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A Survey and Research on the Teaching of Recorder in the Elementary Schools in the Yunlin County
Abstract
The objective of this research is to look into the perceptions and the performances of recorder-playing teaching held by the music teachers (teachers in the field of art and humanity) in public elementary schools within the Yunlin county perceive and perform the teaching of recorder-playing. How these teachers perceive the value or benefit of recorder teaching, how they integrate it with the curriculum, how they employ the teaching materials, how they present extracurricular activities, how they do reaches and studies of recorder teaching—all these aspects are deeply scrutinized and analyzed. Moreover, this paper discusses the background variables and the enviromental variables among music teachers; there are differences and correlations between each individual’s perception and actual performance of recorder teaching. The objectives of the present research include: A. to observe how elementary-school teachers in the Yunlin County perceive and perform the teaching of recorder-playing B. to discuss the differences and correlations between the perceptions and performances of recorder teaching held by elementary-school music teacher from different backgrounds C. to observe how the differences of conditions among the elementary schools in the Yunlin County create different practices of recorder-teaching.
Surveying is the primary method used in this research, with the self-designed questionnaire as the tool to understand the status quo of recorder teaching in the elementary schools in the Yunlin County. The independent variables include: (A) the background variables of the teachers (the age, the field of major, the number of years of the music-teaching experience, the official rank), and (B) the environmental variables of the schools (the size, the location, the area). Each public elementary school receive one questionnaire; we sent out 156 questionnaires and received 124 valid samples as a result. The methods of statistics include descriptive statistics (percentage, and average), Chi square, analysis of variance.
The conclusions of this research include: A. Perception of the values and benefits of recorder-teaching In the Yunlin County, elementary-school music teachers with different background perceive the values and the benefits of recording-teaching in much the same way. Most of the music teachers in the Yunlin county agree with idea that the learning of the recorder helps the learning of other music instruments as well. It positively affects students’ personalities, provides entertainment, makes life more interesting, stimulates the love for music, and, last but not least, cultivates the sprit of teamwork. B. Recorder-teaching in the classroom Music teachers in the Yunlin County often introduce the practice of slur and staccato, the practice of ensemble, the ensemble of the recorder and other instruments. Moreover, the recorder is used to accompany basic music practices. These teachers employ the Internet as the helping tool in recorder teaching. They help students to value the music of the recorder, and they show students how to take good care of recorders. Music teachers with different durations of teaching experience and different official ranks produce different results. Those with less than 5 years of experience present fewer recorder classes that those with 6 to 10 or 11 to 20 years of experience. On the other hand, the music teachers in “courage”-focused schools present fewer classes than those in “wisdom”-focused schools. C. Materials on recorder-teaching The survey shows that elementary-school music teachers with very different backgrounds (age, major of field, experience of teaching in school, official rank) share very similar perception of the recorder materials. They think that it is necessary to present recorder music and to provide audio materials and wall charts. They suggest that the material work with basic practices, theories, song-writing and song-listening. Moreover, the teaching material should include pieces of recorder music and these pieces should convey the local color. D. Extracurricular activities The survey shows that the music teachers in the Yunlin county consider it positive to design or to present extracurricular activities that are about recorder-playing. The survey looks into whether these teachers have ever participated in recorder workshops, guided studies’ club onto the right way, prepared students for recorder contests inside or outside the campus, or organized any contest or concert in the campus—this research takes a step further to study the correlation between these activities and the background variables. The result shows that the amount of extracurricular activities presented by music departments is much higher than that by non-music departments. And music teachers with 6 to 10 years and those with 11 to 20 years of teaching experience obviously present much more recorder contests and shows than teachers with less than 5 years of experience. Moreover, the survey also looks into activities held by different teachers under different environmental variables. And it shows that, in actual practices of extracurricular activities held by different teachers from different areas, the effects could be similar. E. Teacher training and recorder conferences The survey shows that most music teachers in the Yunlin County hold a positive attitude toward workshops. They agree that music teacher should be able to play the recorder, that the teacher-training institution should design courses on the recorder, that educational bureau should design recorder workshops, and that teachers should be able to teach the skill of the recorder. This research also looks into the correlation between the environmental variables and the fact whether the elementary-school music teachers in the Yunlin County have ever join any workshop. It shows that the correlation is obvious; to join a workshop or not has much to do with age, major, and years of teaching experience. In the factor of age, teachers of 36 to 40, 41 to 45, and above 45 are very likely to participate in a recorder workshop; a less number of teachers of 26 to 35 years old join a workshop. In the factor of major, the number of teachers from music department that show up in a workshop is much higher that those from non-music department. In the factor of years of teaching experience, teachers with 6 to 10 and 11 to 20 years of experience are more likely to participate in a workshop, and those with less than 5 years of experience show up less. The research also looks into the willingness of each teacher to take part in a workshop and to design a workshop. The correlation between this willingness and the background variables is discussed: there is not much difference of willingness in teachers of different ages, majors and experiences. Moreover, teachers under different environmental variables perceive the concept of recorder workshops in much the same way.
In the end, according to the result of this research, some suggestions are proposed to school teachers, schools, teacher-training institutes, future researchers and publishers.
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