The aim of this study was to document the expressed beliefs and
observed practices of elementary school teachers involved in music instruction in
Vancouver and Hong Kong. It is important to understand beliefs and value
systems of teachers since they form the basis for their educational practices.
These beliefs are shaped by various contextual factors in a society. The music of
a society is one such factor that constitutes both cultural and educational
practices in that society. Therefore a cross-cultural, comparative study concerned
with music education was undertaken so as to better understand the underlying
contextual factors that shape teachers' overall understandings and practices of
teaching music in the elementary schools. The present investigation is the only
study of this kind to date.
This study was designed as a qualitative multiple-case study, including
five cases in Vancouver and five cases in Hong Kong. The tools for data
collection were in-depth interviews and repeated classroom observations.
The results of this study suggest that teachers' expressed beliefs and their
classroom practices about music education are informed by the following major
factors: (1) teachers' personal experiences, (2) social and cultural factors of the
societies in which they live, and (3) the music curriculum as set by the school
systems.
Furthermore, these results shed light on ways in which music education is
implemented in these two cosmopolitan cities and demonstrate interesting
interplay of various cultural influences. The findings of this study add to the
knowledge of Western and Chinese ideas, especially educational thoughts and
music education, through presentations and analysis of beliefs and classroom
practices of teachers from these two cultures.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10142 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Wong, Marina Wai-yee |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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