The Effects of Different Musical Auditory Backgrounds on a High School Student’s Comprehension Performance

Abstract

The Mozart Effect is a phenomenon where it is believed that students benefit from listening to classical music while studying or completing a class task. Studies released about the Mozart Effect have proven to not be the most reliable or replicable of studies. Similarly, very few studies have been released using music other than classical to see how all genres of music impact a students performance in the classroom. This research study began with a pre-assessment survey to determine characteristics of the population sample, 79 students varying from grades 10-12 in both Advanced Placement and College Prep English courses. The next part of the study included an experiment where students were to complete a portion of a released ACT reading excerpt. Students were to perform the task in silence, listening to a Mozart Sonata, or while listening to one of five pieces deemed to be the most popular of the year 2018. Upon completion, students were to complete a post-assessment survey in which they reviewed how they felt about the experience. Through an ANOVA, the scores from all students in the silent group, the classical group, and the popular group were compared in order to determine if any one treatment group performed significantly better or worse than others in terms of accuracy, as well as to see if different auditory factors were to blame. The results proved to be insignificant, showing how students do not perform better or worse on comprehension tasks when different auditory backgrounds are applied.