Leerstrategieë en akademiese prestasie van 'n groep leerlinge in die musiekteorie

Abstract

The aim of this research project is to determine which learning strategies were used by a group of music theory pupils and what the relationship is between the use of learning strategies and academic achievement in music theory. Learning strategies are defined as actions and thoughts that help a learner to learn and to process information. The following research hypotheses were formulated: • Pupils use a variety of learning strategies in the study of music theory. • A relationship exists between the use of these strategies and academic achievement in music theory. To reach the aim of this study a literature survey was undertaken which was followed by an empirical study. In the literature survey research on learning strategies and related matters received attention, as well as related research on music theory. The empirical investigation was undertaken in September 1992 and use was made of information gathered from pupils of music centres of the Transvaal Department of Education in Potchefstroom. To determine the use of learning strategies, an adapted version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics were compiled by using tbe SAS-programmes (cf. SAS Institute 1985 and 1986). The BMDP9R computer programme was used to determine the correlation between the different variables and for multiple regression analyses (cf. Dixon and Brown, 1983). Tables were compiled and discussed. The results of this study can be summarised as follows: (1) The music theory pupils used a variety of learning strategies; and (2) the relationship between the use of learning strategies and the academic achievement in music theory is statistically significant, and more so in the case of pupils in Step 5 and Step 6.