Category: Academic Performance

In our society today, the use of technology is seen nearly everywhere and as years go on this technology continues to develop farther. Just when you think something cannot possibly be made more useful, that is when something new is developed. The advances that technology has made over the years is astounding and let’s face it, it has made life a little easier for all of us in some aspect of our lives. Mobile phones and computers are a big technological source that consumes many people’s lives today. Mobile phones are used daily by most people and they consume our lives in all the fun things they offer.

A number of studies have been conducted on college aged students to determine if mobile phone use inside the classroom had an effect on academic performance. Growing up in the newer generations, it was not uncommon for teachers to not allow students to use mobile phones or computers inside the classroom, as many felt they were not useful for academics. Even now a days it is still not uncommon to hear that from college professors. Some seem to be totally against the use of electronic devices while others are realizing that these devices are a part of our daily lives now and that they may offer some useful tools for students.

The world we live in today runs off technology. It is used nearly everywhere. In our jobs, schools, and just about everywhere else. While technology can be overused and misused, it definitely can make some tasks a little easier. In the seven studies that will be talked about in this paper, it will be interesting to see how exactly technology does affect our academic performance. Technology can be a great resource if used properly by students.

Time Spent on Mobile Phone

In September 2011, Brittany Harman and Toru Sato completed a study that examined whether frequent mobile phone use had any impact on undergraduate students’ academic performance. The study included 118 undergraduate students, that ranged from freshman to seniors. The average age of participants was 20, and both men and women were included in the study (Harman & Sato, 2011). Harman and Sato (2011), distributed an anonymous survey to individual participants that contained a variety of questions. In Harman and Sato’s (2011) survey, participants were asked about grade level, grade point average, how many text/phone calls they make a day, and how many times a day they check their mobile phone. They were also asked if they were comfortable texting while sitting in class (Harman & Sato, 2011). The results indicated that most students were comfortable texting in class and that students send an average of 112 text messages, receive an average of 117, and check their phone an average of 102 times in a single day (Harman & Sato, 2011). Harman and Sato (2011), concluded that the more an individual text, the low his or her grade point average was.

Lepp, Barkley and Karipinski (2015), conducted a study similar to Harman and Sato’s (2011). They wanted to study the relationship between mobile phone use and grade point average, by distributing a survey to 536 undergraduate students from public universities (Lepp, Barkley, Karipenski, 2015). The study included both males and females and each grade level at the universities (Lepp et al., 2015). The survey first asked students to provide demographics and lifestyle information and then asked participants about their daily mobile phone use (Lepp et al., 2015). Lepp, Barkley, and Karipinski (2015), obtained records from each college to determine participants current grade point averages. Findings indicated that the participants averaged approximately 300 minutes a day on their phone and that too much mobile phone use did in fact have a negative effect on participants grade point average (Lepp et al., 2015).

Similar to the study done by Lepp and his colleagues, Daniel Felisoni and Alexandra Godoi (2018) conducted a study to find the relationship between the average actual time students use their phones and academic performance. The study included 43 students and required each student to download an app on their mobile phone that kept track of the exact amount of time each participant spent on his or her phone over a 2-week period (Godoi & Felisoni, 2018). Godoi and Felisoni (2018), divided the sample into 2 subgroups, if participants averaged more than 300 minutes per day on their mobile phones they were considered ‘heavy users’ and if they averaged less than 300 minutes per day they were considered ‘light users’. Of the 43 participants in the study, 35 of them were labeled as heavy users and only 8 were considered light users (Godoi & Felisoni, 2018). The average mobile phone use was 230 minutes, with 396.5 being the most and 38.4 was the least (Godoi & Felisoni, 2018). Results indicated that each 100 minutes spent on your phone per day caused a reduction in class rank by 6.3 points and that usage during class time only had twice the effect on student performance (Godoi & Felisoni, 2018).

In another study conducted by Lepp, Barkley, and Karpinski (2014), they looked to see the relationship between total mobile phone use and texting on a students’ academic performance, much like Godoi and Felisoni’s (2018) study about actual time spent on a mobile phone. A total of 536 undergraduate students, both male and female were involved in the study, and took a survey consisting of 4 different sections (Lepp et al., 2014). The first section was demographic information, the second was satisfaction with life, the third anxiety, and the fourth about mobile phone/texting use (Lepp et al., 2013). Lepp, Barkley, and Karpinski (2014) also obtained cumulative grade point averages for each participant through the universities. Results found that mobile phone use was negatively related to grade point average, but positive for anxiety (Lepp et al., 2014). Results also showed that grade point average was better for people who were satisfied with their life, while anxiety was negatively related (Lepp et al. 2014).

Multitasking on Different Media Platforms

In this study, conducted by Junco and Cotten (2011), they took things a step farther compared to the other studies, in which they went beyond texting and included other social platforms. They study included a whopping 1,774 participants across public college campuses and it included the participants to complete a survey (Junco & Cotten, 2011). Students were asked to estimate the average time they spend searching information online, on Facebook, email, texting, and talking on their mobile phones (Junco & Cotten, 2011). The study found that when doing schoolwork, 51% of participants reported texting, 33% reported using Facebook, 21% reported emailing, and 16% reported searching information unrelated to schoolwork (Junco & Cotten, 2011). While doing schoolwork, Junco and Cotten (2011) also found that students spend an average of 60 minutes on Facebook, 43 minutes searching, 22 minutes on email, and sending an average of 71 text messages. Overall, it was shown that using Facebook and texting negatively affected students grade point average more so than the other social platforms (Junco & Cotten, 2011).

In Class Use

Much like the study conducted by Junco and Cotten (2011), Foese, Carpenter, Inman, Schooley, Barnes, Brecht, and Chacon, 2012) took their study a step farther as well by not only looking at how texting effects academic performance, but how it effects it when you are actually answering and not answering questions. 82 students were randomly selected and 40 agreed to participate, both men and women (Foese et al., 2012). Each participant was given the same 10 questions twice, once while texting and once not texting (Foese et al., 2012). The results concluded that quiz scored were significantly lower when students texted and much higher when they were not texting, the difference was approximately 27% (Foese et al., 2012).

Similar to 2012 study of Foese and his colleagues, Bjornsen and Archer (2015), conducted a study to find the relationship between daily in class mobile phone use and test grades. The study took place over 2 semesters, it included 6 different courses and 218 participants, the participants were all 4 grade levels, both male and female (Bjornsen & Archer, 2015). Participants completed a short questionnaire at the end of each class period where they indicated how many times, they used their phone during the class period (Bjornsen & Archer, 2015). All the students took test at equal intervals throughout the 2 semesters and all were worth 100 points (Bjornsen & Archer, 2015). By the end of their study, Bjornsen and Archer (2015), were able to conclude that lower test scores were associated with higher social media use during class.

Conclusion

In summary, all the studies found that the use of mobile phones by students does negatively affect one’s grade point average. Many people won’t find these results surprising, but it was interesting to compare different studies to see if one could have found that mobile phone use did not affect grade point average. Most of these studies focused on mobile phone use for none academic purposes, therefore the findings shouldn’t be surprising, however had at least one person conducted a study around using a mobile phone for academic purposes, it could be surprising what the results might show. Overall, students misuse technology inside the classroom, use them for the wrong reasons, and if they actually used resources more wisely, researchers may find that technology use in regard to school work may have a different result.

References

1. Bjornsen, C. A., & Archer, K. J. (2015). Relations Between College Students’ Cell Phone Use During Class and Grades. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(4), 326-336. doi:10.1037/stl0000045.
2. Felisoni, D. D., & Godoi, A. S. (2018). Cell Phone Usage and Academic Performance: An Experiment. Computers & Education, 117, 175-187. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2017.10.006.
3. Foese, A. D., Carpenter, C. N., Inman, D. A., Schooley, J. R., Barnes, R. R., Brecht, P. W., & Chacon, J. D. (2012). Effects of Classroom Cell Phone Use on Expected and Actual Learning. Ebscohost, 46(2), 323-332.
4. Harman, B. A., & Sato, T. (2011). Cell Phone Use and Grade Point Average Among Undergraduate University Students. Ebscohost, 45(3), 544-549.
5. Junco, R., & Cotten, S. R. (2012). No A 4 U: The Relationship Between Multitasking and Academic Performance. Computers & Education, 59(2), 505-514. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.12.023.
6. Lepp, A., Barkley, J. E., & Karpinski, A. C. (2014). The Relationship Between Cell Phone Use, Academic Performance, Anxiety and Satisfaction with Life in College Students. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 343-350. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.049.
7. Lepp, A., Barkley, J. E., & Karpinski, A. C. (2015). The Relationship Between Cell Phone Use and Academic Performance in a Sample of U.S. College Students. SAGE Open, 5(1), 215824401557316.

Abstract

The number of people listening to music has increased over time which brings about the purpose of this study. The aim is to find out the relationship between background music and its effect on the student’s academic performance. Two research questions were constructed to help in carrying out this research: 1) Does background music affect academic performance? and; 2) How does background music affect academic performance? 40 respondents from Sunway College took part in the research and they were required to complete a survey form regarding this research. The results concluded that background music had positively affected the student’s academic performance. Moreover, listening to background music while studying creates a positive atmosphere which motivates the students to perform better.

Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

Music is a form of art that includes basic elements such as pitch (melody or harmony), rhythm, and also dynamics (loudness or softness). Music is also performed using various instruments or vocal techniques. The word ‘music’ is derived from the Greek ‘mouse’ which has the meaning of ‘art of the muses.’The ancient Greek and Indian philosophers have defined music as tones in which the melodies are ordered horizontally while the harmonies are arranged vertically.

In most cultures, music has already become a vital part of people’s lives as music plays an important role in society. Background music is often played in a low volume as it is not the aim of the music to capture the audience’s attention. Background music is commonly used in various ways such as in films, video games, or even short videos.

There are countless ways to access music for instance YouTube, Spotify, CDs, or even FM radios. Listening to music while doing homework is preferred nowadays. However, many trust that listening to music is a distraction for students. This research pays more attention to playing classical music as background music. It is because classical music is said to have both calming and soothing effects. Due to these effects, it is proven that classical music can help students absorb and concentrate better while they are studying.

More researches are needed to help people understand further the effects of background music on the student’s academic performance. Therefore, this research has the main intention of figuring out the relationship between background music and how it affects the student’s academic performance.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Music has become more popular in society, mainly among college students as they prefer to listen to music while doing their assignments or even when they are reading. However, a minority of them feel that listening to music is a distraction. Without being affected by the minority, there are still people who believe that classical music helps them to feel relaxed and calm. Hence, this research introduced a hypothesis that assumes that background music has a positive effect on academic performance.

1.3 Purpose of Study

Due to the problem stated above, this research aims to find out the relationship between background music and how it affects the student’s academic performance.

1.4. Research Questions

1. Does background music affect academic performance?
2. How does background music affect academic performance?

Literature Review

Music has become an essential part of many people’s lives. We hear music everywhere we go such as the malls, restaurants, or even in the car. Music is very popular, especially among college students. Besides, more and more portals are created which allows the public to access music at the tip of their finger. For example, Spotify, YouTube, and radio stations. This has become a factor leading students to form a habit and listening to music while doing something else. Hence, it is crucial for the students and also their parents to acknowledge the effects of music on the student’s concentration which is connected with the student’s academic performance.

2.1 Classical Music

One of the most well-known appeals, also known as the Mozart effect is the idea that when students listen to classical music, it can help to increase the students’ cognitive performance. However, other researchers disagree and claim that classical music has no relationship with cognitive performance (Avila, Furnham, & McClelland, 2011). Besides, Huang and Shih (2011) observe that music acts as a distraction if a person strongly likes or dislikes it.

Background music can be defined as music that is meant to be heard but has no intention of distracting one’s attention. Classical music is to be selected as the background music in this research. This is because classical music can help to soothe one’s mood which can indirectly help students to concentrate better on their studies. Previous studies by Thompson, Schellenberg, and Letnic (2011) reveal that only soft fast music brings positive influence while loud fast music causes distraction including soft slow or even loud slow music.

2.2 Mood and Emotion

Music has different elements which are loudness, pitch, rhythm, and tempo. Music with a slow tempo is said to affect one’s emotions and make them feel sad. On the other hand, music with a fast tempo tends to make an individual feel happy or angry. People usually like to listen to music that corresponds to their current mood (Wilhelm et al., 2013). For instance, they tend to listen to sad-sounding music when they feel sad or depressed. The volume level of the music is also a factor that may affect one’s mood (Staum & Brotons, 2000). The results show that most people prefer to listen to classical music but males prefer to listen to loud music. Jordan-Mena (2007) proves in his research that when a person listens to classical music, the positive mood of the person increases while the negative mood of the person increases when listening to heavy metal music. Despite the results, the experiment was only conducted for four minutes. Music also tends to lead people to purchase more expensive products. In a study, a club playing classical music compared to pop music causes people to buy more expensive wine (North, Hargreaves & McKendrick, 1997).

2.3 Memory

Memory as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information. Memory has several structures such as sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory, and also the working memory. Each structure is unique in its way as it provides different stages in the memory process. Previous research on working memory focused more on short-term memory (STM) as being responsible for immediate recall as it holds information for a short period (Baddeley, Eysenck & Anderson, 2009).

Majority of the people tend to forget the information stored in STM. On the other hand, only a minority of people manage to access long-term memory (LTM). Despite the studies carried out to study working memory, each individual differs from one another. Different individuals have different recall abilities as some can recall faster and more accurately than others. The recall ability may also differ according to gender.

A study by Lawton and Hatcher (2005) investigates gender differences as regards visuospatial short-term memory. Two pictures were shown separately to the participants and they had to identify again after the two pictures were merged. It was found that the male participants were better, faster, and more accurate than the female participants in identifying the picture.

Most of the researchers only pay attention to the recall ability of words, images, and letters. This causes them to take no notice of the research that deals with numbers or digits. Therefore, Jameson (2013) investigated to find out the recall ability of words and digits. Even so, some of the results supported the hypothesis while others did not. The author concluded by stating that music did not affect on the recall of digits. Even so, music did have a negative influence on the recall of words.

2.4 Concentration

Sigman (2005) researched to study the relationship between background music and the concentration level of high school students while they were given a task that had to be completed in class. Based on Oxford Dictionaries, concentration is the act of power when all one’s attention is focused on someone or something. The author highlighted certain limitations such as distractibility which was caused by listening difficulties and also psychological responses to music.

The research was conducted at the Washington Country Career Center in Marietta, Ohio. Junior and senior students were chosen and divided into two groups. They were assigned to complete tasks involving multiple choices, short answers, and essay questions. For the first 15 minutes, they worked in silence and a pre-test survey was distributed to the students. Later, the students continue completing their assignment but this time with Mozart music playing in the background. The music was stopped 15 minutes later and the students had to fill in the post-test survey. The same procedures were carried out with the other group with the difference that Mozart’s music was not played in the classroom.

The researcher discovered that even though background music was played, it did not affect the concentration levels of the students. She has also pointed out some considerations that may influence the significance of the data. For instance, the personal preference of the students may be a factor as not all the students like classical music. Pop music may appeal more to most of the students compared to classical music.

Methodology

3.1 Participants

The targeted participants were students who were currently studying in the Pre-University Program at Sunway College. The participants consist of both males and females. A total of 40 students participated in the survey. The participants were selected if they met the characteristics needed to conduct this research. The requirements were the participants need to be between the age range of 17 and 19. Besides, another requirement that the participants need to meet is that they listen to music.

3.2 Materials

To conduct this research, survey forms were used. The survey forms were created using Google Forms as it is convenient and easy to use. Additional questions were added to help guide the participants in satisfying the research’s objective. For example: How often do the students listen to music? Do they listen to lyrical or non-lyrical music? How does listening to music while studying affect them?

3.3 Procedure

A survey form was prepared and given out to the participants to fill in. The survey was aimed at collecting data that is needed to identify the relationship between background music and student’s academic performance. The results will be collected once they have completed the survey. The results collected were subsequently tabulated. Next, the data is filled in and organized as this can save time when it comes to analyzing the data. Once the organization of data is done, the data will be analyzed to see if the hypothesis of the research can be accepted.

Findings and Discussion

The hypothesis of this research is to study whether there is a connection between background music and its effects on the academic performance of the students. 40 respondents were asked to fill in a survey to help conduct and answer the research questions, which are:

1. Does background music affect academic performance?
2. How does background music affect academic performance?

Based on the diagram, the majority of the respondents feel that classical music does not distract them when they are studying. However, another 14 of the total 40 students agree with the statement that which music distracts them. They find it hard to focus on their studies in the presence of music.

Previous literature discovered that there was no significant relationship between the presence of background music and the student’s concentration level (Sigman, 2005). The researcher claimed that there were external factors that caused the results to alter as there are many genres of music such as pop music, electronic music, or even rock music.

This research believes that the results are different because every individual has their likes and dislikes. It might be a coincidence that the respondents of this research prefer classical music to other genres. Sometimes the students would have no choice but to study in a cafe or other places that may have a noisy environment. Therefore, they may choose to listen to music as it helps to keep them out of the noisy background and be more focused on their studies.

In the survey, one of the questions asked the respondents if they felt that listening to classical music influences them positively. Provided with a Likert scale, the respondents have to give a rating between “1” and “5”. “1” represents strongly disagree while “5” represents strongly agree. A total of 17 respondents gave a rating of “4” and this indirectly means that they do agree with the statement.

This result has a similarity with research done by Jordan-Mena (2007). He claims and provides evidence that when classical music is played, a person feels more positive compared to when heavy metal music is played. Based on this research’s opinion, classical music can soothe and in the meantime increase the positive mood of a person. Due to this ability, an individual tends to feel more relaxed which can indirectly motivate them to study and perform better.

A Likert scale was provided again for the respondents to rate the effects of listening to non-lyrical music on their memory performance. The graph clearly shows a total of 13 students felt neutral about the statement given. It was followed by 12 students who rated “5” (strongly agree) that listening to music helps them in memorizing better.

An experiment by Baddeley, Eysenck, and Anderson (2009) was carried out to study the working memory of a human. The experiment presumed that each individual is different from each other. Some could recall faster while some find a hard time to do so.

That past literature can help in supporting this current research as there is only a difference of one person between the respondents who gave a rating of “3” and “5”. The author of this research personally agrees with the past literature that the ability to memorize and recall differs from one another which may be caused by several external factors.

As calculated, the r value equals 0.18. This result shows that there is a positive significant relationship between the respondent’s cGPA and the hours they spent listening to classical music while studying. It means that the longer they listen to music while doing their studies, the higher their cGPA.

According to the research mentioned previously, the relationship between the presence of background music while the students are studying can differ according to each individual. Some of the respondents may have a strong ability to cope with their studies even without listening to music. On the other hand, some are weaker at the same time finding it hard to catch up. As mentioned before, the fondness of each individual towards music is also different.

Conclusion

The first research question was “Does background music affect academic performance?” The results have clearly shown a connection between these two and it leads to a conclusion that background music helps to improve the students’ academic performance. As for the second question, “How does background music affect academic performance?”, this research also revealed that most of the students can accept the presence of music and they feel positive and relaxed when they are studying. There is also a group of students who are neutral with the statement that music helps them to memorize better. Yet, there is also a minority of them who opposed the statement. As a whole, students listen to music based on their liking which helps them in their academic performance and at the same time provides a relaxing study environment.

Despite the results, the existence of some external factors may lead to a difference in the outcome. One of the factors is the group of respondents is only limited to college students. This causes a restriction for the calculations to be only for the age group between 17 and 19. Comparing this with the previous literature, there will be a contrast between the findings as the previous literature was mostly carried out with different age groups.

Furthermore, the survey created was sent out online. As for the multiple choice answer, there are limited answers for the respondents to choose. This sets a limit for the respondents as they cannot express their own opinions or feelings. There might also be a chance that the respondents filled up the survey without taking it seriously or considering the consequences of their actions. Thus, this indirectly causes the judgment to be untrustworthy.

This research can be further improved by enlarging the sample space of the research. A wider age limit should be taken into consideration which can include high school students and also university students as they are also under the category of people who often listen to music while revising. Apart from that, the survey questions can be modified for the respondents to discuss or exchange their point of view which can help in future studies.

This research can benefit society by allowing more people to understand better that even though the preference of each individual is unalike, a positive relationship still somehow exists between the two, which is background music and its effects on students’ academic performance. Therefore, academic institutions can encourage the lecturers to play music when work is distributed to the students to motivate them which enables them to perform better.

Reference

1. Avila, C., Furnham, A. and McClelland, A. (2011). The influence of distracting familiar vocal music on the cognitive performance of introverts and extroverts. Psychology of Music, 40(1), pp.84-93.
2. Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M. and Anderson, M. (2009). Memory. Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press.
3. Duff, A., Boyle, E., Dunleavy, K. and Ferguson, J. (2004). The relationship between personality, approach to learning, and academic performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(8), pp.1907-1920.
4. Huang, R. and Shih, Y. (2011). Effects of background music on concentration of workers. Work, 38(4), pp.383-387.
5. Jameson, C. (2013). The Effect of Music on Recall Ability of Words and Digits. (Bachelor of Arts degree (Psychology Specialization). Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e21c/75130413c8223f4a005ba5be1eca3d0ce466. pdf
6. Jordan-Mena, J. (2007). The effects of listening to classical and heavy metal music on mood: Does personality make a difference? Unpublished manuscript.
7. Konantz, E. (2012). The Effects of Music on Memory for a Word List. The Huron University College Journal of Learning and Motivation, 50(1), Article 4.
8. Küssner, M. (2017). Eysenck’s Theory of Personality and the Role of Background Music in Cognitive Task Performance: A Mini-Review of Conflicting Findings and a New Perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 8.
9. Lawton, C. and Hatcher, D. (2005). Gender Differences in Integration of Images in Visuospatial Memory. Sex Roles, 53(9-10), pp.717-725.
10. North, A., Hargreaves, D. and McKendrick, J. (1997). In-store music affects product choice. Nature, 390(6656), pp.132-132.
11. Oxford Dictionaries. (1984). Oxford Dictionaries | The World’s Most Trusted Dictionary Provider. Available at: https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ [Accessed 22 Nov. 2018].
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13. Sigman, K. J. (2005). Using background music in the classroom to effectively enhance concentration within the learning environment. (Unpublished master’s thesis). Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio.
14. Staum, M. and Brotons, M. (2000). The Effect of Music Amplitude on the Relaxation Response. Journal of Music Therapy, 37(1), pp.22-39.
15. Thompson, W., Schellenberg, E. and Letnic, A. (2011). Fast and loud background music disrupts reading comprehension. Psychology of Music, 40(6), pp.700-708.
16. Wilhelm, K., Gillis, I., Schubert, E. and Whittle, E. (2013). On a Blue Note: Depressed Peoples’ Reasons for Listening to Music. Music and Medicine, 5(2), pp.76-83.

As human beings we all have basic needs that have to be met, understanding those needs will help us understand the factors that contribute to the drive to achieve certain goals. Students are preoccupied with many things: classes, work, home life, grades, and health, etc. When students are concerned about certain needs, their behaviors are easily centered on meeting those needs. Those concerns surpass learning and achievement. Physiological needs are the most important and when they are not met, they become the biggest motivating factor in an individual’s behavior. For example, if lack of sleep is an issue, all other needs and desires will be suppressed to satisfy this need. Identification and successful resolution of sleep problems for students with sleep disorders can benefit both university and student. Benefits such as increased retention of information, improved academic performance, a better quality of life, good graduation rates and fewer academic failures.

Balancing academic demands (assignments, quizzes, and study time), along with everything else a student is dealing with in their life is quite challenging. Imagine having to do this with a sleep disorder; sleep disorders are common amongst university students, and this, in turn can affect students’ performance in their classes. Understanding the effects of sleep disorders on academic performances of university students is important, and several researchers have studied this (Gaultney, 2010; Gilbert & Cameron, 2010; Taylor, Bramoweth, Grieser, Tatum & Roane, 2013; Archbold, Goodwin, Levine, Perfect & Quan, 2014; Friedrich, Schlarb, 2017; Hayley, Sivertsen, Hysing, Vedaa, & Overland, 2017).

The majority of the studies found that lack of sleep due to a sleep disorder and poor sleep quality can contribute to poor performance (low GPA) (Gaultney, 2010; Hayley et al, 2013). Tavernier and Willoughby (2014) conducted a longitudinal study to examine bidirectional associations between sleep (quality and duration) and three indices of psychosocial functioning (intrapersonal adjustment, friendship quality, and academic achievement); the same participants were used for three years. In terms of academic achievement, the results showed that some students who suffer from lack of sleep are high achievers (higher GPA), this finding was also similar in another study (Taylor et al., 2013).

Studies also found other contributing factors to poor academic performances. One factor was poor sleep hygiene and interpersonal adjustment relationship with poor sleep quality. Brown, Buboltz & Soper (2006) found that students are less relaxed as the academic semester progresses. 70% of students in the control group reported poor sleep quality at the beginning of the term, and 82% reported poor sleep quality 8 weeks into the term. This shows that without interventions, sleep quality deteriorates as the term progressed. 84% of the students who met the criteria for poor sleep quality in the original sample also met the criteria for some form of diagnosable primary sleep disorder. Similar to the findings (over 500 students out of 1,845, 27% were at risk for at least one sleep disorder) found in another study, conducted by Gaultney (2010).

Tavernier et al. (2014) found that better intrapersonal adjustment predicted better sleep quality over time. A study conducted by Parker, Summerfeldt, Hogan, & Majeski (2004) found that emotional and social capabilities are important factors for successful transitions from high school to university. Their findings show important links between adaptability and stress management skills, interpersonal abilities and academic success. Adaptability tests a student’s ability to find suitable ways to deal with everyday problems. These findings suggest that in addition to the direct effect between academic achievement and sleep quality, there also might be an indirect effect between academic achievement and sleep quality through intrapersonal adjustment. After testing this hypothesis, a significant indirect effect was found. It showed that intrapersonal adjustment may be an important mechanism linking academic achievement to sleep quality. Results from reports in a study, conducted by Sasai, Inoue, Komada, Nomurac, Matsuura and Matsushima (2010), found that sleep loss deteriorates physical function such as postural sway, blood pressure elevation, glucose intolerance, and immunological dysfunction. In regards to mental function, insomnia has been identified as a risk factor for developing depression or anxiety disorder. Furthermore, insomniacs undergo psychomotor performance degradation, including impairment of both cognitive function and short-term memory.

Among all the different types of psychological treatment for sleep disorders and poor sleep quality, it was found that the most effective types for university students are psychological and behavioral therapy (Friedrich et al., 2017; Alexandru, Robert, Viorel &Vasil, 2009; Sánchez-Ortuño & Edinger, 2010; Taylor et al., 2013 & Brown et al., 2006).

Another form of treatment for sleep disorders is medication (pills). There are several medications that can be prescribed to people with a sleep disorder. The process begins with prescribing medication to the patient with a specific dosage during a trial period, the dosage can be manipulated (up the dosage or reduce it) to see what works. If the medication overall doesn’t work, a different one will be prescribed, and the process is repeated until a combination of medication and dosage works. Sasai et al. (2010) findings implied that the frequency of sleep medication use adversely affects both physical and mental quality of life with adverse effects on physical function (e.g., myorelaxant effects, amnesia, or next-day hangover effects) regardless of the improvement of insomnia symptoms.

In the research mentioned above, it was found that adequate sleep is related to academic success and overall quality of life as a university student. There are several studies on the treatment of sleep disorders, but there are not many studies on how the side effects of medication prescribed as a treatment of that disorder affect university students and their academic performance. One reason may be the fact that sleep disorders among university students are rarely diagnosed (Friedrich et al., 2017; Gaultney, 2010). Gilbert and Weaver (2010) found that college psychologists assess the sleep habits of a student only if depression is reported by the student or suspected. Many psychologists neglect to ask about sleep habits, even if academic functioning is part of the student’s presenting problem; most studies on sleep disorder treatment effects are conducted on adolescence and elementary students.

Sleep at university is especially important this is the period of life between childhood and adulthood marked by massive biological and social changes because it is such an important stage of development. Knowing this, universities should have an open dialogue about this problem. Talking about this problem can become a starting point for addressing more sensitive issues of physical and mental health while finding effective solutions. Sleep relates to many aspects of student’s health and performance, creating interventions that are targeted at improving sleep will also improve overall health and academic success.

Junk food is well known as a convenient way to get meals. It is well known that students are the group that contribute mostly to the revenue of fast-food restaurants. Students who live away from home and have a bad habit of life usually consume fast food. Moreover, university students eat this kind of food every day or every meal, but they do not care what consequences the junk food brings to them. In the long run in eating these foods, there will be some specific symptoms of their health, especially in the brain’s performance. This essay will demonstrate the problem that university students meet and solutions for each problem.

Recently, the awareness of choosing food get worse in adolescence and their lifestyle can also contribute to this problem. They always are looking for junk food or insecure food for their meals. Junk food is unhealthy food, which could contain high calories but there is no nutrient. When students go to university, they will get independent from their parents. That may lead to change student’s lifestyle. Students could be busy with their time table, that reason why they tend to eat more junk food. When students consume tremendous quantities of these foods, their bodies could absorb much calories and fats without nutrition. Burkhalter and Hillman (2011) argue that nutrition is crucial to improve and maintain the health of the brain. Further, they also highlight that student’s brain receives the blocks which are called ‘the prober building blocks’ from nutrient food can enhance academic performance. Therefore, if university students consume junk food or insecure food in the long run, they will get worse in their academic performance because of lacking of nutrition for their brain. In another article, Cabrera et al. (2018) point out that students have a better quality of food, they are likely to get the better results. As the results of articles, they always emphasize habits, which people have to get used to living a good lifestyle. Educating about lifestyle for university students is very important because it not only makes their health better but student’s performance also get improved.

The good behavior life style in this context is to have high quality of meals. Every meal contains particular benefit to our body. Therefore, no meal skipping is the first step to have a good routine. Breakfast is necessary for our body; these meals provide energies and vitamins in the morning. Adolphus et al. (2013) cite in their article that “Iron, B vitamins (folate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12) and Vitamin D are approximately 20–60% higher in children who regularly eat breakfast compared with breakfast skippers” (Gibson, 2003). Also in this article, they also emphasize that the children student enjoys their breakfast every morning, they are able to get better academic performance compared with no breakfast regularly. Moreover, Adolescences need nutrition from healthy foods for each meal, such as vegetables, fruits, milk. Polidori et al. (2009) state that “Healthy subjects of any age with a high daily intake of fruits and vegetables have higher antioxidant levels, lower levels of biomarkers of oxidative stress, and better cognitive performance than healthy subjects of any age consuming low amounts of fruits and vegetables”. We can say the healthy foods that assist our quality of life by cognitive improving. For university students, the cognitive performance is very important to critical thinking that is able to enhance their academic performance. To have a higher quality of meals, students need to perceive their time, which is a big problem for university students.

Time management is a considerable problem, which could decide how many times students have time for cooking or choosing foods. Time allocation is necessary to have the ability of managing time, but many students are not doing well this skill. Most university students are always rushing their tasks because of a lack of time managing skills. They allocate most of the times to do their bad habits rather than cooking or choosing healthy foods. Pelletier and Laska (2012) state that healthy eating and well time allocation of matures could be enhanced by time administration skills. Students who have well-allocated schedules will be sufficient time for healthy meals or choosing healthy food. These students perceive the importance of time and they also have responsibility for their health and academic results. Because they are highly perceived of health and university performance, therefore, these students try their best to discover the reasonable ways to be sufficient time for cooking and studying. Moreover, their brain could receive nutrition from healthy foods, which will assist the brain work more efficiently. That is not surprised that the higher perceived time in students can achieve high results in their academic terms. In this problem, instilling student how to use their time that is very necessary.

To balance university student’s time, they need to create their time table. This time table will assist students who do not use time effectively follow and control what they are doing and will do. Nasrullah and Khan (2015) point out that the behaviors of setting out schedule is crucial for using time effectively. Keeping time log, establishing short-term and long-term targets, arranging tasks orderly, setting out the daily schedule and streamlining workspace that does not make people busy. Because every task that is organized with the reasonable time for executing. Therefore, the time table helps university students to have enough time for daily activities. Academic students who spend most of the time at university should have cooking time for breakfast and lunch in their to-do list in the morning. Because cooking does not take time too much. In the short-range goal, university students need to spend time buying healthy food at the weekend. Since they have much leisure time at the weekend, instead of spending a lot of time playing video games or going out with their friends, they can go shopping for healthy food. To save time for the following week, they can also prepare food at the weekend.

In conclusion, consuming junk food or unhealthy food affect negatively to university student’s performance. The bad habit life style and lack of time managing skills are the main reasons lead academic student consume more junk food or unhealthy food. In order to improve the quality of food intake, university students need to change their habits, such as no skipping meals, choosing healthy food for their meals like vegetables, fruit, and milk. To have time for preparing healthy food, academic students have to plan their daily life as well as set their goals. To make sure that every task is working well.

References

1. Adolphus, K., Lawton, C. L. and Dye, L. (2013) ‘The Effects of Breakfast on Behavior and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescents’, Frontiers In Human Neuroscience, 7, p. 425. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00425.
2. Toni M., B. and Charles H., H. (2011) ‘A Narrative Review of Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity to Cognition and Scholastic Performance across the Human Lifespan’, Advances in Nutrition, (2), p. 201S. doi: 10.3945/an.111.000331.
3. Cabrera, J. C., Rodriguez, M. C., Karl, S. R., & Chavez, C. (2018). In What Ways Do Health Behaviors Impact Academic Performance, Educational Aspirations, and Commitment to Learning?.
4. Nasrullah_PhD, S., & Khan_PhD, M. S. (2015). The Impact of Time Management on the Students’ Academic Achievements.
5. Pelletier, J. E. and Laska, M. N. (2012) ‘Balancing Healthy Meals and Busy Lives: Associations between Work, School, and Family Responsibilities and Perceived Time Constraints among Young Adults’, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 44(6), pp. 481–489. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2012.04.001.
6. Polidori MC et al. (2009) ‘High Fruit and Vegetable Intake Is Positively Correlated with Antioxidant Status and Cognitive Performance in Healthy Subjects’, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 17(4), pp. 921–927. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2009-1114.

The first factor that affects Booker T. Washington Middle’s academic performance is the incredibly high rate of student poverty. In this school, low-income students represent more than 95% of all the students enrolled. Title 1 program provides additional funding for schools with large concentrations of low-income students to support communities with the highest concentrations of homelessness for students and achieve their educational goals. The number of students of low income depends on the number of students enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. Title 1 funded student types include students with limited English skills, homeless students, disabled, or any student in need. To continue receiving support, schools must make sufficient annual gains on state testing and concentrate on best teaching practices. One important thing to note is the notice that schools must make sufficient annual points on state testing and focus on best teaching practices to continue receiving support from the government. It’s relevant to 2002 No Child Left Behind Act. This is a law requiring students to take a test each year to rank and judge their schools. Schools must meet a certain target and increase their numbers, otherwise, they may face penalties such as staff firing, closing the establishment and a reduction in school funding. Many experts have already shown the unreliability of this law. Linda Darling Hammond compared the United States academic ranking with those of several countries of Europe and Asia who do not rely on standardized testing. She mentioned that the USA ranks between the rankings of 21 and 32. The country was ranked 21st in reading, 32nd in mathematics and 23rd in science. Compared to others, more than any other country, the United States tests students on multiple-choice tests. By comparison, Singapore ranked top in all three categories, only tests their students once in elementary and high school and gives more open ending, essay questions, oral and project-based experimentation. If one analyses the rankings of Singapore with the findings of Ken Robinson, what makes this country so efficient is that the academic system takes into account the three principles on which human life can flourish. Uniqueness, curiosity, and creativity. ‘Education under ‘No Child Left Behind’ is based on not diversity but conformity. What schools are encouraged to do is to find out what kids can do across a very narrow spectrum of achievement. One of the effects of ‘No Child Left Behind’ has been to narrow the focus onto the so-called STEM disciplines”. He said that science and math are very important. But education should give equal importance to other subjects such as arts, music, etc. Children are most likely to succeed and archive best if there are exposed to a broader curriculum.

The second factor that affects Booker T. Washington Middle’s academic performance is the levels of chronic absenteeism. As mentioned earlier, the title one student represents about 95% of all the students. For the school’s neighborhood, Upton/Druid Heights has the second-highest percentage of households earning less than 25,000. A percentage of 61.7% compared to Baltimore city with 32.2%. The graph made by the Hamilton Project on students that are chronically absent used nationally representative data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey from 2012 and 2016 and sorted all students into a health limitation category. The results were that about 2% of children between the ages of 5 and 18 are chronically absent, identified as missing 15 or more days of school; this rate is significantly lower than in the CRDC data. On the net, those living in poverty have a chronic absenteeism rate of 3%, while those living in poverty were slightly less likely to be chronically absent (1.9%). So, poor students are substantially more likely to be chronically absent in almost all areas of education than non-poor students. Factors that lead to chronic absenteeism are more common for students in poverty. Poverty students are 45% more likely to have a physical impairment than their non-poor. 41% are more likely to have a serious illness, and 85% more likely to have a hearing and/or vision problem. These were the three classes with the highest levels of chronic absenteeism. In this school, the chronic absenteeism rate represents 62.20%

Finally, disadvantaged youth engage in riskier criminal behavior. “Low-income youths are more likely to engage in violent and property crimes than are youths from middle- and high-income families. In particular, low-income youths are significantly more likely to attack someone or get into a fight, join a gang, or steal something worth more than $50”. On the other hand, they are more likely to commit violent and property crimes than middle-and high-income youth. Specifically, youth with low incomes are much more likely to attack someone or fight, join a gang, or steal something worth more than $50. The standard explanation is that property crime is the most attractive alternative to crime for poor youth. If career opportunities for adolescents living in poor neighborhoods are limited, then property crime will become relatively more attractive. This is relevant to this school because as seen on the infographic, lower-income students represent 95% of the total enrollment. The next one in line is that juvenile incarceration can have very lasting impacts on a young teen’s future. It is believed that youth incarceration will have a profound impact on the future for young people as it jeopardizes the acquisition of intellectual and social capital during a critical stage of development. It is projected that juvenile detention reduces the likelihood of high school graduation by 13% and increases the likelihood of adult imprisonment by 22% People imprisoned as teenagers are 15 percentage points more likely to be incarcerated as adults for violent crimes or 14 times more likely to be incarcerated as adults for property crimes.

A school library is a library within a school where students and staff of a public or private school have access to a variety of resources. School libraries store, organize, manage, and preserve information resources that would serve students and school staff. Resources in the library refer to information carriers and information materials that convey substantial and relevant information about a field of knowledge, discipline, and concepts. School libraries contain information resources such as books, films, recorded sounds, periodicals, pictorial books, real objects (realia), and digital materials. School libraries encompass a surplus collection of audiovisual and graphic materials such as pictures, photographs, realia, diagrams, etc., than other types of libraries. These items are not only for education but also for fun and entertainment of all members of the school community, and also to enhance and expand the school curriculum. Also, special events such as author visits and book clubs can take place in the school library. The school library serves as a learning space for students to do independent work, use learning equipment, and use computers for learning. Students also learn how various topics can conventionally be categorized and integrated.

School libraries are very important for students. Students can greatly benefit from the school library in various ways when effectively used. The school library equips the students with the skills necessary to succeed in a constantly changing technological, social, and economic environment. The school library encourages the love of reading by creating access to books, many school libraries also have reading groups and reading schemes for the children. The school library ensures each student has equitable access to resources, irrespective of opportunities or constraints. Students can borrow books and take them home for further study and consultation. A student can develop his literary skills by reading rare literary books. Also, academic magazines and periodicals make students aware of the latest developments around the world. Considering the fact that the environment of the school library is peaceful, students can study in the library without any disturbance, it helps them develop and sustain in themselves the habit of silent reading, reading for pleasure. The utilization of school library resources by students also enriches their intellectual, aesthetic, cultural, and economic growth. It also promotes individual and group learning. Furthermore, the proper utilization of the school library resources has enabled students to seek knowledge from books in order that in the process they may become efficient and enthusiastic readers, and also the integration of the use of new media encourages them to become adaptive to the use of audiovisual materials, thus creating room for relaxation and enjoyment. It is important to note that all the resources in school libraries are age-appropriate for the students at school, so they have books allowing them to progress in their reading levels. The utilization of the school library can make a positive difference to students’ self-esteem confidence, independence, and sense of responsibility regarding their own learning.

The utilization of school library resources can enhance students’ academic performance in diverse ways. Research studies provide compelling evidence that school libraries and library staff have a positive impact on students’ academic performance. The school library is the most essential to learning. It plays an important role as a set for cheering improvement, interest, and difficulty solving. The school library is the place for knowledge and thoughts, hence the utilization of the resources plays a fundamental part in supporting and developing the pleasure of reading and multiple illiteracies. It formulates a distinction to students’ understanding and attainment and gives help for teaching and learning throughout the school. Furthermore, a strong library program that is adequately staffed, resourced, and funded can lead to higher academic performance, also, a strong computer network connecting the library’s resources to the classroom could have an impact on students’ learning and academic performance. A collaborative relationship between teachers and school librarians has a significant impact on learning, particularly in the planning of instructional units and resource collection development that can enhance students’ performance.

Hancock (1995) presents a useful overview of the evidence that links school libraries and students’ academic performance. The author highlighted that in schools with good libraries and the services of a school librarian, students perform significantly better in reading comprehension and in their ability to express effectively ideas about their reading, more reading occurs when there is a school library, the guidance of a librarian appears to exert significant influence on students’ performance in information gathering. In schools with good libraries and full-time librarians, students perform better at higher levels in reading comprehension as well as in knowledge and use of reference materials than students in schools with minimal or no library service. Academic performance in reading, study skills, and use of newspapers was significantly greater at a seventh-grade level in schools with professional librarians than in schools without them.

Summarizing the above, I would like to point out that school libraries are extremely important for students, contributing not only to their high academic performance but also to their comprehensive harmonious development.

Studies in the 20th century have proven that the satisfaction of employees in the office workplace greatly affects their productivity. Similarly, studies in the late 1900s and early 2000s have proven that several classroom factors affect student satisfaction, which also affects their academic performance. These studies proved that factors like temperature, lighting, and air quality have significant impacts on student performance. For example, Harner (1974) found out in his analysis that reading and mathematics skills are adversely affected by temperatures above 74ºF. He also found out that the ideal temperature for learning in reading and mathematics is in the range between 68º and 74º.

To clarify, when mentioning ‘school facilities’, I am not only referring to classrooms and the whole school building in general, like other studies, but also to different kinds of facilities, namely, the classroom, the computer laboratory, the TLE workshop, the science laboratory, the library, and the gymnasium.

Numerous studies that look into the factors that affect academic performance have been conducted, for they help educational institutions determine which factors need to be changed or upgraded. However, since budget needs to be considered, they also need to determine which upgrades would be the most efficient or which upgrades would positively affect most of their students. For example, a study conducted by Earthman (2002) showed that classroom overcrowding affects minority/poverty students more than other groups. This means that institutions with poorer students should look more into this when renovating, but institutions with students of other economic groups do not have to look into this as much.

According to Penn State University, school facilities affect health, behavior, engagement, learning, and growth in achievement. Factors include temperature, aesthetics, adequacy of devices and instruments, room size, seating comfort, and lighting. These factors are present in some studies conducted by researchers. As of now, researchers of these studies have noticed that their school facilities like the science labs, computer labs, TLE workshops, and the gymnasium don’t have that many ideal attributes, and this may affect student satisfaction.

Some students are financially struggling to do their tasks especially when it comes to practical subjects like computers and TLE. Although there may be some students who can just make sure that they can do their projects at home, it should be noted that the school should provide the students’ needs for the effectiveness of learning experiences since not everyone has the luxury to do their tasks at home. Nowadays, many schools cannot provide sufficient materials and facilities that aid in learning. In the end, students resort to either learning it themselves without surely knowing if it is right because of the lack of guidance or lose the will to learn since most of the time students become uninterested when they find it a hassle to teach themselves. The same goes for facilities. There are many activities that are not meant to be done inside the classrooms. These include ‘hands-on’ activities which should let the students learn outside of discussions and experience personally themselves. Without proper facilities, hands-on activities become less, which hinders the students learning. This applies when teaching. When a student does his/her task and if there are sufficient school facilities, then the students are willing to efficiently use these facilities and enhance their creativity by searching for more possibilities in improving their work. There is clearly a big difference when a student works at home. Students cannot efficiently work at home since it’s not designed for working. In the end, students simply submit only satisfactory tasks that complete the given criteria instead of striving for better work.

Most of the studies so far focus on classroom attributes and other attributes of school buildings in general, but not much has looked into the different school facilities, e.g., libraries, computer laboratories, science laboratories, etc., and how much these facilities impact the academic performance of students. It is a given already that schools of the modern age need different facilities to cater to the needs of 21st-century learners. However, little is known about how much these facilities affect students’ academic performance and which facilities affect student performance the most and the least. I believe this area is still worth studying because at least it is a factor that schools can control to help influence the academic performance of their students.

As human beings we all have basic needs that have to be met, understanding those needs will help us understand the factors that contribute to the drive to achieve certain goals. Students are preoccupied with many things: classes, work, home life, grades, and health, etc. When students are concerned about certain needs, their behaviors are easily centered on meeting those needs. Those concerns surpass learning and achievement. Physiological needs are the most important and when they are not met, they become the biggest motivating factor in an individual’s behavior. For example, if lack of sleep is an issue, all other needs and desires will be suppressed to satisfy this need. Identification and successful resolution of sleep problems for students with sleep disorders can benefit both university and student. Benefits such as increased retention of information, improved academic performance, a better quality of life, good graduation rates and fewer academic failures.

Balancing academic demands (assignments, quizzes, and study time), along with everything else a student is dealing with in their life is quite challenging. Imagine having to do this with a sleep disorder; sleep disorders are common amongst university students, and this, in turn can affect students’ performance in their classes. Understanding the effects of sleep disorders on academic performances of university students is important, and several researchers have studied this (Gaultney, 2010; Gilbert & Cameron, 2010; Taylor, Bramoweth, Grieser, Tatum & Roane, 2013; Archbold, Goodwin, Levine, Perfect & Quan, 2014; Friedrich, Schlarb, 2017; Hayley, Sivertsen, Hysing, Vedaa, & Overland, 2017).

The majority of the studies found that lack of sleep due to a sleep disorder and poor sleep quality can contribute to poor performance (low GPA) (Gaultney, 2010; Hayley et al, 2013). Tavernier and Willoughby (2014) conducted a longitudinal study to examine bidirectional associations between sleep (quality and duration) and three indices of psychosocial functioning (intrapersonal adjustment, friendship quality, and academic achievement); the same participants were used for three years. In terms of academic achievement, the results showed that some students who suffer from lack of sleep are high achievers (higher GPA), this finding was also similar in another study (Taylor et al., 2013).

Studies also found other contributing factors to poor academic performances. One factor was poor sleep hygiene and interpersonal adjustment relationship with poor sleep quality. Brown, Buboltz & Soper (2006) found that students are less relaxed as the academic semester progresses. 70% of students in the control group reported poor sleep quality at the beginning of the term, and 82% reported poor sleep quality 8 weeks into the term. This shows that without interventions, sleep quality deteriorates as the term progressed. 84% of the students who met the criteria for poor sleep quality in the original sample also met the criteria for some form of diagnosable primary sleep disorder. Similar to the findings (over 500 students out of 1,845, 27% were at risk for at least one sleep disorder) found in another study, conducted by Gaultney (2010).

Tavernier et al. (2014) found that better intrapersonal adjustment predicted better sleep quality over time. A study conducted by Parker, Summerfeldt, Hogan, & Majeski (2004) found that emotional and social capabilities are important factors for successful transitions from high school to university. Their findings show important links between adaptability and stress management skills, interpersonal abilities and academic success. Adaptability tests a student’s ability to find suitable ways to deal with everyday problems. These findings suggest that in addition to the direct effect between academic achievement and sleep quality, there also might be an indirect effect between academic achievement and sleep quality through intrapersonal adjustment. After testing this hypothesis, a significant indirect effect was found. It showed that intrapersonal adjustment may be an important mechanism linking academic achievement to sleep quality. Results from reports in a study, conducted by Sasai, Inoue, Komada, Nomurac, Matsuura and Matsushima (2010), found that sleep loss deteriorates physical function such as postural sway, blood pressure elevation, glucose intolerance, and immunological dysfunction. In regards to mental function, insomnia has been identified as a risk factor for developing depression or anxiety disorder. Furthermore, insomniacs undergo psychomotor performance degradation, including impairment of both cognitive function and short-term memory.

Among all the different types of psychological treatment for sleep disorders and poor sleep quality, it was found that the most effective types for university students are psychological and behavioral therapy (Friedrich et al., 2017; Alexandru, Robert, Viorel &Vasil, 2009; Sánchez-Ortuño & Edinger, 2010; Taylor et al., 2013 & Brown et al., 2006).

Another form of treatment for sleep disorders is medication (pills). There are several medications that can be prescribed to people with a sleep disorder. The process begins with prescribing medication to the patient with a specific dosage during a trial period, the dosage can be manipulated (up the dosage or reduce it) to see what works. If the medication overall doesn’t work, a different one will be prescribed, and the process is repeated until a combination of medication and dosage works. Sasai et al. (2010) findings implied that the frequency of sleep medication use adversely affects both physical and mental quality of life with adverse effects on physical function (e.g., myorelaxant effects, amnesia, or next-day hangover effects) regardless of the improvement of insomnia symptoms.

In the research mentioned above, it was found that adequate sleep is related to academic success and overall quality of life as a university student. There are several studies on the treatment of sleep disorders, but there are not many studies on how the side effects of medication prescribed as a treatment of that disorder affect university students and their academic performance. One reason may be the fact that sleep disorders among university students are rarely diagnosed (Friedrich et al., 2017; Gaultney, 2010). Gilbert and Weaver (2010) found that college psychologists assess the sleep habits of a student only if depression is reported by the student or suspected. Many psychologists neglect to ask about sleep habits, even if academic functioning is part of the student’s presenting problem; most studies on sleep disorder treatment effects are conducted on adolescence and elementary students.

Sleep at university is especially important this is the period of life between childhood and adulthood marked by massive biological and social changes because it is such an important stage of development. Knowing this, universities should have an open dialogue about this problem. Talking about this problem can become a starting point for addressing more sensitive issues of physical and mental health while finding effective solutions. Sleep relates to many aspects of student’s health and performance, creating interventions that are targeted at improving sleep will also improve overall health and academic success.

Abstract

The number of people listening to music has increased over time which brings about the purpose of this study. The aim is to find out the relationship between background music and its effect on the student’s academic performance. Two research questions were constructed to help in carrying out this research: 1) Does background music affect academic performance? and; 2) How does background music affect academic performance? 40 respondents from Sunway College took part in the research and they were required to complete a survey form regarding this research. The results concluded that background music had positively affected the student’s academic performance. Moreover, listening to background music while studying creates a positive atmosphere which motivates the students to perform better.

Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

Music is a form of art that includes basic elements such as pitch (melody or harmony), rhythm, and also dynamics (loudness or softness). Music is also performed using various instruments or vocal techniques. The word ‘music’ is derived from the Greek ‘mouse’ which has the meaning of ‘art of the muses.’The ancient Greek and Indian philosophers have defined music as tones in which the melodies are ordered horizontally while the harmonies are arranged vertically.

In most cultures, music has already become a vital part of people’s lives as music plays an important role in society. Background music is often played in a low volume as it is not the aim of the music to capture the audience’s attention. Background music is commonly used in various ways such as in films, video games, or even short videos.

There are countless ways to access music for instance YouTube, Spotify, CDs, or even FM radios. Listening to music while doing homework is preferred nowadays. However, many trust that listening to music is a distraction for students. This research pays more attention to playing classical music as background music. It is because classical music is said to have both calming and soothing effects. Due to these effects, it is proven that classical music can help students absorb and concentrate better while they are studying.

More researches are needed to help people understand further the effects of background music on the student’s academic performance. Therefore, this research has the main intention of figuring out the relationship between background music and how it affects the student’s academic performance.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Music has become more popular in society, mainly among college students as they prefer to listen to music while doing their assignments or even when they are reading. However, a minority of them feel that listening to music is a distraction. Without being affected by the minority, there are still people who believe that classical music helps them to feel relaxed and calm. Hence, this research introduced a hypothesis that assumes that background music has a positive effect on academic performance.

1.3 Purpose of Study

Due to the problem stated above, this research aims to find out the relationship between background music and how it affects the student’s academic performance.

1.4. Research Questions

1. Does background music affect academic performance?
2. How does background music affect academic performance?

Literature Review

Music has become an essential part of many people’s lives. We hear music everywhere we go such as the malls, restaurants, or even in the car. Music is very popular, especially among college students. Besides, more and more portals are created which allows the public to access music at the tip of their finger. For example, Spotify, YouTube, and radio stations. This has become a factor leading students to form a habit and listening to music while doing something else. Hence, it is crucial for the students and also their parents to acknowledge the effects of music on the student’s concentration which is connected with the student’s academic performance.

2.1 Classical Music

One of the most well-known appeals, also known as the Mozart effect is the idea that when students listen to classical music, it can help to increase the students’ cognitive performance. However, other researchers disagree and claim that classical music has no relationship with cognitive performance (Avila, Furnham, & McClelland, 2011). Besides, Huang and Shih (2011) observe that music acts as a distraction if a person strongly likes or dislikes it.

Background music can be defined as music that is meant to be heard but has no intention of distracting one’s attention. Classical music is to be selected as the background music in this research. This is because classical music can help to soothe one’s mood which can indirectly help students to concentrate better on their studies. Previous studies by Thompson, Schellenberg, and Letnic (2011) reveal that only soft fast music brings positive influence while loud fast music causes distraction including soft slow or even loud slow music.

2.2 Mood and Emotion

Music has different elements which are loudness, pitch, rhythm, and tempo. Music with a slow tempo is said to affect one’s emotions and make them feel sad. On the other hand, music with a fast tempo tends to make an individual feel happy or angry. People usually like to listen to music that corresponds to their current mood (Wilhelm et al., 2013). For instance, they tend to listen to sad-sounding music when they feel sad or depressed. The volume level of the music is also a factor that may affect one’s mood (Staum & Brotons, 2000). The results show that most people prefer to listen to classical music but males prefer to listen to loud music. Jordan-Mena (2007) proves in his research that when a person listens to classical music, the positive mood of the person increases while the negative mood of the person increases when listening to heavy metal music. Despite the results, the experiment was only conducted for four minutes. Music also tends to lead people to purchase more expensive products. In a study, a club playing classical music compared to pop music causes people to buy more expensive wine (North, Hargreaves & McKendrick, 1997).

2.3 Memory

Memory as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information. Memory has several structures such as sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory, and also the working memory. Each structure is unique in its way as it provides different stages in the memory process. Previous research on working memory focused more on short-term memory (STM) as being responsible for immediate recall as it holds information for a short period (Baddeley, Eysenck & Anderson, 2009).

Majority of the people tend to forget the information stored in STM. On the other hand, only a minority of people manage to access long-term memory (LTM). Despite the studies carried out to study working memory, each individual differs from one another. Different individuals have different recall abilities as some can recall faster and more accurately than others. The recall ability may also differ according to gender.

A study by Lawton and Hatcher (2005) investigates gender differences as regards visuospatial short-term memory. Two pictures were shown separately to the participants and they had to identify again after the two pictures were merged. It was found that the male participants were better, faster, and more accurate than the female participants in identifying the picture.

Most of the researchers only pay attention to the recall ability of words, images, and letters. This causes them to take no notice of the research that deals with numbers or digits. Therefore, Jameson (2013) investigated to find out the recall ability of words and digits. Even so, some of the results supported the hypothesis while others did not. The author concluded by stating that music did not affect on the recall of digits. Even so, music did have a negative influence on the recall of words.

2.4 Concentration

Sigman (2005) researched to study the relationship between background music and the concentration level of high school students while they were given a task that had to be completed in class. Based on Oxford Dictionaries, concentration is the act of power when all one’s attention is focused on someone or something. The author highlighted certain limitations such as distractibility which was caused by listening difficulties and also psychological responses to music.

The research was conducted at the Washington Country Career Center in Marietta, Ohio. Junior and senior students were chosen and divided into two groups. They were assigned to complete tasks involving multiple choices, short answers, and essay questions. For the first 15 minutes, they worked in silence and a pre-test survey was distributed to the students. Later, the students continue completing their assignment but this time with Mozart music playing in the background. The music was stopped 15 minutes later and the students had to fill in the post-test survey. The same procedures were carried out with the other group with the difference that Mozart’s music was not played in the classroom.

The researcher discovered that even though background music was played, it did not affect the concentration levels of the students. She has also pointed out some considerations that may influence the significance of the data. For instance, the personal preference of the students may be a factor as not all the students like classical music. Pop music may appeal more to most of the students compared to classical music.

Methodology

3.1 Participants

The targeted participants were students who were currently studying in the Pre-University Program at Sunway College. The participants consist of both males and females. A total of 40 students participated in the survey. The participants were selected if they met the characteristics needed to conduct this research. The requirements were the participants need to be between the age range of 17 and 19. Besides, another requirement that the participants need to meet is that they listen to music.

3.2 Materials

To conduct this research, survey forms were used. The survey forms were created using Google Forms as it is convenient and easy to use. Additional questions were added to help guide the participants in satisfying the research’s objective. For example: How often do the students listen to music? Do they listen to lyrical or non-lyrical music? How does listening to music while studying affect them?

3.3 Procedure

A survey form was prepared and given out to the participants to fill in. The survey was aimed at collecting data that is needed to identify the relationship between background music and student’s academic performance. The results will be collected once they have completed the survey. The results collected were subsequently tabulated. Next, the data is filled in and organized as this can save time when it comes to analyzing the data. Once the organization of data is done, the data will be analyzed to see if the hypothesis of the research can be accepted.

Findings and Discussion

The hypothesis of this research is to study whether there is a connection between background music and its effects on the academic performance of the students. 40 respondents were asked to fill in a survey to help conduct and answer the research questions, which are:

1. Does background music affect academic performance?
2. How does background music affect academic performance?

Based on the diagram, the majority of the respondents feel that classical music does not distract them when they are studying. However, another 14 of the total 40 students agree with the statement that which music distracts them. They find it hard to focus on their studies in the presence of music.

Previous literature discovered that there was no significant relationship between the presence of background music and the student’s concentration level (Sigman, 2005). The researcher claimed that there were external factors that caused the results to alter as there are many genres of music such as pop music, electronic music, or even rock music.

This research believes that the results are different because every individual has their likes and dislikes. It might be a coincidence that the respondents of this research prefer classical music to other genres. Sometimes the students would have no choice but to study in a cafe or other places that may have a noisy environment. Therefore, they may choose to listen to music as it helps to keep them out of the noisy background and be more focused on their studies.

In the survey, one of the questions asked the respondents if they felt that listening to classical music influences them positively. Provided with a Likert scale, the respondents have to give a rating between “1” and “5”. “1” represents strongly disagree while “5” represents strongly agree. A total of 17 respondents gave a rating of “4” and this indirectly means that they do agree with the statement.

This result has a similarity with research done by Jordan-Mena (2007). He claims and provides evidence that when classical music is played, a person feels more positive compared to when heavy metal music is played. Based on this research’s opinion, classical music can soothe and in the meantime increase the positive mood of a person. Due to this ability, an individual tends to feel more relaxed which can indirectly motivate them to study and perform better.

A Likert scale was provided again for the respondents to rate the effects of listening to non-lyrical music on their memory performance. The graph clearly shows a total of 13 students felt neutral about the statement given. It was followed by 12 students who rated “5” (strongly agree) that listening to music helps them in memorizing better.

An experiment by Baddeley, Eysenck, and Anderson (2009) was carried out to study the working memory of a human. The experiment presumed that each individual is different from each other. Some could recall faster while some find a hard time to do so.

That past literature can help in supporting this current research as there is only a difference of one person between the respondents who gave a rating of “3” and “5”. The author of this research personally agrees with the past literature that the ability to memorize and recall differs from one another which may be caused by several external factors.

As calculated, the r value equals 0.18. This result shows that there is a positive significant relationship between the respondent’s cGPA and the hours they spent listening to classical music while studying. It means that the longer they listen to music while doing their studies, the higher their cGPA.

According to the research mentioned previously, the relationship between the presence of background music while the students are studying can differ according to each individual. Some of the respondents may have a strong ability to cope with their studies even without listening to music. On the other hand, some are weaker at the same time finding it hard to catch up. As mentioned before, the fondness of each individual towards music is also different.

Conclusion

The first research question was “Does background music affect academic performance?” The results have clearly shown a connection between these two and it leads to a conclusion that background music helps to improve the students’ academic performance. As for the second question, “How does background music affect academic performance?”, this research also revealed that most of the students can accept the presence of music and they feel positive and relaxed when they are studying. There is also a group of students who are neutral with the statement that music helps them to memorize better. Yet, there is also a minority of them who opposed the statement. As a whole, students listen to music based on their liking which helps them in their academic performance and at the same time provides a relaxing study environment.

Despite the results, the existence of some external factors may lead to a difference in the outcome. One of the factors is the group of respondents is only limited to college students. This causes a restriction for the calculations to be only for the age group between 17 and 19. Comparing this with the previous literature, there will be a contrast between the findings as the previous literature was mostly carried out with different age groups.

Furthermore, the survey created was sent out online. As for the multiple choice answer, there are limited answers for the respondents to choose. This sets a limit for the respondents as they cannot express their own opinions or feelings. There might also be a chance that the respondents filled up the survey without taking it seriously or considering the consequences of their actions. Thus, this indirectly causes the judgment to be untrustworthy.

This research can be further improved by enlarging the sample space of the research. A wider age limit should be taken into consideration which can include high school students and also university students as they are also under the category of people who often listen to music while revising. Apart from that, the survey questions can be modified for the respondents to discuss or exchange their point of view which can help in future studies.

This research can benefit society by allowing more people to understand better that even though the preference of each individual is unalike, a positive relationship still somehow exists between the two, which is background music and its effects on students’ academic performance. Therefore, academic institutions can encourage the lecturers to play music when work is distributed to the students to motivate them which enables them to perform better.

Reference

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Junk food is well known as a convenient way to get meals. It is well known that students are the group that contribute mostly to the revenue of fast-food restaurants. Students who live away from home and have a bad habit of life usually consume fast food. Moreover, university students eat this kind of food every day or every meal, but they do not care what consequences the junk food brings to them. In the long run in eating these foods, there will be some specific symptoms of their health, especially in the brain’s performance. This essay will demonstrate the problem that university students meet and solutions for each problem.

Recently, the awareness of choosing food get worse in adolescence and their lifestyle can also contribute to this problem. They always are looking for junk food or insecure food for their meals. Junk food is unhealthy food, which could contain high calories but there is no nutrient. When students go to university, they will get independent from their parents. That may lead to change student’s lifestyle. Students could be busy with their time table, that reason why they tend to eat more junk food. When students consume tremendous quantities of these foods, their bodies could absorb much calories and fats without nutrition. Burkhalter and Hillman (2011) argue that nutrition is crucial to improve and maintain the health of the brain. Further, they also highlight that student’s brain receives the blocks which are called ‘the prober building blocks’ from nutrient food can enhance academic performance. Therefore, if university students consume junk food or insecure food in the long run, they will get worse in their academic performance because of lacking of nutrition for their brain. In another article, Cabrera et al. (2018) point out that students have a better quality of food, they are likely to get the better results. As the results of articles, they always emphasize habits, which people have to get used to living a good lifestyle. Educating about lifestyle for university students is very important because it not only makes their health better but student’s performance also get improved.

The good behavior life style in this context is to have high quality of meals. Every meal contains particular benefit to our body. Therefore, no meal skipping is the first step to have a good routine. Breakfast is necessary for our body; these meals provide energies and vitamins in the morning. Adolphus et al. (2013) cite in their article that “Iron, B vitamins (folate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12) and Vitamin D are approximately 20–60% higher in children who regularly eat breakfast compared with breakfast skippers” (Gibson, 2003). Also in this article, they also emphasize that the children student enjoys their breakfast every morning, they are able to get better academic performance compared with no breakfast regularly. Moreover, Adolescences need nutrition from healthy foods for each meal, such as vegetables, fruits, milk. Polidori et al. (2009) state that “Healthy subjects of any age with a high daily intake of fruits and vegetables have higher antioxidant levels, lower levels of biomarkers of oxidative stress, and better cognitive performance than healthy subjects of any age consuming low amounts of fruits and vegetables”. We can say the healthy foods that assist our quality of life by cognitive improving. For university students, the cognitive performance is very important to critical thinking that is able to enhance their academic performance. To have a higher quality of meals, students need to perceive their time, which is a big problem for university students.

Time management is a considerable problem, which could decide how many times students have time for cooking or choosing foods. Time allocation is necessary to have the ability of managing time, but many students are not doing well this skill. Most university students are always rushing their tasks because of a lack of time managing skills. They allocate most of the times to do their bad habits rather than cooking or choosing healthy foods. Pelletier and Laska (2012) state that healthy eating and well time allocation of matures could be enhanced by time administration skills. Students who have well-allocated schedules will be sufficient time for healthy meals or choosing healthy food. These students perceive the importance of time and they also have responsibility for their health and academic results. Because they are highly perceived of health and university performance, therefore, these students try their best to discover the reasonable ways to be sufficient time for cooking and studying. Moreover, their brain could receive nutrition from healthy foods, which will assist the brain work more efficiently. That is not surprised that the higher perceived time in students can achieve high results in their academic terms. In this problem, instilling student how to use their time that is very necessary.

To balance university student’s time, they need to create their time table. This time table will assist students who do not use time effectively follow and control what they are doing and will do. Nasrullah and Khan (2015) point out that the behaviors of setting out schedule is crucial for using time effectively. Keeping time log, establishing short-term and long-term targets, arranging tasks orderly, setting out the daily schedule and streamlining workspace that does not make people busy. Because every task that is organized with the reasonable time for executing. Therefore, the time table helps university students to have enough time for daily activities. Academic students who spend most of the time at university should have cooking time for breakfast and lunch in their to-do list in the morning. Because cooking does not take time too much. In the short-range goal, university students need to spend time buying healthy food at the weekend. Since they have much leisure time at the weekend, instead of spending a lot of time playing video games or going out with their friends, they can go shopping for healthy food. To save time for the following week, they can also prepare food at the weekend.

In conclusion, consuming junk food or unhealthy food affect negatively to university student’s performance. The bad habit life style and lack of time managing skills are the main reasons lead academic student consume more junk food or unhealthy food. In order to improve the quality of food intake, university students need to change their habits, such as no skipping meals, choosing healthy food for their meals like vegetables, fruit, and milk. To have time for preparing healthy food, academic students have to plan their daily life as well as set their goals. To make sure that every task is working well.

References

1. Adolphus, K., Lawton, C. L. and Dye, L. (2013) ‘The Effects of Breakfast on Behavior and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescents’, Frontiers In Human Neuroscience, 7, p. 425. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00425.
2. Toni M., B. and Charles H., H. (2011) ‘A Narrative Review of Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity to Cognition and Scholastic Performance across the Human Lifespan’, Advances in Nutrition, (2), p. 201S. doi: 10.3945/an.111.000331.
3. Cabrera, J. C., Rodriguez, M. C., Karl, S. R., & Chavez, C. (2018). In What Ways Do Health Behaviors Impact Academic Performance, Educational Aspirations, and Commitment to Learning?.
4. Nasrullah_PhD, S., & Khan_PhD, M. S. (2015). The Impact of Time Management on the Students’ Academic Achievements.
5. Pelletier, J. E. and Laska, M. N. (2012) ‘Balancing Healthy Meals and Busy Lives: Associations between Work, School, and Family Responsibilities and Perceived Time Constraints among Young Adults’, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 44(6), pp. 481–489. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2012.04.001.
6. Polidori MC et al. (2009) ‘High Fruit and Vegetable Intake Is Positively Correlated with Antioxidant Status and Cognitive Performance in Healthy Subjects’, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 17(4), pp. 921–927. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2009-1114.