The Effect of Cooperative Learning on Students’ Anxiety and Achievement in Musical Ear Training Lessons

Abstract

Anxiety that can be experienced in musical ear training lessons is a significant psychological factor that can negatively affect the acquisition of aural skills, their effective application and evaluation process as well. This study looks into the influence of ‘Cooperative Learning Method’ on anxiety in musical ear training classes, on student achievement and exam anxiety/state anxiety. The study was designed, and conducted as an experiment with a pre-test and post-test control group, and the experimental procedures were completed in eight weeks. The study was carried out with thirty seven students [(ne=19), (nc=18)], who were taking Musical Ear Training-IV (MET-IV) lesson in the spring semester of 2010-2011 academic year in the Music Teacher Training Bachelor Program of a university in West Black Sea Region in Turkey. Experiment and control groups were equilibrated by taking into account the grade means in the MET courses that students had taken for the previous three semesters, and the gender aspect. The lessons in the experimental group have been taught mainly through ‘Cooperative Learning Method’, while mainly through ‘Expository Teaching Approach’ in the control group. Research data were collected by means of ‘MET Lesson Anxiety Scale’, ‘Music Theory Test’, and ‘Musical Writing (Dictation) Test’ tools, which have been developed by the researchers, and by means of ‘State Anxiety Scale’ tool developed by Spielberger et al. The collected data were analysed using dependent samples t-test and independent samples t-test. According to the results, Cooperative Learning has shown no significant effect on the achievement in music theory and in musical writing, and likewise on exam anxiety/state anxiety. However, the results show a significant positive effect of Cooperative Learning on lesson anxiety in musical ear training classes.

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