Help or Hinder The Effects of Music on College Students Reading Comprehension

Abstract

A large decision many students face while at school is whether or not they choose to listen to music while studying or doing homework. Past research on this topic has yielded very mixed findings over the years. This study’s aim is to examine the possible distracting effects of music, leading to worsened reading comprehension skills. The participants in this study are 27 college students that were tasked with completing a reading comprehension examination in silence or while listening to music. The data of the study were collected through an online surveying program. A between-groups ANOVA found no significance difference in scores of participants taking the test while listening to music or while in silence. This means studying with music in the background or in silence will not enhance comprehension by itself. These findings support the idea that it is up to personal preference of the individual students studying habits.