Lived experiences of secondary instrumental music teachers who teach students with learning ...

199 Pages·2016·0.95 MB·English

by  Vinciguerra, Salvatore

Boston University
OpenBU http://open.bu.edu
Theses & Dissertations Boston University Theses & Dissertations
2016
Lived experiences of secondary
instrumental music teachers who
teach students with learning
disabilities
https://hdl.handle.net/2144/16836
Boston University
BOSTON UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS

Dissertation

LIVED EXPERIENCES OF SECONDARY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

TEACHERS WHO TEACH STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

by

SALVATORE VINCIGUERRA

B.S., Troy State University, 1997
M.A., Valdosta State University, 1999

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Musical Arts

2016
© 2016 by
SALVATORE VINCIGUERRA
All rights reserved
Approved by

First Reader ___________________________________________________________
André de Quadros, Ed.D.
Professor of Music, Music Education

Second Reader_________________________________________________________
Ronald P. Kos Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Music, Music Education
Dedication
This dissertation is dedicated to my parents Anthony and Genevieve Vinciguerra
for their continued support of my musical endeavors and to my sisters, Anna, Josephine,
and Vingena, who have encouraged my career and enlightened me as a music educator.
My passion for music education would not be possible without the many
outstanding teachers who have been a part of my life and inspired me to love music and
share it with others. Ana Lebron Peña provided a meaningful foundation for learning
music. Dayna Turner Cole nurtured my musical skills and encouraged me to learn how to
teach others.
Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to the hundreds of students who I have
taught throughout my career as a music educator, especially those with special needs.
Their lived experiences as students in my classroom have served as an inspiration to
develop my thinking and to write this document.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their contributions to
this dissertation: Dr. André de Quadros spent many hours helping me to develop my
ideas for this dissertation to focus on the area of special education. I appreciate his
patience in helping to make this project meaningful and unique. I hope this dissertation
will inspire others to conduct research with students with learning disabilities in music
education. I appreciate Dr. Ryan Hourigan’s willingness to advise this dissertation and
his advice to highlight the many significant challenges and successes that are a part of
teaching students with special needs. His encouragement, along with Dr. Kos’s guidance,
has helped me refine this project so that it can become a living document. I would like to
thank my editors, Teri Tennison, Andrea Olmstead, and Joshua Wanger who have been a
part of this project at various stages and have helped me learn more about the art of
writing.

v
LIVED EXPERIENCES OF SECONDARY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
TEACHERS WHO TEACH STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
SALVATORE VINCIGUERRA
Boston University College of Fine Arts, 2016
Major Professor: André de Quadros, Ed.D., Professor of Music, Music Education
ABSTRACT
Very little research is published on teaching music to students with learning disabilities.
Nevertheless, federal law mandates that instruction of such students take place in all
public schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of four
secondary instrumental music teachers who teach five students with learning disabilities.
This study looked at the interactions between teachers and these students and examined
how their experiences informed teaching practices. Phenomenological in design, this
study included data collected from journals, as well as interviews, relevant artifacts, and
direct observations of the teachers. My goal was to provide data for music teacher
training programs and for these teachers to help each class of their students educate
students with learning disabilities.
Results showed that the teachers were aware of the needs of students with
learning disabilities. Teachers became frustrated with occurrences of undisclosed
diagnoses of such students and those with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and
that they had received little guidance from Individualized Education Programs or other
documents designed to inform teachers about accommodations for those with disabilities.
Successful accommodations depended on the experience or training of the teachers and
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the severity of the disability, as well as how much the students had previously learned to
cope with their learning disabilities. Students were rarely aware of specific interventions
or adaptations teachers had made to accommodate a disability. Instructors employed
general teaching techniques that aligned with Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Pedagogical information given in this study would benefit music education and add more
data to the sparse amount of work being done on teaching instrumental music to students
with learning disabilities.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Unveiling the Problem 1
Problem ......................................................................................................................... 2
Learning Disabilities ............................................................................................... 3
Inclusion .................................................................................................................. 5
Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................. 8
Differentiated Design for Learning ........................................................................ 9
Universal Design for Learning ................................................................................ 9
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ............................................................ 11
Orientation to the Study .............................................................................................. 11
Chapter 2: Investigating Literature on Learning Disabilities 13
Key Legislation in Special Education ......................................................................... 13
General Education Literature and Children With Exceptionalities ............................ 18
Inclusion ................................................................................................................ 18
Teaching Preparation in Special Education .......................................................... 26
Students With Learning Disabilities ..................................................................... 27
Specific Learning Disabilities ............................................................................... 30
Music Teacher Preparation in Special Education ....................................................... 34
Music Education and Inclusion ................................................................................... 43
Music Education and Dyslexia ................................................................................... 48
Universal Design for Learning .................................................................................... 52
Phenomenology Research in Music Education ........................................................... 54
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Justification for the Study ........................................................................................... 57
Chapter 3: Research Design and Procedures 59
Phenomenological Research ....................................................................................... 59
Reflective Thinking in Research ................................................................................. 61
Participants .................................................................................................................. 62
Recruitment ........................................................................................................... 62
Sampling ............................................................................................................... 63
Criteria for Selection ............................................................................................. 63
Participant Profiles ................................................................................................ 64
Research Sites ............................................................................................................. 65
Procedures ................................................................................................................... 67
Timeline ................................................................................................................ 67
Collection of Artifacts ........................................................................................... 68
Journaling .............................................................................................................. 69
Observations ......................................................................................................... 69
Interviews .............................................................................................................. 70
Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 73
Identifying a Thematic Framework ...................................................................... 73
Mapping and Interpretation ................................................................................... 74
Trustworthiness ........................................................................................................... 75
Bias in Phenomenology ........................................................................................ 75
Validity and Reliability ......................................................................................... 75
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