The problem of the study was to discover whether the selfconcepts of selected children in the primary grades could be enhanced. The purpose of the study was to determine the feasibility of using tape-recorded stories to enhance the self-concepts of selected primary grade children. A treatment of the Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale for sex differences showed no significant differences for either the experimental or control groups. Some enhancement of the self-concepts of primary grade children may be possible by means of auditory non-teacher directed activities under properly controlled conditions. Several areas should be further investigated. A regular school year study should be designed to produce results applicable to a more general population. Such a study might answer questions regarding peer influences, the relationship between self-concept and academic achievement, the tolerance of primary grade children for prolonged treatment, and teacher attitude toward conducting such activities. Studies should be conducted to determine the relative value of simultaneous visual and auditory presentations for the enhancement of self-concept.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the addition of music and sound effects to recorded stories increased the comprehension and retention of information for fourth grade students. The data were analyzed by a two-factor analysis of variance, with repeated measures for both comprehension and retention tests, for the total population. Each reading level group was analyzed separately by an analysis of variance. Of eight hypotheses tested, six showed a significant difference. The conclusions drawn from this study indicated that the addition of music and sound effects 1) Increases the listening comprehension and retention of fourth grade students; 2) Is more effective for retention for students with a high reading level; and 3) Is more effective for initial listening comprehension for students with low reading level but the effect is not significant for retention.