The Comparative Effect of Baseline Input versus Pre-Modified Input Using Instrumental Jazz Music on EFL Learners’ Reading Anxiety

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of baseline input and pre-modified input using instrumental jazz music on 50 EFL learners’ reading anxiety. Seventy Learners chosen via convenience sampling at Intermediate level were homogenized using a piloted Preliminary English Test (PET). The participants were then randomly assigned into 2 groups of baseline input and pre-modified input, each including 25 students. During baseline input the instruction of the reading tasks which were from New Headway Intermediate (Soars, 2019) were not modified and paraphrased. However, in pre-modified group the instruction of tasks were modified and paraphrased. During the treatment both groups were supposed to listen to some instrumental jazz songs which were repeated during the session. To investigate reading anxiety, The English Version of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Inventory (EFLRAI) was administrated prior to and after the treatment. Results were analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis and showing that the pre-modified group had significantly less anxiety than the baseline group, although both groups had demonstrated less reading anxiety compared to the commencement of the intervention.