Abstract not available

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / School of Music

The purpose of the study was to investigate teacher attitudes toward following the Taiwanese arts and humanities curriculum and the relationship of teacher attitudes to four selected curriculum integration factors. These include (1) The quantity of content areas taught in music class, (2) Teachers' satisfaction of their students' learning outcomes, (3) Teachers' confidence in planning lessons, and (4) The number of years spent in curriculum integration. Questionnaires were distributed to 85 stratified random selected junior high schools throughout Taiwan. The school responses rate was 74%. Content validity was checked. The internal consistency reliability ranged from 0.74 to 0.92. Recorder playing, group singing, and music appreciation were found to be the most frequently taught musical skills, the most satisfied students' learning outcomes, the most confident lesson planning areas, and the most important to be included in the music instruction. Writing-by-ear and playing-by-ear were found to be the least frequently taught musical skills, the least satisfied students' learning outcome, the least confident lesson planning area, and the least importance. The two most frequently encountered barriers were insufficient administrative leadership and shallow student learning. The results of the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient showed a low positive significant relationship between teachers' overall attitudes and the quantity of musical content areas taught (n = 83, r = 0.29, p = 0.007*, r2 = 0.09). Based on prior research, if attitudes that are formed from personal histories are difficult to change, and in order to change attitudes, multiple strategies must be used. The majority of teachers did not strongly support or reject this new curriculum, and strong support would be needed for the curriculum to be successfully implemented. One of the most important things that the Taiwan MOE could do is to provide music teachers with on-going in-service teacher development programs and monitoring mentor systems, in addition to the exploration and development of additional strategies that might possibly impact teachers' neutral beliefs about this new curriculum.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education