Deaf students reading comprehension, a case study of Presbyterian College of Education

Abstract

The study set out to investigate challenges deaf students of Presbyterian College of Education encounter in reading comprehension. Twenty-eight participants made up of sixteen deaf students, seven Sign language interpreters and five English language tutors were involved. The Mixed method was used and data was gathered by interview, questionnaire and test then analyzed into mean and standard deviation whilst the interview data was presented by description. The study found that the students faced challenges in using vocabulary, using sign language to interpret the comprehension texts, accessing and utilizing incidental information and cultural background of the targeted language as well as answering the comprehension questions. The challenges stemmed from factors including deafness, communication with the larger community, the nature of academic materials available to the Deaf, language tutor factor and sign language interpreter factor. However, strategies such as accompanying texts with visuals, use of moderated texts, conscious activation of schema during lessons, vocabulary instruction could curb the deaf students’ challenges in reading comprehension. The study recommended training workshops to equip the English language tutors with deaf appropriate comprehension strategies, upgrading of Sign language interpreters’ skills, provision of resources that support visual learning and also a stronger collaboration between the language tutors and the interpreters in the planning and delivery of English language lessons.