Influence of Multicultural Singing Games on Primary School Children'S Attentiveness and Song Preferences in Music Classes

Abstract

French

In this study, eight multicultural songs with varying amounts of movement were taught to one hundred ninety-five 4- to 7-year-olds in a school setting during three weeks of daily music lessons. Three observers recorded group and individual attentiveness behavior during 17 hours of music instruction. At the end of the research period, subjects were asked in groups and individually to tell how much they liked the eight songs they had learned. Results indicated over 95% group on-task behavior during music instruction, and attention varied with amount of action in each song. A Spearman correlation of -.90 (p = .01) indicated that as the amount of activity in songs increased, the amount of off-task behavior decreased. Group and individual attitudes correlated moderately highly (r = .75) and confirmed that two forms of attitude assessment, group rating and individual interviewing, showed consistency in preferences. Additional observation of ten individuals showed that on-task behavior for listening was 88%, singing 64%, and moving 84%. It appears that young children enjoy moving and singing together and show preferences for songs with more actions. Music educators are encouraged to use singing games when teaching young children, particularly multicultural songs in foreign languages that might otherwise be eschewed.

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