Verbal Behaviors of Instrumental Music Teachers in Secondary Classrooms: A Review of Literature

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to review and synthesize research literature on the verbal behaviors of secondary school band and orchestra teachers in their classrooms. A comprehensive search of four journal indices was conducted, which resulted in 35 studies that met the inclusion criteria and were therefore included in this review. A wide range of results were found with regard to teacher talk. A comparison of rates of teacher talk suggests that teachers used more verbal instruction when working with younger and more inexperienced ensembles. Additionally, novice teachers used more teacher talk than experienced teachers. Effective teachers gave more specific feedback and had a greater percentage of completed rehearsal frames. However, teachers varied in the amount of positive and negative feedback they gave. Vocal modeling and questioning seem to be areas of verbal instruction that were underused by teachers of all experience levels in previous research.