Deaf And Hard-of-hearing Students Research Articles

Predicting Reading Fluency in Chinese Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students: Contributions of Character Recognition, Expressive Vocabulary, and Syntactic Awareness.

To explore the roles of character recognition, expressive vocabulary, and syntactic awareness in deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students' reading fluency, 52 Chinese DHH students (mean age = 13.29 years) in elementary school participated in the present study. The results showed that character recognition, expressive vocabulary, and syntactic awareness significantly predicted DHH students' reading fluency after age and nonverbal reasoning ability were controlled for. Specifically, character recognition and syntactic awareness uniquely and significantly accounted for the variance in reading fluency beyond the effect of the other two predictors in children in lower grades (grades 1-3), whereas the unique effects of expressive vocabulary and syntactic awareness were significant in children in higher grades (grades 4-6). These findings suggested that these three factors are important to Chinese DHH students' reading fluency, but that their relative contributions vary across different stages in elementary school.

Augmented Reality (AR) for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) for Animation

Augmented Reality (AR) technology in education faces a significant gap, especially for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students. Research has shown the vast growing technologies for AR in many sectors; however, implementing the technologies towards education for DHH students is still lacking in Malaysia. This study aims to provide a rationale and justification for using AR technologies for DHH students for Animation. Based on the literature review, five important keys drive the research questions. For the context of this paper, the three considerable keys are AR as a teaching aid (1), the importance of Art and Design (2), and social stigma (3). These primary keys are to support and justify this research. An interview was conducted with teachers who teach DHH students to further help the three primary keys. An interview with the AR developer was also conducted for this research. The study developed an AR with Animation based on the interview and record-keeping. The results show that implementing this technology will significantly impact DHH students, especially in Art and Design. When exploring and using the AR Application, DHH students felt awkward. They were unfamiliar with the use of AR applications in their class. Nevertheless, they all enjoyed using it as it will have vast potential and possibility. As technology grows, DHH students will be one step ahead of others. It is worth mentioning the social stigma among them and how future research would continue to diminish the social stigma.

Exploring deaf students’ disaster awareness and preparedness in U.S. higher education settings: Implications for university-level DRR policy and programming

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) communities in the US are underserved during climate and human-caused disasters. While it is necessary for first responders, who are often hearing, to receive additional training, it is important to recognize that DHH individuals themselves are critical leaders in disaster preparedness and response in their communities. This paper examines DHH college students’ disaster awareness and knowledge through a cross-sectional survey protocol adapted from the Disaster Knowledge Instrument (Catedral Mamon, 2017). The survey pertains to disaster awareness, and was administered via a written English online survey platform, from October 1 to November 1, 2019, to DHH students attending a university in the Mid-Atlantic United States that is specifically designed for educating DHH students. Results consisted of 205 DHH participants with 58.5% (n = 120) identifying as white and 59.5% (n = 122) as female. Findings indicated significant differences in disaster experiences and awareness with respect to reported gender identities and racial and ethnic identities. Gender, in particular, had an extremely high correlation with disaster experiences, with 93.7% of the survey sample (n = 205) having experienced one or more disasters in their lifetime. Gender also significantly predicted knowledge about disaster preparedness and readiness, disaster awareness, and disaster risk perception. The analysis developed in this article demonstrates that while DHH college students may be aware of disaster and emergency related phenomena, students do not appear to possess an actionable foundation of knowledge to prepare for and mitigate disaster impacts. Moreover, it is not clear where students received the information they are reporting, as there is an extreme scarcity of data on disaster and emergency training for DHH serving primary, secondary, and higher education settings–including at the university where this study was conducted. Ultimately, the article identifies that a robust research program is needed to ascertain the current status of disaster education and training initiatives for DHH students. Such research is necessary for understanding the kinds of disaster preparedness activities taking place with DHH students, how effective they are, and to identify recommendations for policy and programmatic inputs. These activities could serve as a foundation for quality and equitable disability inclusive emergency planning and training of DHH community members, including those working and studying in educational institutions.

Implications of entrepreneurial education, self-efficacy and personality traits on the entrepreneurial intentions of deaf/hard of hearing students post COVID-19 lockdown.

Implications of entrepreneurial education (EE), entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and personality traits (PT) on the entrepreneurial intentions of the deaf is yet unknown in existing literature. To examine the influence of EE, ESE and PT on the entrepreneurial intentions among some 250 Deaf and Hard of hearing (DHH) students from two post-secondary institutions in Oyo state, Nigeria. A descriptive research design was adopted, while a structured paper questionnaire was used for data collection. The data generated were analysed using descriptive statistics and the inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation and hierarchical multiple regression at a 0.05 level of significance. The entrepreneurial intentions of DHH college students had a significant positive correlation with EE (r = 0.18, p < 0.05), agreeableness (r = 0.23, p < 0.05), and conscientiousness (r = 0.19, p < 0.05); but had a negative correlation with ESE, neuroticism and openness. Furthermore, personality traits and ESE were the highest predictors of entrepreneurial intention among DHH college students. Personality traits were the greatest predictor of the entrepreneurial intention of DHH college students post the COVID-19 lockdowns in Nigeria. Therefore, higher education institutions should intensify their efforts in entrepreneurial education and parents of DHH students should encourage them to seek entrepreneurial opportunities.

Emerging Ecology of a Sign Bilingualism and Co-enrollment Classroom

This study documents the views and attitudes of stakeholders of the Hong Kong’s Sign Bilingualism and Co-enrollment (SLCO) Education Programme established in 2006, to identify an emerging ecology based on the SLCO classrooms in a primary school in which deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) as well as hearing participants, teachers and students alike, collaborated to create an inclusive culture in the school environment. Qualitative data were collected using two focus group discussions, each with six DHH students and six hearing students, and individual interviews with eleven parents of DHH and hearing students and six Deaf and hearing teachers. The data generated seven themes: positive impacts of sign language (i.e. HKSL), translanguaging, differences in English and Chinese achievement, positive attitudes towards co-enrollment, increase in students’ self-confidence, friendship and equal partnership, and importance and challenges of co-planning. Analysing these themes within the framework of evaluating inclusive education along the parameters of participation, achievement, and value of person as advanced in Anderson, Boyle and Deppeler (2014), we identified six dimensions to characterise the inclusive ecology of the SLCO classroom.

Supporting pragmatic skills in deaf and hard-of-hearing students during peer-to-peer interactions

ABSTRACT This study investigated the pragmatic skills of 41 deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students, enrolled in a Deaf Facility within a mainstream primary school. Five groups of DHH students (aged 6–12 years) across Foundation to Year 6 participated in two small-group wellbeing lessons with their teachers of the deaf. Video recordings of these lessons were analysed into two types of interactions: (1) peer-to-peer, and (2) teacher-led group interactions. Peer-to-peer interactions were further analysed to explore the pragmatic skills of these students. Results showed that the highest percentage of time at all year levels was spent in group interactions led by the teacher. However, the trend across the data showed that the opportunities provided for peer-to-peer interactions increased for the students in the older year levels. The DHH students demonstrated a range of effective pragmatic skills in peer-to-peer interactions including turn-taking, contingency, and showing sensitivity to their partners during collaborative learning. However, the use and sophistication of these pragmatic skills varied according to the nature of the task set by the teachers, and the age and language abilities of the students. The findings suggest that further opportunities for spontaneous interactions between peers would support the development of pragmatic skills in DHH students. In addition, teachers would benefit from professional learning to highlight the advantages of providing opportunities for spontaneous peer-to-peer interactions to support social communication in DHH students.

Influence of perceived discrimination on problematic smartphone use among Chinese deaf and hard-of-hearing students: Serial mediating effects of sense of security and social avoidance

BackgroundReducing the rate and impact of problematic smartphone use (PSU) among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students has become a social issue. Research has suggested that perceived discrimination is associated with PSU, although the underlying mechanism of this association for DHH students is not clear. AimsThis study explored the mediating roles of sense of security and social avoidance in the association between perceived discrimination and PSU among Chinese DHH students. MethodFive hundred and seventy DHH students, selected through simple random sampling, participated in an online survey, which included measurements of perceived discrimination, sense of security, social avoidance, and PSU. The results were analyzed with SPSS 25.0 and Mplus 7.0. Results(1) Perceived discrimination, sense of security, and social avoidance were significantly associated with PSU among DHH students; (2) sense of security and social avoidance played mediating roles separately in the association between perceived discrimination and PSU; (3) sense of security and social avoidance played serial mediating roles in the relationship between perceived discrimination and PSU. ConclusionsThe findings suggest that discriminatory experiences of DHH students are related to a relatively low sense of security and high social avoidance, which may lead to PSU. The results have important implications for the prevention of and intervention for PSU among DHH students.

Word-Level Instruction for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students: An Observation Study.

Despite the fact that children's word reading and spelling skills are crucial for developing text-level comprehension and composition, little is known about what teachers do in classrooms to promote deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students' learning of word reading and spelling. This observational study examined strategies teachers of DHH students used when teaching word reading and spelling to DHH students who used spoken English. One day of language arts instruction in 23 kindergartens through second-grade classrooms was observed. Teachers' word-level instruction was coded. Results indicated that teachers spent substantially more time on word-level instruction during decoding and encoding contexts than they did during text reading and writing contexts. In addition, differences were found in teachers' use of strategies depending on the instructional contexts. Teachers utilized phonological strategies considerably more frequently than any other strategy in their word-level instruction.

Discrimination and Deaf Adolescents' Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Deaf Identity.

This study tested the influence of Deaf identity (cognitive identification and affective identification) on the association between perceived deaf discrimination and subjective well-being among Chinese adolescents who are deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH), based on the rejection-identification model. Questionnaires on perceived deaf discrimination, subjective well-being, Deaf identity, and demographic information were completed by 246 DHH students (15-23years old) from special residential schools in China. The results indicated that: (1) higher level of perceived deaf discrimination was significantly associated with lower level of subjective well-being (direct effect = -0.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [-0.37, -0.12], p < .001); (2) there was a significant indirect effect of perceived deaf discrimination on subjective well-being via cognitive identification (indirect effect = -0.07, 95% CI = [-0.12, -0.01], p < .05); and (3) positive affective identification due to increased cognitive identification with Deaf community may help counteract the negative impact of perceived deaf discrimination on subjective well-being (indirect effect = 0.06, 95% CI = [0.03, 0.10], p < .001). These findings further support the notion that the different components of group identification should be examined separately.

Relationship Between Educational Factors and Academic Achievement of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Saudi Universities: The Mediating Role of Teaching Expertise

Issues related to academic achievement of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students in higher education has led to the need of deep understanding about factors that are related to academic achievement among DHH students. However, studies related to the relationship between educational factors, teaching expertise, and academic achievement among DHH students in Saudi universities are still scarce. To fill the gap, this study aimed to examine the relationship between educational factors and the academic achievement of DHH students in Saudi universities along with the mediating effect of teaching expertise on this relationship. The simple random sampling technique was employed to identify the target participants for this study. Using a quantitative survey approach, data were collected from 298 DHH students from Saudi universities. All questionnaires were analyzed by using structural equation modelling (SEM) via AMOS. The results indicated a statistically significant relationship between educational factors, teaching expertise and the academic achievement. Results revealed a statistically significant relationship between educational factors and teaching expertise. Moreover, a mediating role was found for teaching expertise in the relationship between educational factors and the academic achievement. These findings would offer perception for policy-makers in future planning for such programs, which can positively reflect on the performance of educational institutions, thus improving the academic achievement of DHH students. The study suggests that the teaching expertise and educational factors should be employed to improve academic achievements of DHH students in Saudi universities.

Contribution of Linguistic Skills to Word Reading in DHH Students.

This study aims to examine the relative contributions of phonological awareness (PA), orthographical awareness (OA), morphological awareness (MA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) to word reading accuracy and fluency in Chinese deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Measures of PA, OA, MA, RAN, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency were administered to 133 DHH and 127 hearing students in Grades 4-6. After controlling for chronological age, hierarchical regression analysis showed that PA made an independent contribution to word reading accuracy and fluency among the DHH students. The unique effect of OA was significant on word reading accuracy in DHH students; whereas, its predictive role was played on word reading fluency in hearing students. RAN accounted for additional variance only in word reading accuracy in DHH students. MA significantly explained the variance in both reading abilities and in both groups. This suggests that for DHH students, they use nonphonological clues (MA and OA) to learn to read. To a lesser degree, however, they do rely on PA to reading words. For hearing students, they mainly rely on MA to their word reading. There are some similarities and differences in the mechanisms underlying word reading in DHH and hearing children.

Mathematics anxiety in deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing college students.

While mathematics anxiety (MA) has been widely researched in recent decades, this study addresses significant gaps: namely, research that explores the relationship between MA and self‐reported mathematics experiences; samples adults with a range of MA levels; and controls for general anxiety. Additionally, the study sampled deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students, whose diverse life and educational experiences often differ from hearing students’. We investigated whether DHH students’ experiences with mathematics (i.e., parental behaviors, school environment, and mathematics feelings) and demographic variables (i.e., hearing status, age, and gender) predict their MA, and whether these relationships differ from those in hearing students. Self‐report questionnaires were completed by 296 DHH and hearing college students. Linear regression analyses controlling for general anxiety led to the following inference: DHH students who reported more positive attitudes toward mathematics and school environments demonstrated higher MA. Also, the relationships between mathematics feelings, parental behaviors, and MA differed between DHH and hearing students. Logistic regression analyses showed no contribution of MA to students’ likelihood of pursuing STEM degrees in either DHH or between DHH and hearing groups. Overall, this work breaks new ground in the study of MA in DHH students and challenges standard views of the relationships between MA and individual experiences.

Gamification as technology enabler in SEN and DHH education.

Yearly in Mauritius, only a few Special Educational Needs (SEN) and especially Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students manage to get a passing mark in French language at elementary level. As at date, literature suggests that there is hardly any French language learning tools connected with pedagogical knowledge and technological tools suitable for those children. The rationale behind this paper is to show how gamification of French learning resources can positively affect SEN and especially DHH students’ understanding and level of achievement in the language. Research questions were posed about the difficulties faced when students of that specific group learn to read and write in French, about how the gamification of textual resources can be used to improve the students’ learning, and the impact the games have on the students. The aim of this research is to embed gamification in the teaching and learning process of French language. Advocating for both qualitative and quantitative methods, the project based itself on the pragmatic paradigm while the theoretical framework is based on action research. Using my methodological inventiveness, data was gathered using techniques such as surveys, interviews, observations and focus group discussions through the lenses of narrative inquiry. On average, most students already did quite well when subjected to their teachers’ teaching methods only and showed a slight improvement for some students when games were added as learning aid.

Unveiling teachers' beliefs on visual cognition and learning styles of deaf and hard of hearing students: A Portuguese-Swedish study.

Vision is considered a privileged sensory channel for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students to learn, and, naturally, they recognize themselves as visual learners. This assumption also seems widespread among schoolteachers, which led us to analyse the intersection between teachers’ beliefs on deaf and hard of hearing students’ academic achievement, visual skills, attentional difficulties, and the perceived importance of image display in class. An online survey was designed to analyse the beliefs of the schoolteachers about the deaf and hard of hearing students learning in educational settings from Portugal and Sweden. Participated 133 teachers, 70 Portuguese and 63 Swedish, from the preschool to the end of mandatory education (ages 3–18) with several years of experience. The content analysis and the computed SPSS statistical significance tests reveal that surveyed teachers believe that deaf and hard of hearing students have better visual skills when compared with their hearing peers yet show divergent beliefs about visual attentional processes. Within the teachers’ perceptions on learning barriers to DHH students, the distractibility and cognitive effort factors were highlighted, among communicational difficulties in class. Conclusions about the prevalence of learning misconceptions in teachers from both countries analysed, corroborate previous studies on neuromyths in education, and bring novelty to Deaf Education field. The work of translation of scientific knowledge, teacher training updating, and partnership between researchers and educators are also urgently needed in special education.

The SIWI in America and Its Enlightenment to the Writing Instruction of Chinese DHH Students

Under the current situation of language delay, deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students in China and America generally face three kinds of writing dilemmas: "do not want to write", "nothing to write" and "do not know how to write". SIWI is an approach to teaching writing to DHH students in the United States proposed by Wolbers A. Kimberly of the University of Tennessee in 2007. On the basis of cognitive process theory, sociocultural theory and second language teaching theory, SIWI has formed three instructional components (strategic instruction, interactive instruction, language instruction), as well as two instructional principles (balanced and authentic). The results of several studies with nearly 200 DHH students showed that the DHH students in the SIWI group were nearly five times better at expressing their writing in terms of both language and content than the DHH students in the control group. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of SIWI in teaching writing to DHH students. Many related studies in China have shown that the same problems that American DHH students have in their writing also appear in the compositions of Chinese DHH students. Therefore, SIWI can provide useful thinking and reference for designing the writing instructional model of DHH students in China.

A Case Study on the Effective Use of Applications in Class for Deaf and Hard-of Hearing Students

Recently, the main theme of information support for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students has been real-time speech-to-text systems based on voice recognition during lecture-style classes. In an educational setting, we focus on communication support during practical classes, rather than on information support during lectures. This paper reports on practical attempts to utilize the SwipeTalk user interface in the educational field. Specifically, we report on communication support between DHH students, and between teachers and DHH students during practical drawing classes. These classes were held both online and in the classroom. DHH students communicate in a variety of ways in these classes, including via sign language and oral com-munication using residual hearing. The practical classes using the application enabled smooth communication between deaf students who do not use spoken-language and hard-of-hearing students who cannot use sign-language. Communication activities including drawing letters, illustrations, and symbols were accepted by the DHH students and had positive impacts on their classroom learning.

Procenjivanje profesionalnih kompetencija gluvih i nagluvih osoba

When choosing a future profession, it is important for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students to be aware of the limitations that can be caused by a hearing loss. However, due to common prejudices, factors such as gender of a DHH person or the prestige level of the desired profession, can also be perceived as limiting. This paper deals with the assessment of occupational competence of DHH men and women made by DHH primary and secondary school students, in relation to the assumed occupational prestige and the required level of communication. The sample consisted of 97 DHH students of the last two grades of primary, and all grades of secondary schools for DHH students in Serbia. The adapted version of the "Evaluation of occupational competence" (EOC) scale (Sela &amp; Weisel, 1992, according to Weisel &amp; Cinamon, 2005) used in this study was further adapted for testing in Serbia. The results obtained after data analysis indicate the existence of significant differences in assessing occupational competence of DHH men and women in relation to occupational prestige and the required level of communication.

Reading and Writing Instruction for Academically At-Risk Deaf and Hard of Hearing First-Year College Students

Objective/Research Question: Students with disabilities, including deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students, are enrolling in college at rates higher than in the past with most of them pursuing an associate’s degree. For DHH students, their reading ability is a predictor of their academic achievement in college. However, more than half of DHH students enroll in remedial reading and writing college courses indicating they are not reading and writing at a college level and putting them at-risk for non-completion. In addition, remedial reading and writing courses often do not count for credit toward graduation and may hinder rather than support student progress. One way to mitigate the need for remedial coursework during college is to provide the remedial instruction in a low-stakes manner through summer bridge to college programs. The purpose of the present study was to measure the effects of remedial reading and writing instruction provided through a summer bridge program on first-year, academically at-risk DHH college students’ ( N = 20) reading and writing abilities. Methods: Using a pretest/posttest design, we implemented remedial reading and writing instruction for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week for 5 weeks. Results: Upon the completion of instruction, the student participants’ reading and writing skills improved. Conclusions/Contributions: Our findings may encourage researchers to attempt remedial instruction through summer bridge programs with other populations with disabilities or English language learners.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING STUDENTS IN MOTIVATION FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Goal of this paper was to determine differences between deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students in motivation for academic achievement and compared to hearing students. Sample was comprised of 94 students averaging 16.5 ± 1.34 years of age. Sample was divided into three groups (deaf, hard of hearing and hearing students). For examination, we used the following: Great Inventory of Achievement Motivation, measuring instrument for assessing students’ motivation for academic achievement, that is comprised of five subtests i.e. 13 areas of measurement (Suzic, 2006). For difference testing t-test was used along with analysis of variance (ANOVA). T-test determined statistically significant difference in areas of “self-efficacy “, “engagement”, “control” and “non-conformism”. Deaf and hard of hearing students displayed less motivation on these parameters than their hearing counterparts. In the area of “valuing academic achievements” DHH students together displayed, better motivation than their hearing counterparts and difference was statistically significant. With Analysis of Variance i.e. with additional Tukey test, we have determined that statistically significant difference is present only when comparing deaf and hearing students, but not when comparing hard of hearing and hearing students.

Relationship Between Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students.

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students face great challenges in becoming proficient readers. Vocabulary knowledge is consistently considered to be an important factor affecting DHH students' reading ability. However, the mechanism that underlies the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in DHH students remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the roles of word segmentation and reading fluency in the contribution of vocabulary knowledge to Chinese DHH students' reading comprehension. A battery of tasks were administered to 116 Chinese DHH students from Grades 4 to 6 (mean age = 14.66years). The results showed that vocabulary knowledge contributed to reading comprehension significantly in Chinese DHH students, and word segmentation and reading fluency played mediating roles in this relationship. Besides, the chain mediation effect of word segmentation and reading fluency was also significant. Revealing these mechanisms, which underlie the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, is helpful to tailor remediation for DHH students.