The Effect of Noise Pollution in the Learning Process of the Students

Introduction

Noise is everywhere and this can also affects the learning outcomes of the students. Basically an ideal educational setting should be conducive but through the ongoing developments, establishments of the business, government infrastructures, and travelling numbers of vehicles, a good place for learning is gradually disappearing.

Background of the Study and Problem Statement

In the school, listening is the most important ability of the students because most of the time, the teachers use the concept of lecturing and in which the communication between the students and the teacher is emphasized (Bradley, 2005). Listening is the most basic natural ability of the students except for those who have hearing disabilities, but listening is the hardest task to do. As the main problem of the study, what are the effects of noise in the learning process of the students?

Research Objectives and Significance of the Study

The study identified the two main objectives which are somehow related to each other. First is to understand the effects of the noise pollution in the learning process of the students. And second is to identify the efforts contributed by the government or education institutions to lessen its effects. The study views its importance on the improvement of the learning outcome of the student. The study gave its deepest concern on the students’ capability to achieve their highest academic performance and because of the various barriers such as noise, their effort to understand the lecture is not sustained.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

Clearly, the scope of the study underpins the academic progress of the students. Meanwhile, the study delimits itself in other educational institutions such as informal education which includes mechanical practices because those areas of learning usually have sound involvement.

Conceptual and Theoretical Framework

Based on the past literatures, the communication is the most desirable attribute between the relationship of the teacher and the students. Therefore, the study gave fully respect on the theory of communication which enabled the people to understand each other whether through writing, signs, speeches, and listening. Most of the education institution emphasizes the conversation where the teacher is the producer of the message and the students are the receiver, and this process happens over and over and often vice-versa. Through the conversation, the communication is established and the message is received (Stahl, 2003).

Research Questions and Hypothesis

The study provided several that can help the study to achieve its objectives.

1. What are the common situations where the students were disturbed by unavoidable noise?

2. What are the strategies of the students to understand the lesson for that day?

3. What are the strategies of the teachers to help their students understand their lessons?

As a hypothesis, the study believed that the noise has great effect in the learning progress as well as learning outcomes of the students. When the there are barriers of listening, the students find it hard to concentrate and stop trying to understand the words. The impact of the noise greatly reflects in their academic performance and given attention.

Definition of Terms

· Conversation – is the structure of taking the turn that usually involves the question and response pairs.

· Message production – the way on how messages were produced and determine the personality traits and mental state of the speakers in processing and producing the message.

· Message receptor – way on how individuals interpret the meaning of the communicated message through organizing, analyzing, and judging the information.

· Sign language – the way on how hearing impaired or the deaf-mute communicate with the other people through the use of their hands or fingers.

Brief Review

Many studies suggest that noise can interfere the learning of the students based on their reading, motivation, language and speech acquisition, and memory. The strongest area were the students find the difficulty in studying is through listening and because of that there are negative effects shown by the student’s behavior towards education (FICAN, 2000). The learning activities inside the classroom are affected by different environment which only proves that noise is one of the contributing problems the learning process of the students (Bradley, 2005). There are also different consequences of noise aside from understanding such as performing the assigned tasks or may appear in the students’ future careers (Fosnaric and Planinsec, 2008).

Methodology

The applied methodology of the study is through the use of the observation where the researcher/s conducted the study in the educational institutions near the airport and near the sidewalks. In addition, the study also included the high school where there is a near construction site intended for the additional.

Conclusion

The voice of the teacher competes with the combinations of different noise outside the school that is why most of the students did not understand the relayed lesson for the day. After the discussion of the teachers, only few of the students raised their hands to summarize the lesson and most of them are seated near the teacher. This is an alarming situation and the educators are doing their efforts to satisfy the needs of the students on knowledge. They sometimes create the lesson more interesting to involve the students in the process of learning.

References:

Bradley, J., 2005. Does the Classroom Assist or Impede the Learning Process? Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. [Online] Available at: http://www.cllrnet.ca/Docs/RESOURCES/Lay_paper_02_international-modified.pdf. [Accessed 10 Feb 2010].

FICAN, 2000. FICAN Position on Research into Effects of Aircraft Noise on Classroom Learning. Federal Interagency Committee on Aviation Noise. [Online] Available at: http://www.fican.org/pdf/Effects_aircraft.pdf. [Accessed 10 Feb 2010].

Fosnaric, S., & Planinsec, J., 2008. Prediction of Work Efficiency in Early Adolescence under the Effects of Noise. Adolescence, Vol. 43, No. 169.

Stahl, G., 2003. Theories of Communication, Concepts of Communication in CSCL. [Online] Available at: http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/cscl/papers/ch17.pdf. [Accessed 10 Feb 2010].