Implicit Theories on Teaching, Learning, and Evaluating Flamenco Dance in the Classroom: Demographic Comparison of Spain and Japan

Abstract

Flamenco dance is present not just in many regions of Spain but also throughout the world, including places as far as Japan. These diverse teaching contexts have led to disparate studies on flamenco teaching and learning processes. However, most of these studies differ from general theories of education; for example, there is no record of studies of flamenco applying implicit learning theories. Much like music and physical education, flamenco dance entails a type of procedural learning that can be based on different theories depending on whether the focus is on learning, teaching or educational evaluation. This study aims to disclose the presence of implicit theories (direct, interpretive and constructive) in these processes, and determine Spanish and Japanese dancers’ educational preferences in the classroom in connection with these theories, while exploring geographical and demographic characteristics. The results show that the situations extracted from the theories are present in the classroom, and that there is a clear connection between the country where dancers train professionally, and their age and gender. There are statistically significant differences that reveal the importance of the country with respect to the latter two characteristics. Overall, participants preferred constructivist situations. Given these results, more research should be carried out in this field.