A research synthesis of the effect of the classroom environment on listening, learning, and wellbeing applying the L3 Assessment Framework

The Listen to Learn for Life Assessment Framework (L³) provides a framework to systematically assess the links between the classroom environment and students’ listening, learning, and wellbeing. The three main components of the L³ are 1) Characterisation of Activity, 2) Functioning Assessment, and 3) Impact, all of which are affected by Internal Influences and External Influences. This paper provides an overview of the L³ and what we do and do not know about each of the components. This includes how the classroom environment perceptual setting is characterised during lecture, group work, and independent work, and what types of functioning assessments are available to assess listening, comprehending, and communicating, along with a critical appraisal of these assessments. It also discusses how characterised classroom activity perceptual settings affect performance on the functioning assessments and impact learning and wellbeing, for typically developing students as well as students with different internal influences such as different ages, ADHD, autism, hearing/listening difficulties, language difficulties, First Nations status, and multilingualism. Finally, it synthesises reviews on the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve the classroom listening environment such as acoustic treatment and sound-field amplification.