Real-time speech-to-text translation in Spanish secondary classrooms: a mixed-methods study on refugee student inclusion

Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Ukrainian children enrolled in schools across Europe. In Spain, most lacked prior knowledge of Spanish. This study examines whether real-time speech-to-text translation technology (STTT) can reduce classroom language barriers. Two activities – a fable reading and a neuroscience lecture – were conducted with 12–15-year-old Spanish-speaking students (n = 23) and Ukrainian students unfamiliar with Spanish but bilingual in Ukrainian and Russian. Using PowerPoint 365, the teacher’s speech was transcribed and translated into Russian – which at the time was far more reliably supported by automatic translation tools than Ukrainian – and projected onto a shared classroom display. Although this choice was based on technical and pedagogical criteria, it later drew some resistance, reflecting the sociopolitical sensitivities surrounding language use in wartime contexts. Comprehension was assessed using content-specific questionnaires. Ukrainian students scored lower than their Spanish peers but significantly higher than a control group (n = 22; p < 0.001; Cliff’s delta indicated large effect sizes). Qualitative analysis of teacher interviews highlighted improvements in comprehension and inclusion, along with implementation challenges. Taken together, these findings indicate that STTT has the potential to support newly arrived refugee students and help address multilingual education challenges.