Preservice music teachers ` perception of their music teachers

This research examines preservice music teachers` perception of their music teachers during their schooling. The data for the research were obtained by asking 135 preservice music teachers to fill in the blanks in the sentence ‘my music teacher was like a..., because...’ A content analysis of the data resulted in 80 different metaphors. These metaphors were grouped into eight different categories. The participants` perceptions were mainly focused on four roles and characteristics of their music teachers namely, ‘guiding/supportive,’ ‘expert/authority,’ ‘kind/supportive,’ and ‘inefficacious/with communication problems’. The results showed that, participants’ music teachers had an important role in terms of providing them guidance, and being kind and supportive. However, participants were taught in more traditional way of teaching where teachers are seen as transmitter of knowledge and authoritarian. Some negative comments about their music teachers were given which needs further research.


INTRODUCTION
In one`s daily lives, a constant communication with other people is maintained, by talking, reading or writing.The main purpose of this daily communication is to express one`s self in the best way possible.To achieve this, examples and images are used to explain or talk about a situation, an object, or a concept.According to Palmquist (2001), a metaphor is a construct of figurative expression built through comparison and contrast between two objects or concepts, as well as the transfer of the experience of one of the two things to the other.Lakoff and Johnson (1999) claimed that metaphors correspond to neural mapping in the brain, and reflect a way to organise human experiences by creating images.He asserted that the abstract metaphorical approach to learning allows learners to grasp complex concepts in the context of their existing practical repertoire.It is believed that, learners can interpret their practical repertoire through metaphors, and thus influencing the way they act.Schechter and Firuz (2015) mentioned different groups of studies, which were most of them in education, focused on exposing the implicit or the explicit dimensions of participants' interpretations of a certain situation, either by analysing the metaphors found in the texts or approaching the participants with a list of existing metaphors.Schmitt (2005) considers metaphor as an important data collection tool in qualitative research.Metaphors present a holistic framework of perception because they provide an understanding of experience related to the subject of the metaphor.Geçit and Gençer (2011) pointed out that metaphors are used to enrich the teaching and educational environment, and employed in formal teaching with the purpose of explaining complex concepts and phenomena.Particularly, concept of 'music' was one of the interest research area among Turkish music education researchers and metaphors were used as an instrument in data collection.Examples of these studies were Koca (2012) research on teachers' metaphorical perceptions of 'music' as a concept; Umuzdaş and Umuzdaş (2013) students' perception of 'music classes' through metaphors; Babacan (2014) Anatolian fine arts high school students' perceptions of 'music' as a concept; Uygun (2015)future teachers' perceptions of 'Turkish folk and classical Turkish art music'; Sözbir and Çakmak (2015) early year preservice teachers' perception of the concept of 'music';and Yazıcı (2015) primary class preservice teachers' perceptions of 'music classes'.
Researchers and teacher educators have shown increasing interest in metaphor research as a means to better understand how teachers conceptualize their views about school, teacher, principle, curriculum and teaching.There is a growing body of international literature that supports the study and use of teacher's metaphorical images in understanding how they conceptualize their work and themselves in that work.A number of the studies in this area concern the concept of 'being a teacher' in general (Oxford et al., 1998;Ocak and Gündüz, 2006;Saban et al., 2006;Zhao, et al., 2009); whereas others are related to branch teachers (Nikitina and Furuoka, 2008;Oğuz, 2009;Ünal and Ünal, 2010;Afacan, 2011).
Meanwhile, Thompson and Campbell (2003) investigated preservice music teachers' representations of themselves as teachers and their relationships to conceptions of practice.They gathered information about students' personal teaching metaphors through drawn images and written descriptions.They suggested three underlying metaphors regarding music education students' representations.These were; 'production', 'growth' and 'travel'.Images of teaching built on' production' metaphors view the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge.Teachers were seen as experts who employ planned specifications for achieving predetermined ends.'Production' metaphors envisioned teaching as authoritarian and authority based.Images of teaching built on' production' metaphors viewed the teacher as one who was constantly working on personal growth.Images associated with facilitator, collaborator and mentor.Lastly, 'travel' metaphors characterised the teachers as guide where ideas connected with the roles of leaders, directors, master-apprentice type of relations.
Similarly, the latest study with Turkish preservice teachers indicated that most preservice secondary school teachers adopted the transmissive perception, which consider teachers as a source of knowledge and students as the receiving party (Akcay, 2016).
Upon entering teacher education programs, preservice teachers bring with them a set of existing beliefs formed throughout their years as students in schools; these beliefs can temper their experiences in teacher education coursework (Campbell, 1999;Schmidt, 2012), and also result in the influence of teacher education being 'washed out' (Zeichner and Tabachnick, 1981).Richardson (1996) indicates that the combination of personal experience, previous schooling, and student teaching were more influential in building conceptions of teaching than the teacher education programs.Mahlios et al. (2010) showed that teacher education programs, with the exception of student teaching, have minimal effects on teachers' beliefs and practices.Previous life experiences and actual teaching experiences are the two most potent influences on beliefs about teaching, children, and schooling.Especially the study on preservice music teachers' perceptions of their own music teachers is considered important in understanding their previous experiences with music teaching.These experiences believed to have later influence their professional growth or the correction of possible false learning (Oğuz, 2009;Mahlios and Maxson, 1998).Educators of preservice music teachers need to develop alternative mechanisms to understand the preservice music teachers' values, beliefs, and perceptions of teaching and learning.The role of these mechanisms is to allow the development of metaphorical images.Metaphors mentioned are powerful tools to retrieve preservice music teachers perceptions and experiences on teaching and learning processes.In this way, metaphors can be used more actively in training programs for music students In this study, metaphors were used as an instrument for inferring and understanding preservice music teachers' perceptions of their music teachers, whom they have formerly experienced.It is important to ascertain on which kind of roles these perceptions are concentrated, as they might influence preservice music teachers' future behaviour as a teacher.Within this framework, this study answers the following questions: 1. Which metaphors are used by preservice music teachers in explaining their previous music teachers?2. Which conceptual categories can be formed according to the common aspects of metaphors related to previous music teachers?3. On which roles or characters of the music teachers do these metaphors concentrate?

METHODOLOGY
Quantitative studies investigate individuals' conceptions through epistemological statements developed by educational researchers, who seek the participants' inclinations towards the concepts of statements.Meanwhile, the phenomenological qualitative research, reveals and analyses the variety of meanings and perspectives.This study was carried out using the phenomenological approach.Phenomenology describes peoples' experiences with a certain phenomenon and the meaning of these experiences to them.This approach helps to understand how the participants make meaning of their experiences related to phenomena and events, and how they communicate (that is, what kind of words, concepts, or phrases they use to share) these meanings with others (Patton, 2002).

Study group
The participants of the study included 135 preservice music teachers enrolled in the Fine Arts Music Education Program (grades 1 to 4) at the Ahmet Keleşoğlu Education Faculty, Necmettin Erbakan University, in the fall of the 2015 to 2016 academic year.The participants comprised of 32 first-year, 39 second-year, 34 third-year and 40 fourth-year students.The students' age ranged from 17 to 32, with mean age at 22.5.As regards the participants' high school background before entering the music education program, 102 graduated from fine arts high school, 9 from regular high schools, 7 from three other types of high schools, and six from Anatolian high schools.

Data collection
In previous studies, the participants were asked to complete openended sentences (for example, 'the school is like a…, because…').In this study, the participants were asked to fill in the blanks in the sentence 'my music teacher was like…, because…' to determine their perceptions of their previous music teachers.The students were given a paper, with this sentence written on it.They were asked to concentrate on one metaphor and then write down their thoughts within a 20 min period.Using the word 'like' was used to refer to the connection between the metaphor and the subject of the metaphor, whereas the word 'because' was utilised to provide the students with the opportunity to justify the metaphor that they have used (Saban, 2009).

Analysis and interpretation of the data
The data collected in the research were analysed using content analysis to obtain the concepts and relations that can explain meaningfully the collected data.Content analysis requires an indepth analysis of the data collected, and enables to reveal themes and dimensions in this study that were not apparent or known before.The process of content analysis could be summarised as bringing together similar data around certain concepts or themes, and then organise and interpret them (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2008).When analysing the metaphors written down by preservice music teacher, the steps of analysis included: 1. Naming, 2. Organising/eliminating, 3. Category development, 4. Ensuring reliability and validity, and 5. Transferring the data into digital media (Saban, 2004(Saban, , 2008(Saban, , 2009)).
Upon completing the collection of data forms, they were organised and given a number.Next, numbered forms were transferred into a computer digital media.At this stage, a list of the metaphors used by the students was created, and metaphors were checked whether they were expressed in a certain way.In addition, the following forms were eliminated: 1.Those with a metaphor but without an explanation, 2. Those with an explanation but without a definite metaphor, and 3.Those with a metaphor and an explanation, but without a clear connection between the two.
Based on these criteria, forms filled out by 22 students were excluded in the analysis.At the next stage a table was created; the metaphors were listed alphabetically; and the frequency values were measured.Subsequently, metaphors used by 113 students were analysed in terms of their common aspects.By checking the relationship between the metaphors and their explanations, categories were created for the metaphors.

Validity and reliability
To ensure the validity and reliability of this study, two main processes were followed.Firstly, to obtain internal validity, the data analysis process has been explained in detail, and in the findings, all the data obtained were presented in qualitative and quantitative formats.In ensuring the transparency of the procedures during research, other researchers were allowed to repeat the study in the same way.To ensure internal reliability, with the help of two experts, themes and categories were compared in order to find out the differences between the experts.Following the comparison, the number of agreements and disagreements were counted, and using the formula developed by Miles and Huberman (1994) the reliability of this study was calculated (reliability = agreement/agreement+disagreement).In qualitative research, a rate of 90% agreement between the researcher and experts was accepted as a threshold for reliability.According to the calculations, the reliability of this study was found at 93%, which means that the categories defined and the results of this study are reliable.At the same time, other measures were taken by describing the processes, whereby the metaphors were defined and analysed, and by using direct sample quotes from students' explanations of the metaphors.

Metaphors for music teachers
Music students produced 80 different valid metaphors when they were asked about their perception of their previous music teachers.Table 1 presents the metaphors used by this study's participants alphabetically, and the number of students that used them (frequency).

Categories of the metaphors
Metaphors used by preservice music teachers to describe their previous music teachers were grouped into eight categories (Table 2).These categories were named as 'guiding/shaping teacher', 'expert/ authority teacher', 'Kind/supportive teacher', 'valuable/versatile teacher', 'inefficacious/teacher with communication problem', 'fun teacher', 'teacher as visual image', and 'therapist

Kind/supportive teacher
This category includes eight metaphors that were used by 24 participants to describe their previous music teachers.The most frequently used metaphors were 'family' (f = 17) and 'friend' (f = 4).Examples of the statements used by the participants are as follows: Samples of music students` explanations are given below; 'My music teacher was like family, because s/he approached students with mercy and treated us nicely.' 'My music teacher was like a friend, because s/he had always been by our side'.'My music teacher was like an oven, because s/he was very warm-blooded'.

Valuable/versatile teacher
This category includes 14 metaphors that were used by 17 participants to describe their former music teachers.The most frequently used metaphors were 'nature' (f = 2), 'sun' (f = 2), and 'rainbow' (f = 2).Examples of the statements used by the participants are as follows: 'My music teacher was like nature, because all the nature's sounds were embodied in his/her being'.'My music teacher was like sun, because among all other teachers, s/he was the brightest and most remarkable'.'My music teacher was like a rainbow, because s/he contained many colours and values'.'My music teacher was like gold dust, because s/he was a very valuable and rare person'.

DISCUSSION
This research was conducted to determine the metaphors used by preservice music teachers in describing their previous music teachers, and to group these metaphors under specific conceptual categories.Saban et al. (2006) state that metaphors can be used as a powerful cognitive tool in exploring and understanding preservice music teachers' personal values, beliefs, and philosophies regarding the concepts of learning and teaching.However, more than one metaphor is needed to explain the concept of 'teacher' as a whole.This is because metaphors correspond to one aspect and not the totality of the entity they attempt to define (Yılmaz et al., 2013;Şengül et. al., 2014;Cerit, 2008;Saban et al., 2006).This study found preservice music teachers used various metaphors, such as 'goddess on earth', 'jewellery', 'clown', and 'Kaaba', to describe their former music teachers.This variation indicates that they were unable to define their former music teachers using one or a few well-known metaphors only.For such reason, the collection method of metaphors can be revised as a semi-structured interview method, which could facilitate the exploration of the participants' personal perspectives in a broader way.The question could be rephrased to: 'Looking into your musical experiences at your school, what kind of metaphor would you use to describe your music teacher?
In this study, 80 valid metaphors were produced by the participants.These 80 metaphors were grouped into eight different categories, namely, 'guiding/shaping teacher', 'expert/authority teacher', 'kind/supportive teacher', 'valuable/versatile teacher', 'inefficacious/teacher with communication problems', 'fun teacher', 'teacher as visual image', and 'therapist teacher'.the metaphors used were mainly focused on four different roles or characteristics, namely, 'guiding/shaping', 'expert/authority', 'kind/supportive', and 'inefficacious/with communication problems'.Saban et al. (2006) conducted a study on the metaphorical perceptions of student teachers, and categorized them into 10 types.Three of these categories, namely, 'guiding/directing teacher', 'fun teacher', and 'therapist teacher' are compatible with this study.However, as Saban et al. (2006) note, the type of school program (or department) and gender emerge as two important factors in such studies.In this respect, perceptions of the preservice music teachers at the Music Education Department were different compared with those in other departments.Therefore, their metaphors were grouped under different categories.In this study, the different categories were formed as 'kind/supportive teacher', 'valuable/versatile teacher', 'inefficacious/teacher with communication problems', and 'teacher as visual image'.
According to Bandura's terminology of psychology (1969), a teacher emerges as a 'figure of authority'.Accordingly, a teacher is a 'representative' of power.In society, people have appointed teachers as counsellors for their kids, and delegated all the power and freedom to the teachers for the sake of their children's success.Majority of the metaphors used by the preservice music teachers are considered under the 'expert/authority teacher' category.These metaphors showed that their former music teachers' understanding and style of teaching and behaviour influenced the class environment.The definition of music teachers within this category is based on their traditional methods of lecturing, creation of teacher-centred class environment and management of the content, information transfer, and the time of the course being set according to their personal decisions (Grasha, 1994).
Similar result also founded by Thompson and Campbell (2003) in which metaphors viewed the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge.According to Grasha (1996), this style of teaching corresponds to a low sensitivity towards student learning.Teachers relying on this style of teaching do not enable interaction among students and cooperative learning.The teacher generally expects the student to prepare for the class and confine their class role to information transfer (Grasha, 1996).In this study, the most frequently used metaphors are 'lion', 'book', 'study plan', and 'machine'.
Guiding and shaping the students' talents is an important dimension in music education, as such teaching role may affect students' vocational choices in the future.The 'Qualifications of Music Teacher' guidebook, which was prepared by the Ministry of Education (MEB) (2008), states that the music teachers are expected to trace the development of their students in terms of musical arts and education, as well as evaluate their development to be able to assist and guide them in vocational choices.Therefore, it was an expected result from the preservice music teachers to view their former music teachers as a person who guides and shapes to be music teachers.The metaphors used by the preservice music teachers were also compatible with the metaphors found in other similar studies (Yılmaz et al., 2013;Cerit, 2008).
Similar result also founded by Thompson and Campbell (2003) in which metaphors characterised the teachers as guide where ideas connected with the roles of leaders, directors, master-apprentice type of relations.The most frequently used metaphors in this category are 'compass', 'map', 'Light', and 'flashlight'.This study also found that preservice music teachers described their former teachers as 'kind/supportive', which was mainly expressed using the words 'family' and 'friend'.Sünbül (1996) indicated that a good teacher should be friendly, cheerful, sympathetic, and morally honest like family members.Social and emotional behaviours, including showing an interest and liking, relaxing, praising, or criticising, are included in this role.
Under the 'valuable/versatile teacher' category, preservice music teachers used metaphors, such as 'jewel ', 'star', 'gold dust', 'nature', 'rainbow', and 'sun'. According to the MEB (2008) guidebook on teacher qualifications, music teachers are expected to possess qualities, such as cognitive, auditory, motion, and intuitive abilities, in addition to personal and vocational qualifications expected from them.According to Uçan (1997), a music teacher needs to fulfil multiple roles, such as a musical artist (composer, vocalist, and interpreter), a musical researcher, and a music educator.The preservice music teachers' use of metaphors under this category indicates that their former music teachers possessed a multidimensional understanding of music education.
This study also found a number of negative metaphors used to describe their former music teachers, and grouped them under the 'inefficacious/teacher with communication problems' category.These negative metaphors include 'wood/log', 'crow', and 'leafless tree'.
Nevertheless, Uçan (1996) proposed that teachers in arts education need to be knowledgeable, conscious, good-mannered, sensible, and selective to follow a strategy of educating students who use music while enjoying it.The main purpose in such principles is to develop and enrich the artistic knowledge, manners, interests, desires, and talents of individuals.
However, the music teachers, who were described in this category, were perceived to be possessing characteristics that are contrary to what is expected from them.The preservice music teachers' statements were striking when they were explaining their metaphors.These explanations elucidated how music teachers were behaving towards their students, and were mainly focus on the lack of consideration to see their students as individuals.The teachers also did not value the students accordingly.Their characteristics included anger, ignorance of cultural differences and interests, ineffective process of teaching and learning, reluctant in teaching, lacking in communication skills and motivation in their profession development, and lack of aesthetic and ethical understanding.
In the 'fun teacher' category, only four students admitted that they had an experience with such music teachers.A similar result was found in the study by Saban et al. (2006).The latter study explained this result as a reflection of the principle that 'teaching is a serious job', a prevalent approach in Turkish culture.According to the findings in the present study, only four students thought their former music teachers were enjoyable and fun.The reason for this is that the teachers who focus on teacher-centred traditional rather than the contemporary music teaching methods ignore the music teachers' feature as a fun teacher.Especially, teacher training institutions should not neglect the need to train 'fun teachers', which can be a feature of an effective music teacher.The end goal of music education is not to enjoy; however, students who are having fun while learning are more likely to learn better and practice more often.Very few pre-service music teachers described their former music teachers as 'therapist teachers'.It is well known that artistic therapies have an integrating and healing potential; therefore, this potential is used as an instrument for psychological insight and emotional maturation.These therapies include all artistic practices, including painting, music, drama, cinema, motion, and dancing.Studies in this area have shown that art therapies are effective in reducing anxiety, depression, fatigue, and symptoms of stress, as well as increasing health indicators of quality of life significantly (Aydin, 2012).Metaphors used by the pre-service music teachers about their former music teachers do not include a high frequency of the therapist role of the teacher.In other words, music courses in Turkey do not intend to use music as an instrument of therapy and relaxation.However, the category of 'Teacher as Visual Image' indicates that the teachers' choices of clothing, attitudes, and behaviours that reflect aesthetic and taste are noticed by the students.

CONCLUSION
The findings of this study showed that firstly, metaphors are powerful tools in understanding the preservice music teachers' previous personal experiences and perceptions about their former music teachers.Secondly, preservice music teachers perceive their music teachers as 'guiding and shaping' their talents which is an important dimension in music education.The promotion of music at early ages accelerates the development in music.
Former music teachers' guidance, is believed, helped music students to understand their potentials.Moreover, preservice music teachers also considered their teachers as a member of their family, and believed to have forged a great connection between them and their music teachers.The compassion and affection between teachers and students are important, as teachers are vital in providing the social and emotional needs of students.Thirdly, looking at former music teachers' teaching approach; they were shown as transmitter of knowledge and authoritarian who practiced with traditionally teachercentred approach.It is believed that pre-service music teachers' lack of previous experiences at school on contemporary music teaching approaches may have an effect on their practice of music teaching.
In general, teachers teaches their subject in the same way as they were being taught, and teacher training programs have little influence to change these practises.It is believed that more student centred approaches are needed to be introduced and used at teacher training programmes in order to replace old learning styles with new ones.The last and unfortunate finding was perceptions of music teachers who were shown as cold, angry, and reluctant to teach.This unexpected result however, can be explained by earlier research study which showed that in Turkey, music teachers have complained over their working environments, working hours, salaries, and students' attitudes towards music lessons (Otacıoglu, 2008).
Pre-service music teachers need to be prepared for the job environments, and how to improve the environment of music classes where they can be successful and happy.Music classes with the necessary materials and instruments may increase the motivation of music teachers, thereby affecting their attitudes of students towards music education.
To have a deeper understanding of music teachers in Turkey, more research is needed.The role of music teacher training departments and pre-service music teachers' attitudes, perceptions, and experiences towards their former training must be emphasized.

Table 1 .
Frequency of use of metaphors by students to describe their previous music teachers.
'My music teacher was like light, because s/he always showed us the way'.'My music teacher was like a map, because s/he always showed me the path and s/he guided me'.'My music teacher was like a flashlight, because on every road we took together, s/he made us take the most conscious steps even in the darkest and difficult situations'.'My music teacher was like a book, because s/he was well-equipped, well informed, she knows everything about music'.'My music teacher was like a filled container, because she wanted to teach everything that was necessary to

Table 2 .
Categories of metaphors used by students to describe their previous music teachers.