Challenges faced by Hearing Impaired pupils in learning: A case study of King George VI Memorial School

Abstract

Students with Hearing Impairment (HI) are experiencing challenges in most learning institutions of Zimbabwe. Most schools that enroll them in the majority of cases do not cater for their special needs. Some of their challenges are not dictated until too late as a result the hearing losses in these pupils become a hindrance to their learning process. This research article attempts to highlight the challenges faced by pupils with hearing loss and to suggest how best teachers can handle this challenge. The research will use a descriptive case study method to extract information from students with HI and discuss through focus group discussions the challenges the teachers grapple with when teaching pupils with hearing loss. We will discuss ways and solutions on how to develop effective learning strategies that teachers at King George IX Memorial can use in order to empower these pupils. Focus group discussions and Interviews of students with HI, and teachers were used to collect data. There are a number of instructional aides teachers can use when teaching deaf or hard of hearing students. A teacher can use sign, finger spelling and speech reading. Equipment, including overhead projectors, bulletin boards, computers and televisions showing captions on the screen, can also be used in teaching.

Experiences of Teachers of Deaf and Hard- of- Hearing Students’ in a Special Needs School: An Exploratory Study

“…This might explain the poor examination results among the deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the special needs high school, in Eswatini. This finding seems to be consistent with the findings of studies by (Dakwa & Musengi, 2015;Mpofu & Chimhenga, 2013) which indicate that children with hearing impairment experience communication and language problems at school as they have to learn a different language at home in addition to the non-standard sign language at school. A non-standard sign language could lead to confusion, communication and language problems.…”

Association between parental involvement and academic achievement of deaf children at Mulago school for the deaf, Kampala, Uganda

“…Poor performance in reading, spelling and arithmetic skills are common among deaf children but the associated factors are unknown in Uganda 17. Scholars elsewhere reported factors associated with poor performance as parents' socio-economic and education level, inadequacies in “learning resources and monitoring for teachers by head teachers, understaffing, high teacher turnover rate, inadequate prior preparation, large workload, absenteeism by both teachers and pupils, pupils lateness, lack of support from parents” while others attributed poor performance to “teachers who do not have both the academic and the professional teacher qualification but also teachers who are academically and professionally qualified, but work under unfavorable conditions of service and are less dedicated to work”, as well as lack of supervision and motivation 24–26…”

The Use of Multi-modal Texts in An English Classroom of Hard-of- Hearing Learners

“…This gives effect to their ability because of the lack of vocabulary from the sounds they fail to fully process. Furthermore, Oyewumi (2008) cited in (Mpofu, 2013) stated that deaf and hearing-impaired students tend to be visual learners and this leads to a problem in an environment where much essential information is delivered exclusively by word of mouth as what mostly happens in the Indonesian context. Therefore, the language characteristic including the structure of sentences of hard-ofhearing is usually different from regular students and it will be a challenge for the teacher to teach them English.…”