Learning Modalities of Elementary Grade Students with Hearing Impairment

Abstract

The contemporary study was descriptive in nature and by method it was exploratory. It is primarily conducted to unfold diverse learning modalities of students with hearing impairment (SHI) at elementary grades level. The objectives of the study were to investigate (a) diverse learning modalities of the hearing-impaired students (b) learning modalities of hearing-impaired students from different socioeconomic status (c) learning modalities and difference in their age group (d) learning modalities and difference in their hearing loss (e) school wise difference in learning styles (f) grade-wise difference among learning modalities. For qualitative data, twelve teachers and administrators were interviewed in the first phase and in the second phase, quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire from 220 students with hearing impairment, enrolled in elementary grades in different special education schools of Lahore. Researchers collected data through convenient sampling. 220 students (male & female) were selected as a sample from seven schools of hearing-impaired children. The research tool were semi-structured interviews and a five-level Likert scale, both tools were constructed by the researchers that covered the following learning modalities, visual, aural, reading/writing & kinesthetic /tactile. For data collection from students, the researchers also took help from sign language interpreters for effective results. The researchers started this research with the vision that the results shall significantly help the academic instructors not only at the school level but also at higher education. Cronbach Alpha of the tool was .873. One Way ANOVA was used to find out the mean difference. The major finding was that visual and kinesthetic/tactile learning modalities for executing teaching and learning processes were practiced in all schools for the teaching and learning processes and socioeconomic status was not reflecting any key concern in determining the learning modalities.