

Correlations between, affective-motivational processes, parents’ behaviour perception factors and achievement in Music Theory

FGMT MTAT

applicability and the importance of MT ,19*** ,11

anxiety -,35*** -,26***

self-efficacy and interest ,44*** ,14*

difficulty at auditory tasks -,21*** -,20***

help and encouragement -,02 ,01

disapproval -,43*** -,26***

lack of control ,04 ,15**

allowance of autonomy ,02 ,18**

RESULTS

Legende:MTAT - Music Theory Achievement Test ; FGMT - final grades in Music Theory ; * p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

Affective-motivational processes of learning and parents’ behaviour perception as predictors of final grades in MT: Results of hierarchical

multiple regression

Legend: * p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

BOYS GIRLS

STEP VARIABLES β R² ΔR² β R² ΔR²

1. help and encouragement -,16

,17 ,17***

-,25***

,26 ,26***

disapproval, -,14 -,24**

lack of control ,01 -,06

allowance of autonomy -,04 -,11

2. applicability and the importance of MT

-,15

,44 ,27***

-,12

,37 ,11***anxiety -,23* -,25***

self-efficacy and interest ,59*** ,41***

difficulty at auditory tasks -,01 ,01

Affective-motivational processes of learning and parents’ behaviour perception as predictors of MTAT: Results of hierarchical

multiple regression

Legend: * p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

BOYS GIRLS

STEP VARIABLES β R² ΔR² β R² ΔR²

1. help and encouragement -,11

,06 ,06

-,07

,09 ,09**

disapproval, ,03 -,17

lack of control ,14 ,09

allowance of autonomy ,17 -,03

2. applicability and the importance of MT

,03

,22 ,16**

,12

,16 ,07**anxiety -,01 -,26**

self-efficacy and interest ,34* -,16

difficulty at auditory tasks -,18 -,03

CONCLUSIONS

Final grades could be better predicted from two groups of factors (affective-motivational and parents’ behaviour perception) than results on MTAT.

The two set of variables predicted greater amount of variance for boys in the both achievement situations.

Affective-motivational factors are better predictors of the achievement than set of parents’ behaviour factors for boys. For girls results are reversed.

Anxiety, and self-efficacy and competence proved to be the most significant individual predictors.

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IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

♫ The creation of supportive learning environment in the school

* promoting pleasant atmosphere

* emphasizing student’s individual improvement

* structuring learning activities according to students previous knowledge

♫ The promotion of parents’ active involvement in music education of their children