Classroom noise and children learning through a second language: double jeopardy?
OBJECTIVE
Two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of classroom noise on attention and speech perception in native Spanish-speaking second graders learning English as their second language (L2) as compared to English-only-speaking (EO) peers.


METHODS
Study 1 measured children's on-task behavior during instructional activities with and without soundfield amplification. Study 2 measured the effects of noise (+10 dB signal-to-noise ratio) using an experimental English word recognition task.


RESULTS
Findings from Study 1 revealed no significant condition (pre/postamplification) or group differences in observations in on-task performance. Main findings from Study 2 were that word recognition performance declined significantly for both L2 and EO groups in the noise condition; however, the impact was disproportionately greater for the L2 group.


CONCLUSIONS
Children learning in their L2 appear to be at a distinct disadvantage when listening in rooms with typical noise and reverberation. Speech-language pathologists and audiologists should collaborate to inform teachers, help reduce classroom noise, increase signal levels, and improve access to spoken language for L2 learners.
Nelson
Peggy
P
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA. nelso477@umn.edu
Kohnert
Kathryn
K
Sabur
Sabina
S
Shaw
Daniel
D
D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception