The Effects of Classroom Design on Student Performance

Introduction

This paper examines the effect of classroom design, which I define as “the tangible architecture of the building and its amenities” on both the psychological and physical wellbeing of the students who inhabit it. To address the issue with more specific terminology, I will examine how the physical classroom affects the classroom environment, which Dorman (2006, p.2) defines as “the atmosphere, ambience, tone, or climate that pervades classroom settings”, in addition to how classroom design can act as either a catalyst or an inhibitor to student mood, attention, cognitive well being as well as foreign language anxiety.  In addition to the effect school design has on students, we must also consider its effect on the teachers who work there as well.  In a report on the physical conditions in schools in Chicago and Washington DC, Schneider (Schneider, 2003) found that inadequate and unhealthy school buildings negatively impact student and teacher wellbeing, in addition they also play a part in the worrying trend in contemporary times of high teacher turnover rates. This paper will explore several domains of classroom design in order to analyze the intersection between the physical environment and psychological wellbeing in the language classroom. I believe that with a degree of creativity and through theoretical analysis, the findings from other subject areas can be dissected from their original context and applied to the language classroom. 

Lighting

One of the most significant factors affecting the ability of a classroom's design to positively affect student learning is sunlight.  In addition to the effect it has on the maintenance of the circadian rhythm (Heschong et al., 2004), classroom exposure to sunlight has been established in the literature to have a significant effect on student performance. When classes with adequate sunlight exposure were compared to ones which lacked it in the same district, Heschong (Heschong et a.,l 2004) found that the sunlit classes saw an improvement in test scores of 21% throughout the course of one academic year. This aligns with the results found by Barret (Barret et al., 2015) in that natural light had a significant impact on reading vocabulary and science scores. It is also important to acknowledge the mental and emotional effects light has on students. As noted above, natural light can have a powerful positive affect on student performance, but as Bellia (Bellia et al., 2015) showed in their study on light in an educational environment, type of light is not  “merely aesthetic, but has important implications on users’ wellbeing”(P.15), as it can either positively or negatively affect mood, attention, and academic performance.  As language teachers, we stand to benefit from a physical environment that fosters these traits.

While sunlight seems to have an established positive benefit on student performance across a wide variety of subjects, artificial lights have been shown to have detrimental effects on student wellbeing. In his survey of classrooms in the UK, Winterbottom and Wilkins (Winterbottom & Wilkins, 2008) found that the type of fluorescent light present in many classrooms exhibit signs of a 100 HZ flicker which has been well documented as causing headaches and impairing visual performance. In addition, he also noted that classrooms rarely have the ability to adjust the level of artificial light, resulting in an all or nothing lighting system which lacks flexibility.  

Air Quality

One of the results of the covid-19 was the installation of CO2 monitors in classrooms of schools. In addition to the benefits of raising awareness of air conditions, it seems that the effect CO2 plays on student classroom performance is an area worth investigating. Coley (Coley et al., 2007) investigated this relationship, and found that an increase in classroom CO2 levels had a negative impact on primary school students' ability to be attentive and concentrate, which over time could have a significant impact on their ability to learn. This negative effect is further reinforced by the work of Bakó-Biró (Bakó-Biró et al., 2012), who also found high CO2 levels have a negative effect on the ability for primary school aged students to concentrate. Relevant for language teachers is that Bakó-Biró also found that the effect was more pronounced in experimental tasks that required a higher cognitive load, including tasks involving working memory and word recognition. Working memory is commonly accepted to play a significant role in the process of learning a language (Huang & Steinkrauss., 2020). It is therefore important for language teachers to not only recognize the importance of maintaining a healthy air quality for the purpose of reducing the transmission of infectious disease, but also for maintaining an environment that is conducive to high levels of student attentiveness and concentration. Teachers can combat these negative effects by utilizing available windows or HVAC amenities if these methods don’t lead to a more detrimental effect on the school environment by dramatically altering the classroom temperature, acoustics, or lighting. The potential for indoor plant use to counteract CO2 levels will be discussed below.   

Classroom Acoustics

Classroom acoustics are affected by a variety of different factors, including the classroom shape, surroundings, and furnishings (Murgia et al., 2022). Beyond the need to hear and be heard, language teachers have the additional concern of presenting learning material which may encompass a variety of phonetic productions which are novel to non-speakers of the target language. Clearly then, classroom acoustics are a matter which warrants closer investigation.

In their meta-analysis of speech intelligibility and the acoustic features of classrooms, Murgia (Murgia et al., 2022) examined the effect of the signal to noise ratio (SNR, or the relative balance between speech and other noise) and the speech transmission index (STI, or the transmission quality of speech signals). The researchers note a strong correlation between the acoustical environment of the learning space and speech intelligibility. Predictability, the effect of excessive background noise, regardless of its source, is a detrimental influence to the level of speech intelligibility. Particularly relevant to language teachers is that Murgia and colleagues also reported a different ideal reverberation time (how long sound lingers in a particular space) threshold between different languages. As a stressed timed language, English intelligibility has been shown (Murgia et al., 2022) to be less tolerant than Chinese to the effects of longer reverberation times. Furthermore Murgia emphasizes how if this is a problem for students with normal hearing conditions, hard of hearing students must therefore be more susceptible to the negative effect of high SNR in the classroom. As language teachers, we can use this knowledge to make the acoustical environment of our classroom work harmoniously with our education goals. 

In a separate meta-analysis on the effect of classroom acoustics on both teacher and student wellbeing, Mogas-Recalde (Mogas-Recalde et al., 2021) found that in the case of teachers, poor acoustic environments in the classroom led to an increase in teacher stress, and a decrease in energy levels and a loss of motivation to continue in the profession. The meta-analysis also revealed that poor classroom acoustics are linked to an increase in instances of dysphonia. If a teacher’s voice is being damaged by a unideal acoustical setup, then we can infer that this may have a negative impact on language learners, who rely on the teacher for instruction. Their ability to receive quality input in line with Krashen’s input hypothesis of second language acquisition (Krashen, 1985) may be reduced. Most worryingly, hearing related disorders are common in the profession, with one study by Meuer and Hiller (Meuer & Hiller, 2015) finding that 30% of teachers surveyed in German schools showed symptoms of a tripartite of tinnitus, hearing loss, and hyperacusis.  While for students, poor acoustical conditions negatively impacted the reading and writing abilities, attention, motivation, as well as memory.    

Clearly, both for our own benefit as teachers as well as our students, the acoustical environment of the class is a domain which can not be ignored. So what is to be done? From my experience as an upright bassist, I am aware of the possibility of using sound dampening room panels in order to limit the effect of noise bleed to the surrounding rooms. To my immediate knowledge, no studies have been done with this technology in the language classroom. It would be an enlightening area of research to see if the acoustic panels which are present in many practice and performance spaces can bring a positive impact to the acoustical environment of a language classroom as well.

Classroom Temperature

What is the ideal temperature for learning? As noted by Cheryan’s (Cheryan et al., 2014) summary of earlier literature, ideal conditions for learning range from around a low of 20 C to a high of 23C. Outside of this range, undergraduate students performed significantly poorer on word association tasks. If temperature can impact a student’s ability to make connections between words, as language teachers we can benefit from stabilizing temperature in an ideal range. However, it is important to account for the effect of climatization on what the ideal temperature for a specific class may be. As noted in Widiastuti (Widiastuti et al., 2020), students from a variety of climates reported a large range of mutually exclusive ideal high and low temperatures for learning compared to their peers across other environments. As a result, there is no one temperature range that fits all solutions to the issue of temperature in the classroom.  Therefore, teachers should aim for informed flexibility. This is reinforced by Barret (Barret et al., 2015), where it was noted that the ability for individual classrooms to be able to control thermal settings is positively correlated with high student performance.  

Interaction and Classroom Ownership

During the course of reading the literature on this topic, I noticed a trend by which classroom design is taken to be a very top-down affair, where a triumvirate of archetices, educators, and administrators consolidate all decision making power between themselves.  A question worth asking is what potential benefits can be found in a more decentralized, bottom up style of classroom design decision making? 

Research on this issue seems to suggest a variety of potential benefits for students when they are allowed ownership over their learning environments.  Killeen (Killeen et al., 2013) found that the display of student artwork in a primary school setting led to an increase in sense of ownership over the learning space.  This in turn is a factor contributing to an increase in student autonomy, engagement, motivation, and creativity. Classroom ownership, developed by an increase of creative personalization of the classroom,  was also correlated with an increase in self-esteem in primary school students (Maxwell & Chmielewski, 2007). As language teachers, we can adapt these findings by substituting student artwork for other iterations of their work. For example, EFL textbooks often have a unit with a cooking theme. By having language learners create a recipe in that it is to be displayed on the classroom walls, the language learning community may benefit from a similar increase of a sense of classroom ownership.    

In addition to the concept of student ownership, the intersection between interactivity and interior design is another area with positive potential for language classroom implementation.  Young and Hynes (Young & Hynes, 2021) designed a study based on experimental conditions which altered the  physical arrangement of the classroom in order to facilitate the occurrence of eye contact between both teacher to student and student to student interactions. Arguing from a Vygotskeian perspective, she argues that if knowledge is to be socially constructed, then a classroom which facilitates social interaction is of fundamental importance. Results from student surveys revealed a statistically significant increase in the perception of the ease of peer to peer interaction, participation, and engagement, but also reported a large, though non statistically significant, decrease in the perception of student to instructor engagement in the class represented in figure 2 as compared to the one represented in figure 1. The authors caution those interested in fostering classroom interaction not to be too quick to disregard the unique role the instructor plays in the classroom, while also noting that appropriate levels of eye contact is a socially constructed phenomenon which requires caution when working in a multicultural environment.  As language teachers, we are likely to be working with a diverse range of students, and must be cautious when designing a classroom so that it may be equitable to learners from all backgrounds.  

A final note on interactivity comes from the experiments done on language learning in a VR environment. Harris and Sun (Harris & Sun, 2022) found that high levels of VR world interactivity, while having a positive effect on participants' perceived levels of enjoyment, did not lead to an increase in Spanish language vocabulary attainment in research participants.  While this data invalidated the hypothesis that more interactivity would always lead to more vocabulary attainment, I think it also shows that interactivity, enjoyment, and language progression are not mutually exclusive. It seems logical that a classroom with a higher perceived sense of student enjoyment would benefit in the long run from the increase in student attitude towards the target material when they perceive the classroom to be a fun place. With a degree of finesse, language teachers can design their classrooms in tangent with an appropriate curriculum in order to take advantage of these findings.  

Classroom Symbology 

How we choose to present our classroom is a process steeped in messaging and is one of the many tools teachers have at their disposal when implementing instructional design (Lackney & Jacobs, 2002). The use and misuse of classroom symbology is a matter which requires careful attention.  A powerful example of this comes from the field of computer science education. In one experimental study, Master (Master et al, 2008) found that female participants of a computer science class were more likely to further pursue studies in the field when stereotypes of the field were directly challenged via furnishings which celebrated the achievements of female computer scientists. Master argued that “interests in the classroom were driven by differences in how much girls and boys felt they belonged in that environment”.  This coincides with the findings of Schmitt (Schmitt et al, 2010), who found that non-Christian students reported a diminished sense of self-confidence and inclusion within a university when Christmas trees were displayed compared to a control group who were not exposed to Christmas trees.  

How can we as language teachers use classroom symbology to create a classroom environment which fosters language learning? As shown by Nikitina (2020), language learners already come to the classroom with stereotypes about the country in which the target language is spoken. Nikitina ( 2019) was able to show a strong correlation between positive stereotypes and student motivation to learn the language of that country. In addition to developing an inclusive environment, language teachers can benefit from an increase in student motivation by challenging common negative stereotypes among their students towards the countries, cultures, and users of the target language.    

 On Vegetation

It is near impossible to separate instructional activity from the environment where it occurs (Lackney & Jacobs, 2002). Being that our emotional systems evolved in tangent with the environment we as a species inhabited (Barret et al, 2013), it is worth examining what possible effects building a classroom that mimics a natural environment could have on a language classroom. Kuo ( 2001) examined a similar issue in a case study of Chicago public housing residents who either had or lacked access to a natural environment close to their home.  Justifying her findings through the lens of Attention Restoration Theory, her work found that residents randomly assigned to housing with access to a natural environment reported an increased ability to manage life issues compared to those who lacked access. These findings are particularly relevant to language teachers who teach in an inner city environment. 

Based on the evidence provided by Kuo, we can reasonably assume that plant life in the classroom could potentially benefit the cognitive capabilities of students. This hypothesis seems to be reinforced by a study done by Van den Berg (Van den Berg et al., 2016), where indoor plant life in the classroom was found to be associated with increased attention spans, mood, and positive classroom atmosphere in primary school children. When applied to university students, Van Den Bogerd (Van Den Bogerd et al., 2021) found plant life in study areas had these effects only on students who were predisposed to a positive response to nature. In their meta-analysis of the available literature, Bringslimark (Bringslimark et al., 2009) found that indoor plant life can provide a reduction in stress, but cautioned against broad generalizations both due to the relatively weak effects in the studies that were surveyed in addition to the importance of context in where these plants are presented. This is further backed up by Doxey (Doxey et al., 2009) who found that the presence of plants had the greatest reported effect on student evaluations in the classroom conditions that lacked windows. 

Danielski (Danielski et al., 2022) studied the effect indoor plants can have on CO2 levels in the classroom, and found that the experimental classroom which contained plant life saw a 10% reduction in CO2 levels, in addition to a reduction in perceived levels of stress and truancy,  compared to the control condition. Interesting as these findings may be, Şevik (Şevik et al., 2015) cautions us on the limitations of plants to provide an environment with clean air.  He argues that while plants do reduce CO2 concentrations in the classroom, the process of photosynthesis is dependent on environmental conditions which may or may not be adequate in each classroom. In addition, CO2 levels are able to be reduced much more efficiently with proper HVAC, but he does note that a synergetic effect is possible by combining proper HVAC amenities to a school greenhouse. In a follow up study (Cetin & Şevik., 2016 ), the evidence suggests that the larger the biomass of the plant, the greater its effect on reducing CO2, with Ficus Elastica having the most pronounced effect on reducing CO2 levels. As language teachers, we don’t always have control over the conditions of our classroom. Plant life seems to be able to provide at least some benefit to the classroom environment, as long as student allergies are accounted for.

Conclusion

From the review of the literature, we can safely conclude that the environment language learning takes place in has an effect on the wellbeing and efficacy of those working within them.  Whether the classroom design benefits or hinders learning in the language classroom is contingent on the variety of factors discussed above. It is logical to assume from the available evidence that the study, education, and implementation of effective classroom design deserves a place in any teacher training program.  

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