ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to compare early childhood pre-service teachers’ self-perceptions with theiractual understandings of musical knowledge. 121 pre-service teachers in Korea participated in the studyafter taking a music education course. They completed a questionnaire that set out to measure their selfperceptionsand actual understandings of musical knowledge. The results showed significant differencesbetween pre-service teachers’ perceived knowledge and their actual level of understanding. The gapbetween self-perceptions and actual level of understandings of musical knowledge was not significantlydifferent among the groups of participants with different periods of musical training except for timbreand dynamics. The results of this study were discussed in terms of what early childhood pre-serviceteachers still need, and how teacher education programs should prepare the teachers equipped withnecessary knowledge in order for them to provide rich musical experiences for young children.

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