Psychological and Pedagogical Components of the Readiness of Children with Hearing Impairments to Learn in the Context of Updated Content of Education

Abstract

Introduction. А new model of education introduced in general education schools of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is characterized by a criterion system for assessing the student’s knowledge (involving the student, his self-esteem), stimulating the student’s activity in obtaining knowledge and communication skills. These processes can be challenging for children with hearing impairment. The issue of the psychological and pedagogical readiness of students with hearing impairments to switch to new curricula is examined in this study using the example of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Materials and Methods. Pursuant to the objectives of the study, the sample of children with hearing impairments, was formed without exclusion of children with concomitant impairments similar to the structure of this group present in overall population. In the general sample, which includes 138 children and adolescents 10–15 years old who were divided into four experimental and four control groups in accordance with their educational level, the emotional-volitional, intellectual and cognitive characteristics of deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their success in performing tasks in classic and updated programs were studied. Results.In the children with hearing impairments, visual attention, hearing and speech memory, and conceptual thinking were reduced. The volitional regulation of complex actions and visual memory corresponded to the age norm. Children with hearing impairments performed the educational tasks less well, whereby they performed the tasks of the updated programs significantly more efficiently in comparison to classical tasks. Conclusions are drawn about the effectiveness of the updated educational programs for teaching this group of children. Discussion and Conclusion. Our psychological and pedagogical study of this problem reveals that children with hearing impairments perform better at some tasks compiled in accordance with updated educational programs, indicating their effectiveness for this category of students. At the same time, a decrease in the number of cognitive processes of students in correctional schools with hearing impairments compared to their peers is also shown, namely in visual attention, auditory-speech memory, and thinking with the development of volitional processes corresponding to age. It is necessary to take into account the level of development of these processes in the formation and implementation of training programs.