ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF LEARNERS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENTS IN INCLUSIVE PRIMARY SCHOOL BASSA LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Information
It is very discouraging to review literature on academic performance of children with hearing impairment (CHI). This is because the results of several studies collected vividly explain the devastating effects the above assertion has on children with hearing impairment. The first effect according to Davis and Hardick (1986) in Ugwuanyi (2009) is that the reading levels of these children fall far below the norms for normally hearing children regardless of the age of the subject involved in the studies. The second effect according to the authors is that reading skills in these children slowly increase between ages of 8 and 14 years, there is a levelling off of achievement in the early teens though the minimal growth in reading achievement occurs beyond age of 13 and so on. This is off course, is dictated by the level of language development acquired in the early childhood.
Reading is a linguistic skill that is entirely based on several years of language experience. A normal child performs well in reading tasks as a result of his well developed language skills that were acquired through several years of auditory information with linguistic codes. Reading tasks for such a child is simple and possible because he is able to pair his visual stimuli with his previous language experience acquired through undisturbed auditory system. For a child with hearing impairment, learning to read may be possible through two possible means. That is learning speech or words and formulating signs for words, ideas and concepts contained in the text and reading at the same time. This according to Ugwuanyi and Onu (2011) makes these children’s reading very slow and it presents difficulty to the readers who have to either finger spell or sign words or sentences and articulate such words before acquiring information from the text. It is possible that before they (the readers) could get to the end of the text, they may have forgotten not only the signs but the important information contained in the text. This according to Ugwuanyi (2009) makes their comprehension rate to be very slow that result in poor achievement in schools especially language related tasks.
From the foregoing, reading can be perceived as the key to further language development and it is essential to academic success. It is generally believed that the development of good reading skills is dependent on the development of good language skills. The two skills complement each other because under optimal condition both are sequentially learned. Obviously, children with hearing impairment do not exhibit sufficient knowledge of language to insure a basis for a normal development of reading skills. These children like their normal peers are expected to learn to read without extensive experience with basic psycholinguistic skills and to use reading as a means of increasing linguistic knowledge from childhood. With the above facts in mind, it would be unwise to expect these children to be able to perform well in reading tasks like their peers.
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Statement of the Study
It is not a hear-say that auditory training help those with disabilities especially those with hearing impairment. Learning can be meaningful if an individual have his/her sense organs active. The sense that information can be acquired which include the ear, eye, nose and so on. Any individual whose hearing organ not functional as normal may likely not to perform satisfactory academical with the use of auditory training. The realist school of thought epistemology have it that an individual can know something through seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting because by touching or hearing a sound(speech) for instance, a connection is made between object and mind (Musa 2008). This assertion is in line with IDEA (2004) that auditory training is a great equalizing forces in education and meaningful inclusion of students with disabilities both in terms of access to the general curriculum and in facilitating the ability of students to demonstrate mastery of their areas of study.
The results of research work to improve the welfare of persons with hearing impairment by professionals of special education bring into life the application of knowledge gained from science for human consumption popularly refers to as technology. Technology encompasses instruments, machines and devices which people develop and use in their lives to improve products both quantity and quality. The use of technology to enable an individual to perform a particular task which his/her impairment cannot permit, bring into life what is referred to as auditory training. Auditory training is referred to as an umbrella term which deals with assistive, adoptive rehabilitative device for people with disabilities to effectively use to perform a particular task to do. There are different kind of auditory training which are use to improve life’s condition of a person with disabilities. Hence, with the coming and applying of auditory training in teaching children with hearing impairment enable them face life events especially academic performance, which is the focus of this research work. The researcher therefore appreciates the use of auditory training in educating students with hearing impairment Learners with hearing impairments in regular schools perform poor as compared to the ‘normal” learners in the same school. Again if a comparison is made between learners with hearing impairments both in regular and special schools it will show that learners in regular schools will perform poorly than those in special schools. This therefore prompt the researcher to find out factors that exist in public that negatively affects the learners with hearing impairments
1.3 The Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of auditory training in enhancing academic performance of students with hearing impairment in School for the deaf with the following objectives:
- To find the types of auditory training used by the students.
- To examine how auditory training is used in enhancing academic performance.
- To determine the extent to which students with hearing impairment can academically perform with auditory training.
- To help the use of auditory training in institutions of learning among student with hearing impairment.
1.4 Research question
- What are the types of auditory training used by the hearing impaired students?
- How are the auditory training equipment used?
- To what extent does auditory training have an effect on enhancing academic performance of students with hearing impairment?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
- There is no significant difference when auditory training are in use to extent which students with hearing impairment can perform and where there is none.
- There is no significant difference between academic performance of students taught with auditory training and those without auditory training
1.6 Significance of the Study
The study will be used to advice regular teachers and other service providers of the services required by learners with hearing impairments in Bassa Local Government. The study will help regular teacher’s attitude towards learners with hearing impairments. The planners will in future locate schools for learners with hearing impairments in conducive environments. The ministry of education will see the need of training teachers in special education and post them in most affected schools. The community will be sensitized on the causes and prevention of hearing impairments. Learners with hearing impairments. Learners with hearing impairments will be taken to regular schools near their homes.They will mix freely and lean together with the “normal” learners.
Terms like segregation, isolation will be terminologies of the past. Learners with learning impairments will feel as belonging to the community as possible. Policy makers will feel as belonging to the community as possible. Policy makers will consider learners with hearing impairments while planning.
Scope
The researcher will cover Bassa Local Government. It’s one of the eight divisions in Bauchi States in Nigeria .There are twenty schools in this division but the research will cover five public schools. Which are day and mixed. They are inclusive settings. The schools are very near to one another due to high population in the urban area. Communication and transport are up to date . This will help the researcher to carry the study with fewer difficulties. The researcher will be limited to investigate academic performance of learners with hearing impairment in inclusive setting.
1.8 Definition of Terms
Some of the terms will be.
Hearing impairment: It is inability to hear well
Hard of hearing: This is where somebody has residue hearing. The person is not fully deaf.
Inclusive education: This is an institution where all children learn together irrespective of different diversities and are attended according to their needs
Attitude: It is a positive or negative feeling towards a person.
Hearing aids: These are equipments which amplify or increase the intensity (loudness) of certain sounds.