The effects of peer-evaluation on self-evaluation skills in the music classroom

Self-evaluation accuracy is a necessary component of music learning. Without it, students rely on teacher feedback and do not develop skills necessary to become independent learners. While research has indicated that self-evaluation is unreliable and inaccurate, peer-evaluation has been shown to have the potential to be both reliable and accurate. Using social constructivist theory and transfer theory as conceptual frameworks, this study investigated the effects of peer-evaluation on self-evaluation skills in the music classroom. Pretest and posttest self-evaluation scores of 42 ninth grade band students were compared with three teacher mean scores. Results found students made a slight improvement in self-evaluation accuracy after five peer-evaluations given over 10 weeks. Qualitative analysis of student feedback from peer-evaluations found students improved in both precision and use of musical language and vocabulary. To further investigate students' perception of peer-evaluation, two focus group interviews were administered. Emerging themes suggested students have a positive impression of peer-evaluation. They found it to be a team building and motivating activity that made them want to be both honest and critical with their peer feedback. Peer-evaluation allowed students to be part of the learning process that helped them build confidence in their evaluation skills. Students found peer-evaluation to be an effective tool for developing critical thinking skills, specifically analytical listening, and were able to cite examples of how skills used and learned during peer-evaluation were transferred to their own self-evaluation skills. As there is little research on peer-evaluation and music at the high school level, it is the hope that this research will provide a foundation for future research of peer-evaluation at all grade school levels and in all ensemble genres. In addition, this research will hopefully support the introduction of peer-evaluation as a methodology to be taught to pre-service teachers and to help dismiss previous negative notions about peer-evaluation to in-service music teachers, shedding light on the positive impacts of peer-evaluation and its possible uses with students in the music classroom