Learners' motivation to choose Music as an elective in high school

Abstract

Few high school learners in South Africa choose Music as an elective. This study extends a worldwide study by McPherson and O’Neill (2010), based on Eccles’ Expectancy-value theory, exploring learners’ motivation to study music compared to other subjects, by focusing on three motivational constructs: Value Perceptions, Competence Beliefs and Task Difficulty Perceptions. The current study explores learners’ motivation to study Music as a subject in high school. The three aforementioned motivational constructs were explored for a range of elective school subjects, including Music. The main aim of the study was to determine possible factors that motivate high school learners to continue or discontinue with Music as an elective in their last three years of school. Subsidiary aims were to reveal 1) how learners’ motivational beliefs differ for Music as opposed to other elective subjects; 2) the extent to which the motivational constructs influence intentions to choose Music as an elective; 3) how the motivational beliefs vary according to school, grade and gender; 4) other influences on motivation for Music as an elective subject. The questionnaires used were modelled on those originally designed by McPherson and O’Neill, according to Eccles’ Expectancy-value theory. These were distributed to four single-sex (two girls’ and two boys’) high schools in Gauteng. The sample comprised 180 Music learners in grades 9 and 10 (108 female and 72 male). Results were statistically analysed and showed that on average, learners who are motivated to choose Music as an elective hold higher Value Perceptions and Competence Beliefs for Music than for other elective subjects. In fact, these learners showed higher Competence Beliefs for all but one of the evaluated subjects than learners not intending to continue with Music. Furthermore, these learners reported lower Task Difficulty Perceptions in general compared to those not motivated to continue with Music. Interestingly, males reported higher Value perceptions and Competence Beliefs as well as lower Task Difficulty Perceptions than females for a range of subjects including Music. Additionally, learners who reported positive Music continuation intentions were found to practise more often, to read books more frequently, and to be significantly more self-motivated than learners not intending to continue with Music. Parents and teachers were also shown to be a strong influence in learner motivation for Music.