The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement

The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ahn, Jeahyeon
Language:English
Published: Ohio University / OhioLINK 2010
Subjects:
Education
Cognitive Load
Intelligibility
Accent
Perception
Accented Voice Instruction
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1282580640
id ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ohiou1282580640
record_format oai_dc
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Education
Cognitive Load
Intelligibility
Accent
Perception
Accented Voice Instruction
spellingShingle Education
Cognitive Load
Intelligibility
Accent
Perception
Accented Voice Instruction
Ahn, Jeahyeon
The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement
author Ahn, Jeahyeon
author_facet Ahn, Jeahyeon
author_sort Ahn, Jeahyeon
title The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement
title_short The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement
title_full The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement
title_fullStr The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement
title_full_unstemmed The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement
title_sort effect of accents on cognitive load and achievement: the relationship between students' accent perception and accented voice instructions in students' achievement
publisher Ohio University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2010
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1282580640
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AT ahnjeahyeon effectofaccentsoncognitiveloadandachievementtherelationshipbetweenstudentsaccentperceptionandaccentedvoiceinstructionsinstudentsachievement
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ohiou12825806402021-08-03T05:46:45Z The Effect of Accents on Cognitive Load and Achievement: The Relationship between Students' Accent Perception and Accented Voice Instructions in Students' Achievement Ahn, Jeahyeon Education Cognitive Load Intelligibility Accent Perception Accented Voice Instruction <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate how an instructor's accent influences students' learning achievement. Furthermore, this study also explored how students' accent preference may affect their learning. Unlike native voices, accented voices were not natural to the native speakers; therefore, it required more cognitive resources for processing the information, compared to native voice, which reduces the quality of students' learning experience (Mayer, Sobko, & Mautone, 2003). However, this did not explain how students' accent preference might influence their learning achievement. In order to address this unique and challenging issue, the research needed to compare the students' accent preference to their achievement scores by determining at what level of accent the non native voice causes an increase in cognitive load. </p><p>The study was experimental research. The study had three parts; survey, instruction, and assessment. Before the experiment, participants completed a short survey about their general knowledge of statistics, familiarity with multimedia learning, and accent perceptions. During the experiment, participants were randomly assigned to view a short multimedia instruction explaining how to use the software program, SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The instructions were given in either a native voice or in one of four different accented voices (mild and heavy European accents and mild and heavy Asian accents). After listening to the instructions, participants completed a short assessment. The average completion time, including survey, instruction, and assessment, was 25 minutes. The quantitative data were analyzed by both One-way ANOVA and Two-way ANOVA. Of the 192 participants, 187 were undergraduate students and 5 were graduate students, all from Ohio University. </p><p>The research found that; (a) there was no significant difference between students' achievement scores when given native voice instruction and those with accented voice instruction; (b) students' perception toward accent did not influence their learning, in general; (c) only students who, prior to the instruction, said they disliked Asian accents and received instruction from an instructor with an Asian accent showed lower assessment performance (this was not the same for European accents); (d) there was a prior knowledge effect in both the native and European accented instructional voice groups, but not with the Asian accented instructional voice group; (e) the duration of time for completion of the study is influenced with (“lower” or “higher”) achievement scores in the European and Asian accented voice groups, but not with the native voice group; (f) according to the instructor evaluation rating report, not only were the native voice rating scores significantly higher than both the European and Asian voice ratings, but also, European voice ratings were significantly higher than Asian voice ratings. </p><p>A possible explanation for the no significant difference among different accented voice instructions is listening adaption. Unlike the previous study from Mayer and his associates, in which it took 140 seconds for the instruction, this study instruction time was 10 to 17 minutes. Furthermore, the combination of social identification and having greater experience with Asian instructors might have accounted for the difference between European and Asian accents on a student's learning. The most challenging aspect and notable limitation of this study was that the instruction was scripted rather than being recorded from a natural instructional setting; therefore, all other aspects of communication, such as grammar, vocabulary, and speaking style were excluded.</p> 2010-09-22 English text Ohio University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1282580640 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1282580640 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

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