THE EFFECT OF VIDEO INSTRUCTION ON THE PERFORMANCE ACHIEVEMENT OF FIFTH GRADE INSTRUMENTAL STUDENTS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of instructional videos on the performance achievement of fifth grade instrumental students. The design of the study was pretest-posttest control group experimental. Participants (n = 84) were volunteers selected from fifth grade students enrolled in Garnet Valley School District in Glen Mills, PA, who had participated in the band program for at least one full year. Students were assigned a short etude composed by the researcher to practice for an evaluation. Prior to treatment, each student was recorded performing the etude as a pretest. All students received identical instruction and modeling of the etude during their weekly school lesson. In addition to the weekly school lesson instruction, a Video Practice Group (VP) (n = 42) was given access to a video of the teacher instruction and modeling of the etude for use during home practice, and the Non-Video Practice Control Group (NVP) (n = 42) practiced the etude under usual practice conditions. Each week, participants submitted a practice record detailing the amount of time spent practicing the etude. Following three weeks of treatment, all participants recorded a performance of the etude. Pretest and posttest recordings were scored by the researcher using the researcher-designed Etude Scoring Form. One additional certified music teacher scored a random selection of 15% of the student recordings as a reliability judge. Comparison of pretest and posttest scores showed that overall gain scores for participants in the Video Practice group were significantly greater than the Non-Video Practice Group (F(1,82) = 20.68, p < .001, ηp2 = .201), with significant interactions in the categories of rhythm (F(1, 82) = 9.45, p = .003), fluency, F(1, 82) = 9.97, p = .002), and articulation, F(1, 82) = 8.07, p = .006). No significant interactions were found for instrument type or participant school. There was no significant difference in reported practice time between the two groups, and practice time was positively correlated with posttest scores.