Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
Music and Elementary Students in the Classroom
Introduction
Music is viewed as an artistic form of communication used to convey messages from
artist to listener. These artistic messages are viewed as comprehensive knowledge. Our choices
of words that we communicate are in part based on comprehending messages we receive through
lyrics and tone. We then associate these messages to the different styles of communication put
forth in one’s generation. Elementary children base their learning on word exchanges and nonverbal body movements to better understand situations (Krider & Schneider, 2003). Deer (1957)
sees much like charades, children develop strategies as adults in listening to what is around them
and comprehending the message and connecting words cognitively to comprehend the message
to better understand the situation. Using music to educate elementary students; nurtures young
minds and equips children with learning abilities to understand our social structure (Krider &
Schneider, 2003)
This study examines how music impacts the learning of elementary school students.
“Learning is interpreting curricular content where communication is the subject (Krider &
Schneider, 2003)’. This study is important because it can show that music can be used as a tool
in the classroom to help develop elementary students’ ability to: stimulate creativity, develop
phonemic awareness, improve memory and decrease communication apprehension.
Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
Literature Review
Music enhances creativity because it helps students get more awake, relaxed, and
comfortable in the classroom before starting an activity (Dobrescu, 2010). Music activates both
sides of the brain, allowing it to be more stimulated on emotional responses and attracting the
attention of the students more efficiently (Dobrescu, 2010). According to Dobrescu (2010),
“Music creates a pleasant ambience during the lessons and it raises the emotional state,
stimulating self expression and creativity (Dobrescu, 2010).” From a psychological point of
view, music creates an optimal exitability for the nervous system, which benefits the educational
process (Dobrescu, 2010). In physical education it is a mobilizing element for movement
(Dobrescu, 2010). Dobrescu also mentions how it helps the classroom to be induced in a state of
relaxation and calmness. This is because it eases the internalization of motor skills and abilities
specific with the activity that the groups of students are working on (Dobrescu, 2010). This
indicates that music is a form of education and can be applied in the classroom.
Music can also be used to increase phonemic awareness (Gromko, 2005). Phonemic
awareness is defined as being able to see how individual sounds comprise a word (Gromko,
2005). According to Gromko (2005), a series of studies have been done regarding the
comprehension of reading, writing and the positive effects music has on an elementary student’s
phonemic awareness. A National Reading Panel was issued to address the effectiveness of the
types of approaches on teaching children how to read. The National Reading Panel conducted a
project on this phenomenon and found that phonemic awareness instruction is more effective
Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
with letters and sounds rather than just teaching with letters (Gromko, 2005). Giving a child a
letter and corresponding it with a sound will broaden the child’s memory by labeling it (Gromko,
2005). This awareness is not tied around the meaning, but the anatomy of the word. A study by
Lamb and Gregory discovered that tests of phonemic awareness assimilate with a test of pitch
discrimination (Gromko, 2005). Researchers found that an increase in preschoolers’
performance in spatial temporal reasoning tasks reflected on sound-to-symbol accession to music
instruction (Gromko, 2005). The study showed that reading while singing increased that ability
to read. This reveals how music can be used to develop an elementary student’s phonemic
awareness.
Childeren of elementary age learn by association (Krider & Schneider, 2003). What they
see and hear around them are viewed as key elements in educating a child in elementary school
(Krider & Schneider, 2003). Communication apprehension affects a child’s learning abilities,
creating a social imparity which influences them to listen, comprehend and apply what they are
learning in class to their everyday life (Krider & Schneider, 2003). Identifying traits of
communication apprehension at elementary age and using critical thinking in the area of
behavioral, emotional and academic support can better equip children in a learning environment
through their grade school years (Krider & Schneider, 2003). What triggers their ability to learn
content in class is connected to their social apprehension outside school (McCroskey, Andersen,
Richmond & Wheeless, 1981). McCroskey, Andersen, Richmond & Wheeless (1981) found
factors that influence learning productivity in children can be detected from their social structure
at home. Affected with communication apprehension, children are less likely to interact in the
classroom, thus needing encouragement to progress in their assignments in class (Krider &
Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
Schneider, 2003). McCroskey, Andersen, Richmond & Wheeless (1981) found that establishing
a strategy to help children with communication apprehension would increase their involvement
in class. McCroskey, Andersen, Richmond & Wheeless (1981) also found emotional and
behavioral support in the teaching process would help decrease communication apprehension.
Also noted are strategies effective to building encouragement and curricular content embodying
support through encouragement in the classroom (McCroskey, Andersen, Richmond &
Wheeless, 1981). Other factors in the progression of children learning academics emerged as a
way to control communication apprehension.
To summarize this literature music could be used as a tool to develop phonemic
awareness, improve memory, and decrease communication apprehension. The literature shows
that the topic is relevant in showing that music can be applied to the classroom as an academic
tool. Currently there has not been any study done on music and elementary students’
communication apprehension, which leads to this research question. RQ: Does classical music
have an effect on elementary students’ communication apprehension?
Methodology
Currently there has been no research carried out on elementary education and the impact
that classical music has on a student’s communication apprehension. “Communication
apprehension is defined as the level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated
(oral) communication encounters” (Woods Jr., 2007). The amount that classical music impacts
elementary students’ communication apprehension will be measured by the experimental
Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
method. This field experiment is designed to put music into elementary students learning
environment and determine if it increases communication apprehension, decreases
communication apprehension, or is null.
This will be done by using a posttest only control group design having two random
sample groups of elementary students. During the experiment the treatment group will have
classical background music playing during one of their classes and the control group will not.
The students will be asked to write a short speech about their favorite animal and present to the
class. Then the treatment group and the control group will each take a posttest, which will be
used to measure the variables. There will be no pre-test because it is not relevant to the
experiment. The method of using a posttest only control group design will help increase validity
by comparison.
The research subjects will be in the fourth grade elementary public school system. The
sample size will be a normal twenty-five-student classroom. After randomly selecting a
Waukesha public school a cluster random sample will be used to select the subjects, thus
meaning units selected from the population; these units will be the classrooms. This is because
there are other grades at an elementary school and multiple fourth grade classrooms. This breaks
the elementary school into subgroups or “clusters.” Two fourth grade classrooms will be
randomly selected in the population to carry out the experiment. Due to the age of the subjects,
the students in the two classrooms will have a parental consent form for their parents to sign; this
will make it legal to conduct the experiment on fourth grade students. However, the students
will be told that they will be participating in an activity not an experiment. The use of a parental
consent form and a cluster random sample will insure that the sampling is being carried out
Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
properly. Also, the use of the word “activity” with the subjects rather than “experiment” will
help to reduce the hawthorn effect.
The variables will be measured by using an interval style of measurement. The validity
will be measured using a panel approach, where the subjects will be retained to answer a survey
after there presentations. We will be using a PRCA – 24-survey form to collect this data and
measure the independent variables, which are background music and no background music. The
term “PRCA” stands for “personal report of communication apprehension and the number 24 is
how many questions are on the survey. The PRCA-24 survey is designed specifically to measure
communication apprehension and has been used and validated as an effective measure by several
scholars including James McCroskey (McCroskey, Beatty, Kearney & Plax, 1985).
The PRCA – 24 is a Lickert Scale survey. A Lickert scale is, “An interval scale on
which respondents record their reaction to a statement by checking their level of agreement
between ‘strongly agree’ and ‘strongly disagree’” (Treadwell, 2011). The PRCA-24 breaks
down the questions into four categories without letting the subjects know what they are being
tested on. These four categories the PRCA-24 tests for are: group discussion, meetings,
interpersonal conversations, and public speaking. This survey will indicate if the background
music is affecting the students’ communication apprehension. The PRCA-24 will be used in
both the control group and the treatment group. By using a method that is specifically designed
to measure communication apprehension and has been tested as a valid instrument by several
scholars validity will be increased.
The data will be collected using the PRCA-24 survey. The PRCA-24 surveys will be
collected from the subjects in both the treatment and the control group. The treatment group will
Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
then be compared against the control group to find if the background music affected the students’
communication apprehension. The data will be collected by scoring the results of the PRCA -24.
The surveys will be scored by using the results collected from the Likert scale located on
the PRCA – 24 surveys. In this study the researchers will only be scoring and comparing the
data collected from the questions on public speaking because this experiment focuses only on the
public speaking aspect of the PRCA-24. The students will still answer the entire PRCA-24,
which will camouflage the questions the study is looking for making the answers more natural.
This will determine if there is a cause effect relationship between the background music and
communication apprehension in the elementary classroom.
The accuracy of this experiment will be increased because it only focuses on one aspect,
communication apprehension. The experiment only consists of two groups from the same
school, which makes the experiment more relevant. This is because both of the groups will have
the same learning style. Also, because the experiment will be carried out using the public school
system, the experiment will be generalized for public elementary school children.
Conclusion
Data will likely reveal the following answer to the research question: the music will help
decrease communication apprehension. Because we are testing two groups of the same age
group, we can get a more accurate reading of the result in our experiment. Choosing the samples
at random is best because it allows a more simplified and natural experiment to occur. The
research question that was posed to be elaborated was, “Does classical music have an effect on
Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
elementary students’ communication apprehension?” According to the study, this question can
be answered because of the comparison of the two groups of elementary students and the
different settings that were provided for them during the test to get an accurate reading. This can
be used in the real world by elementary teachers to help their students focus during in-class
activities.
Some limitations could be that not every student will retain a positive feedback after the
experiment. For some, it may be a distraction and for others, it may be a calming mechanism.
Most children of this generation haven’t really heard classical music before, so it may confuse
some students and therefore not get the appropriate reading that was hoped. At some point,
classical music will not have an effect on a student’s comprehension because it may not become
a vital role in the learning environment. It may grow out of style now that these days, there are
many other genres that could play a bigger role in the learning environment.
Other avenues that can be expressed through this experiment are through the
considerations of taking this experiment to elementary students in different countries. Because
classical music is so universal, it can be understood by many people without having to translate.
Classical music may not be recognized in their environment, so introducing this genre can open
up many learning experiences for them. Another consideration that could be taken is to put this
situation in the hands of a much younger crowd. Perhaps studying kindergarten children could
enhance their learning ability. Like mentioned before, classical music is universal and does not
contain lyrics. So, the young students can listen to the music without the need of translation or
confusion.
Scott Albright
Jeanette Land
Susan Yokofich
Santiago Arboleda
December 3, 2012
References
Deer, I. (1957). Charades as a teaching aid. Western Speech, 21 (4), 249-50.
Dobrescu Tatiana, Volume 3, Issue 5 (2010) Physical education and rehabilitation Journal; Study
on Improving the physical education lesson through the use of music in primary school,
13-14. Online 10/7/2012 at 7;27pm
Eastlund Gromk, Joyce, Volume 53, Issue 3 (2005), The Effect of Music Instruction, on
Phonemic Awareness in Beginning Readers. Online 10/2/2012
Krider, D. S. & Schneider, D.E. (2003). Preschool and elementary teachers’ perceptions of
communication apprehension. Qualitative research reports in communication, 453-59.
McCroskey , J. C., Beatty, M. J., Kearney, P., & Plax, T. G. (1985). The content validity of the
prca-24 as a measure of communication apprehension across communication contexts.
33(3), 165-173.
McCroskey, J.C., Janis F. Andersen, Virginia P. Richmond, Lawrence R. Wheeless (1981).
Communication apprehension of elementary and secondary students and teachers.
Communication Education, Vol. 30. 122-32. Online 10/4/2012 at 6:28pm.
Treadwell, D. (2011). Introducing communication research paths of inquiry. (p. 211). Los
Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC: SAGE
Woods Jr., R. H. (2007). Personal report of communication apprhension. In Handbook of
Research on Electronic Surveys and Measurements (pp. 320-322). Idea Group Inc.