Stakeholders’ perceptions of a music and ballet elementary school students’ English language needs, wants, lacks, and opportunities

Abstract

This case study analyzes the English language needs of music students at a music and ballet elementary school (MBES). The perceptions of major stakeholders of MBES, the current and former MBES students, music and English teachers and parents, are collected through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and complete participant observations based on Brown’s (1995) framework. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of data revealed that music students need English primarily to communicate with international musicians and to participate in activities such as concerts, school auditions, competitions, master classes and music courses. Speaking and listening skills are found to be needed the most followed by reading and writing. Students were found to have some deficiencies in all skills, and they lack the opportunities to practice all these skills at school.