The Evolution and Use of Verbal Protocols in the Study of Music Teacher Cognition - literature review

Oct 15, 2026

Literature review defining verbal protocols and examining how think-alouds and stimulated recall can support research into music teacher cognition and instructional practice. The review argues that capturing tacit, routinized knowledge helps explain how teachers develop practical understanding, make fluent decisions, and reflect on their cognition in context. Across reviewed studies, participants improved at identifying and describing aspects of their cognitive processes while solving musical problems, listening, and teaching, extending work in music education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teaching and learning as specialized practice

Contributions to Music Education

Specialized knowledge and decision-making

Capturing tacit and routinized teacher knowledge

Challenges of accessing teacher cognition in music

Sommer Forrester

Exploring Teacher Knowledge

Novice versus experienced teacher schemata

Contributions to Music Education Vol. 44, pp. 127-144. soMMer Forrester University of Massachusetts Boston The Evolution and Use of Verbal Protocols in the Study of Music Teacher Cognition The purpose of this literature review is to define verbal protocols and explore how two methodological tools — think-alouds and stimulated recall — may apply to research in music education practices . Pinpointing the inner workings of these processes may extend the ongoing work within music education and further support how novice music teachers notice, observe, and understand the nuances involved in music teaching . Across thereviewed body of research in music education, stimulated recall and think-alouds helped participants access their tacit knowledge and think metacognitively about their thought processes while solving musical problems, listening, and teaching . Overwhelmingly, the participants across all of the reviewed music education studies demonstrated notable improvement in their ability to identify and describe aspects of their cognitive processes . Keywords: teacher knowledge, music teacher education, verbal protocols, think-alouds, stimulated recall Introduction Teaching and learning are commonplace human activities that are intricate and complex (Ball, 2000; Grossman, Hammerness, & McDonald, 2009). Informal teaching happens throughout our day: parents and children teach one another, peers assist each other through work and play, and colleagues offer perspective and new ways to approach tasks. Because of the ubiquitous nature of informal teaching, it is often assumed that professional classroom teaching is simply learned through experience (Ball & Forzani, 2009, 2011; Cohen, 2011); however, scholars argue that professional teaching is specialized work that is complicated and unnatural as it involves identifying and examining topics through the perspective of the learner (Ball & Forzani, 2009) . Contributions to Music Education As such, professional teaching demands the continuous acquisition and retrieval of specialized knowledge, skills, cultural competency, relational sensitivity, and the ability to “unpack” knowledge to make it accessible to someone else (Ball, 2000; Ball & Forzani, 2009, 2011; Clark & Lampert, 1986; Freeman, 2002; Lampert, 2000; Nilsson, 2008; Sherin & van Es, 2009; Verloop, Van Driel & Meijer, 2001). Teachers make decisions and problem-solve with a high degree of fluency in a dynamic environment. The fluency and automaticity with which teachers call on their practical knowledge, skills, subject-matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, situated and contextual knowledge, and personal knowledge, highlights the demands of specialized expertise (Ball, 2000; Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008; Grossman, 2005; Kagan, 1990; Lampert, 2000; Lortie, 1975; Shulman, 1987) . Scholars note the importance of finding ways to capture, represent, and describe teachers’ routinized and tacit knowledge (Meijer et al., 2002), as it may offer insights into how pre-and in-service teachers develop practical knowledge. Meijer et al., noted this aspect of research may result in: (a) a deeper insight into the cognitive aspects of teaching; (b) an understanding of the complexity of teachers’ practical knowledge and how this is related to teaching practice (i.e., it is based on, develops in, and influences teaching practice); and (c) encouragement of student teachers to reflect and elaborate their own developing practical knowledge. (p. 407) Yet, this type of inquiry is difficult to access for three reasons: (a) knowledge is often held unconsciously; (b) teacher cognition is contextual; and (c) there is a lack of specific language to describe cognitive function and action (Kagan, 1990; Lampert, 2000; Lortie, 1975) . In the case of music teaching and learning, accessing music teachers’ knowledge is further complicated by the temporal nature of the subject matter. The inthe-moment cognitive processes and decisions tha

FAQs

Why is it difficult to access teacher cognition, particularly in music teaching?

The review lists three reasons: knowledge is often unconscious, teacher cognition is contextual, and there is limited specific language to describe cognitive function and action. In music, additional complexity comes from the temporal and often nonverbal nature of in-the-moment processes.

Oct 15, 2026

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