Comparative study of motor performance of students with hearing-impairment and students without hearing-impairment in the Hohoe Municipality of Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare the motor skill-related physical fitness levels of the hearing-impaired and non hearing-impaired students of Volta School for the Deaf and St. Francis Junior High School in the Hohoe municipality. A cross-sectional design was used in conducting this study. This type of design utilizes different groups of people who differ in the variable of interest, but share other characteristics such as socio-economic status, educational background, and ethnicity. The target population for the study was the students of Volta School for the Deaf and all basic school students in the Hohoe municipality. In all, hundred participants were used for the study; fifty with hearing impairment and the other fifty without hearing-impairment. Volta School for the Deaf was selected purposely for the study because it was the only school for the deaf in the region and for that matter in the Hohoe municipality while a simple random sampling technique was used to select St. Francis Junior Secondary School from among mixed schools in the municipality that had students without hearing-impairment. The University of Illinois Test Instruments designed by American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) in 1986 was used to collect data. The t test and descriptive statistics on Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software were used to analyse the results of the assessment conducted on the participants. An alpha level of 0.05 for two-tail was used. The result showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in the use of power, speed and reaction time but there were differences in coordination, agility and balance.