WITH DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING LEARNERS: LEVELS OF
EVIDENCE. American Annals Of The Deaf, 158(5), 486-505.
In the opening paragraph of this article, one author states, “The field of deaf education currently lacks a body of evidence in support of any particular instructional practice” (Beal-Alvarez and Cannon, 2014). Evidence-based practices must be supported by a number of studies providing clear data in favor of a specific intervention or instructional strategy. It was the goal of the authors to review a body of research in order to determine whether there were enough empirical data to support an evidence-based instructional practice for deaf-ed students. The particular focus, in this case, was whether instructional technology has a positive effect on students who are deaf or hard of hearing. The results of the study showed that, indeed, there is not enough research to “officially” support the use of technology as a “best-practice” for deaf ed students – only because there lacked consistency between the studies that did exist. Some were Group Design, some were Single Case Design, the variables among the studies were not the same, etc. Nevertheless, each study showed a positive relationship between the use of technology and students’ learning outcomes. The most often used technology in the reviewed studies was multi-media presentations combining words and pictures. This instructional practice showed to increase a student’s reading comprehension, vocabulary, and language fluency. Closed captioning was also helpful in many cases, but the student had to be able to read and process at a certain speed. “Voice to text” showed positive results, as did simple word-processing programs. The general idea of the article is that technology should be included in the instructional practices with deaf students, but there simply isn’t enough quality research to support an official claim.
On my campus, we have a deaf education program. We have several students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Many of them are non-verbal by choice, and are accompanied to the library by one of the deaf ed instructors. I would like to be able to offer some type of instructional activities using technology in which the students can participate. Because several groups on campus have their own set of computers (Special Ed, GT, etc.), I cannot tell if deaf ed uses computers in the classroom; I just know that I have not checked out the computer carts to them. I think I will meet with the deaf ed coordinator on my campus to discuss the use of educational technology in her classroom so that I can assess the needs of that department.
This is an interesting area of research, and one of which I know nothing about. However, I would tend to think that technology implementations with deaf students, if implemented properly, could be very effective. I would think that anytime there is a deficiency, in this case hearing, that one could find a way to creatively use technology to fill that gap.
ReplyDeleteCarmin,
ReplyDeleteI love that this article has pushed you to want to make sure the deaf ed students on your campus are getting the technology experience that your article found to be beneficial for them. I hope you can find some way to make it have a positive effect for the deaf ed students on your campus just like your article found.
What a great article, I was a little surprised that the results of the study were not higher. Keep working on included all students on your campus, that alone will make a huge impact on their life. Great post!
ReplyDeleteKrista Ledbetter
This is a great article proving that technology is for everyone! I think it is great how encouraged you are with this group of students and wanting to make sure they are benefiting from technology as well.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your article, actually I guess there could be technology for the heard of hearing students. They are able to read so they can read and make use of technology. I wish you luck as you go finding about technologies these students can use
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting read. At my old district, we had some deaf students who used the DynaVox software to communicate. These were also students, granted, who had other disabilities as well and were 3rd grade or younger. It was pretty successful for students being able to communicate basic needs but it was certainly a challenge to teach them meaningful classroom content. That is a really difficult scenario. Good luck on getting those students more engaged with technology. I think it is a fantastic idea with a lot of potential.
ReplyDeleteThank you for selecting this article. We don't often have deaf students at my campus, but next year we will have a student tat is deaf in 8th grade. As the Social Studies Department Chair I have been trying to think of ways we can best assist this student. I had thought of closed captions, but I really didn't know what else to do. Your article along with some of the posts have given me more to think about and research. Thank you again.
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