The Effect of Background Music on the Mathematics Test Anxiety of ...

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16 differences between the mean exam scores for high and low test anxious students, Bushnell suggested after examining the data that the usual negative correlation between test anxiety and performance was not obtained. Class size was also studied by Osterhouse (1975) to determine relationship between test anxiety and exam performance. As noted previously, students enrolled in two sections <strong>of</strong> an undergraduate psychology course were the 412 participants. <strong>The</strong> first section had approximately 300 students, while the second had about 100 students. During the first class session and immediately following the four course exams all students completed the 16-item Inventory <strong>of</strong> Test Anxiety. A negative relationship between anxiety level and academic performance was found. <strong>The</strong>re was no difference among academic performance <strong>of</strong> low anxiety students in the two environments, however, high anxiety students performed better in the classroom with fewer students and the moderate anxiety students performed better in the classroom with more students. <strong>The</strong> effect <strong>of</strong> test instructions on anxiety and performance was examined by Rabalais (1998). <strong>The</strong> Revised Math Anxiety Rating Scale by Plake and Parker, the Test Anxiety Inventory, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were given to 488 undergraduate psychology students. <strong>The</strong> participants also took the 25-item math skill section <strong>of</strong> the SAT. <strong>The</strong> SAT was given twice to each student, a week apart, using a different type <strong>of</strong> instructions. <strong>The</strong> high anxiety situation was created by the experimenters walking around the room, dressing in pr<strong>of</strong>essional attire, and displaying serious, grim facial expressions. In the low anxiety situation, the experimenters stood at the front <strong>of</strong> the room in casual attire and displayed relaxed facial expressions. <strong>The</strong> students in the high stress environment during session two performed worse on the SAT
17 than the students in the low stress environment during session two. Rabalais also found that the students who received the stressful instructions first scored higher than the people who received stressful instructions during session two. <strong>The</strong>ir anxiety likely increased during the second session and depressed their math performance. Hembree (1988) researched 562 test anxiety studies and performed a metaanalysis <strong>of</strong> the studies. Some common environmental changes were found as anxietyreducing techniques (HTA stands for high test anxiety, LTA stands for low test anxiety): Conditions that seem to enhance the performance <strong>of</strong> HTA students include low-stress instructions (at the college level), provision <strong>of</strong> memory support, minimal distractions, and background music. LTA students function best under ego-involving instructions, an easy-to-read test item arrangement, and no music during tests (p. 73). Interventions. Relaxation treatments have been researched as an intervention for test anxiety. Cohen (1994) used 126 practical nursing students as the participants in this study. <strong>The</strong> participants were among the students in seven class sections in a practical nursing program. <strong>The</strong> Test Attitude Inventory by Spielberger was used to measure test anxiety. <strong>The</strong> relaxation treatment included muscle tensing and relaxing, imaging, and s<strong>of</strong>tly-played baroque-style music. Two conclusions drawn, as a result <strong>of</strong> Cohen’s study, were that the relaxation treatment was effective in reducing test anxiety and the scores on the in-class theory exam improved after the relaxation treatment. <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> soothing music was compared to aerobic exercise in the research <strong>of</strong> Plante et al. (1996). <strong>The</strong> researchers randomly assigned 60 undergraduate psychology
Page 1 and 2: The Effect
Page 3 and 4: iii Acknowledgements I would like t
Page 5 and 6: v Table of Content
Page 7 and 8: vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Factors
Page 9 and 10: CHAPTER 1 Rationale, Literature Rev
Page 11 and 12: 3 Spielberger (1985) described trai
Page 13 and 14: 5 Factor analyses. Researchers have
Page 15 and 16: 7 Anxiety Subscale of</stro
Page 18 and 19: 10 Table 1 (continued) Ferguson (19
Page 20 and 21: 12 to 66 students attending the Tex
Page 22 and 23: 14 the Missouri Mathematics Placeme
Page 26 and 27: 18 students to one of</stro
Page 28 and 29: 20 background music on reading comp
Page 30 and 31: 22 Anxiety level. Researchers have
Page 32 and 33: 24 The final study
Page 34 and 35: 26 Definitions math-test-anxious st
Page 36 and 37: 28 group, while sections 002 and 00
Page 38 and 39: 30 Research Question 1. Does the us
Page 40 and 41: 32 CHAPTER 3 Results This research
Page 42 and 43: 34 Table 2 Hypothesis 1B: 2 (Anxiet
Page 44 and 45: 36 Hypothesis 2A The</stron
Page 46 and 47: 38 Table 3 Hypothesis 2B: Pre-Exam
Page 48 and 49: 40 group between lower anxiety and
Page 50 and 51: 42 Figure 2 Hypothesis 2B: Interact
Page 52 and 53: 44 CHAPTER 4 Discussion The
Page 54 and 55: 46 low anxiety students or the high
Page 56 and 57: 48 References Alexander, L., & Cobb
Page 58 and 59: 50 D'Ailly, H., & Bergering, A. (19
Page 60 and 61: 52 Mowsesian, R., & Heyer, M. (1973
Page 62 and 63: 54 Wolf, R., & Weiner, F. (1972). <
Page 64 and 65: 56 APPENDIX A Last 4 digits <strong

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