Computers in U.S. schools use English-language software, and this may pose a difficulty for students for whom English is a second language. The keyboard layout and functions are based on the English language and alphabet, so a student used to using a computer with different characters or the same characters in different places is at a disadvantage.
Religion shapes attitudes toward technology. If a family adheres strongly to a traditional faith such as Christianity or Islam, it may limit children's unsupervised use of the Internet, for example, due to the possibility of exposure to materials that compromise the family's moral values and beliefs. Consequently, those students don't always have the same prior knowledge about how to navigate the Web or use technological tools. Parents may object to the use of the Internet in school, depending on how much supervision is in place.
Levels of wealth and poverty vary between ethnic groups in the United States, which influences what technology students have access to in the home. African-American and Hispanic students are among the groups most likely to be experiencing poverty, according to 2010 Census data. Students from more privileged backgrounds may have had the opportunity to gain computer skills in the home. Asian families are among the wealthiest demographic in the United States, for example.
A 1995 study by Irvine and York found that students from some cultures, such as Native American and Hispanic, preferred and learned best from imaginative, group-based tasks. Computer tasks, which require individual work and often technical and analytical skills, may therefore suit some cultures more than others and may even hamper students with different learning styles. A 1999 study by Liang and McQueen found that Asian students expected more direction from the teacher in a task, while computer-based tasks often encourage students to lead their own learning and work independently.