Exploring Disciplinary and Multimodal Literacy Practices in Music Education

Abstract

The research questions guiding this study are: (1) How do teacher educators and preservice teachers in a music education department define literacy in general and music literacy in particular and how do they perceive the teaching of literacy? (2) What music literacy practices appear in music education and music classes? (3) What do the findings from questions 1 and 2 reveal about the potential matches and mismatches in the design of a disciplinary literacy course that reflects an expanded definition of literacy? The objective of this study is to explore the best way to improve the current curriculum for addressing music literacy. Using the example of a Literacy Methods (hereafter, LitMeth) course required for secondary teacher certification in the School of Music at a midwestern university, I investigate how Preservice Music Teachers (hereafter, PMTs) and professors think about music literacy. To understand the matches and mismatches between their disciplinary epistemologies and their disciplinary literacy practices, I employ the conceptual frameworks of disciplinary literacy and multimodal literacy. The dataset comprises classroom observations (fieldwork), interviews with thirteen PMTs and seven professors, video and audio recordings, and classroom artifacts (professors’ handouts and preservice teachers’ completed assignments) collected during the academic year 2011-2012. Analysis of the data reveals some important mismatching and matching discourses between music education and the current LitMeth curriculum. For example, LitMeth equips preservice teachers with the knowledge of multimodal literacy and disciplinary literacy as primary concepts, yet there is no specific method to apply these concepts to teaching content areas with disciplinary-specific literacy practices. Given the varied epistemological and pedagogical approaches taken by music education and other disciplines, I conclude that LitMeth instructors need to clearly define the goals of the music discipline and expand their knowledge of the requisite literacy practices. I believe that my findings will assist in understanding meaning-making in other disciplines that use multimodal literacy practices to prepare secondary school teachers.