Hearing Imparied Learner

Supporting hearing-impaired students using ICTs

Michael Crocker, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Problem

Hard-of-hearing students demonstrate lower math, reading, and writing skills than hearing counterparts, even though their mental abilities are on par with their peers (Debevc, Stjepanovic, & Holzinger, 2014). Kiboss (2012) found Kenyan high schools students with hearing impairment scored lower in math tasks. Stoner, Easterbrooks, and Laughton (2005) reported that elementary students with hearing loss in the United States demonstrated lower writing skills and literacy outcomes. Students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing may also struggle to learn a second language (Zamfirov & Saeva, 2013). Hard-of-hearing students often demonstrate lower homework completion rates, lower overall motivation, and may receive lower standards from their teachers (Liu & Hong, 2007).

Deaf students experience particular difficulty when learning technical skills, which may be due to a lack of signs for technical terms (Andrei, Osborne, & Smith, 2013) and a lack of qualified interpreters (Marschark et al., 2005). Even with effective sign interpretation, latency in interpreter processing time may cause issues (Long, Marchetti, & Fasse, 2011). Deaf students often perceive that they receive a distorted message when a non-signing instructor’s lecture is translated by the interpreter (Long, Vignare, Rappold, & Mallory, 2007). Hard-of-hearing students may also suffer from visual input overload as they simultaneously attempt to pay attention to the instructor, interpreter, and any visual aids that may be presented (Marschark et al., 2005). Deaf students often miss out on secondary learning opportunities that are afforded to hearing peers (Parton, 2006). Opportunities to learn from classmates are often lessened due to communication difficulties with hearing students (Long et al., 2011) and teachers struggle to provide them after class learning support (Liu & Hong, 2007). Extra learning resources may not be accessible, as non-captioned video clips are often used in class (Slobodzian, 2009) and there is a widespread lack of accessible interactive materials (Parton, 2006).