Listening to a native language lowers reading comprehension more than a second language

Herber Y.

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Listening to a native language lowers reading comprehension more than a second language

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Abstract

Dual tasking is among some of the most studied topics of today. It seems that contemporary society is busier than ever. With the advancement in technology and the fast pace nature of the world, divided attention is at an all time high. One of the most classic studies of dual tasking is the effects of sound stimuli on reading comprehension. This experiment aims to examine how reading comprehension is affected by listening to one's native language versus listening to a second language while reading. Determining the most debilitating stimuli to listen to while reading, is incredibly important.

Introduction
Subjects used in the study
Materials and setting
Design of study
Procedure to conduct the experiment
Results
1. Method 1
2. Method 2
3. Method 3
4. Method 4

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[...] The responses from all of the participants were included in the data. Materials and Setting The students were seated at a desk either in the library or a small empty college classroom. They were provided with a pen, the reading passages and the comprehension test form the SAT. A Mac computer was used to play both the French and English radio. The stations used were NPR and France Culture. Design of Study The independent variable was the auditory stimuli, French and English radio. [...]

[...] In order to find out where the difference was located a series of t-tests were conducted. Method 2 The first t-test examined the difference between the average French scores and silence scores. The t statistic was found to be The critical t with 10 df was Because the t statistic is higher than the critical value the difference between the two is significant, meaning that the average French score was significantly higher. Method 3 The second t-test examined the difference between the average English scores and silence scores. [...]

[...] More specifically they indicate that there is a debilitating effect on reading comprehension from listening while reading. This experiment adds a different element. Because it has already been shown that sound stimuli interfere with the understanding of a text, this study plans to show how two different sounds compare in this effect. Previous studies have left out the effects of a secondary language and how bilingual people are affected while reading a dominant language. This study would gather participants that speak both English and French fluently. [...]

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