Assessing Mental Workload in Dual STEM–Air Force Language Listening Practice

Abstract

Cognitive workload analysis is an important aspect of safety studies at the Spanish Air Force Academy where students must complete a dual academic curriculum based on military pilot training combined with an industrial engineering degree. Recently, a mental workload assessment (MWA) and forecasting model based on Shannon’s law from information theory (IT) has been published; it proposes a new mathematical procedure (MWA-IT) that defines a workload index that could be extrapolated to other case studies. The aim of this study was to adapt this model to the Spanish University Centre of Defence to calculate the mental workload caused by the listening practice in English as a foreign language. In addition, a contrasting methodology, the NASA task load index (NASA-TLX), was applied to validate the proposed model using the error study provided by SMAPE and MSE. The results established an expected reference baseline for MWA-IT in English listening that is between 36 and 92 at the end of the four courses, which corresponds to the students that start with the lowest English level (higher workload = 92) and the ones with the highest English level certification (lowest workload = 36); meanwhile, the NASA-TLX result was between 49.8 and 193.7 for the same circumstances. The main difference is that MWA-IT can be predicted with 41% less deviation than can NASA-TLX and does not require the completion of a questionnaire following the activities. Finally, the study also highlights the fact that that nearly 65% of the workload was caused by the first two courses, when the advanced STEM subjects were taught and the pilot learning and practice program had not yet begun. This methodology may help the teachers in charge to redesign or add new content depending on the expected workload reference.