Peer tutoring as a tool for developing the intonation of violin and viola students in elementary music education

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential and limitations of peer tutoring in the development of the intonation of violin and viola students in elementary music education. Researchers have found that peer tutoring is a highly beneficial learning strategy. Peer tutoring is defined as the pairing of learners in an asymmetric relationship, who learn by teaching and start with a common, known, shared goal and an interaction framework previously structured by the teacher. After presenting a didactic proposal based on peer tutoring for the development of intonation, this research adopted a mixed-method approach to present quantitative improvements in intonation. The analysis of the pairs’ interaction explains these improvements as coming from the framework fostered by the pairs and the opportunities to learn through teaching. It is concluded that peer tutoring is a very effective tool for improving the intonation of string students.

KEYWORDS:

• Cooperative learning
• intonation
• peer tutoring
• string instruments teaching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrea Fernández-Barros

Dr Andrea Fernández-Barros holds a PhD in Music Education, a Master’s degree in music performance, a Master’s degree in teacher-training and a Degree in Music performance – viola. She has been teaching in music schools and conservatoires for 10 years, as a viola teacher. She combines this educational practice with the training of pre-service teachers at Universitat de Lleida and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her main line of research is focused on peer learning and peer tutoring in music education. She also studies new methodologies of teaching and learning music audiation and intonation that promote the interdisciplinary and the development of social abilities.

David Duran

Dr. David Duran Gisbert is PhD in Psychology and Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Sciences of Education at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He is director of the Research Group on Peer Learning in this university. His research interests focus on peer learning and especially on peer tutoring. He has directed doctoral theses and wrote books in Catalan, Spanish, Basque, Portuguese, and English, and an important number of articles.

Laia Viladot

Dr Laia Viladot is Head of the Music, Visual Arts and Physical Education Department at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), where working since 2005. Her service work has included holding positions of coordination in the International Exchange Mobility of the Faculty of Education and Master programmes. Prior to working at UAB, Laia taught in both music schools and secondary schools for several years. In Early Childhood, she has published several book chapters and didactic materials. Laia’s research interests centre on interaction in the music classroom, peer learning, educational discourse analysis, collective music composition and music for students with special needs. She supervises both doctoral thesis and MA thesis. Among others, she participated in a national project to evaluate the impact of the music education in Spain, and she was a steering group member in two Comenius European (Erasmus+) projects focused on interdisciplinary and integrated music learning. Laia has given invited conferences in some congresses and authored several publications in national and international journals.