CHAPTER 5: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
5.8 Analysis of data from participant observation
play, and spice it up with educative music and support the children to learn any skills. For the development of a total child, music is needed. To me traditional teaching is indoctrinating children with concepts, but using music helps the children to construct learning easily. (Interview with PE on July 18, 2019)
The participants’ responses showed that a single module in music education in the teacher-training curriculum is not enough to equip ECCE educators to use music to teach their children. They also suggested that music be made a compulsory subject in teacher education to adequately prepare the ECCE educators to use this important subject effectively to benefit the children. In addition, music is seen as a strong tool for aiding effective learning of ECCE children, and it therefore must be considered as a subject on its own in the NCF curriculum.
activities with the children. The researcher arrived before the commencement of the activities in order to avoid disrupting the class, and also introduced herself to the children by greeting them and shaking hands with them, to ensure comfortable familiarity with the children and to avoid any apprehension or discomfort because of her presence. The researcher also became involved in the activities by singing along with them and assisting the educator to organise them.
The educator of the first class observed (Participant C) had already told me that at their school they seldom taught communication skills to the children because of their age.
However, because I had earlier told them the focus of the study, some try to use music that speaks to communication development in children, she brought out a file containing different songs, picked one, and started singing while the children sang after her. It was a call-and-response kind of song. The educator was musically literate and was able to select a relevant song that suited the topic.
This class happened to be the first period of the day, and the first song was meant to welcome and communicate orderliness. Most of the children followed but there were two new children who had joined the class that very day, and who were unruly and could not concentrate. However, by the time the educator had shifted to another song, the new children had caught up and joined the others in singing the content. The educator rewarded those who sang well with a gift, and nearly all the children received the gift. In this learning environment the educator had various instruments which she shared amongst the children. She used a song to teach words with stresses, and when the educator reached the point of stress, she signalled to the children and most of them used the percussion instruments they were playing to show the stress while watching the educator. Two or three of the children struggled with the teaching style, especially the new pupils. However, Participant E was musically inclined and had a good understanding of how to align the songs with the content.
The second learning environment observation was more organised that the first one.
Participant E had sound training in music and could create simple compositions to teach the children.
Participant E explained the researcher’s presence before commencing with the teaching activities. She introduced the topic in a traditional way before including music, and
because the educator had been using music in the learning environment for a while, the children all sang along well with the educator. Participant E then introduced the content she intended to teach the children, which had already been incorporated into the songs, and explained and read it to the children while they recited after her. She explained the meaning and the correct pronunciation, and made the children pronounce the words one after the other. The next song taught the children three-letter words with the same sound. This was done in the form of rhymes, with the children happily reciting the words after the educator.
The third learning environment observation was conducted at the second ECCE centre, with two classes of children aged three and four combined. The participants in charge of this class (Participant A and Participant C) had partial knowledge of music, and depended heavily on a series of songs downloaded from the Internet. The first topic was courtesy, so they used songs that were about appreciating grandparents, and which contained vocabulary relevant to courtesy and appreciation. This vocabulary was taught to the children through the songs, some of which were just choruses, while some were call-and-response songs. The other topic the participants discussed with the children was listening skills. The children were made to sing the songs several times for them to get the learning outcome.
There were differences observed in the way the participants carried out the teaching and learning activities with the use of songs. Participant A and Participant C, who had combined their classes, did not have a comfortable teaching flow using the downloaded songs, as did Participant E and Participant B from the other ECCE centre, who had a sound knowledge of music. However, the songs selected were relevant to the content taught and they were able to convey the intended learning outcomes.
The learning environment observations showed that the ECCE educators understood the use of music to teach the children. Both the composed songs and the downloaded songs were well selected and were in line with the content being taught. However, the way in which the participants used the various music and rhymes revealed that they did not have the same level of musical knowledge and experience. The participants with musical training were able to apply their experience and absorb themselves in the activities and flow while using music to teach. Additionally, these musically trained
educators (Participants B and E) used music in their classes more often than those who were not. While those with partial musical training stuck to downloaded songs from the Internet, they did use music in their teaching.
5.8.2 The various musical rhymes used, the learning environment atmosphere, and the children’s response
At the two ECCE centres, a series of themes were lined up to be taught to the children, such as two-letter words, listening skills, learning about animals in the water and on the land, and speech development. Some songs and rhymes were chosen for their ability to teach communication, such as how to show appreciation, how to greet someone, and how to show courtesy. Other songs were chosen for their ability to teach self- confidence. There were songs to teach the alphabet, phonics, and different colours, and action songs were used to help the children to learn. The songs took different forms:
there were call-and response songs, elementary pieces of instrumental music to help them learn sound and pitch, and short stories with accompanying songs. The themes taught by the educators were divided into two groups: content to teach speech development, and content meant to teach general skills.
The songs were performed with the children in two major formations: a circle or a line formation. The formation was chosen based on the theme being taught and the type of songs being used. For songs that were being used to teach vocabulary, sounds, or two letter words to aid the children’s s speech development, the children were made to sit in a circle formation with their instruments, while the educator sat in the centre with the content to be learned written on small cards. Songs to support learning in general were performed with the children sitting in a line formation. The children formed lines depending on how many of them were involved in the singing activities. The content to be learned was incorporated into the songs. For example, the vocabulary of appreciation, greetings, and courtesy were unified into the songs, with the purpose of teaching the children how to show courtesy and appreciation. Songs that demonstrated a process or activity were often sung as call-and-response songs.
The learning environment observations confirmed that using music and song is the best method to teach children aged three and four. The participants taught certain content in the traditional way, but when they shifted to music, the children shouted and screamed with joy. The children who were fatigued or sleepy would suddenly perk up and join in the singing. Most of the participants had stated that the children were enthusiastic and lively when learning through music and song. The researcher witnessed this at first hand during the learning environment observations, where the children’s active participation in the learning activities and enthusiasm were clear.