Reassessing Music Textbooks within a Transformative Approach: Enhancing Teaching and Learning in the ‘Contemporary Music Classroom’

Creative Commons License

Sünnetçioğlu Ş., Gaga Ç.

31th EAS Music Conference: Traditions in transformation, Dublin, İrlanda, 12 - 15 Haziran 2024, ss.1-50

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Dublin
  • Basıldığı Ülke: İrlanda
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-50
  • Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Abstract

Many scholars have discussed various conceptions of transformative education in the last decades.

According to Yacek et al. (2020), transformative education refers to profound learning in which

students experience an expansion of value and meaning to new concepts. Cary and Grant (2016)

described transformative education as student-oriented, flexible, responsive, explorative, and context-

rich. As an essential part of music education, we should consider reassessing music textbooks with a

transformative approach to cultivate music teaching and learning. Therefore, this study aims to re-

examine music textbooks to explore new ways of contemporary music teaching and learning. The

research questions are as follows;

a) What is the content of current music textbooks and their role in contemporary music teaching and

learning?

b) What is the role of technology in enhancing contemporary teaching and learning? How can

technology be used to supplement or replace traditional music textbooks?

c) What should music textbooks look like to promote collaborative and interactive teaching and

learning in the contemporary music classroom?

The research uses a qualitative approach to obtain data from relevant documents and a focus group.

The documents include music textbooks for primary school students from first to fourth grade, teacher

guidebooks, and student workbooks. The opinions of 12 pre-service classroom teachers were also

gathered as they are the future music educators in primary schools. A survey and semi-structured

questions were developed for a focus group interview. Qualitative data was analysed using content

analysis for coding and thematic clustering.

Preliminary findings will be discussed in terms of re-designing music textbooks that foster

collaborative and interactive learning in today's contemporary music classroom. Implications will be

given on how music can be taught within the transformation of traditions that inspire students to

engage with music in new and exciting ways.

Keywords: Transformative education/approach, music textbooks, contemporary music classroom,

music teaching and learning.