WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF TELEVISION AND RADIO ON READING PERFORMANCE?

Kevin Bogle
Classen School of Advanced Studies
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73106.

Abstract

The current study measured the effect of music and television on reading performance of 20 sixth grade and 55 college students on three equal forms of a standardized reading test. Previous research showed math performance of 5th graders was negatively affected by television. It was important to determine if this was true of reading performance as well. Three conditions were used to determine if background music or T.V. would hurt a student s performance compared to quiet. One form of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test was taken in a quiet classroom; a second form was taken in the same classroom but with radio music playing (rock); and the third form was taken in the same classroom but with television on ( Home Improvement ). Each test form took fifteen minutes. The order of the conditions was counterbalanced. The results indicated that a student s performance was greatly affected by both the T.V. and radio. Sixth grade students read at an average of 7.1 grade level in a quiet room, 5.1 grade level with music on, and only 3.7 grade level with T.V. on. Similarly, the college students, who read at an average of 13.5 grade level in a quiet room, performed significantly worse when the music was on (11.9) and even worse with the T.V. on (11.5). Although both college and sixth grade students thought music was the most interfering, T.V. caused the worst performance. Even though students often think their performance will not be harmed by background music or television, the results indicate the opposite. Apparently, students are unable to do these two things simultaneously without cost to their performance. Students should not study with television or radio on if they wish to do their best work.

Problem

Many students do homework with the television or radio on in the background and most of them think that it doesn t matter if they study this way. I was wondering if this hurt their ability to do their best work. One thing I found out from my science fair project last year is that television turned on in the background can interfere with fifth grade students' math performance. Their math performance was one the average one half of a grade worse. But how would a student s performance be affected while silently reading? Would a quiet place, T.V., or music be the best? Other researchers have shown that people cannot always do two things at a time very well. Can studying and T.V. or radio be done at the same time.?

Hypotheses

Participants

Twenty 6th grade students from Classen School of Advanced Studies volunteered to participate in the study. There were 11 males and 9 females. In addition, 55 college students from the University of Central Oklahoma volunteered to participate. There were 29 females and 26 males. The sixth grade students all had signed consent forms from their parents. The college students signed consent forms at the time of the study.

Materials

In order to compare how students will perform under the three different reading conditions, it was important to have three equal forms of a reading test that had been standardized. This would make sure that the material on all of the forms was equally difficult. Several possible tests were considered. The Nelson-Denny Reading Test was chosen because it has several equal forms and is a standardized reading test that is used widely. The comprehension questions were equally difficult for all of the forms too. Although the Nelson-Denny Reading Test is often used with students in college, it also has grade level scores as low as third grade. This would be a good test for both types of students that were going to take the reading tests. Answer sheets were developed before the test in order to grade the tests more easily.

Other materials included a T.V., one 15 minute segment of a taped T.V. show ( Home Improvement, a situation comedy), and one VCR to show the tape on. Next one 15 minute segment of taped radio music, typical of what students listen to (KJ-103, a popular rock n roll station), was recorded. I used a tape player to play the music on, pencils for the students to answer the questions, and a stopwatch to time the tests.

Procedure

I decided it would be best to have each person read under all three conditions instead of having different people in each condition. This way each person served as his/her own control. Differences due to different people in each condition would be eliminated. I decided this was the best design. Also, I decided it would be best for all of the students to read in the Quiet condition first. This would avoid any carryover to the Music or T.V. condition. However, the order of the Music and T.V. conditions was counterbalanced. This made sure the results were not due to the fatigue or boredom of the participants.

First, all the materials listed above were gathered. Next, consent forms were sent home with the 6th grade students for their parents to sign. (College students signed consent forms at the time of the testing.) Next, tests were distributed to the students. Students were instructed to do their best. They were told that they might not be able to answer all of the questions, but to do the best they could. The first form was then taken in a quiet classroom and the students were allowed only 15 minutes to work on the Form F of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. Most students are not able to finish the exam in this amount of time. Then for half of the students the tape of radio music was turned on while the students worked on Form G of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. Then the tape of the T.V. was turned on for 15 minutes show while they worked on Form H of the Nelson Denny Reading Test. For the other half of the students, the T.V. show was first, followed by the Music. The students had fifteen minutes to complete each of the forms of the test. After their time was up, the tests were collected. All forms of the tests were graded according to the answer key.

Results

I recorded how many answers were attempted, how many were correct, and found out at which grade level each student scored on all three forms. Next I compared the grade levels when the students had on the T.V. and when the students had on the radio and when students had taken the test in the quiet room. I averaged the scores for both groups for all 3 tests.

Figure 1

Sixth Grade Reading Performance

The 20 sixth grade students in this study averaged 7.1 ( 7th grade, 1st month) reading level with the television and radio off. These same 20 students averaged only 5.1 (5th grade 1st month) reading level with the radio on. The radio caused them to be more than 2 years BEHIND what they could perform normally. The same 20 students averaged 3.7 (3rd grade 7th month) reading level with the television on. The television caused them to be more than 4 years BEHIND what they could perform.

Figure 2

College Student Reading Performance

The 55 college students in this study averaged 13.4 (13th grade 4th month) reading level with the television and radio off. These same 55 students averaged 11.9 (11th grade 9th month) reading level with the radio on. The radio caused them to be more than 1.5 years BEHIND what they could perform normally. The same 55 students averaged 11.5 (11th grade 5th month) reading level with the television on. The television caused them to be more than 2 years BEHIND what they could perform normally.

Figure 3

Reading Performance Comparison

Although the sixth graders were affected somewhat more than the college students, you can tell when the data is combined that this is not a big difference because the slopes were similar.

Conclusions

The current study measured the effect of music and television on sixth grade and college students reading performance on a standardized reading test. Contrary to what students thought before the study, they were not able to do as well with the T.V. or music on. The results indicate that students performance was greatly affected by the music and the television.

It was interesting that most people thought that the music was the most difficult to have on while reading and that the television being on had not bothered their performance too much. However, the results were just the opposite. In fact, the reading performance of the sixth graders was 2 grade levels lower with the music on and 4 years lower with the T.V. on. The college students performed 1 1/2 grades worse with the music on and 2 years worse with the T.V. on.

In conclusion, the hypotheses were all supported:

Apparently, although we are able as humans to do some things well at the same time, we are not able to effectively read and either listen to something or watch something at the same time. Students should not study with radio or the television on if they wish to do their best work.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people for their help on my Science Fair project:

Bibliography