A Continued Study of the Effect of Alpha-wave Music on Listening Comprehension

Abstract

Few studies have used standardized measures concerning L2 listening comprehension (Rubin, 1994), and only a few studies have been done on the effects of music on listening comprehension in either LI1or L2. Mann (1979) confirmed that the addition of music and sound effects to recorded presentations increased the listening comprehension of L1 children. Kiji (1992) testified that using both verbotonal filter and alpha-wave music with body stretches was much more useful for the long term memory retention, not only short-term memory retention. Ando (1997) did an experiment on the effect of alpha-wave music upon listening comprehension. The results showed no statistically significant difference but descriptively better listening test scores in the experimental group through listening to alpha-wave music for 3 minutes, compared with the control group. In this study, the hypothesis was tested that the increased time of listening to alpha-wave music (for 6 minutes) would enhance the scores of the condition through listening comprehension tests. The STEP 2nd Grade Test was employed for the tests, as in Ando (1997). With the within-treatment experimental design, a total of 48 subjects were tested. The results show a statistically higher score of the condition by listening to alpha-wave music, compared with the control condition.