Voice training in teacher education: the effect of adding an individualized microteaching session of 30 minutes to the regular 6-hour voice training program.

In a previous study, we investigated the effect of a twofold voice-training module in student teachers. In the present study, the original training module of 3 hours of indirect and 3 hours of direct group training was expanded with a 30-minute individual counseling session for each participant. The main focus was on the effects of this threefold training paradigm on the voice of the participants. The subjects were 81 students at the academic teaching program at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The trained group (n=51) received the entire voice-training program, whereas the control group (n=30) received no voice training at all. A multidimensional test battery consisting of subjective evaluation and objective measurements was applied to both the groups at the study onset and again 4 months later to assess training results. Other than an improvement in the parameter strain, no significant change was observed for the subjective judgments. Several of the objective parameters did however improve in the trained group only, most significantly in female subjects. The impact of the 30-minute individual counseling session was small and differed for males and females. However, the results support the effectiveness of this training module and favor its introduction in the education of student teachers.