literature review example music

University Libraries

• UI School of Music
• Location and Hours
• My Personal Library

Music Education: Literature Review Resources

• Find Articles
• Literature Review Resources
• Meetings & Symposia
• Dissertations & Theses
• Audio / Video

Get Started with Literature Reviews

Music education literature review example:.

Enz, N. (2013). Teaching Music to the Non-Major: A Review of the Literature. UPDATE: Applications Of Research In Music Education , 32 (1), 34-42.           doi:10.1177/8755123313502344

Enz clearly states that he's interested in three research questions.

• Why is studying music at the college level important for non-music majors?
• What are the appropriate goals for college-level music study for non-majors?
• What methodologies and curricula are recommended for teaching the non-major and how might they be improved?

Because this is a literature review, Enz does not seek to answer these questions himself through applying a specific research methodology. Instead, he is curious to know what answers to these questions already exist so that they can be collected and examined for differences and commonalities. As he states in the concluding remarks, "It is my hope that this article will serve as a catalyst for future discourse and study." 

Music Therapy Literature Review Example:

O'Callaghan, C. (2012). Grounded Theory in Music Therapy Research. Journal Of Music Therapy , 49 (3), 236-277. 

"This paper examines grounded theory within music therapy research." It also does a wonderful job of outlining its methodology, providing a concise overview of results, and a few practical conclusions based on this review of grounded theory literature."

Note the sources used for this literature review (PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, and ERIC) are quite different from those used in the first literature review example (RILM, Music Index, ERIC, College Music Symposium publications). The only source reviewed by both articles in ERIC.

Literature Review Guide

• << Previous: Find Articles
• Next: APA >>
• Last Updated: Aug 17, 2023 5:52 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/musiced

Music: Literature Review

• Encyclopedias
• Article Databases
• Online Music and Video
• Online Scores
• LC Call Numbers for Music
• Online Resources
• Turabian Citation Guide
• Evaluating Information
• Reading for Research
• Oxford Music Online
• Thematic Catalogs
• Paul Pollei Piano Collection
• School of Music Programs
• Concert Series
• Library Tour

Literature Review

Purpose of a literature review.

In general, the literature review should:

• provide a context for the research
• identify seminal works and scholars in the field
• acknowledge existing theories, points of view, hypotheses, etc. in the field of research
• justify the research
• clear up misconceptions about previous research
• ensure the research has not been done before (or if it is repeated, that it is marked as a "replication study")
• show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge
• enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject
• illustrate how the subject has been previously studied
• highlight flaws in previous research
• outline gaps in previous research
• show that the work is adding to the understanding and knowledge of the field
• help refine the topic, refocus the topic, or even contribute to the topic's evolution                                                                                                      (Courtesy of Bloomsburg University)
• What is a literature review and how do I conduct one? From the University of Toronto
• Sample Literature Review "Using music to learn a second language" by Viveka Kulharia
• Annotated Bibliography & Literature Review Compared

Purpose of the Literature Review Video

See a series of short videos "Literature Review Made Easy" from Scribbr

Writing the Literature Review Video

• << Previous: Library Tour
• Next: Diversity >>
• Last Updated: Apr 3, 2024 8:44 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.byu.edu/music

• Reference Manager
• Simple TEXT file

People also looked at

Systematic review article, the music learner voice: a systematic literature review and framework.

• 1 Music Faculty, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
• 2 LaRFADI, Music Faculty, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

For approximately the past 30 years, we have been witnessing a re-emergent interest in learner voice from researchers, teachers, policymakers, and students themselves. This widespread movement foreshadows the potential for a shift of paradigm from a unilateral top-down directivity to an inclusive and dialogical decision-making process in school systems. Youth voice is crucial to reimagine education from a global, multi-stakeholder perspective, which can foster student engagement and promote meaningful learning experiences. While the interest on the learner voice has burgeoned recently in the field of music education, the body of literature in this field is still relatively small, and its impact in the classroom and policies is limited. That said, a few research studies have been led to study specifically the learner voice in music, both in- and out-of-school contexts. However, so far, we have not encountered any systematic attempt to integrate these findings into a broader framework, depicting the diversity and the commonalities of the young learner voice in music education. To bridge this gap, we completed a systematic literature review of the research studies that capture the essence of young music learner voices, a corpus mostly comprised of narrative and storytelling studies. We carried out a thematic analysis to explore how young music learners describe their own musical experiences and meaning-making in informal and formal musical contexts. The results emerging from this systematic literature review are organized into a framework representing young learners' perspectives on what they like and dislike about their musical experience. We propose practical implications resulting from this analysis for innovative pedagogical approaches and policies in music education, where the learner voice is inclusively engaged in a dialogical decision-making process. Finally, we explore avenues for promoting a more significant inclusion of learner voice in music education and research.

Introduction

In the past 30 years, researchers, teachers, policymakers, and students themselves have demonstrated a re-emergent interest in learner voice ( Cook-Sather, 2006 ). This growing interest coincides with the endorsement of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 ( Mockler and Groundwater-Smith, 2015 ). One of the four principles stated in that convention is “respect for the views of the child,” which implies that the voice of the child is not only listened to but also taken into consideration in the decision-making process—a proposition that closely parallels the definition of the learner voice that we adopted (below). The burgeoning of interest for the learner voice is manifested, for example, by the creation of organizations such as Student Voice ( https://www.stuvoice.org/ ), and initiatives such as involving students in school councils as part of school improvement programs ( Whitty and Wisby, 2007 ).

The learner voice would benefit both the learners and the learning environments in promoting the development of 21st-Century skills in a context that adapts to the reality and needs of the learners today (and tomorrow). In that direction, Mockler and Groundwater-Smith (2015) argue that engaging in a dialogue with young people is a prerogative “if we are to realize the democratic, pedagogical and social aims of education in the 21st century” (p. 5). The learner voice movement foreshadows the potential for a paradigm shift from a unilateral top-down directivity to an inclusive and dialogical decision-making process in learning environments ( Rudduck, 2007 ), where the learners are not only democratically involved but also made responsible for their own learning. This process is based on two mechanisms: (1) “a practical agenda for change” where the traditional deciders (e.g., the teachers) have the opportunity to better understand the learner's point of view and (2) “an important shift in the status of students […] and in the teacher-student relationship” where the students play an active (rather than passive) role in a more collaborative and less hierarchical “partnership” with their teachers ( Rudduck, 2007 , p. 587). Taking into consideration, the young person's voice is a philosophical position based upon the belief that children and teenagers are true “beings” (and not just “becomings”), and that their ideas and perceptions are valuable ( Bragg, 2010 ).

While the interest on the learner voice has burgeoned recently in the field of music education 1 , the body of literature in this field is still relatively small, and its impact in the classroom and policies is limited ( Spruce, 2015 ). That said, a few research studies have been led to study specifically the learner voice in both in- and out-of-school contexts. However, no systematic attempt to integrate these findings into a broader framework, depicting the diversity and the commonalities of the young learner voice in diverse music education contexts, has been made thus far. Hence, we don't have access to a general picture of the musical learner voice of the 21st-century which would inform researchers, educators, and policymakers about the interests, values, and needs of these learners; a picture that could, in turn, allow these professionals to adopt better-informed practices and policies. Furthermore, at the moment, we don't know to what extent the learner voice is listened to (or not) and taken into consideration (or not) in the fields of music education and research, both in and out of school.

This literature review aims to present the actual picture of the state of knowledge of the learner voice in music and to offer insights for future initiatives in that domain. In order to achieve this objective, we reviewed the literature in music where the learner voice is quoted integrally, as we are primarily interested in the learner's (and not the researcher's) perspective of music. We then carried a thematic analysis ( Kuckartz, 2014 ) on the integral quotes from music learners, in order to address the following research question: “What are young music learners saying about their musical experience?”

Setting the Scene

Formal/informal contexts and learning.

The link between the formal/informal notions and the learner voice might not be obvious at first glance, but it is underlying many aspects relevant to the learner voice in music education. This is a complex topic that will only be briefly addressed here as it is not central to our chapter 2 . Still, some elements of the formal/informal framework in music education can help to provide a better understanding of what learners express about their musical experience. First of all, it is worth noting that the formal/informal notions are not dichotomous; they fall on a continuum ( Folkestad, 2006 ). Secondly, various components of the teaching and learning process can be qualified using the formal/informal framework ( Folkestad, 2006 ). We will discuss two of them: context and source of learning . On one end of the spectrum, formal context would refer to learning that takes place within the wall of an institution (e.g., school band). On the other end of the spectrum, informal context would be learning that takes place out-of-school (e.g., a garage band; Folkestad, 2006 ). For its part, formal source of learning would be teacher-led while informal source of learning would be self- or peer-led ( Green, 2002 , 2008 ; Jenkins, 2011 ). These two dimensions are related, but a single learning experience is not always on the same position on the formal-informal continuum for both context and source of learning; informal source of learning can occur within a formal context and vice-versa. Finally, analysis of real-life learning situations reveals that the boundaries between the formal and the informal are rarely clear-cut; they are often blurred and subject to various points of view ( Folkestad, 2006 ).

The Learner Voice: Definition, Impacts and Core Values

Throughout the world, including the United States, educational systems are based on adults' ideas about teaching and learning ( Cook-Sather, 2002 ). In most schools today, only adults are responsible for the curriculum design ( Biddulph, 2011 ). In fact, all dimensions of the learning environments (from the architectural design to the school report card) are, in most cases, determined, elaborated and reformed without consulting the ones that they are designed to serve ( Cook-Sather, 2002 ). The inadequacy of this situation has been decried by several authors (namely by Cook-Sather, 2002 ; Mitra, 2014 ; Ozer, 2017 ) especially considering the context of the acceleration of social, environmental and technological changes, characterizing the 21st-century.

Listening to the learner voice implies rethinking established practices and authorities; decisions that were once taken by adults in silos are now discussed with the learners and, perhaps more importantly, their inputs can result in effective transformations. That being said, in the literature and in practice, diverse modalities have been labeled as “student voice” initiatives. As shown in Figure 1 .

Figure 1 . Levels of learner voice participation [partial figure] ( Rudd et al., 2006 , p. 13).

This model highlights how the learner voice can vary extensively in practice. On one end of the continuum, it could manifest itself in a non-participative, passive mechanism (Inform), which we could argue is not an authentic learner voice (more on this later) to, on the other end, self-determination (Empower). In view of the wide range of manifestations of the learner voice, how can this broad concept be defined?

In most cases, “student voice” refers to school environments. For example, Mitra describes the student voice as: “the many ways in which youth have opportunities to share in the school decisions that will shape their lives and the lives of their peers” ( Mitra, 2008 , p. 221). This definition, which is affirming the diversity of the student voice, is a good starting point for the discussion although it is restricted to the school context. However, as learning can occur in diverse settings, including community, education, and research, we argue that the “learner voice” can be heard and be part of the dialogue both in and out-of-school. Consequently to this postulate we propose the following definition of the learner voice: the process by which learners are listened to, consulted, included, take part, or take charge of the decision-making process or take action about their learning or their education in diverse contexts .

In July 2019, a Google Search with the query “Student voice” returned more than 2,000,000 results, while “Pupil voice” returned about 335,000 results and “Learner Voice” just above 80,000 results. Those requests, intentionally conducted without any domain specificity, offer a general insight of the popularity of the expression “Student voice” over “Learner Voice,” with a frequency that is approximately 25 times higher for the former. While conscious of the apparent consensus in favor of the expression “Student voice,” our preference for the expression “Learner voice” is not fortuitous and reflects our intention to broaden the contexts in which it can be part of the conversation. In the same fashion, as a learner doesn't, in fact, need to be a student to learn, there is absolutely no certitude that being a student effectively leads to learning (still, we acknowledge it does … in some instances). Hence, we prefer to use the expression “Learner Voice” throughout this chapter because it is concerned about what individuals who are engaged in learning, wherever it occurs—inside or outside the walls of an institution have to say about their learning. This position is also echoed in Walker and Logan (2008) who, after conceding that “student voice” and “pupil voice” are the most used expressions, prefer to use “learner voice” “to encourage debate on ‘who' the learner actually is, as today, the student (both adult and young), the teacher or even their parents are now often referred to as ‘learners' whose voices should be heard and acted upon” (p. 2). In this chapter, we focus on the young learner voice, “young” is broadly defined as under 18 years old, the age of majority in more than half of the countries of the world. However, we want to underline that, since learning can occur anywhere and at any age, the learner voice can be a useful concept in more diverse populations and settings, including, but not limited to, teachers, employees in a company or elderly learners.

Learner voice is crucial to reimagine education from a global, multi-stakeholder perspective. Not only listening to what young people have to say about their education, but also looking at how they can take on effective actions, can lead to improved teaching practices ( Commeyras, 1995 ; Fielding and Bragg, 2003 ; Cook-Sather, 2009 ), and provide a sense of empowerment to the student and increase their motivation toward their education ( Rudduck, 2007 ; Walker and Logan, 2008 ; Mitra, 2014 ). Even if this approach involves in-depth questioning of the actual modes of operation of our education systems, which can provoke resistance from stakeholders who find comfort in the policies that have prevailed for decades, learner voice initiatives can positively impact on the learner, their teachers/guides/facilitators, and their learning environment. Firstly, learner voice can foster student engagement and promote meaningful learning experiences ( Walker and Logan, 2008 ). For example, it can lead learners to develop “greater sense of ownership over their learning, increased motivation, improved self-esteem, greater achievement, improved relationships with peers and educators and increased self-efficacy” ( Walker and Logan, 2008 , p. 2). Moreover, by taking an active role in decision-making and increasing their sense of agency, learners can experience a greater sense of responsibility and ability to communicate, which are crucial 21st-century skills (P21, P21). Less frequently discussed in the literature is the concept that teachers/guides/facilitators—which we will call “guides” from now on—can also benefit greatly from the learner voice. Effectively, listening to their voice, guides can build a new partnership with learners and, by receiving authentic feedback on their educational practice, develop more efficacious teaching skills or, in an ideal scenario, receive learners' confirmation that what they thought worked, actually worked effectively ( Fielding and Bragg, 2003 ). Learner voice can also positively impact learning environments: when the learners are actively involved in the decision-making process, they tend to develop an increased sense of identity in their learning environment and build links with institutions outside their school, which benefits school reputation, image and dynamism ( Fielding and Bragg, 2003 ).

Benefiting from the potential positive effects of the learner voice requires the implementation of best practices. Robinson and Taylor identified four “core values” of the learner voice:

1. A conception of communication as dialogue;

2. The requirement for participation and democratic inclusivity;

3. The recognition that power relations are unequal and problematic; and

4. The possibility of change and transformation ( Robinson and Taylor, 2007 , p. 8).

Following this model, authentic learner voice initiatives allow for two-way exchanges between teachers and students, are participatory and inclusive, challenge established power relations and allow for effective changes. That is to say that merely collecting students' feedback and not taking their ideas into consideration is not authentic learner voice.

The Learner Voice in Music

Despite the growing interest in the learner voice observed in the scientific literature ( Gonzalez et al., 2017 ), the literature centered on the learner voice in music remains scarce ( Spruce, 2015 ). Although this area is still relatively fallow in music, we consider the importance of reviewing the literature to draw a picture of the actual state of knowledge about the learner voice in music. The following questions were addressed:

1. What can we learn from the actual research on the learner voice in music?

2. How can the actual state of knowledge about the learner voice in music inform teaching and learning practices, and guide further research in that field?

To address these questions, we completed a systematic literature review of the empirical research studies on the learner voice in music.

We consulted four databases (ERIC, RILM, Music Index, and Education Source) between the 11th and the 14th of June 2019. The research criteria were: (“student voice” OR “learner voice” [in: all fields]) AND music [in: subject]. Only peer-reviewed research studies were retained. At this stage, a total of 47 records were found; 39 records remained after excluding duplicates (see Table 1 ).

Table 1 . First search details.

We conducted a second search, with similar criteria, with (“pupil voice” [in: all fields]) AND music [in: subject]. Table 2 presents search results in each database.

Table 2 . Second search details.

We then screened our results, using the following criteria:

a) The source is peer-reviewed, written in English and published after 2005;

b) The main theme of the research study is music;

c) The source comprises integral and significant quotations from young musicians about music.

We purposefully restrained our keywords to include only research studies that explicitly investigated the student/learner/pupil voice in music. As our intention was to draw a picture of the actual state of knowledge in this domain, we focused on the literature that has been published within the last 15 years.

Only 7 records matched our criteria: Countryman (2009) ; Howell (2011) ; Lowe (2012) ; Evans et al. (2015) ; Black (2017) ; Kokotsaki (2017) and Lowe (2018) .

We coded all the excerpts where the learner voice was quoted integrally in the retained literature, using NVivo 12 software (Mac version). Quotes that were not standalone (i.e., those not meaningful when taken out of the source) were excluded. Only the young person quotations were analyzed, to avoid influences from original researcher interpretation. Our objective was to re-analyze the data and leave out, to the extent possible, the initial researcher perspective and stay as close as possible to the learners' words. Given the limited quantity of sources retained, we chose to analyze the literature in a two-step process. Firstly, we adopted a micro approach, analyzing each paper individually in order to bring to light the key elements that emerged from each source retained. Secondly, we adopted a macro approach, looking at the literature from a transversal and synthetic perspective, to identify the recurring themes in our corpus. That is to say that we searched for recurring themes throughout the sources retained and organized them into broad categories. This multi-stage process of categorization and coding is described in detail below. Thirdly, after our main analysis was completed, we read all sources in their entirety in order to identify the main methodological characteristics, population, context and research objective of each study (as presented in Table 3 ). These studies encompass a wide range of music-making practices, thus offering a multiperspective understanding of the learner voice in music.

Table 3 . Summary of the literature retained.

Specific Analysis—Open Coding Structure

After coding all the participants' quotations, we ran a word frequency request to get an initial overview of our data. The fifty most frequent words in all the participants' quotes are shown in Figure 2 .

Figure 2 . Fifty more frequent words.

We grouped these words into main themes. The frequency of the first word on the list determines the position of the main theme (e.g., “like” appeared more frequently than “music” so “pleasure or well-being” appears before “music”). The words listed under each main theme appear in order of frequency of appearance. All the words that were not meaningful when taken out of context were regrouped under the category “ambiguous or less significant.” The themes (excluding “ambiguous or less significant” words) that can be derived from the music learners voice 50 most frequent words were, in order of importance, related to (1) pleasure or well-being ; (2) music ; (3) action ; (4) learning environment ; (5) people ; (6) desire and (7) receptivity . See Table 4 for more details on this categorization.

Table 4 . Main themes in participants' words.

After running the word frequency search, which offers a surface perspective on our data, we moved toward a more in-depth approach. We did an initial thematic analysis of our data, using an inductive categorization. That is to say that all the learner quotes were coded using an open structure, creating new categories for each emerging theme. The categorization tree was developed, structured and refined throughout the coding process. All quotes relating to music, either directly or indirectly, were coded in order to explore how young music learners describe their musical experiences.

After reviewing the resulting categorization tree and our coded extracts, we realized that the O'Neill (2016) framework 3 could provide a valuable, transversal perspective on our data. An adaptation of the five categories she proposed, effectively encompassed most recurring themes in our sources, thus providing an appropriate lens for a better understanding of the student voice in music. See Table 5 for the five categories from her model, along with their definitions.

Table 5 . O'Neill (2016) categorization [adapted].

Traversal Analysis—Coding Structure

Using this basic, five items, categorization, we completed a second coding pass of all excerpts by recoding all the learners' quotes using a mixed coding approach ( L'Écuyer, 1987 ). In other words, we used an initial categorization tree (i.e., O'Neill's framework) in conjunction with the possibility to create new nodes throughout the process, adding new categories and sub-categories when deemed relevant. During this categorization process, we realized that all the categories comprised in the O'Neill framework were related to what learners liked , so they were grouped under that parent category. We also encountered several quotes where learners explicitly described what they disliked , hence we created this second parent category. We also created a few sub-categories under the dislikes: disconnected from their main interests, non-experiential approaches, limitations to learning opportunities, limitations to well-being and teacher's attitude , and under the five categories from the initial O'Neill categorization: of learning , … opportunities, of well-being, with goal(s), with instrument(s) OR music, with peer(s) OR teacher(s), find MY voice and technologies ). These subcategories offered a greater degree of precision for the salient themes encountered in our corpus. Our final categorization resulted in a dichotomous framework, opposing what the learners liked to what they disliked about music, music-making, and music-learning. Table 6 presents our final categorization tree along with the definition of each category.

Table 6 . Final categorization based on O'Neill (2016) .

The literature is initially analyzed from a micro perspective, discussing what stood out from each research paper. Then, all sources are discussed from a transversal perspective, synthesizing the views of young music learners about what contributes to and impacts on, their musical engagement and the meaningfulness of their musical experience.

Specific Results

We kept a journal while coding our sources. In the journal, we noted the themes that stood out from the learner voice for each paper. After coding was finished, we confronted our coding with the notes in our journal, attempting to grasp the salient elements in the discourse of the learners. Here, the frequency of occurrences of each theme was less important to us than how striking a peculiar quote was or what could be understood between the “lines” of the learner voice.

Black (2017)

Black documented the lived experience of a secondary school jazz combo through interviews ( N = 3). First of all, this study revealed that building confidence (coded under the category well-being) was an important and valuable consequence for the learners participating in a jazz ensemble. Learners also mentioned that they valued learning and sharing their learning with their peers. Also, the importance of relationships, horizontal decision-making and shared purpose were strongly emphasized by the participants. On a less positive note, the learner voice also implicitly suggested that traditional teacher-centered learning promotes teacher dependency , even when manifested in a less formal context: “You've never been taught to do this, so how can you expect to be able to do it? [laughs] You can't” (p. 351). This quote implicitly reveals the student's belief that learning always occurs through teaching—and that it cannot be self-directed. Hence, despite all the perceived benefits of participating in a jazz combo project, it might also have lesser desirable outputs such as involuntarily leading the learner to interiorize that one can't learn by himself .

Countryman (2009)

Countryman studied the experiences of students involved in high school music programs. She interviewed 33 former high school students (aged 19–25), 1–6 years after their high school graduation. The salient theme emerging from her research is the high value learners placed on the social connections that initiated and created through music participation. The participants in this research seemed to be relatively engaged in their music learning, but the glue that held most of them together and kept them involved in their music program was their social relationships. Social connections were so essential for some that they explicitly insisted on the fact that, for them, friends are more important than music , for example:

“ (JC [Researcher]: Why did you continue with the band all the way through high school?) Consistency, for one thing. I'd been doing it for so long ~ and the stigma of walking away ~ if I walked away from it I'd be walking away from my friends. It was all about the friends, not about the music.” (p. 94)

“ I was there because of my friends. I got the music because of it.” (p. 95)

“ I liked being a part of a musical group. I liked the kind of music we played, and also just the people. I had a lot of friends in music that had been in the orchestra since junior high. So, you have your friends in the group and it's fun.” (p. 95)

An interesting explanation for this process of bonding through music-making from one learner is that it implies sharing emotions with others, as explained in the following excerpts: “I was so close with those people because you're displaying emotion every single day” (p. 105) and “There was the shared experience of going through this together” (p. 94). Still, for some learners, the social bonding that was prevalent between them and their peers was not necessarily present with their teacher: “the conductor was not part of the equation at all ~ not on the same playing field.”

Other elements that appeared to be highly valued by the participants of this research were the ideas of: finding their own voice, empowerment and ownership . While some high school music programs adopted a traditional teacher-directed model, other programmes were encouraging students' initiatives, such as choosing repertoire or self-leading rehearsals. In that direction, learners emphasized the importance of playing the music they wanted to play:

“ Jazz night in Grade 11. we had the round tables and candles. that was my first occasion where I performed in a small combo that we totally did by ourselves. KN chose the song and we rehearsed all on our own – I absolutely loved it. That was my favorite situation of all time.” (p. 102)

Many of them also discussed how soloing was important to them, for example:

“ It was just so fun. It wasn't just fun. it was more than that ~ like the first time I ever had a solo people just went nuts. They said things like ‘I didn't know this was in you!' I didn't know this was in me! That's a good feeling to have.” (p. 101)

Finally, participants in this research valued music for its experiential nature, for example: “And I think you have a lot to talk about, because music ~ it's a lot more out of school ~ it's music! Unlike other courses, music is more of an experience” (p. 105).

Evans et al. (2015)

Evans et al. studied the implementation of an informal music learning approach (Musical Futures) in three secondary schools in Wales. They conducted 4 focus group interviews with groups six to eight learners (aged 11–14). The learners involved in this project reported a positive experience overall. Quotes from learners show how they globally valued their informal learning experience, namely because it involved playing music that they liked: “It's just, like, all the bands we listen to—it's good being able to play what they can play” (p. 7) making choices and learning various skills. This positive value is also manifested by the sense of engagement many learners participating in this study expressed toward their music learning. For example, the following quote illustrates how young learners were engaged enough in music to form their own garage band: “We started off practicing at lunchtime in the practice rooms but that, couldn't get much done in the hour so we started doing it out of school then so/ [interrupted]. Learner 2: In a garage [laughs]. Learner 1: In a garage—the neighbors don't really like us” (p. 10).

However, despite a globally positive experience, the project was not without tension. One prominent cause of tension was the perceived differences in terms of musicianship between peers:

“ It's a lot more difficult when umm, there's only one person in that group whose only got the weakest point and it's like everyone else is stronger at their own—that's when it gets a bit tricky, because that's when it seems to build a bit of an argument about it because we can't really swap because the whole group has found their strong point but there's always one person who still hasn't found their strongest point yet.” (p. 11)

Howell (2011)

Howell studied music-making and musical understanding among newly arrived immigrant and refugee children. More specifically, she interviewed three newly arrived children (aged 11–14) attending Melbourne English Language School in Australia who experienced composition (songwriting) activities. Participants in this research mainly described factually their learning experience. Yet, the learners described how they valued composing, for it meant creating their own music:

“ The music we play… it comes from our heads, not from a book…” (p. 37)

“ We think it up by ourselves. We do it by ourselves.” (p. 37)

These perceptions of ownership contributed to the participants' positive appreciation of their music-making experience.

Kokotsaki (2017)

Kokotsaki studied the pupil voice and attitudes to music during the transition to secondary school in six schools from the North East of England. Three of these schools where data collection took place were selected for the transition strategies they had in place and were labeled as “good practice” schools. The remaining three schools had no such strategies in place and were labeled as “need to improve” schools. Kokotsaki used a mixed method approach combining focus group interviews and the Attitudes to Music questionnaire. The qualitative data we re-analyzed here are based on 97 focus-group interviews, with 4–5 pupils in each group (the pupil's age is unspecified, but they are in Year 7, which usually corresponds to 11–12 years old).

The salient theme in this research is that learners place a high value on music, especially when it is taught from an informal approach, for example: “I love it when we do practical work but not when we do work (writing)” (p. 11). They seem to enjoy the experiential dimension of music: collaborating, playing, practicing and learning various instruments. However, learners seem to be often taught with formal teaching approaches, which are associated with what they dislike about their music lesson, such as sitting, writing, hard work and tests: “Our first teacher was better—now we're just doing piano and we used to get out the drums and the tambourine and all that; the teacher let us be our own musician” (p. 32). Directive teaching approaches centered on a single instrument and/or paper and pen activities appeared to be detrimental to learner's appreciation of their school music lessons.

Lowe (2012)

Lowe studied the values and beliefs that students in their first year of secondary school attached to learning an instrument, and the impact of the instrumental lesson upon these values and beliefs. He conducted eight focus groups with 48 students (aged 12–13) from Australia. What stands out in this paper is the link between learners' appreciation (or not) of their teacher and the value they place on music. Positive teacher attitudes and competencies appear to be strongly correlated with musical engagement:

“ I like to go to lessons because my teacher is really nice and he's an inspiration to us all. My saxophone teacher, he plays the instrument like really, really well so he always plays to me, like how he plays, like really, really good pieces so that I can know how I will sound maybe 1 day if I keep practicing and stuff—it's sort of like inspiring.” (p. 11)

However, in the opposite direction, perceptions of teacher incompetency or poor pedagogical approach leads learners to disengagement:

“ In my first year in Year 6, the first year I was playing, we had a really bad teacher and he always just set lots of homework and he wouldn't do very much at all. He didn't bring his trumpet in so he didn't play it at all, he'd just tell us what to do. And there was about…there was five people offered the position of the trumpet. Everyone took it up and then by the end of the year there was only two left. Lots of people had just quit and dropped out and I was actually thinking about it until I asked in the office and they said we were getting a different teacher for next year. So that's the only reason I stayed.” (p. 15)

Lowe (2018)

In this research study, Lowe examined students' feedback following participation in an alternative large-scale cooperative music ensemble festival in comparison to traditional competitive festivals. More precisely, the author defines a competition-festival as a school ensemble contest where the performances standards are rated externally. For its part, a cooperative festival is defined as a music ensemble event focused on enjoyment, cooperative and motivational outcomes and where the performances are unrated. This research was conducted in Australia. A total of 345 students completed a survey comprising 21 items and a section for comments. All of the students surveyed had just participated in a cooperative-festival and most of them had participated in a competition-festival in previous year. As the subject of this last research is very specific, discussing the impact of a singular, punctual event, it conveys less transferable data. Still, what can be perceived from the learners' voice in this study is that they appreciate being part of a large, good-sounding ensemble with friends and listening to high-achieving musicians as a source of inspiration.

Transversal Results

The liked and the disliked.

As shown in Figure 3 , all categories that pertained to the “dislikes” can be related to a mirror category within the “likes.” That is to say that overall, most learners were consequent; when considering an element as positive, they also described its opposite as negative. For example, learners quite eloquently described how they liked becoming aware of learning :

“ Before I could only play the guitar, but when I came here I could play the drums, piano and guitar.” (in Kokotsaki, 2017 , p. 13)

“ I enjoy playing the piano, learning new music, singing.” (in Kokotsaki, 2016, p. 22)

“ I'm happy to adapt now, and this is not even as a musician, this is just in general. I wouldn't say before the combo, I was particularly adaptable, I would just kinda do what I was gonna do, no matter what.” (in Black, 2017 , p. 348)

“ […] learned loads of things. I've no idea how to read music [inaudible] but, like, I go on YouTube and I, umm, I search for things but then, I also make my own music as well.” (in Evans et al., 2015 , p. 13)

Figure 3 . Likes, dislikes and how they relate to each other.

As shown in the previous examples, learning in the music lesson can be highly varied. In addition to the expected (and recurrently mentioned throughout the retained sources) learning of instruments or new songs, some participants also mentioned learning to adapt to diverse situations and transferring this skill into their “normal” (non-musical) life. Other participants discussed acquiring the ability to be autonomous in their music learning and to learn songs by ear. An overarching perception, shared among the majority of participants, is that musical learning experiences are enjoyable and generate excitement:

“ I think I haven't stopped learning things from first year up until now. I'll probably keep going until whatever stage … I mean, if combo hadn't taken place, that band probably wouldn't exist, so that's really cool [laughs].” (in Black, 2017 , p. 352)

For many learners, experiential approaches seem to be correlated to the perceived value of their learning experiences.

“ In English, you do a lot of writing and study techniques. In music, you still have lots to remember but you do this by practicing and experiencing them rather than writing them down.” (in Kokotsaki, 2016, p. 22)

“ Music is one of the most interactive subjects.” (in Kokotsaki, 2017 , p. 22)

Zones of Conflict

Despite the wide variety of contexts studied in the sources we retained, there were very few apparent zones of conflict in the learner's discourse. Effectively, beyond their age or the context of the research they took part in, they were on the same page on the vast majority of topics they discussed. More precisely, in all the excerpts, two topics emerged as potential zones of disagreement: liking inclusivity vs. disliking wasting time and liking playing keyboards vs. disliking playing only the keyboard.

First of all, many participants evoked an appreciation for the inclusivity of their musical experience, where everyone was welcomed to participate and accepted as a whole, with their strengths and weaknesses. For example:

“ Music's a haven for people that, even if they aren't accepted socially you know, they go to anything in music and they are accepted. That's why I loved that life. Everyone in music is interesting. Everyone in music got there their own way. There were a lot of trend setters, trend breakers; there were a lot of people who didn't care what other people thought.” (in Countryman, 2009 , p. 104)

“ 'It is a lesson where everyone in the class can get involved, so when we come into the classroom we are all happy.” (in Kokotsaki, 2017 , p. 11)

While some learners valued inclusive music learning contexts, others mentioned that they disliked “wasting” time. In such instances, one of the causes that was attributed to inefficient class time management was unequal levels of aptitudes within their group:

“ Sometimes you'll be in a group lesson and then the people with you aren't as good as you are because they haven't been playing as long. And so, you have to go back to the beginning of it and go through it all again.” (in Lowe, 2012 , p. 14)

Such comments were formulated by learners who perceived their own level in music as superior to those of some of their colleagues who, in their opinion, were slowing down the group. Another potential zone of conflict was related to keyboard use in class. Some learners described playing the piano as something positive that they would like to do more of during their classes: “We didn't have much time on the keyboards. Whenever we were on the keyboards, it was to prepare for a test” (in Kokotsaki, 2017 ). However, others included playing the piano among the elements that they disliked about their music lessons:

“ It is nearly all the same; we have to listen and then play something on the piano.” ( Kokotsaki, 2017 , 2016, p. 29)

“ We don't do composing a lot—all we do is play on the piano and sometimes we get in groups and do questions, it's boring.” (in Kokotsaki, 2017 , p. 27)

In Summary—What Are Young Music Learners Saying About Their Musical Experience?

The vast majority of the young music learners in the sources retained expressed that they like to learn music and to be actively engaged in their learning: they do want to play music, to create, to help each other, to realize projects, to be creative and to express themselves. However, what also stands out from the literature is that some current teaching approaches are not only unsupportive to help the learners to realize these powerful driving forces, but also seem to hinder them. For example, most music learners (a) don't like to be lectured and tested, they prefer to be active in a collaborative and non-stressful environment; (b) don't like to be directed in a top-down approach, they want to take part in the decision-making process, and (c) prefer not to specialize too quickly: they value learning various instruments and songs. A pedagogical approach based on these preferences would arguably promote learners' engagement as well as their development of 21st-Century skills. Hence, why are some music teachers still choosing to go against the grain and adopt a more formal approach (as shown in Lowe, 2012 ; Kokotsaki, 2017 ).

(We should) play the actual instrument rather than looking at a picture of an instrument.

(Participant in Kokotsaki, 2017 , p. 29).

What Can We Learn From the Actual Research on the Learner Voice in Music?

This literature review has shown that, despite the growing interest in the learner voice in education, research explicitly interested in the learner voice in the field of music is still limited. Given the relatively limited number of studies that have covered the subject so far, it is difficult to generalize any conclusions regarding the learner voice in music. Hence, we posit that more research is needed, with larger samplings, to provide a broader picture of the music learners' likes and dislikes in diverse contexts, both formal and informal. Documenting a greater number of music learner voices, more specifically exploring their zones of convergence or divergence and the factors underlying their views of music teaching and learning would represent a valuable contribution to the field. That being said, young people's voices are constantly evolving, and their perspectives, ideas and preferences will vary depending on the context in which they are collected. We therefore suggest that great care is taken in transposing the conclusions of one research study from one context to another, as such an approach might not always meet the needs and expectations of the participants.

Furthermore, we observed an important gap between the research methods implemented in the sources analyzed and the actual discourse on the learner voice. Effectively, while the research studies we reviewed were above all listening to the participants, most current learner voice theories agree on the idea that merely listening to the learners voice is not enough; authentic learner voice should promote empowerment and agencies of the participants ( Rudd et al., 2006 ; Rudduck, 2007 ). This calls for a need to include the learners in sustainable ways throughout the process of decision-making, both in their educational settings and learner voice research.

How Can the Actual State of Knowledge About the Learner Voice in Music Inform Teaching and Learning Practices, and Guide Further Research in That Field? Pedagogical Implications of the Learners' Likes, Dislikes and Zones of Conflict

Following what we have learned from the music learner voice, a few actions can already be implemented in music education. First of all, traditional one-to-one musical lessons centered on developing a specialization on a single instrument and sanctioned by a yearly exam seems to be alien to what most learners value. Effectively, while an inspiring teacher was valued by the learners, social connections with peers appeared to prevail for them. Secondly, we believe that it is crucial to be under the assumption that learners like to learn ; music learners clearly expressed that they want to learn and that they do not like to “waste” time. However, they are also quite clear on how they prefer to learn. In a single word: experientially . They like to “learn by doing,” or more accurately, “learn by playing,” and not by “working.” They also like to be empowered and to make their own choice . Finally, learners like to teach . The learners expressed repeatedly that they value sharing what they have learned with their peers. Based on the important potential of learning-by-teaching as a means to consolidate learning ( Duran, 2017 ; Koh et al., 2018 ), we believe that this approach should be more exploited in music teaching and learning.

If, as music teachers, our goal is to instill and nourish the love of music and music-making in our learners, top-down directive teaching approaches and formal testing might be counterproductive. If it hinders the engagement and motivation of the learner, what is the added value of a pedagogical approach tailored to meet the requirements of a final exam based on criterion that are disconnected to the learner's interests? Following our analysis, we propose a few innovative teaching and learning approaches in music education, where the learner voice is inclusively engaged in a dialogical decision-making process.

With these goals in mind, we suggest the following avenues for promoting a more significant inclusion of learner voice in music education and learner-centered approaches and practices:

• explore avenues to build and realize the full potential of social connections with peers

• ask learners what THEY would like to learn (instrument, repertoire, other musical and non-musical skills, such as recording or communication)

• ask learners HOW they think these learning goals should be approached

• include learners in designing lesson content, home practice goals, and long-term aims

• consult learners regularly about lesson content and method and ACT upon what they expressed, offering an authentic potential for changes and transformation

• include learners in discussing, implementing and evaluating these transformations

With these goals in mind, we suggest the following avenues for promoting a more significant inclusion of learner voice in music research :

• ask learners what THEY would like to investigate (research question and objectives)

• ask learners HOW they think these questions/objectives should be addressed (method)

• include learner in designing an experimentation (e.g., a specific program)

• consult learners more than once (e.g., at the beginning and at the end of a research project) and ACT upon what they expressed, offering an authentic potential for changes and transformation

• include learner in discussing, implementing and evaluating these transformations

And Now?—Exploring Further Research Avenues

In all the sources retained in this literature review, researchers listened to the learners' voice. We posit that this innovative approach conveys the potential to bring both significant and positive changes to music teaching and learning, as long as actions are taken following what leaners expressed. Effectively, coming back to our initial learner voice definition 4 , participants in these research studies were listened to and consulted . However, they were not included in the decision-making process and even less so invited to take action about their learning or their education . This is where the gap resides in current music research on the learner voice. Firstly, none of the research design included taking action in line with the ideas, perspectives or experiences expressed by the learners. Secondly, in all the literature reviewed, none included the learners in the research design, data collection, and analysis or dissemination of knowledge. That is to say that the learner voice was “listened to,” but that “the possibility for change and transformation” (Robinson and Taylor 4th core value) was more or less absent in those researches. This would represent an important step to take in the field of research on the learner voice in music. Similarly, extrapolating from the second limitation of this literature review, further research on the learner voice could place a special attention in providing access to all raw data (e.g., full verbatim and/or recording of the interviews). Such a practice would offer more visibility to the leaners voice and could potentially contribute to maximize its impact “on the ground.” In that direction, Kokotsaki (2017) stands out in our literature review for it provides, in the Appendix a multipage table featuring over 200 participants quotes associated with every “categories of description” she used for analyzing the interviews conducted. This is an interesting avenue for dissemination of knowledge if publishing whole raw data transcripts is not feasible. Using online resources for storing and sharing raw data would be another avenue to explore in learner voice research.

For example, in Black (2017) the participants described how participating in a jazz band combo influenced their musical and non-musical development, thus validating the positive impact of informal learning in a formal environment of jazz-learning experiences. While the learner voice was heard, it was when the researcher-teacher deemed it appropriate and about what he decided to discuss. Furthermore, apart from the research results, what the learners expressed did not result in changes and transformation of their music learning experience.

Hence, we argue that it is now time that music education take a step further and begin to listen also to the learners prospectively instead of just retrospectively . That is to say that listening to the learners' voice should occur BEFORE planning and implementing a data collection, WHILE the data collection is going on, and AFTER the data collection. Furthermore, it is equally important that actions be taken that are congruent with what learners have expressed. It may also be beneficial to include the learners in the research process and allow them to be agents of the transformation they promote.

Limitations

The first limitation of this literature review is the small number of sources we analyzed. This testifies to the relatively scarce number of research studies explicitly focusing on “the learner/student/pupil voice ” in music. This limitation, therefore, reveals a promising avenue for future research on this topic in music. The second limitation of this literature review is that we are using secondary sources to access the learner voice. As we are re-analyzing quotations from published papers, our results are undoubtfully tinted by the researchers' lenses. Effectively, the researcher made various decisions both during the data collection process and when choosing which quotes to include or not in their publications, based on their own perspectives and interests. Such decisions oriented the participant's discourse and the choice of the published quotations. This limitation brings to light an important question for further reflection in the field of learner voice research: how can we faithfully document and disseminate results in the learner voice?

Personal Reflection

Reading and analyzing this literature made us both sad and hopeful. It made us sad because we listened to so many frustrated voices who wanted to “play” and collaborate but were constrained by rigid structures and teaching approaches. It made us hopeful because whether in a creative classroom or not, music learners from all around the world expressed their desire to learn, teach, share, and create; all we have to do as music educators is to facilitate these noble inner drives.

Author Contributions

J-PD did the literature review, wrote the first draft, and the final version of the manuscript. FD contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version. All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

1. ^ For example, the 27th European Association for Music in Schools (EAS) and the 7th European ISME Regional Conference in Malmö (Sweden) organized their common conference on this theme (“ The School I'd Like” ) in May 2019.

2. ^ For a more comprehensive discussion on the formal/informal framework in music education, the reader could refer to Folkestad (2006) , Green (2002) ; Green, 2009, Jenkins (2011) , Mak (2006) , Schippers and Bartleet (2013) and Veblen (2018) , among other.

3. ^ This framework was developed for the Work on the waterfront intergenerational learning: Guidebook for educators. A cross-curricular arts and civic history program for elementary and secondary classrooms project. It was then reused by O'Neill and Dubé to analyse the data of their SSHRC funded project: Understanding young musicians' transformative music engagement: Integrating collaborative participatory learning into individual music learning contexts ( https://www.music-engagement.com ).

4. ^ The process by which learners are listened to, consulted, included, take part, or take charge of the decision-making process or take action about their learning or their education in diverse contexts .

Biddulph, M. (2011). Articulating student voice and facilitating curriculum agency. Curr. J. 22, 381–399. doi: 10.1080/09585176.2011.601669

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Black, P. (2017). On being and becoming a jazz musician: perceptions of young Scottish musicians. Lond. Rev. Educ. 15, 339–357. doi: 10.18546/LRE.15.3.02

Bragg, S. (2010). Consulting Young People: A Literature Review . London: CCE.

Google Scholar

Commeyras, M. (1995). What can we learn from students' questions? Theory Into Pract. 34, 101–106. doi: 10.1080/00405849509543666

Cook-Sather, A. (2002). Authorizing students' perspectives: toward trust, dialogue, and change in education. Educ. Res. 31, 3–14. doi: 10.3102/0013189X031004003

Cook-Sather, A. (2006). Sound, presence, and power: “Student voice” in educational research and reform. Curr. Inquiry 36, 359–390. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-873X.2006.00363.x

Cook-Sather, A. (2009). I am not afraid to listen”: prospective teachers learning from students. Theory Into Pract. 48, 176–183. doi: 10.1080/00405840902997261

Countryman, J. (2009). High school music programmes as potential sites for communities of practice–a Canadian study. Music Educ. Res. 11, 93–109. doi: 10.1080/14613800802699168

Duran, D. (2017). Learning-by-teaching. Evidence and implications as a pedagogical mechanism. Innov. Educ. Teaching Intern. 54, 476–484. doi: 10.1080/14703297.2016.1156011

Evans, S. E., Beauchamp, G., and John, V. (2015). Learners' experience and perceptions of informal learning in Key Stage 3 music: a collective case study, exploring the implementation of Musical Futures in three secondary schools in Wales. Music Educ. Res. 17, 1–16. doi: 10.1080/14613808.2014.950212

Fielding, M., and Bragg, S. (2003). Students as Researchers. Making a Difference . Cambridge: Pearson Publishing.

PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar

Folkestad, G. (2006). Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning. Br. J. Music Educ. 23, 135–145. doi: 10.1017/S0265051706006887

Gonzalez, T. E., Hernandez-Saca, D. I., and Artiles, A. J. (2017). In search of voice: theory and methods in K-12 student voice research in the US, 1990–2010. Educ. Rev. 69, 451–473. doi: 10.1080/00131911.2016.1231661

Green, L. (2002). How Popular Musicians Learn, A Way Ahead for Music Education . Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

Green, L. (2008). Music, Informal Learning and the School : A New Classroom Pedagogy. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Howell, G. (2011). Do they know they're composing?': music making and understanding among newly arrived immigrant and refugee children. Intern. J. Commun. Music 4, 47–58. doi: 10.1386/ijcm.4.1.47_1

Jenkins, P. (2011). Formal and informal music educational practices. Philos. Music Educ. Rev. 19, 179–197. doi: 10.2979/philmusieducrevi.19.2.179

Koh, A. W. L., Lee, S. C., and Lim, S. W. H. (2018). The learning benefits of teaching: a retrieval practice hypothesis. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 32, 401–410. doi: 10.1002/acp.3410

Kokotsaki, D. (2017). Pupil voice and attitudes to music during the transition to secondary school. Br. J. Music Educ. 34, 5–39. doi: 10.1017/S0265051716000279

Kuckartz, U. (2014). Qualitative Text Analysis: A Guide to Methods, Practice and Using Software . London: Sage Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781446288719

L'Écuyer, R. (1987). “L'analyse de contenu: notion et étapes,”. in Les Méthodes de la Recherche Qualitative , ed J. P. Deslauriers (Les Presses de l'Université du Québec), 49–65.

Lowe, G. (2012). Lessons for teachers: what lower secondary school students tell us about learning a musical instrument. Intern. J. Music Educ. 30, 227–243. doi: 10.1177/0255761411433717

Lowe, G. M. (2018). Competition versus cooperation: implications for music teachers following students feedback from participation in a large-scale cooperative music festival. Austr. J. Teacher Educ. 43, 78–94. doi: 10.14221/ajte.2018v43n5.6

Mak, P. (2006). Learning music in formal, non-formal and informal contexts . Available online at: https://research.hanze.nl/ws/files/12409231/mak14_1.pdf

Mitra, D. L. (2008). Balancing power in communities of practice: an examination of increasing student voice through school-based youth–adult partnerships. J. Educ. Change 9, 221–242. doi: 10.1007/s10833-007-9061-7

Mitra, D. L. (2014). Student Voice in School Reform: Building Youth-Adult Partnerships That Strengthen Schools and Empower Youth . Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Mockler, N., and Groundwater-Smith, S. (2015). “Introduction: beyond legitimation and guardianship,” in Engaging With Student Voice in Research, Education and Community: Beyond Legitimation and Guardianship , eds N. Mockler and S. Groundwater-Smith (Springer International Publishing), 3–11. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-01985-7_1

O'Neill, S. A. (2016). Work on the Waterfront Intergenerational Learning: Guidebook for Educators. A Cross-Curricular Arts and Civic History Program for Elementary and Secondary Classrooms . MODAL Research Group.

Ozer, E. J. (2017). Youth-led participatory action research: overview and potential for enhancing adolescent development. Child Dev. Perspect. 11, 173–177. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12228

P21 (2019). Framework for 21st Century Learning. BattelleforKids . Available online at: https://www.battelleforkids.org/learning-hub/learning-hub-item/framework-for-21st-century-learning

Robinson, C., and Taylor, C. (2007). Theorizing student voice: values and perspectives. Improving Schools 10, 5–17. doi: 10.1177/1365480207073702

Rudd, T., Colligan, F., and Naik, R. (2006). Futurelab: Learner Voice Handbook .

Rudduck, J. (2007). “Student voice, student engagement, and school reform,” in International Handbook of Student Experience in Elementary and Secondary School (Dordrecht: Springer), 587–610. doi: 10.1007/1-4020-3367-2_23

Schippers, H., and Bartleet, B.-L. (2013). The nine domains of community music: Exploring the crossroads of formal and informal music education. Int. J. Music Educ. 31, 454–471. doi: 10.1177/0255761413502441

Spruce, G. (2015). “Music education, social justice, and the “student voice,” in The Oxford Handbook of Social Justice in Music Education (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 287–301. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199356157.013.20

Veblen, K. K. (2018). “Adult music learning in formal, nonformal, and informal contexts,” in Special Needs, Community Music, and Adult Learning: An Oxford Handbook of Music Education , Vol. 4 (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 243–256.

Walker, L., and Logan, A. (2008). Learner Engagement: A Review of Learner Voice Initiatives Across the UK's Education Sectors. Futurelab . Available online at: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/futl80/futl80.pdf

Whitty, G., and Wisby, E. (2007). Real Decision Making?: School Councils in Action (Research Report DCSF-RR001). Institute of Education, University of London . Available online at: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/6611/2/DCSF-RR001.pdf

Keywords: learner voice, student voice, music, teaching and learning, systematic literature review

Citation: Després J-P and Dubé F (2020) The Music Learner Voice: A Systematic Literature Review and Framework. Front. Educ. 5:119. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2020.00119

Received: 26 November 2019; Accepted: 15 June 2020; Published: 23 July 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Després and Dubé. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Jean-Philippe Després, jean-philippe.despres@mus.ulaval.ca

This article is part of the Research Topic

Towards a Meaningful Instrumental Music Education. Methods, Perspectives, and Challenges

Introduction and Review of Literature

Analysis of expert teaching has long been a part of professional education at all levels of instruction, but, even in light of seemingly endless discussions of the definitions and indicators of good teaching, there remains considerable debate about what makes an expert teacher. Despite the remarkable consistency across all disciplines with regard to broadly framed descriptions of effective teaching and its attributes, identifying precisely what expert teachers actually do to elicit positive changes in their students moment to moment remains an unsolved problem for aspiring novices, teacher educators, and other professionals involved in teacher assessment. Perhaps especially in music, in which the interactions between teachers and students differ markedly from conventional classroom instruction, there is a paucity of literature that adequately explains the complexities of expert teaching in context.

Music teaching has a long and rich history, and much has been written about notable pedagogues of the past, both in the history of Western music and in the histories of other cultures (Shehan Campbell, 1991), but surprisingly little of what has been written provides information precise enough to be useful in learning to become an excellent teacher. How do experts turn poor musicians into good ones? How do they turn good musicians into great ones? Answers to these questions encompass all of the things that teachers do:  how they explain, how they demonstrate, how they ask questions, how they respond to student performance, and, perhaps most importantly, what they  have students do . The difficulties in defining expert behavior precisely are not unique to music teaching, of course; the same challenges confront those who attempt to capture the nature of expertise in every discipline.

Perhaps not surprisingly, observers at all levels of experience and expertise are highly reliable in identifying excellent teaching when they see it (Duke, 1987, 2005; Madsen & Geringer, 1989; Madsen  et al. , 1992; Schmidt, 1992; Siebenaler, 1997), and the many books written about teaching express similar views about the characteristics of excellent instruction. But the majority of the non-research literature, rather than explaining the process of effecting behavior change in learners, comprise primarily descriptions of instructional materials, music repertoire, performance practice, and the physical aspects of music performance (e.g., tone production).

This is in contrast to the foci of published research in music education, in which teaching has been analyzed either from the perspective of detailed descriptions of specific aspects of teacher behavior—instructions, demonstrations, and feedback, for example (Davis, 1998; Duke & Blackman, 1991; Duke & Henninger, 2002; Dunn, 1997; Gillespie, 1991; Goolsby, 1996; Hendel, 1995; Kostka, 1984; Kuhn, 1975; Madsen & Alley, 1979; Madsen & Geringer, 1989; Moore, 1976; Moore & Bonney, 1987; Price, 1983; Sims, 1986; Taebel, 1990; Wagner & Strul, 1979; Yarbrough, 1975; Yarbrough & Price, 1981, 1989)—or from the perspective of broad, narrative descriptions of teaching or the characteristics of teachers (Creech & Hallam, 2003; Gholson, 1998; Sand, 2000; Teachout, 2001; Yarbrough, 2002).

Although systematic observation has obtained reliable results concerning specific aspects of teacher behavior (Abeles, 1975; Cavitt, 2003; Colprit, 2000; Derby, 2001; Duke, 1999; Goolsby, 1996, 1997; Hendel, 1995; Price, 1983; Siebenaler, 1997; Standley & Madsen, 1991; Yarbrough & Madsen, 1998; Yarbrough & Price, 1989; Younger, 1998), assembling a precise view of the  process  of music performance instruction, one that may serve not only as a tool for evaluation but as a source of meaningful prescriptive information as well, is an ongoing challenge (Duke, 1994, 2000, 2005; Duke & Madsen, 1991).

The purpose of the present study was to identify common elements in the teaching of expert artist-teachers in music. We began with no systematized observation structure; we simply watched many hours of video recordings of private lessons, noting elements of instruction that elicited changes in student performance, and classifying the behaviors of expert teachers that may define the nature of their expertise. We then selected videotaped excerpts that illustrate each of the elements as they appeared in the teaching of our three subjects.

• UWF Libraries

Literature Review: Conducting & Writing

• Sample Literature Reviews
• Steps for Conducting a Lit Review
• Finding "The Literature"
• Organizing/Writing
• APA Style This link opens in a new window
• Chicago: Notes Bibliography This link opens in a new window
• MLA Style This link opens in a new window

Sample Lit Reviews from Communication Arts

Have an exemplary literature review.

• Literature Review Sample 1
• Literature Review Sample 2
• Literature Review Sample 3

Have you written a stellar literature review you care to share for teaching purposes?

Are you an instructor who has received an exemplary literature review and have permission from the student to post?

Please contact Britt McGowan at [email protected] for inclusion in this guide. All disciplines welcome and encouraged.

• << Previous: MLA Style
• Next: Get Help! >>
• Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 9:37 AM
• URL: https://libguides.uwf.edu/litreview

This guide will help you to navigate library resources and information about music to support your teaching, studying and research. You will find our recommended databases and journals, as well as places to search for scores, listen to and watch music, and a selection of featured Indigenous Music Resources. Stay informed about upcoming events, exhibitions, and special materials relevant to your music studies.

• Finding music
• Research resources
• Exhibitions and events

Top resources

Explore the breadth of Library resources for music study and research, including top databases, journals, dictionaries and indexes.

Featured Indigenous music resources

Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges, histories and cultures in the classroom is integral to the University of Sydney.  Browse the following databases to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in music scholarship, performance, and cultural practices.

Finding items at the Conservatorium Library

How to search for scores and CDs and then locate them on the shelf at the Conservatorium Library.

Score resources

Easily find scores for your research and performance needs with a variety of databases specialising in free sheet music.

Listen & watch online

Discover digital music performance video and audio through these online music libraries.

General resources

Music databases.

See the full list of Library-subscribed databases for music

Reference resources

Periodical and primary source resources, research from the con, articles, books and non-traditional research outputs.

Discover research from the Conservatorium of Music in the Sydney eScholarship repository.

Discover theses from the Conservatorium of Music

Research Exhibitions

In collaboration with Sydney Conservatorium of Music staff and students, the Library co-curates engaging exhibitions to showcase the Conservatorium’s current research outputs and hosts events and performances for students and staff to learn more. Keep an eye on the Glass Space out front of the Conservatorium Library, as this will feature a new Music Research Exhibition each semester. 

Submit a proposal for a Research Exhibition

The Conservatorium Library invites proposals for exhibitions from higher degree researchers (HDRs) and academics that represent new work at the forefront of music research practice and are innovative and reflect issues of current critical interest.

Special collection

Liturgical manuscripts.

Our collection of Spanish liturgical music manuscripts includes the Lamentations of Jeremiah, several graduals, antiphonals, kyriales, tropers and two rare processionals.

Related information

We're here to help, online or in person.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Patient Prefer Adherence

Effectiveness of music therapy: a summary of systematic reviews based on randomized controlled trials of music interventions

Hiroharu kamioka.

1 Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan

Kiichiro Tsutani

2 Department of Drug Policy and Management, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Minoru Yamada

3 Kyoto University Graduate School Research, Kyoto, Japan

Hyuntae Park

4 Department of Functioning Activation, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Aichi, Japan

Hiroyasu Okuizumi

5 Mimaki Onsen (Spa) Clinic, Tomi, Nagano, Japan

Koki Tsuruoka

6 Graduate School of Social Services, Japan College of Social Work, Tokyo, Japan

Takuya Honda

7 Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan

Shinpei Okada

8 Physical Education and Medicine Research Foundation, Tomi, Nagano, Japan

Sang-Jun Park

Jun kitayuguchi.

9 Physical Education and Medicine Research Center Unnan, Shimane, Japan

Takafumi Abe

Shuichi handa, takuya oshio.

10 Social Welfare Service Corporation CARE-PORT MIMAKI, Tomi, Nagano, Japan

Yoshiteru Mutoh

11 The Research Institute of Nippon Sport Science University, Tokyo, Japan

Associated Data

References to studies excluded in this review

Abbreviations: NICU, neonatal intensive care unit; RCT, randomized controlled trial; SR, systematic review.

The objective of this review was to summarize evidence for the effectiveness of music therapy (MT) and to assess the quality of systematic reviews (SRs) based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Study design

An SR of SRs based on RCTs.

Studies were eligible if they were RCTs. Studies included were those with at least one treatment group in which MT was applied. We searched the following databases from 1995 to October 1, 2012: MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Web of Science, Global Health Library, and Ichushi-Web. We also searched all Cochrane Database and Campbell Systematic Reviews up to October 1, 2012. Based on the International Classification of Diseases , 10th revision, we identified a disease targeted for each article.

Twenty-one studies met all inclusion criteria. This study included 16 Cochrane reviews. As a whole, the quality of the articles was very good. Eight studies were about “Mental and behavioural disorders (F00-99)”; there were two studies on “Diseases of the nervous system (G00-99)” and “Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-99)”; and there was one study each for “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-90)”, “Diseases of the circulatory system (I00-99)”, and “Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O60)”. MT treatment improved the following: global and social functioning in schizophrenia and/or serious mental disorders, gait and related activities in Parkinson’s disease, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality.

This comprehensive summary of SRs demonstrated that MT treatment improved the following: global and social functioning in schizophrenia and/or serious mental disorders, gait and related activities in Parkinson’s disease, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality. MT may have the potential for improving other diseases, but there is not enough evidence at present. Most importantly, no specific adverse effect or harmful phenomenon occurred in any of the studies, and MT was well tolerated by almost all patients.

Article focus

Although many studies have reported the effects of music therapy (MT), there is no review of systematic reviews (SRs) based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Key messages

The key messages of this paper are as follows.

• This is the first SR of SRs of the effectiveness of cure based on music interventions in studies with RCT designs.
• Our study is unique because it summarizes the evidence for each target disease according to the International Classification of Diseases , revision 10 (ICD-10).
• We propose the future research agenda for studies on the treatment effect of MT.

Strength and limitation of this study

The strengths of this study are as follows: 1) the methods and implementation registered high on the PROSPERO database; 2) it was a comprehensive search strategy across multiple databases with no data restrictions; and 3) there were high agreement levels for quality assessment of articles.

This study has three limitations. Firstly, some selection criteria were common across studies; however, the bias remained due to differences in eligibility for participation in each original RCT. Secondly, publication bias was a limitation. Lastly, since this review focused on summarizing the effects of MT for each disease, we did not describe all details on quality and quantity, such as type of MT, frequency of MT, and time on MT.

Introduction

MT is widely utilized for treatment of and assistance in various diseases. In one literature review, the authors found seven case reports/series and seven studies on MT for multiple sclerosis patients. The results of these studies as well as the case reports demonstrated patients’ improvements in the domains of self-acceptance, anxiety, and depression. 1 Another review examined the overall efficacy of MT in children and adolescents with psychopathology, and examined how the size of the effect of MT is influenced by the type of pathology, the subject’s age, the MT approach, and the type of outcome. 2 The analysis revealed that MT had a medium to large positive effect (effect size =0.61) on clinically relevant outcomes that was statistically highly significant ( P <0.001) and statistically homogeneous. A more recent SR assessed the effects of musical elements in the treatment of individuals with acquired neurological disorder. 3 The results showed that mechanisms of recovery remained unclear: two of the three studies that examined mechanisms of recovery via neuro-imaging techniques supported the role of the right hemisphere, but reports were contradictory, and exact mechanisms of recovery remained indefinable. An interesting meta-analysis described results that justified strong consideration for the inclusion of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) MT protocols in best practice standards for NICU treatment of preterm infants: examples of these therapies were listening to music for pacification, music reinforcement of sucking/feeding ability, and music as a basis for pacification during multilayered, multimodal stimulation. 4

Examining the curative effects of MT has unique challenges. A review article by Nilsson 5 described how nurses face many challenges as they care for the needs of hospitalized patients, and that they often have to prioritize physical care over the patient’s emotional, spiritual, and psychological needs. In clinical practice, music intervention can be a tool to support these needs by creating an environment that stimulates and maintains relaxation, wellbeing, and comfort. Furthermore, the Nilsson article 5 presented a concrete recommendation for music interventions in clinical practice, such as “slow and flowing music, approximately 60 to 80 beats per minute”, “nonlyrical”, “maximum volume level at 60 dB”, “patient’s own choice, with guidance”, “suitable equipment chosen for the specific situation”, “a minimum duration of 30 minutes in length”, and “measurement, follow up, and documentation of the effects”. In addition, MT has been variably applied as both a primary and accessory treatment for persons with addictions to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs of abuse. However, an SR 6 described that no consensus exists regarding the efficacy of MT as treatment for patients with addictions.

On the other hand, music may be considered an adjunctive therapy in clinical situations. Music is effective in reducing anxiety and pain in children undergoing medical and dental procedures. 7 A meta-analysis confirmed that patients listening to music during colonoscopy, which is now the recommended method for screening colon cancer, was an effective method for reducing procedure time, anxiety, and the amount of sedation. More importantly, no harmful effects were observed for all the target studies. 8 The usual practice following a cervical cancer abnormal cervical smear is to perform a colposcopy. However, women experience high levels of anxiety and negative emotional responses at all stages of cervical screening. An SR of RCTs evaluated interventions designed to reduce anxiety levels during colposcopic examination. Psychosexual dysfunction (ie, anxiety) was reduced by playing music during colposcopy. 9

The definition of musical intervention is complex, but the literature describes two broad categories of music interventions: music medicine and MT. 10 Music medicine is the use of passive listening (usually involving prerecorded music) as implemented by medical personnel. In music medicine studies, the subject’s preference for the music used may be considered by having him or her select from a variety of tapes. Alternately, some studies use predefined music stimuli that do not take the subject’s preferences into account. Furthermore, there is generally no attempt by the researcher to form a therapeutic relationship with the subject, and there is no process involved in the music treatment. In essence, music medicine studies usually allow one to assess the effects of music alone as a therapeutic intervention. In contrast, MT interventions most often involve a relationship between the therapist and the subject, the use of live music (performed or created by the therapist and/or patient), and a process that includes assessment, treatment, and evaluation. Patient preference for the music is usually a consideration in MT studies.

We were interested in evaluating the curative effect of MT according to diseases because many of the primary studies and review articles of much MT have reported results in this way. In particular, we wanted to focus on all cure and rehabilitation effects using the ICD-10. It is well known in research design that evidence grading is highest for an SR with meta-analysis of RCTs. Although many studies have reported the effects of MT, there is no review of SRs based on RCTs. The objective of this review was to summarize evidence for the effectiveness of MT and to assess the quality of SRs based on RCTs of these therapies.

Criteria for considering studies included in this review

Types of studies.

Studies were eligible if they were SRs (with or without a meta-analysis) based on RCTs.

Types of participants

There was no restriction on patients.

Types of intervention and language

Studies included were those with at least one treatment group in which MT was applied. The definition of MT is complex, but in this study, any kind of MT (not only music appreciation but also musical instrument performance and singing, for example) was permitted and defined as an intervention. Studies had to include information on the use of medication, alternative therapies, and lifestyle changes, and these had to be comparable among groups. There was no restriction on the basis of language.

Types of outcome measures

We focused on all cure and rehabilitation effects using the ICD-10.

Search methods for studies identification

Bibliographic database.

We searched the following databases from 1995 to October 1, 2012: MEDLINE via PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Web of Science, Ichushi Web (in Japanese), the Global Health Library (GHL), and the Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM). The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommended uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals in 1993. We selected articles published (that included a protocol) since 1995, because it appeared that the ICMJE recommendation had been adopted by the relevant researchers and had strengthened the quality of the reports.

We also searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Cochrane Reviews), the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (Other Reviews), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Clinical Trials or CENTRAL), the Cochrane Methodology Register (Methods Studies), the Health Technology Assessment Database (Technology Assessments), the NHS Economic Evaluation Database (Economic Evaluations), About The Cochrane Collaboration databases (Cochrane Groups), the Campbell Systematic Reviews (the Campbell Collaboration), and the All Cochrane, up to October 1, 2012.

All searches were performed by two specific searchers (hospital librarians) who were qualified in medical information handling, and who were experienced in searches of clinical trials.

Search strategies

The special search strategies contained the elements and terms for MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Ichushi Web, GHL, WPRIM, and All Cochrane databases ( Figure 1 and Table 1 ). Only keywords about intervention were used for the searches. First, titles and abstracts of identified published articles were reviewed in order to determine the relevance of the articles. Next, references in relevant studies and identified SRs were screened.

Flowchart of trial process.

Note: *Reduplication.

Abbreviations: CINAHL, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature; CENTRAL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; RCT, randomized controlled trial; SR, systematic review.

The special search strategies

Registry checking

We searched the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), ClinicalTrials.gov , and the University Hospital Medical Information Network – Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR), up to October 1, 2012.

ICTRP in the WHO Registry Network meet specific criteria for content, quality and validity, accessibility, unique identification, technical capacity, and administration. Primary registries meet the requirements of the ICMJE. Clinical ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the US and around the world. UMIN-CTR is a registry of clinical trials conducted in Japan and around the world.

Handsearching and reference checking

We handsearched abstracts published on MT in relevant journals in Japan. We checked the references of included studies for further relevant literature.

Review methods

Selection of trials.

To make the final selection of studies for the review, all criteria were applied independently by four authors (ie, TH, JK, SJP, and TA) to the full text of articles that had passed the first eligibility screening ( Figure 1 ). Disagreements and uncertainties were resolved by discussion with other authors (ie, HK, KT, and YM).

Studies were selected when 1) the design was an SR based on RCTs and 2) one of the interventions was a form of MT. Protocols without results were excluded, and we included only completed studies. Cure and rehabilitation effects were used as a primary outcome measure. Trials that were excluded are presented with reasons for exclusion ( Table S1 ).

Quality assessment of included studies

To ensure that variation was not caused by systematic errors in the study design or execution, eleven review authors (HP, MY, HO, SO, SJP, TO, KT, TH, SH, JK, and HK) independently assessed the quality of the articles. A full quality appraisal of these papers was made using the combined tool based on the AMSTAR checklist 11 developed to assess the methodological quality of SRs.

Each item was scored as “present” (Yes), “absent” (No), “unclear or inadequately described” (Can not answer), or “not applicable” (n/a). Depending on the study design, some items were not applicable. The “n/a” was excluded from calculation for quality assessment. We displayed the percentage of descriptions that were present on all items for the quality assessment of articles. Then, based on the percentage of risk of poor methodology and/or bias, each item was assigned to one of the following categories: good description (80%–100%), poor description (50%–79%), or very poor description (0%–49%).

Disagreements and uncertainties were resolved by discussion with other authors (ie, KT and HK). Inter-rater reliability was calculated on a dichotomous scale using percentage agreement and Cohen’s kappa coefficient (κ).

Summary of studies and data extraction

Eleven review authors (HP, MY, HO, SO, SJP, TH, TO, SH, JK, KT, and HK) described the summary from each article based on the structured abstracts. 12 , 13

Benefit and harm

The GRADE Working Group 14 reported that the balance between benefit and harm, quality of evidence, applicability, and the certainty of the baseline risk were all considered in judgments about the strength of recommendations. Adverse events for intervention were especially important information for researchers and users of clinical practice guidelines, and we presented this information with the description of each article.

Research protocol registration

We submitted and registered our research protocol to the PROSPERO (no 42012002950). PROSPERO is an international database of prospectively registered SRs in health and social care. 15 Key features from the review protocol are recorded and maintained as a permanent record in PROSPERO. This provides a comprehensive listing of SRs registered at inception, and enables comparison of reported review findings with what was planned in the protocol. PROSPERO is managed by UK Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) and funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research. Registration was recommended because it encourage full publication of the review’s findings and transparency in changes to methods that could bias findings. 16

Study selection

The literature searches included potentially relevant articles ( Figure 1 ). Abstracts from those articles were assessed, and 63 papers were retrieved for further evaluation (checks for relevant literature). Forty-two publications were excluded because they did not meet the eligibility criteria ( Table S1 ). A total of 21 studies 17 – 37 met all inclusion criteria ( Table 1 ). The language of all eligible publications was English.

Study characteristics

The contents of all articles were summarized as structured abstracts ( Table 2 ). Sinha et al 17 reported that there was no evidence that auditory integration therapy or other sound therapies are effective as treatments for autism spectrum disorders. Mossler et al 18 concluded that MT as an addition to standard care helps people with schizophrenia to improve their global state, mental state (including negative symptoms), and social functioning if a sufficient number of MT sessions are provided by qualified music therapists. Bradt et al 19 indicated that music interventions may have beneficial effects on anxiety, pain, mood, and quality of life (QoL) in people with cancer. Bradt and Dileo 20 reported that there may be a benefit of MT on QoL of people in end-of-life care. Vink et al 21 reported that the methodological quality and the reporting of the included studies on dementia were too poor to draw any useful conclusions. Bradt et al 22 indicated that listening to music may have a beneficial effect on heart rate, respiratory rate, and anxiety in mechanically ventilated patients. Cepeda et al 23 reported that listening to music reduces pain intensity levels and opioid requirements on patients with chronic, acute, neuropathic, and cancer pain or experimental pain, but the magnitude of these benefits is small and therefore its clinical importance unclear. Bradt et al 24 reported that rhythmic auditory stimulation might be beneficial for gait improvement in people with stroke. Gold et al 25 indicated that MT may help children with autistic spectrum disorder to improve their communicative skills. Laopaiboon et al 26 indicated that music during planned cesarean section under regional anesthesia may improve pulse rate and birth satisfaction score. Bradt and Dileo 27 reported that listening to music may have a beneficial effect on blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, anxiety, and pain in persons with coronary heart disease. Maratos et al 28 suggested that MT is accepted by people with depression and is associated with improvements in mood, but the small number and low methodological quality of studies meant that it is not possible to be confident about its effectiveness. de Dreu et al 29 reported that music-based movement therapy appeared promising for the improvement of gait and gait-related activities in Parkinson’s disease. Cogo-Moreira et al 30 concluded that there is no evidence available on which to base a judgment about the effectiveness of music education for the improvement of reading skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia. Drahota et al 31 reported that music may improve patient-reported outcomes in certain circumstances such as anxiety for hospital patients. Chan et al 32 concluded that listening to music over a period of time helps to reduce depressive symptoms in the adult population. Naylor et al 33 reported that there is limited qualitative evidence to support the effectiveness of music on health-related outcomes for children and adolescents with clinical diagnoses. Irons et al 34 concluded that because no studies that met the criteria were found, their review was unable to support or refute the benefits of singing as a therapy for people with cystic fibrosis. Irons et al 35 reported that they could not draw any conclusion to support or refute the adoption of singing as an intervention for people with bronchiectasis because of the absence of data. de Niet et al 36 concluded that music-assisted relaxation could be without intensive investment in training and materials and is therefore cheap, easily available and can be used by nurses to promote music-assisted relaxation to improve sleep quality. Gold et al 37 reported that MT is an effective treatment which helps people with psychotic and nonpsychotic severe mental disorders to improve global state, symptoms, and functioning.

A structured abstract of 21 systematic reviews

Abbreviations: ASSIA, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts; BPRS, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; CAG, Cochrane Airways Group; CAIRSS, Computer-Assisted Information Retrieval System; CCDANCTR, Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Controlled Trials Register; CDCIG, Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group; CENTRAL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; CHD, coronary heart disease; CI, confidence interval; CINAHL, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature; ERIC, Education Resource Information Centre; Ham-D, Hamilton Depression Scale; ICTRP, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform; LILACS, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature; MbM, music-based movement; MD, mean difference; MeSH, Medical Subject Headings; NIH, National Institutes of Health; NNT, number needed to treat; PANSS, Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale; PD, Parkinson’s disease; PEDro, Physiotherapy Evidence Database; QoL, quality of life; RAS, rhythmic auditory stimulation; RCT, randomized controlled trial; RR, risk ratio; SANS, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms; SDS, Self-rating Depression Scale; SDSI, Social Disability Schedule for Inpatients; SES, summary effect size; SMD, standardized mean difference; STAI-S, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – State; UPDRS, Unifed Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale; WHO, World Health Organization.

Based on ICD-10, we identified a disease targeted in each article ( Table 3 ). Among 21 studies, eight studies were about “Mental and behavioural disorders (F00-99)”. There were two studies in “Diseases of the nervous system (G00-99)” and “Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-99)”, and one study in “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-90)”, “Diseases of the circulatory system (I00-99)”, and “Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O60)”. Because there were a variety of target diseases, there were six articles in which we could not identify a single disease.

International classification of target diseases in each article

Abbreviation: ICD, International Classification of Diseases.

Evidence of effectiveness

Table 4 presents a brief summary of 21 SRs. Five studies (ie, schizophrenia for global and mental state and social functioning, 18 Parkinson’s disease for gait and related activities, 29 depressive symptoms, 32 sleep quality, 36 and serious mental disorders for global and social functioning 37 ) concluded that there are effects of the intervention.

Brief summary of 21 systematic reviews

Abbreviation: QoL, quality of life

Ten studies with a meta-analysis (ie, cancer for anxiety, pain, mood, and QoL, 19 advanced life-limiting illness for QoL, 20 mechanically ventilated patients for heart rate, respiratory rate, and anxiety, 22 multiple pain for intensity level and opioid requirement, 23 acquired brain injury for gait parameters, 24 autistic spectrum disorders for communicative skills, 25 cesarean section for heart rate and birth satisfaction, 26 coronary heart disease for blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, anxiety, and pain, 27 hospital patients for self-reported outcomes such as anxiety, 31 and various clinical conditions for health outcomes in children with learning and developmental disorder 33 ) concluded that there might be an effect of the intervention. An SR without a meta-analysis of depression reported that there might be an effect of the intervention. 28

Two studies (ie, autism spectrum 17 and dementia 21 ) described that the effect of intervention is unclear. There was no evidence for three studies (ie, dyslexia, 30 cystic fibrosis, 34 and bronchiectasis 35 ) because they were not RCTs.

Adverse events

There were no specific adverse events in any of the studies.

Quality assessment

We evaluated eleven items from the AMSTAR checklist in more detail ( Table 5 ). Inter-rater reliability metrics for the quality assessment indicated substantial agreement for all 231 items (percentage agreement 95.3% and κ =0.825). As a whole, the quality of the articles was very good.

AMSTAR is a measurement tool created to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews

Abbreviations: CENTRAL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; MeSH, Medical Subject Headings; Can’t, can not.

This is the first SR of SRs of the effectiveness of cure based on music interventions in studies with RCT designs. Our study is unique because it summarized the evidence for each target disease according to ICD-10 classification. We assume that this study will be helpful to researchers who want to grasp an effect of MT comprehensively and could provide information that is indispensable for the organization that is going to make the guidelines according to each disease.

Twenty-one SRs based on RCTs were identified, and music intervention was clearly effective for five diseases (ie, schizophrenia for global and mental state and social functioning, Parkinson’s disease for gait and related activities, depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and serious mental disorders for global and social functioning).

A review of all SRs showed that there was no special adverse effect or harm associated with MT.

Tendency of target disease and outcome

The most commonly reported target diseases were “Mental and behavioural disorders (F00-99)”, 17 , 18 , 21 , 25 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 36 and the effect of MT on these diseases was improved mental health (eg, anxiety and mood), pain, QoL, and communication skills. The main reason given in these articles for improved mental health was that the beauty and rhythm of the music tone allowed the patient to be comfortable. In studies about the effects of MT on anxiety, discomfort, fear, and pain, MT has been variably applied as an accessory treatment for persons with addictions, 6 and as evasion of direct discomfort for undergoing medical device procedures such as colonoscopy, 8 colposcopy 9 and dental procedures. 7

The second most frequently reported target diseases were “Diseases of the nervous system (G00-99)”, 24 , 29 and the effects of MT on these diseases showed commonly gait parameters. MT is expected to improve gait and related activities such as rehabilitation in diseases of the central nervous system. There were also several studies that identified “Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-99).” 22 , 35 Improvements seen in these studies were mainly due to effects of singing on breathing function, such as respiratory rate, and on the circulation function, such as heart rate.

Validity of overall evidence based on quality assessment

We performed an evaluation of all SRs by the AMSTAR checklist developed to assess the methodological quality of SRs. There were no serious problems with the conduct and reporting of all target studies. This study included 16 Cochrane Reviews. 17 – 28 , 30 , 31 , 34 , 35 In the Cochrane Reviews, the eligibility criteria for a meta-analysis are strict, and for each article, heterogeneity and low quality of reporting are to first be excluded. Therefore, we assumed that the conclusion of each SR had enough validity.

Overall evidence

Most importantly, a specific adverse effect or harmful phenomenon did not occur in any study, and MT was well tolerated by almost all patients. MT treatment has positive effects for the following: schizophrenia and/or serious mental disorders for global and social functioning, Parkinson’s disease for gait and related activities, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality. We assume that the direct effects of MT are generally improvement of mental health and sense of rhythm, and reduction of pain. In addition, we assume that communication with other people improves through music, the sense of isolation disappears, and QoL rises.

Although further accumulation of RCT data is necessary, MT may be effective treatment for the following diseases and symptoms: cancer and/or advanced life-limiting illnesses affecting mental state and QoL, mechanically ventilated patients with impaired respiratory function and mental state, chronic pain requiring opioid treatment, acquired brain injury affecting gait parameters, autistic spectrum disorders involving communicative skills, cesarean section effects on heart rate and birth satisfaction, coronary heart disease effects on circulatory, respiratory function, and mental state, and self-reported outcomes for hospitalized patients and other patients with various clinical conditions. These SRs describe the need for additional high quality RCTs to assess the effect of MT.

Future research agenda to build evidence

Table 6 shows the future research agenda for studies on the treatment effect of MT. Because only SRs of RCTs were included in this study, their characteristic study designs limited our results to the assessment of short-term effects. Even if a study is not an RCT design, it is necessary to evaluate the long-term effects.

Future research agenda to build evidence of music therapy

Because studies of intervention using music vary in design, a consensus of the framework is necessary. 10 In this study, examination according to a detailed intervention method was not possible, but it would be important for future studies to define MT. Furthermore, studies to assess dose–response relationships according to each disease are clearly necessary. 18

Bowen et al 38 suggested that public health is moving toward the goal of implementing evidence-based intervention. However, the feasibility of possible interventions and whether comprehensive and multilevel evaluations are needed to justify them must be determined. It is at least necessary to show the cost of such interventions. We must introduce an interventional method based on its cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility.

In addition, MT as an intervention is unique and completely different than pharmacological or traditional rehabilitation methods. Therefore, it may be necessary to add some original items like herbal intervention, 39 aquatic exercise, 40 and balneotherapy 41 to the CONSORT 2010 checklist as alternative or complementary medicines.

Strength and limitations

This review has several strengths: 1) the methods and implementation registered high on the PROSPERO database; 2) it was a comprehensive search strategy across multiple databases with no data restrictions; 3) there were high agreement levels for quality assessment of articles; and 4) it involved detailed data extraction to allow for collecting all articles’ content into a recommended structured abstract.

This review also had several limitations that should be acknowledged. Firstly, some selection criteria were common across studies, as described above; however, bias remained due to differences in eligibility for participation in each original RCT. Secondly, publication bias was a limitation. Although there was no linguistic restriction in the eligibility criteria, we searched studies with only English and Japanese keywords. Thirdly, in order to be specific to SRs based on RCTs, it ignores some excellent results of primary research by other research designs. Fourthly, as a point of terminology for MT, because we applied a broad definition to the use of music in medicine, it may be more confusing or a bit misleading in the cultural context of Western health care.

In addition, since this review focused on summaries of effects of MT for each disease, we did not describe all details on quality and quantity such as type of MT, frequency of MT, and time on MT. Moreover, we could not follow standard procedures as estimates of the effects of moderating variables. Finally, because we broadly defined MT as music appreciation, musical instrument performance, and singing, we could not assess a specific intervention.

This comprehensive summary of SRs demonstrates that MT treatment improved the following: global and social functioning in schizophrenia and/or serious mental disorders, gait and related activities in Parkinson’s disease, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality. MT may have the potential for improving other diseases, but there is not enough evidence at present. Most importantly, a specific adverse effect or harmful phenomenon did not occur in any of the studies, and MT was well tolerated by almost all patients.

To most effectively assess the potential benefits of MT, it will be important for future research to explore 1) long-term effects, 2) a consensus of the framework of music intervention, 3) dose–response relationships, 4) the cost of the intervention, and 5) development of the original check item in MT.

Supplementary material

Acknowledgments.

We would like to express our appreciation to Ms Aya Maruyama (methodology of MT), Ms Rie Higashino, Ms Yoko Ikezaki, Ms Rinako Kai (paperwork), and Ms Satoko Sayama and Ms Mari Makishi (all searches of studies) for their assistance in this study.

This study was supported by the Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants (Research on Health Security Control ID No H24-021; representative Dr K Tsutani) from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan in 2012.

Author contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data. All authors took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.

Ethical approval

No ethical approval was required.

Data sharing

No additional data are available.

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

• Free Samples
• Premium Essays
• Editing Services Editing Proofreading Rewriting
• Extra Tools Essay Topic Generator Thesis Generator Citation Generator GPA Calculator Study Guides Donate Paper
• Essay Writing Help
• About Us About Us Testimonials FAQ
• Music Literature Reviews
• Samples List

An literature review examples on music literature reviews is a prosaic composition of a small volume and free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously not claiming a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

Some signs of music literature reviews literature review:

• the presence of a specific topic or question. A work devoted to the analysis of a wide range of problems in biology, by definition, cannot be performed in the genre of music literature reviews literature review topic.
• The literature review expresses individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue, in this case, on music literature reviews and does not knowingly pretend to a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.
• As a rule, an essay suggests a new, subjectively colored word about something, such a work may have a philosophical, historical, biographical, journalistic, literary, critical, popular scientific or purely fiction character.
• in the content of an literature review samples on music literature reviews, first of all, the author’s personality is assessed - his worldview, thoughts and feelings.

The goal of an literature review in music literature reviews is to develop such skills as independent creative thinking and writing out your own thoughts.

Writing an literature review is extremely useful, because it allows the author to learn to clearly and correctly formulate thoughts, structure information, use basic concepts, highlight causal relationships, illustrate experience with relevant examples, and substantiate his conclusions.

• Studentshare
• Literature review

Examples List on Music Literature Reviews

• TERMS & CONDITIONS
• PRIVACY POLICY
• COOKIES POLICY

We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it.

• Essay Database >
• Essays Samples >
• Essay Types >
• Literature Review Example

Music Literature Reviews Samples For Students

50 samples of this type

While studying in college, you will surely have to compose a bunch of Literature Reviews on Music. Lucky you if linking words together and organizing them into relevant text comes easy to you; if it's not the case, you can save the day by finding a previously written Music Literature Review example and using it as a template to follow.

This is when you will definitely find WowEssays' free samples database extremely helpful as it contains numerous skillfully written works on most various Music Literature Reviews topics. Ideally, you should be able to find a piece that meets your criteria and use it as a template to build your own Literature Review. Alternatively, our expert essay writers can deliver you a unique Music Literature Review model crafted from scratch according to your custom instructions.

Good Example Of How Does Music Affect Premature Infants Literature Review

Good there are different types of music impacts on the humans and specially the mental literature review example, international marketing, free professional article critiques literature review sample.

Don't waste your time searching for a sample.

Get your literature review done by professional writers!

Just from $10/page

Free Complete Name Literature Review Sample

Twentieth century music: an introduction, does playing mozart to babies make them smarter literature review samples, introduction, good power portrayal in the play, ma raineys black bottom literature review example, the need to prepare music teachers to teach students with disabilities literature review, free literature review on teaching academics through art making for students with learning disabilities, understanding 'nothing gold can stay' literature review examples, example of othello: race and gender literature review, music and heritage in august wilson’s the piano lesson, elizabeth renaissance literature review, music therapy in pre-operative anxiety literature review examples.

At one time in the life of an individual, it is often required that an operative surgery is done in order to correct some disorders in the body. Undergoing an operation is not easy to understand and accept. As such, many patients tend to have pre-operative anxiety. There are various ways derived to control this situation. The essay below looks at how music therapy can resolve this issue.

Music Industry Changing Business Model Literature Review

Literature review on instrumental music development: corelli, vivaldi and bach.

Listen to the Corelli, Vivaldi and Bach examples. Using the stylistic features of each, write a summary of the development of instrumental music in the 18th century. Be aware of overall form and musical elements you hear in the examples. Explain the musical terms you use.

Good Perceptions Of Beginning Music Teachers Literature Review Example

In general music class.

The first years of teaching may play a very crucial role in the professional lives of teachers. This study tackles the perceptions of beginning teachers in general music class. The existing studies have identified and explored the challenges and issues beginning teachers have expressed regarding their early teaching experience. The issues vary from classroom management, discipline, problems with students, feelings of isolation and ill-fitting preservice programs. This literature review further puts into detail the concerns of beginning music teachers that have existed in various studies.

Perceived problem for beginning music teacher

Counterpoint, especially in baroque music, is the association amongst voices that are reliant harmonically hitherto independent in contour and rhythm. literature review examples, does religion make people happy in their life literature review examples, perfect model literature review on cognitive psychology, good research brief literature review example, research purpose/introduction, good example of how social media affect teenagers literature review, the relationship of beauty and death in yukio mishima’s “the temple of the golden pavilion” literature review, the relationship of beauty and death in yukio mishima’s “the temple of the golden pavilion”, free literature review about why hallyu movie is popular in the united states, meaning from color and sound in the novella, the hour of the star, by clarice lispector literature reviews examples, symbolism in the perks of being a wallflower by stephen chbosky literature reviews examples, free why hallyu is popular in the united states literature review example, poems analysis literature review example, finding and heeding your calling paper literature reviews examples, effect of customer satisfaction on brand image literature review example, good example of jean paul satre and existentialism literature review, philosophy journal, example of afghanistan literature review, example of literature review on the importance of students motivation, draw topic & writing ideas from this literature review on participatory culture: from user generated to professionally generated content, literature review, example of the impact of sad and happy pop culture love songs in romantic relationships between heterosexual and homosexual couples literature review, sonnet analysis literature review samples.

The tone of this sonnet is dark and melancholy. It is filled with imagery which puts an emphasis on the madness of the subject, as well as the sadness of the poet for being trapped in her life and wanting the freedom the madman has. The structure of the sonnet, the descriptive adjectives used as well as other vocabulary, and the figurative language employed in it all provide a backdrop of misery and gloom.

Musical Devices

Good Airport Operation Model: Literature Review Example

Good public perception of the arts and the disconnect between the value of art and the literature review example, some of the guidelines should be maintained before incorporating social networking literature review, section 2: literature review, example of technology in the classroom literature review, example of literature review on disability, mobility and psychological effects related to infection in orthopedic, good lack of students interest in studying science literature review example, researching smoke signals literature review example, example of children movies literature review, literature review on comparative essay, free literature review on litertature, free academic literature review on literary analysis, hamlet and the renaissance spirit literature review examples, cultural identity in modern american short stories literature review, poem review literature review, free literature review on wong kar wai as an auteur.

Wong Kar-Wai is, most certainly, one of the most celebrated and acclaimed Chinese filmmakers currently working in film; his films have been recognized as innovative, dreamlike and visceral. Critics and film scholars throughout the world have observed and celebrated his work as an auteur, who creates vivid, stunning stories as only an artist can. Due to the individualistic and personal nature of his films, Wong Kar-Wai is certain to be regarded as an auteur who pours the entirety of his artistic vision into his films.

Quiet Torrential Sound Literature Review Example

In Joan Ackermann's short play "Quiet Torrential Sound," two sisters, Claire and Monica, sit down for a lunch while on vacation, after having seen an outdoor performance of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Monica talks her sister's ear off while criticizing her, while Claire finally opens up about a sex workshop she took some time ago, in which she began to experience the thrill of orgasm. Throughout the scene, the power relationship between the two sisters changes and shifts, all the while tackling issues of sibling rivalry and sexual liberation.

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

• My Library Account
• Articles, Books & More
• Course Reserves
• Site Search
• Advanced Search
• Sac State Library
• Research Guides
• Writing a Literature Review
• Literature Review Examples
• What is a Literature Review?
• Organizing Your Literature Review
• Managing your Citations
• Further Reading on Lit Reviews

Literature Review Samples

Click on the links below for examples of Literature Reviews

• << Previous: Writing a Literature Review
• Next: Organizing Your Literature Review >>
• Last Updated: Mar 11, 2024 1:00 PM
• URL: https://csus.libguides.com/litreview

Review of Related Literature (RRL)

Ai generator.

The Review of Related Literature (RRL) is a crucial section in research that examines existing studies and publications related to a specific topic. It summarizes and synthesizes previous findings, identifies gaps, and provides context for the current research. RRL ensures the research is grounded in established knowledge, guiding the direction and focus of new studies.

What Is Review of Related Literature (RRL)?

The Review of Related Literature (RRL) is a detailed analysis of existing research relevant to a specific topic. It evaluates, synthesizes, and summarizes previous studies to identify trends, gaps, and conflicts in the literature. RRL provides a foundation for new research, ensuring it builds on established knowledge and addresses existing gaps.

Format of Review of Related Literature (RRL)

The Review of Related Literature (RRL) is a critical part of any research paper or thesis . It provides an overview of existing research on your topic and helps to establish the context for your study. Here is a typical format for an RRL:

1. Introduction

• Purpose : Explain the purpose of the review and its importance to your research.
• Scope : Define the scope of the literature reviewed, including the time frame, types of sources, and key themes.

2. Theoretical Framework

• Concepts and Theories : Present the main theories and concepts that underpin your research.
• Relevance : Explain how these theories relate to your study.

3. Review of Empirical Studies

• Sub-theme 1 : Summarize key studies, including methodologies, findings, and conclusions.
• Sub-theme 2 : Continue summarizing studies, focusing on different aspects or variables.
• Sub-theme 3 : Include any additional relevant studies.

4. Methodological Review

• Approaches : Discuss the various methodologies used in the reviewed studies.
• Strengths and Weaknesses : Highlight the strengths and weaknesses of these methodologies.
• Gaps : Identify gaps in the existing research that your study aims to address.

5. Synthesis and Critique

• Integration : Integrate findings from the reviewed studies to show the current state of knowledge.
• Critique : Critically evaluate the literature, discussing inconsistencies, limitations, and areas for further research.

6. Conclusion

• Summary : Summarize the main findings from the literature review.
• Research Gap : Clearly state the research gap your study will address.
• Contribution : Explain how your study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge.

7. References

• Citation Style : List all the sources cited in your literature review in the appropriate citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago).

Review of Related Literature (RRL) 1. Introduction This review examines research on social media’s impact on mental health, focusing on anxiety and depression across various demographics over the past ten years. 2. Theoretical Framework Anchored in Social Comparison Theory and Uses and Gratifications Theory, this review explores how individuals’ social media interactions affect their mental health. 3. Review of Empirical Studies Adolescents’ Mental Health Instagram & Body Image : Smith & Johnson (2017) found Instagram use linked to body image issues and lower self-esteem among 500 high school students. Facebook & Anxiety : Brown & Green (2016) showed Facebook use correlated with higher anxiety and depressive symptoms in a longitudinal study of 300 students. Young Adults’ Mental Health Twitter & Stress : Davis & Lee (2018) reported higher stress levels among heavy Twitter users in a survey of 400 university students. LinkedIn & Self-Esteem : Miller & White (2019) found LinkedIn use positively influenced professional self-esteem in 200 young professionals. Adult Mental Health General Social Media Use : Thompson & Evans (2020) found moderate social media use associated with better mental health outcomes, while excessive use correlated with higher anxiety and depression in 1,000 adults. 4. Methodological Review Studies used cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal designs, and mixed methods. Cross-sectional surveys provided large data sets but couldn’t infer causation. Longitudinal studies offered insights into long-term effects but were resource-intensive. Mixed methods enriched data through qualitative insights but required careful integration. 5. Synthesis and Critique The literature shows a complex relationship between social media and mental health, with platform-specific and demographic-specific effects. However, reliance on self-reported data introduces bias, and many cross-sectional studies limit causal inference. More longitudinal and experimental research is needed. 6. Conclusion Current research offers insights into social media’s mental health impact but leaves gaps, particularly regarding long-term effects and causation. This study aims to address these gaps through comprehensive longitudinal analysis. 7. References Brown, A., & Green, K. (2016). Facebook Use and Anxiety Among High School Students . Psychology in the Schools, 53(3), 257-264. Davis, R., & Lee, S. (2018). Twitter and Psychological Stress: A Study of University Students . Journal of College Student Development, 59(2), 120-135. Miller, P., & White, H. (2019). LinkedIn and Its Effect on Professional Self-Esteem . Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(1), 78-90. Smith, J., & Johnson, L. (2017). The Impact of Instagram on Teen Body Image . Journal of Adolescent Health, 60(5), 555-560. Thompson, M., & Evans, D. (2020). The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Mental Health in Adults . Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(4), 201-208.

Review of Related Literature (RRL) Examples

Review of related literature in research, review of related literature in research paper, review of related literature qualitative research.

Review of Related Literature Quantitative Research

More Review of Related Literature (RRL) Examples

• Impact of E-learning on Student Performance
• Effectiveness of Mindfulness in Workplace
• Green Building and Energy Efficiency
• Impact of Technology on Healthcare Delivery
• Effects of Nutrition on Cognitive Development in Children
• Impact of Employee Training Programs on Productivity
• Effects of Climate Change on Biodiversity
• Impact of Parental Involvement on Student Achievement
• Effects of Mobile Learning on Student Engagement
• Effects of Urban Green Spaces on Mental Health

Purpose of the Review of Related Literature (RRL)

The Review of Related Literature (RRL) serves several critical purposes in research:

• Establishing Context : It situates your research within the broader field, showing how your study relates to existing work.
• Identifying Gaps : It highlights gaps, inconsistencies, and areas needing further exploration in current knowledge, providing a clear rationale for your study.
• Avoiding Duplication : By reviewing what has already been done, it helps ensure your research is original and not a repetition of existing studies.
• Building on Existing Knowledge : It allows you to build on the findings of previous research, using established theories and methodologies to inform your work.
• Theoretical Foundation : It provides a theoretical basis for your research, grounding it in existing concepts and theories.
• Methodological Insights : It offers insights into the methods and approaches used in similar studies, helping you choose the most appropriate methods for your research.
• Establishing Credibility : It demonstrates your familiarity with the field, showing that you are well-informed and have a solid foundation for your research.
• Supporting Arguments : It provides evidence and support for your research questions, hypotheses, and objectives, strengthening the overall argument of your study.

How to Write Review of Related Literature (RRL)

Writing a Review of Related Literature (RRL) involves several key steps. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Define the Scope and Objectives

• Determine the Scope : Decide on the breadth of the literature you will review, including specific themes, time frame, and types of sources.
• Set Objectives : Clearly define the purpose of the review. What do you aim to achieve? Identify gaps, establish context, or build on existing knowledge.

2. Search for Relevant Literature

• Identify Keywords : Use keywords and phrases related to your research topic.
• Use Databases : Search academic databases like Google Scholar, PubMed, JSTOR, etc., for relevant articles, books, and papers.
• Select Sources : Choose sources that are credible, recent, and relevant to your research.

3. Evaluate and Select the Literature

• Read Abstracts and Summaries : Quickly determine the relevance of each source.
• Assess Quality : Consider the methodology, credibility of the authors, and publication source.
• Select Key Studies : Choose studies that are most relevant to your research questions and objectives.

4. Organize the Literature

• Thematic Organization : Group studies by themes or topics.
• Chronological Organization : Arrange studies in the order they were published to show the development of ideas over time.
• Methodological Organization : Categorize studies by the methods they used.

5. Write the Review

• State the purpose and scope of the review.
• Explain the importance of the topic.
• Theoretical Framework : Present and discuss the main theories and concepts.
• Summarize key studies, including their methodologies, findings, and conclusions.
• Organize by themes or other chosen organizational methods.
• Methodological Review : Discuss the various methodologies used, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
• Synthesis and Critique : Integrate findings, critically evaluate the literature, and identify gaps or inconsistencies.
• Summarize the main findings from the literature review.
• Highlight the research gaps your study will address.
• State how your research will contribute to the existing knowledge.

6. Cite the Sources

• Use Appropriate Citation Style : Follow the required citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago).
• List References : Provide a complete list of all sources cited in your review.

What is an RRL?

An RRL summarizes and synthesizes existing research on a specific topic to identify gaps and guide future studies.

Why is RRL important?

It provides context, highlights gaps, and ensures new research builds on existing knowledge.

How do you write an RRL?

Organize by themes, summarize studies, evaluate methodologies, identify gaps, and conclude with relevance to current research.

What sources are used in RRL?

Peer-reviewed journals, books, conference papers, and credible online resources.

How long should an RRL be?

Length varies; typically 10-20% of the total research paper.

What are common RRL mistakes?

Lack of organization, insufficient synthesis, over-reliance on outdated sources, and failure to identify gaps.

Can an RRL include non-scholarly sources?

Primarily scholarly, but reputable non-scholarly sources can be included for context.

What is the difference between RRL and bibliography?

RRL synthesizes and analyzes the literature, while a bibliography lists sources.

How often should an RRL be updated?

Regularly, especially when new relevant research is published.

Can an RRL influence research direction?

Yes, it identifies gaps and trends that shape the focus and methodology of new research.

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

10 Examples of Public speaking

20 Examples of Gas lighting