Innovative Music Assessment Approach: An Empirical Study of a Criterion- and Standard-based Assessment for Higher Education

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Assessment is an integral part of educational practice, which is of great significance to teaching and learning. Unlike other subjects such as mathematics, which are liable to be assessed objectively, the assessment in music education has always been considered relatively subjective thereby often encountering challenges within the accountability-driven educational environment. Aimed to explore a possible improvement of the tertiary educational assessment practice of music performance, an empirical study was conducted by applying a criterion- and standard-based assessment framework based on the holistic application of Bloom's taxonomy. In this study, fifteen teachers from three normal universities in China were invited to engage in the design of a new assessment rubric for the educational assessment of piano recitals. In the subsequent application trials, this rubric was used to evaluate twenty-five students, after which a semi-structured interview was implemented. The thematic analysis results of the interviews showed that although both teachers and students acknowledged the importance of assessment in music education, multiple problems were found in the existing common practice of educational assessment in music performance, which greatly diminished its reliability and instructiveness. Positive feedback received after the application trials reflected that the newly developed assessment rubrics can effectively make up for the shortcomings of the existing educational assessment practice, facilitating enhancing the quality of music education. This study not only sheds light on the common situation in the assessment practice of music performance for tertiary education in China but also makes a rewarding exploration by bridging the gulf between theory and practice that contributes to the development of high-quality assessment in music education both at home and abroad.