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Kassandra Medrano

Prof. Garza

ENGL 1302-57L

Listening to Music While Studying

Listening to music has become something frequently used for college student’s everyday

life like in the car driving to work, hearing it inside the store, or on the television. Music is

known to be helpful in many ways like cause less stress and change a person’s mood

(Saarikallio, 2007). However, through recent studies, music would not have the same effects

when it deals with schoolwork. The focus of this research is to study music’s effects on student’s

academic performance. According to Schubert, Fischer, & Stelzel (2008), listening to music

while studying is the act of multitasking, which means that a student’s attention is not focused

entirely on their work. The purpose of this study is to let college students be aware of the

consequences from listening to music while studying. College students are the ones that must

find the best alternative to study in an effective way, so music is something that should not be

used to learn.

Academic performance is the measurement of a student’s achievement from a variety of

different subjects. It is important for students to have the ability to stay on task and remain

focused on an activity to learn the most successfully. Studying or learning requires a student’s

complete focus. Interruptions can occur often, but it is a student’s responsibility to minimize

them. The lack of concentration on a subject is a bad habit that can result in a decrease of a

person’s productivity in school. Listening to music could be used during breaks or after the

studying because it would not be beneficial to learn. When a person studies, they are using their
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working memory, which is a term that refers to a system that stores and manipulates information

for cognitive tasks (Baddeley, 1992). If music is played in the background while you study, our

working memory would be harder to process information, especially when the music has vocals.

Since most college students listen to music while studying, universities need to create tools and

strategies that help students avoid using music as a distraction by working in a quiet locations,

learn effective time management skills, and provide better studying habits.

Literature Review

Listening to any type of music would lead for a decrease in productive performance.

Music is something that is widely used because it brings them happiness (Schrock, 2009).

However, that doesn’t mean that it could benefit us in every way. Academic performance

involves disciplining yourself, being responsible, staying on track, and managing your time

appropriately (Cooper,1980). According to the researchers from Higher Education Pedagogies,

being able to be successful requires dedication and being able to accommodate to any better

routines for a better performance (pg. 435-436) When a student studies, their main goal is to be

proactive and be able to learn the material effectively. Now a days, people can get easily

distracted with their phones because they want to be on social media, reply to texts, or listen to

music (Rosen, 2017).

Students believe that they could be able switch between different tasks at the same time

and still be able to learn, but that could actually impair academic success (Bowman et al. ,2010).

Others believe that instead of using lyrical music, they could replace it with classical or

instrumental (2014). That could also have some troublesome effects because our brain is actively

listening to the sounds of the music either way. Therefore, any type of music can still have an

interference to memorize or perform specific tasks.(N’Diaye,2018) Students should look into

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tactics to study that would make them be focused, motivated, and productive. A useful way to

study would be to set a time to study and make breaks in between and reward yourself to keep

going. Music should not be used during this time because it could make studying longer and

inefficient. Once you are done, then music could be used to rest and relax.

Study in Quiet Locations

Lack of Focus with Music

When it is that time to study for hours trying to memorize and review notes, some might

choose to have music to not be in complete silence. Even though it might seem like a fun way to

study, it could cause more negative outcomes. Nancy Barile, an Award Winning Teacher,

mentions that students believe that the use of music while doing any form of work could create

better learning performance. Barile says that students don’t want to admit how distracting it

could be to do the work, but some of stated how it does not let them do their work properly from

the lack of concentration and only use it for subjects like math. In addition, it has been proven

through recent studies that all auditory sounds that you engage in while you do other activities

are disturbances. In 2014, Nick Perham and Harrier Currie, researchers from Cardiff

Metropolitan University, demonstrate that even nonlyrical (classical or instrumental) music

although have a soothing relaxing effect and is less distracting, is still considered a distraction. In

their study, they determined if preferred music could improve a person’s reading comprehension

performance. The methodology that was used involved 30 undergraduate students ranging from

the ages 19-65. The results showed that disliked music and lyrical music were found equally

damaging to use while performing tasks. Lyrical music is the worst type of music to listen to

when studying, reading, or doing any type of schoolwork. The reason is because the brain is

getting unconsciously distracted from the words of the music and shifting back to studying
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causing distraction. Nonlyrical music had less of a troublesome effect, but is not recommended

because performing reading comprehension was best in quiet locations.( Perham, N., & Currie,

H., 2014). Distractions might not seem as serious, but music can cause disruptive effects because

of the lack of focus a student gives to their work.

Quiet Conditions

In a study made by S.E. Randel and L. Gilroy from Florida Atlantic University, they

wanted to reveal the effects that background music had while using word processed writing. This

experiment was made to 45 college students that were separated depending on the music they

were going to listen to (vocal/instrumental) or silence. It shows how the background music made

a significant impact towards a student’s writing fluency even though there was no response to the

music needed ( Ransdell, S. E., & L. Gilroy, 2001). It also did not matter if it was vocal or

instrumental because they both had unsettling effects. Therefore, to prevent any negative

outcomes, Randel and Gilroy advise to be in a location where there is no music around or at least

reduce background sounds (147).

A person that listens to nonlyrical music takes a moment from studying to listen to the

music because of the relaxing sounds. Students are advised to find a quiet location and avoid

listening to music to avoid any time of interruptions. Universities usually have locations that are

meant for students to study in silence like libraries, cafe’s, or even outdoors in a place where

there is natural quiet. Natural quiet refers to the sounds of nature that is not interrupted by

human-caused noises(Manning, 2018). According to Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons (1986),

high achievers reported a greater use of environmental restructuring and were more capable of

looking for help than low-achieving student. Environmental restructuring involves a student

accommodating their locations to study that are quiet with no distractions(Dembo & Helena,
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2016). The task might not seem hard to attain, but it could cause difficulties for studies that

select inadequate environments or can’t control the interruptions that occur.(14)

Effective Time Management Skills

Inefficient Multitasking

College students use music unaware that work could be done faster without it. According

to three researchers (2004), listening to music while studying is a result of multitasking, which

causes problems for a person to concentrate appropriately. A misconception that students have

would be that multitasking is good because it could get things done “faster”. That is not the case

according to a podcast titled , “Multitasking May Not Mean High Productivity” when Dr.

Clifford Nass, a professor at Stanford University, says that everyone that attempts to multitask

fail because it is inefficient. The reason for this is because more time is spent trying to

understand a subject while doing other activities as well, so it is harder to focus. Listening to

music would not only slow you down, but it could also lead to less productivity. Dr. Nass also

mentions that “there's definitely evidence that if they[students] stop multitasking, they'll do better

because of all the studies showing that multitasking impairs performance". Listening to music

while studying causes multitasking that is not beneficial for the students and could affect their

academic performance. Most people think that they are able to multitask, but the reality is that

very few could really be able to master two things at once and being able to comprehend

everything. “Multitasking is at the very least ineffective and at the worst, harmful” (Nass 2009).

Using music while studying is like having the television on while working on

assignments, it causes less to be done or less being understood when studying. Some students do

not think that listening to music is multitasking because it is more of a background sound to
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work better in (Ransdell, S. E, & L. Gilroy). However, any type of multitasking would not be as

effective(Nass 2009). Music could be listened to in a student’s own time, but it should not be

used while studying.

Manage Your Time for a Better Performance

Universities need to inform students of the importance in using time management skills.

For example, in a recent study, Liu et al. (2009), time management skills of planning and

organization contribute to positive course grades. Time management refers to monitoring,

planning, and controlling time as setting goals and keeping track of the use of time by

prioritizing goals (174). Effective time management could result in a greater academic

performance and could lower levels of anxiety (Adams & Blair, 2019). Educators have found a

relationship between time management and academic success and how students that incorporate

time management skills have a better GPA than students that use poor time management skills.

(Dembo & Helena, 2016). Something that a lot of students claim would be that they don’t have

time, but the issue is the lack of knowledge to manage time daily and think that it would not

boost their performance(14). Self-observation is something that is important for a student to do

to change their learning and studying behavior, to which Zimmerman et al. (1996) comments that

“Goal setting and strategic planning occur when students analyze the learning task, set specific

goals, and plan or refine the strategy to attain the goal”. Time management could involve the use

of tools like planners and setting goals to get things done. When students begin to incorporate

these tactics, they would begin to prioritize their tasks appropriately by planning, avoid

distractions, and have more time to study effectively (Dembo & Helena).

Provide Better Studying Habits

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The Effects Music Has on Learning

When students try to rise for the challenge of listening to music while studying with the

intention that it would benefit them, they are less competent to do so. In a more recent study

made in 2017, researchers at Heimer College wanted to identify the effects of music and sounds

on performances. There were 4 different tests taken by 17-22 participants that were separated in

3 groups. The tests involved memorizing nonsense syllables, poems, different order of numbers,

and then write down what they memorized. The result represented how listening to music while

doing work is “less effective than memorizing them without music”( Musliu, Arian; Berisha,

Blerta; Latifi, Diellza, 2017.) The researchers also stated that music should not be used for

memorizing purposes. Even though people enjoy listening to music while reading, music is not a

key factor. A study was made by Saarikallio & Erkkila from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland

when the role of music was determined. Through their research, it was proven that music was

mainly listened to for emotion and mood regulation, so it is not as effective when it is used for

getting things done. As Saarikallio (2007) mentions, “People primarily use music for good mood

and good feelings, not as a tool for cognitive improvement". If students continue to use music

while trying to study, it could hurt their learning and academic performance because of the lack

of focus it could bring.

A Neuroscience researcher, Mamoudou N’Diaye, says that a study done in 2013 found

that experiments exposed to silence over Mozart, the idea of engaging in tasks while listening to

Mozart’sonada’s, expressed higher rates of production of neurons in the hippocampus, the part of

the brain that processes memory. N’Diaye mentions that the brain is processing and evaluating

new information faster in silence than with sound. As a result, it is more difficult to successfully
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learn when there is a use of music present. The brain has a harder time understanding of what to

learn or remember (the music or the work).

Effective Studying Tactics

In a study made by Eilan & Aharon (2003), they mention the process of self-regulated

learning, which the ability to control one’s behavior, emotions, and thoughts by the pursuit of

long-term goals in a student’s own academic learning. Eiland and Aharon say that self-regulated

learning enables the learners to act more effectively when encountering in academic tasks by

using strategies that “enhances the efficiency of learning and may lead to higher academic

achievements”(305). Some important aspects of self-regulation would be the ability to determine

when an individual needs to work alone or with others, or when it is time to seek guidance from

instructors, tutors, peer, or other resources (14). “Seeking help from a knowledgeable other

person can be more beneficial than giving up prematurely, more appropriate than waiting, and

more efficient than persisting unsuccessfully on one’s own”(Newman & Schwager, 1992).

Universities provide services to help students be able to study productivity, but not all students

think that they need the assistance from teachers or peers. Therefore, universities should inform

studying tactics to the students, especially new students that are barely starting college.

There are many studying habits that students could incorporate in their routine. For

example, “chunking”, is a theory in which people tend to remember things better when they learn

it in small chunks, rather than cramming all the information all at once (Brozo 1983). It also

requires for the reader to have active participation for a meaningful reading, which had resulted

in a significance amount of improvement in reading comprehension. A research made in Notre

Dame and Harvard found another useful hack, which was to study before you go to sleep (2015).

It was demonstrated that individuals tended to learn better before a good night’s sleep rather than
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in the morning. The Pomodoro Technique (MyLearnMBA, 2017), is another popular and useful

study method to try. This refers to the process of setting a timer to break down work into

intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short break that are around 5 minutes.

It could help people that have trouble focusing while studying or are interested in finding the best

way to study (Cirillo).

Methodology

An online survey was conducted to find people’s opinions of how they perceive listening

to music while studying. The survey was made through google forms and distributed through a

link on social media. The goal would be obtaining at least 15-20 participants, preferably from the

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The outcome was reaching up to 31 participants, which

is one of the strengths of this survey because more responses were made. A limitation I had was

not being able to ask what are the studying methods that they use to see if it correlates with the

studying methods that I researched for this paper. Along with the questions, there was also a

section where they could give feedback of anything they would like to add about the topic. The

purpose of this survey was to have an idea of what students think and find out if they are aware

of the negative effects that listening to music while studying could bring.

Results

This section summarizes the results of the survey of 31 college students of age ranging

from 18 to 25. The classifications that were present in this survey include 27.8% of freshman,

38.9% of sophomores, 16.7% of juniors, and 16.7% of seniors. The first question that was asked

in this survey was if they listened to music while studying. 41.9% of students said yes, 38.7%

said no, and 19.4% did not listen to music. The results in the second question showed that 54.8%
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listen to lyrical music while they study, 25.8% listen to non-musical music, and 19.4% of student

don’t listen to any. The third question asked if music impacted their length of time to study.

38.7% of students said that it helps them study longer, 32.3% said that it does not affect their

studying time, and 29% said music makes it more difficult for them to study. However, the

results in the fourth question show that there are 71% of students that think that music affect

their concentration to studying and only 29% disagreed. The fifth question asked if they

considered music to be multitasking when they study. 83.9% of students said yes, and 16.1%

said no. In the sixth question, the results showed that 38.9% of students of not sure if their

studying strategies are working, 5.6% said their strategies are not working, and 55.6% of

students said that they were using effective strategies. The last question asked was if they were

aware of the services that UTRGV provides for academic success, to which 66.7% of students

said yes, 22.2% were not sure, and 11.1% of students did not know of any. Some feedback I

received were “Music is not for everyone while they study”, “....it helps me concentrate and

absorb information more quickly than studying without music”, and the last one mentioned that

they chose to use non-lyrical for subjects that are difficult to understand and use lyrical music is

much simpler.

Observations/Implications

These finding show that the majority of students either always use music to study, or

sometimes use it. It can also be shown that most people listen to lyrical music than non-lyrical,

which is proven to both cause detrimental effects (Ransdell & Gilroy, 2001). This could be the

reason why most of the students said that music affected their concentration in the fourth

question because any time of music causes distractions and a bad performance. The fourth

question also correlates to the fifth question because it deals with multitasking, which is a
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negative tactic to use. There were 29 out of 31 students that considered music as multitasking.

Even though the students know how music can be distracting and be more harmful than good,

most of them believe that it helps them work for longer periods of time. They are actually taking

longer because the music is making them take longer to understand the concept (Nass, 2009).

Studying longer does not always mean that more is understood. That is the reason why I decided

to include two more questions dealing with the student’s studying methods. Even though there

were more students that said their strategies were working, 8 students did not know how

effective their methods were. The same goes for the last question because it asked if the students

were aware of the services provided from UTRGV. 66.7% did know of some, but 33.3% were

still unaware of these services. An observation that was made was that it seems like some

students can work fine with music, but the problem is that there are still students that are either

unaware how to fix their strategies, or they do not know where to go for guidance. That is the

reason why universities need to share more information to help students be more prepared in

their courses to learn effectively through quiet locations, learn about the importance of time

management skills, and understanding new studying methods.

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Works Cited

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www.jstor.org/stable/2876819.

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%20well%20as%20increased%20creativity.

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Age: _________________

Classification: ______________

Listening to Music While Studying Survey

This survey is due to an English project. I want to know if listening to music while studying
affects academic performance and how to solve that issue. Do not worry; all the answers are
strictly private and anonymous. Please read the question and answer it as accurately as possible.
Do you listen to music while studying?

 Yes
 No
 Sometimes
What type of music do you use when you study?
 Lyrical
 Non-lyrical
 I don’t listen to any.
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How does listening to music impact the length of time you spend studying?
 Music makes it more difficult for me to study.
 Music does not affect my studying time.
 Music helps me to study longer.
Do you believe that listening to music while studying affects your concentration?
 Yes
 No
Do you consider music to be a form of multitasking?
 Yes
 No
Are your studying strategies working?
 Yes
 No
 Not sure
Do you know of some services that UTRGV provides for academic success?
 Yes
 No