Under pressure : music therapy for examination anxiety in Grade seven learners

Abstract

In this exploratory study, a mixed methods approach was utilised to explore what music therapy can offer learners who experience anxiety prior to writing examinations; especially Mathematics, which is considered anxiety provoking. Twenty-one learners of the Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaatskool, Namibia, were randomly selected and divided into an experimental group and a control group. The study included a pre- and post-test. As part of the pre-test, both sets of data (quantitative and qualitative) were collected on the first day of the examination period in November 2018, before and after writing a Mathematics paper. Due to the allocated time frame for this study, the pre-test was performed when the learners were still in Grade 6. During the post-test conducted in March 2019, when the same learners were in Grade seven, similar procedures were followed.

Quantitative data were obtained through participants completing the RCMAS-2 questionnaire that measured anxiety and three anxiety scales - Physical anxiety, Worry and Social anxiety - were encapsulated in the Total anxiety score. Quantitative data were analysed by implementing descriptive statistical analysis.

Qualitative data were collected using focus group interviews and three thick descriptions of meaningful progressive phases of the music therapy process. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The three themes of 1) Subjective experiences of examination anxiety, 2) The face of examination anxiety in the music and 3) Individual and group shifts experienced in the music, formed the crux of the qualitative discussion.

The music therapy intervention consisted of seven weekly music therapy sessions, were facilitated by an independent music therapist and conducted over a period of seven weeks leading up to writing the second Mathematics examination.

Overall, the music therapy intervention did not yield strikingly positive impacts on the learners if one considers the quantitative data as the yardstick. Findings from the RCMAS-2 questionnaire suggested that participants experienced an increase in Total Anxiety. The qualitative findings showed that Grade seven learners perceived music therapy to be beneficial. It is therefore suggested that music therapy could be implemented in schools to help reduce pre-exam stress levels, as well as encourage learners to take responsibility for their own management of anxiety by providing strategies of managing anxiety and stress. The researcher recommends that more studies should be conducted to research the benefits thereof and how it would be applicable to wider communities and non-African contexts.