Abstract
The current study investigated the practices available to develop psycho-motor skills within the context of 8 th grade music courses offered at the secondary school level in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC). The central research question focused on exploring how effectively psycho-motor skills-based activities were conducted in 8 th grade music classrooms to meet the goals set by the music curriculum, and included three subquestions: (a) What psycho-motor activities are applied in 8 th grade music lessons?, (b) What are music teachers’ views of the psycho-motor activities applied in 8 th grade music lessons?, and (c) What difficulties are experienced by music teachers regarding the application of psycho-motor activities in music lessons? The research examined music teachers’ views regarding activities used to develop psycho-motor skills to answer these three subquestions. Qualitative data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 music teachers, and data were analyzed through content analysis. Findings revealed that activities for developing psycho-motor skills were designed and used randomly based on music teachers’ preferences and hence were not applied at a required level in an efficient way. Participants indicated that these problems were due to a lack of instructional materials and instruments, lack of appropriate music classrooms, lack of supervision and in-service training, and the negative attitude of both families and students towards music lessons. Based on the findings curriculum revisions and suggestions regarding how to develop psycho-motor skills through musical activities are proposed, and the importance of producing a realistic curriculum is emphasized.
Highlights
The current study investigated the practices available to develop psycho-motor skills within the context of 8th grade music courses offered at the secondary school level in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC)
Having psycho-motor skills helps sustain behaviors learned through music teaching for a longer period of time, but, at the same time, developing good psycho-motor skills is foundational for acquiring the target skills taught in music education
Since psycho-motor skills constitute an important part of musical and individual development, the central research question focused on exploring how effectively psycho-motor skills-based activities are conducted in 8th grade classrooms to meet the goals set by the TRNC Ministry of National Education. To answer this question the research examines music teachers’ views regarding psycho-motor skills activities to answer three subquestions: 1) What psycho-motor activities are applied in 8th grade music lessons?, 2) What are music teachers’ views of the psycho-motor activities used in 8th grade music lessons?, and 3) What difficulties are experienced by music teachers regarding the application of psycho-motor activities in music lessons?
Summary
The current study investigated the practices available to develop psycho-motor skills within the context of 8th grade music courses offered at the secondary school level in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC). Music teachers expect music teaching programmes and classroom environments to meet the needs of the existing student profile (Yıldız, 2002) and, in the process of acquiring certain musical behaviors, for individuals to play with music, have fun with music, experience relaxation with music, and interact with the musical environment For these goals to be realized a productive learning environment that involves active learning and contemporary teaching methods should be created to enable individuals to use body language, improvise, be creative, and develop self-confidence (Çevik, 2007). To this end both music teachers and students have developed their own methods for developing psycho-motor skills, in addition to current standard music teaching methods (Karacan, 2014). The resulting multitude of music teaching methods and the foundational nature of psycho-motor skills point to the importance of evaluating and ensuring the standards and success of music teaching methods and activities
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