Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of metacognition on students' achievement in and attitudes toward a program of sight-singing instruction delivered in middle school choral music classes. A sample of convenience was used, involving students in seventh and eighth grade chorus classes at Greenbrier Middle School in Chesapeake, Virginia. An experimental research design was used, involving pretests-posttests for treatment and control groups on each of the two grade levels; with data was treated separately, resulting in two concurrent studies. ;Students in both treatment and control groups received forty lessons in sight-singing using The Sight-singer, vol. 1, by Audrey Snyder . Students in treatment groups also engaged in activities to promote metacognition, classified in three areas, as follows: think-aloud activities with learning partners, self-assessment following learning tasks, and self-reflection on learning. ;Students' achievement and attitudes were measured in three subtests, as follows: a written test of content knowledge, a group sight-singing performance test, and an attitude survey. Identical tests were given at the beginning of the treatment period in September 2001, and at the end of the treatment period, in February, 2002. ;On the seventh grade level, students in the treatment group made significantly greater pretest-to-posttest gains on the written test of content knowledge. Students in the control group made significantly greater pretest-to-posttest gains on the group sight-singing performance test. Students in the treatment group demonstrated more positive attitudes toward sight-singing. ;On the eighth grade level, students in the treatment group made greater pretest-to-posttest gains on the written test of content knowledge, but the greater gain was not statistically significant. Students in the treatment group made significantly greater pretest-to-posttest gains on the group sight-singing performance test. Students in the treatment group demonstrated more positive attitudes toward sight-singing