INFLUENCE OF BILINGUALISM ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF HEARING IMPAIRED STUDENTS IN CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study was conducted to find out the influence of bilingualism on the academic performance of hearing impaired students in Cross River State. The study utilises the ex-post facto research design using a questionnaire titled bilingualism and academic performance of hearing impaired students (BAHIS) consisting of subscale of individual personal data and structured questions on students first language, second language and first and second language on academic performance of hearing impaired students. A pilot testing was conducted to establish the reliability of the research instrument using test retest reliability estimate. The stratified and simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the schools and the sample. Validated questionnaire was later administered on the sample size of 400. The mean (X), the standard deviation (SD) was used to answer the descriptive statistics while the independent t- test was used to analyse the stated null hypothesis. Three research questions and hypothesis were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings reveals that bilingual students learn earlier than their monolingual counterparts based on their understanding that objects and their names are not the same and that one object can have more than one name based on this findings, however, it was concluded that Bilingual students are often wrongly assessed as having hearing difficulties, because basic mistakes are made in assessment and categorizations as bilingual students learn earlier than their monolingual counterparts. Possible recommendations on handling bilingualism on the academic performance of hearing impaired students in Cross River State were offered. Key word: bilingualism, academic performance, hearing impaired, student.