The Impact of Background Music on Student Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Reading is the foundation for lifelong learning. It has been shown that music has an impact on students learning depending on what music you use in the classroom (Rashidi & Faham, 2011; Chew, Yu, Chua, & Gan, 2016; Chou, 2010). This brought up the problem of music impacting students reading comprehension. This problem led to the research question of does background music have an impact on students reading comprehension. An online survey was used to find if middle school general education and special education teachers used music in their classroom and if the music has an impact on the students reading comprehension. The results showed three major themes. The first theme was that music helps the student’s comprehension. The second theme was that the music teachers used in their classrooms are a range from upbeat to slow soothing music. The third theme was that music that the participants who used music in their classroom found their students to be more engaged and focus more on the lesson. The teachers also stated that they would also recommend using music in the classroom to other learners. These findings were important to the research because they showed that more research needs to be done on this topic. The teachers found differing results from the research stated in this study. There are limitations and recommendations offered for a future study.