Assessment of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing depend on multiple learning modalities that have implications for the development and implementation of assessments. According to the Gallaudet Research Institute (1996), students who are deaf should be provided with accommodations in statewide testing situations, and the accommodations should be aligned with those that they have used for instruction. Accommodations used most often by students who are deaf or hard of hearing during testing include sign interpreted directions or sign interpreted questions, visual cues, seat location and amplification.
Although not specifically addressed in many state policies, deaf or hard of hearing students who are also English language learners may need accommodations typically provided for students with limited English proficiency as well. Depending on the individual needs of the child, these might include a bilingual dictionary or glossary, a native language interpreter, or a written translation of the test in the native language.
Students who are deaf or hard of hearing may encounter test items that they cannot answer because of the nature of their disability. For example, an item on a reading test that asks students to identify "sound alike" words is not accessible to a student who has a significant hearing impairment. Many people might agree that these students should not be assessed on skills that require access to sound, but this leads to questions about whether the entire test should be changed because items might be inappropriate for a small group of students. Alternative options, such as creating special replacement items for these students, likely would raise other issues surrounding validity and scoring. Nevertheless, consideration of challenges such as items that ask about sound or entire sets of questions that are based on poetry and rhyming suggest that universally designed assessments, those that have optimal standard assessment conditions for today's diverse population of students, are important for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The intent of this brief part is to highlight issues surrounding reading and students who are deaf or hard or hearing. It is intended to give enough of a sense of the characteristics of the students, general instructional approaches used with them, and assessment approaches and issues to generate discussion about the possible ways in which more accessible assessments can be designed for those students who proficient readers are given their hearing impairments.
Strategies for teaching deaf or partly deaf students
Deaf: "A hearing impairment which is so severe that a child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, which adversely affects educational performance." Hard of Hearing: "A hearing impairment, whether permanent of fluctuating, which adversely affects a child's educational performance but which is not included under the definition of 'deaf'." Deaf-Blind: "Simultaneous hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational problems that a child cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for deaf children or blind children." (All definitions are from IDEA.)
(
Note:
all of these strategies will work on some of the students--some
strategies will not. The degree of impairment and the background
training of the student will affect the usefulness of the various
strategies).
The Difference between the education
Deaf and Hard of hearing Learners in Kazakhstan and Foreign countries.
Teaching English to Deaf Learners is the main question in this study. But while I was collecting information about the methodology of teaching languages to Deaf Learners in order to learn how to teach a language to a deaf learner I came across a lot of problems related to this work. I tried to compare the education of Deaf Learners in our country with the foreign countries in order to get something useful for us by contacting them. And I found that the most developed country in this area is the USA, and because the English language is the most common used language among the countries around the world. So I compared these two countries taking into account the laws of both countries and the development of the education in general, and found that there are a lot of work to do yet. I think that the education of Deaf Learners in Kazakhstan should be at the same level of importance as the general education of the regular people, so that I am just trying to introduce the condition of the Deaf Education in our country through working on the Teaching English to Deaf or Hard of hearing Learners.
Unofficially there are over 90,000 deaf people in Kazakhstan. Nearly 14,000 of them are registered in the independent Kazakh Society of Deaf People. Invalids do not receive any welfare payments from the government at all. Many foreigners like Chevron Oil, Soros Foundation Kazakhstan, the Dutch Embassy sponsor them, but still it is not enough, and so they have to find work to survive.
Few invalids, whose diagnosis is deafness, work at the bazaars. Over a half of them work in factories and are controlled by the Kazakh Society of Deaf Persons. There are 17 educational and industrial institutions for the deaf, making different goods from shoes and furniture to sewing products. Such factories do not get any financial support from the government in compliance with the fifth state of Kazakh constitution. It says the government financing is not distributed to social organizations, even to the organizations for invalids.
They survive only by the sales of their products. It is necessary to pass tenders to sell their goods. "Today it is too hard to win tenders for releasing products. The reason is a big amount of companies, taking part in the tenders," Zoya Khan, secretary of Kazakh Society of Deaf People, says.
The government helps deaf persons. From 1995 the state allocated money for some equipment. In 2002 such allocations amounted to about USD 230,000. There are many privileges for the organizations of deaf people in Kazakhstan. They have advantages in the payment of the taxes on benefit and on property. They do not pay social and ground taxes and if a person's annual salary is around 197,000 tenge (USD1,300), he will be free of taxes.
Many foreigners are surprised with our deaf persons because most of them earn money for their own life. Invalids abroad are supported by the governments. The guests of our country offer help in the sale of the society's products. World standards require such help. Unfortunately, our factories do not have good equipment. In spite of this, our country's guests render financial support for deaf people. Chevron Oil sponsors hand languages translations on TV. Soros Foundation Kazakhstan helps talented invalids such as painters and sculptors. Embassies give presents to special schools and organizations on different holidays.
This work is based on the Teaching English to Deaf Learners. The most important factors are the literature, qualified teachers and schools. Unfortunately the lack of the literature for Hard of hearing learners is very popular in Kazakhstan, because the system was developed during the Soviet Union time and it remained almost in all Post Soviet countries. And all the books are still taken from Russian publishers. There are the books in Kazakhstan too, but the amount of books and the quality is poor so that not every model school for Deaf Learners has got an opportunity to get those books. The teachers are mostly those who got the education during the Soviet Union times. And there are only few universities where we can find the specialty based on the pedagogy for Deaf Learners. It is said that there should be schools for children but not the children for schools. And we can bravely say that the education system of Deaf Learners in Kazakhstan is becoming better every year but unfortunately we have to be honest, it’s been developed very slowly.
As for the USA the questions we discuss nowadays seem for them like a scary dream of the past. There is no doubt that their development of Deaf Education is far away from us but this is the chance for us to experience from them. American teachers pointed out that deaf education really begins at home. Parents are their children's first teachers, and they can instruct them well in the art of communication. Siblings also provide a great deal of educational support. In fact, it might be said that deaf children might ultimately learn more in their own family environments than in a classroom. Still, the history of deaf education in American schools is rich indeed. Certain schools became a model for teaching deaf children, offering a system of education that quickly led to the development of schools for the deaf across the nation. These schools offered not only lessons in sign language, but also job training, and even religious principles. A number of children have received a broad-based education by attending schools specifically geared toward the deaf and hard of hearing. Schools for the deaf have frequently served as a training ground for teachers. In fact, a number of deaf school alumni have pursued careers as educators and as school principals. The schools have also aided the development of deaf culture, which has blossomed into the founding of a number of organizations, publications, and works of art. Perhaps the crowning glory of the deaf education movement was the founding of the Columbia Institute for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. in 1864. This institution ultimately became Gallaudet University, the only liberal arts college for deaf students in the world. The history of deaf education in the USA actually spans a number of centuries. It was encouraged not only by deaf people, but also by hearing people who felt a tremendous kinship with the deaf, often because of family ties. All indications are that deaf education will continue to help deaf culture flourish in the decades ahead.
As we can notice that the development of the Deaf Education in the USA is on the top so that my idea is to make it easier to communicate with the Deaf people from the USA using English Language thus to achieve more in this world and to live regular life full of interesting purposes and happiness. Through learning English our Deaf community would be able to communicate with the whole world and achieve the goals they haven’t ever thought about. Nowadays the opportunities for Deaf learners are limited. The most important thing for them is their future job, and as we know the jobs like seamstresses, cookers, plumbers, drivers, etc. are the most popular and the only specialties in our country.
Picture 2. Seamstress Picture 3. Shoe repairing Picture 4. Cooker Picture 5. Carpentry
“Deaf people can do anything, except hear.” (I. King Jordan President Gallaudet University). This is the truth for Deaf Learners and I think we should seriously take it into account. Because the Deaf community has the same levels of the potential as we do and they also have to develop their abilities like all the regular people, and the communication is the most important thing for them to develop all their skills.
METHODOLOGY
Research Location
The system of education of deaf learners is the old system of the Soviet Union times. All the Post Soviet Union countries have the same system of deaf education and the literature is actually in Russian language only. All the books and materials are being published in Russia and Ukraine. There are so few books published in Kazakhstan that only some students and parents of deaf children use them but not all the schools for deaf learners.
The education of deaf children starts as the general one, when children are 6-7 years old. They go to the specialized schools for deaf children and at the age of 15 enter the regular schools and study together with the normal children. This system is called inclusive education when deaf children participate to the regular lessons with regular teachers without any sign language, because there is a lack of interpreters. This system is experimental but the problem is that it was started but nobody controls it correctly. Deaf children just go to the regular school and when they graduate from it they have the knowledge they got in the specialized schools. As an example there is a school in Karagandy which accept deaf children in the regional specialized school. They started the inclusive education of deaf children but they say that they didn’t reach the peak of the achievement in this project.
Despite all the problems occurring during the educational process of Deaf and Hard of hearing children, teachers try to do their best by expressing their knowledge in any ways using different methodologies and the literature they have in their libraries.
Data Collection
Our main study took place in the school for deaf and half deaf learners in Karagandy. In our first month of studying we were engaged in data collecting process, the next month was spent for reviewing the literature we got and then we started to put everything on a paper.
We made some observations in the school, participated to the lessons, especially related with the language; the subjects were: The development of the speaking skills, Grammar lessons, Vocabulary lessons. We conducted a few interviews with the teachers and asked interview questions to a student. Because it is a real, challenge to talk to them, as they are shy and hesitate to speak. Even if their teacher translates them, they don’t feel themselves comfortable.
In addition, we conducted a survey consisted of the questions about deaf and half-deaf children and their conditions in Kazakhstan to my students from the school we work. Results even were quite good in spite of the fact that all of them live in one environment and before didn't learn English. Actually, they exceeded our expectations as results were very much, and from other point of view for us it was easier to analyze and understand opinions better. In a word for us, it was easier to come to a conclusion quicker and with bigger confidence.
In all our questions, we have one important thing to ask, it is about teaching English language to deaf and half-deaf children. Moreover, almost all of them behaved positively to our idea even if it seemed to them like something impossible or very difficult. They were taught that impossible is really nothing when you have a great will and moral support. And as they all understand that a language is one of the important things to survive in this world they accepted the idea of learning English language by deaf and half-deaf learners. They said that people may be different in the color of their skin, came from different countries, have different mentalities, cultures and understandings, and abilities, but all of them have the same rights to live their lives in the way they want.
Nowadays there special courses of using computers by deaf and half-deaf learners, and the base of their learning is the intention to learn how to use the computer in their future jobs. They even get the certificates which can be used in choosing a profession in the future after graduating a school.
The students are one of those who have disabilities in hearing but really clever and industrious. They like studying Russian and Kazakh languages and respond positively to any activity their teachers do regarding the languages. Usually there are 6-8 students in a class. The classes are mixed; there are girls and boys studying together.
The classes we did this research with are 4th(partly deaf class), 5th(deaf class) grades with the mixed amount of students approximately at the same levels. Children come from different families so that they need an individual education. Teachers take into account every student as an individual person and pay as much as possible attention to the development of the students. The school staff tried to organize all the classes in the best way so the students can feel themselves comfortable and get the knowledge faster. The classes are full of different colorful pictures, posters and national symbols. They teach the students to respect the national symbols and be a patriot of their country, because most of deaf children have a problem in the society as they don’t feel themselves a part of it.
So, passing all the barriers and fears in front of the future life of deaf and half-deaf children teachers try to educate them in the best way and give them whatever they can give. Education of deaf children is very important so that it starts the early childhood. Teachers have to use different methods and approaches of teaching deaf and half-deaf students including many visual activities, listening activities, all the possible pictures, sound games, physical activities such as modeling, painting, dancing, etc.
According to the survey conducted among those teachers, their strong will was underlined and their eagerness to educate deaf and hard of hearing children became clear. Despite all the problems occurred during the educational process in this sphere teachers try to shoe their teaching skills at a maximum high level. It was seen from the positive energy came out of the children they taught.
Surveys were conducted at the specialized school for deaf and hard of hearing children located in Karagandy where the practical part of research was passed. They took very little time for teachers to think of their answers because all the questions were related with their general knowledge about the children they taught and their opportunities in Kazakhstan. The only question they didn’t expect was about the English language teaching to deaf and hard of hearing children. Most of the teachers were surprised by that question and gave positive answers. However, there was a teacher who thought that it was not a good idea to teach English language to deaf or hard of hearing children, because in her opinion the educational system of Kazakhstan was not ready to be responsible for their education and especially in the sphere of teaching languages. It is stated that a person who cannot hear, cannot speak, and can only do a job where it is not necessary to speak. And all the jobs deaf people entered became non-communicative, thus deaf and hard of hearing children had access only to mute jobs such as seamstresses, shoe repairers, cookers, etc.
CONCLUSION
In the process of the research, we have achieved the goal we set for us: to investigate the problems of foreign language education for Deaf and Partly Deaf learners in Kazakhstan.
Summary
There were a few goals to achieve in this study:
-to examine the background information about deaf culture
-investigate the ways of learning a foreign language by deaf and hard of hearing learners in Kazakhstan.
-discover who are deaf people in general
-refine our current understanding of deaf and hard of hearing people
-and finally understand what makes learning English language successful
According to the literature reviewed during the research, we have obtained the general information about the deaf culture and its development. Furthermore, the ways of learning a foreign language by deaf and hard of hearing learners came out of the sources and with the help of general information; we refined the understanding about deaf and hard of hearing people. Studying the ways of teaching English language in the USA and other foreign countries, we have compared the systems of education of two different countries, which are the USA and Kazakhstan.
Discussion
Participants such as teachers of deaf and hard of hearing learners and learners themselves that were interviewed and observed during the lessons are highly aware of their need for meaningful and continuous learning of English language in order to develop their communication skills to a high level. They are not of those who can stop in the middle of the process of studying and are very strong in their achieving the purposes. The only problem is that they don’t have unlimited source of getting knowledge which includes the literature, teachers staff, and places to realize the educational processes.
Learners and at the same time their parents and teachers believe into the positive results of learning English because this way is a new way of self-development in education and may become a new process of reaching the far horizons of knowledge.
It is known that the President of Kazakhstan has got the strategic plan about the disabled people in Kazakhstan and I think it will be true in the near future and the deaf society will fit all the international standards. The only thing we have to do now is to hope for the better life.
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Appendix A
Interview questions:
General Questions:
What can you tell me about the education of Deaf learners in Kazakhstan?
What kind of help do they get the government and how do you think do they help enough?
What about schools, books, teachers and their level of quality?
What do you know about the schools for deaf learners, their conditions? What schools do you know about and how would you improve them?
What do you think about including English language for deaf learners?
What kind of achievements can you imagine if you had an opportunity to learn English Language?
What are the solutions for the problems in this area? What would you change if you were the minister of education?
Interview answers:
Inteview №1
Director Amirhanova Bahyt Akkonayovna at Model School for Deaf Children in Karagandy
1. I know that there aren’t enough schools and books for deaf and half-deaf children. We need new methodology of teaching them and develop it more and more.
2. As I’m hard of hearing myself I want to help other deafand half-deaf children and I really love children.
3. I can’t answer this question.
4. The opportunities are all related with the cultural and social places, where they can spend their free time and enjoy. But they don’t have an opportunity to get higher education. 5. Yes, I know. According to the better education deaf learners can have better jobs and achieve more. It is developed in foreign countries.
6. Pay more attention from the government. Improve the conditions of lives of deaf children. And do not isolate them from the society.
7.Yes, but with the special program.
Interview №2
Vice-Principle Zhumanbayeva Elena Amanzholovna at Model School for Deaf Children in Karagandy
1. I think the inclusive education is bad for deaf children. It would be better if they would study separately, only then they would feel themselves more confident and comfortable.
2. I chose this job because I wanted to help my child. He is a partly deaf child.
3. I can’t answer this question.
4. The opportunities are related to the children.
5. I’ve read a book about the achievements of deaf children in Russia. The author is Emily Lionguard.
6. First of all, the behaviors of the people. And secondly the possibility of getting a job in a town they live.
7.Positively.
Interview №3
Vice-principle Kaliyeva Nurgul’ Rymbaykyzy
I think there is a lack of books for the schools with a special education and especially books of the 1 and 2 types for different types of levels. Children study by the books from the regular system of education, which are needed to be adapted for deaf children, or mostly they use very old books which were published many years ago during the Soviet Union times. It is not a serious education.
I think that the members of such society have the same full rights to be a part of the whole society in the world and are able to study at schools and universities, and have a potential to be useful to the society and the whole world.
The preparation of teachers and specialists for special schools is high and especially I want to underline the advantage of tendency to open the given specialties in different universities of Kazakhstan.
The education of teachers-defectologists is one of the first steps toward the social adaptation and rehabilitation of people with hearing disabilities. And consequently realizes the possibility of their education and up-bringing and future professional orientation.
I have heard some information about the education abroad, but it is all theoretical, without any practical experience. The only way I can get that information is the internet.
It is very necessary to realize opening new educational institutions for children with hearing disabilities with the qualified staff of teachers who care about the education and up-bringing of children of given category.
First of all, it is necessary to think about the education of the specialists (teachers-philologists, passed the pedagogic practicum in the special schools of the 1 and 2 category), and then to provide the institutions with the necessary didactic materials and educational books.
Interview №4
Zhumaganbetova Rymkesh Uzakbaykyzy, Kazakh Language teacher
Unfortunately I haven’t got any experience working in other schools except this one in . I can just say according to the situation of our school. Despite the lack of books and methodological books the quality of education in our school is approximately 87% out of 100%. It is realized with the help of teachers who care about the education of children with hearing disabilities and the friendly relationship of teachers and students.
After having an experience working with children with different disabilities such as blindness I decided to work with children with hearing disabilities.
I would like to have courses of increasing qualification of teachers and be paid attention to our interests too. Teachers of our city can teach a few subjects at the same school but it is very difficult for them. It would be better to have only one specialty and concentrate on it.
As I know there are a few colleges which accept children from our schools and there are many our children from Karagandy. And many of them find jobs on the factories, sewing workplaces, as cookers, hairdressers, and some of them can work as IT engineers where they have to work without talking. But I don’t think that is what they want to do. They have higher potential and can do any job.
I have searched the net and found a lot of information about deaf people abroad. Their conditions are better than ours. They have more opportunities in studying and getting jobs.
First of all, we need more new books and a program which will fit the books.
As a teacher of language I can say that the education of English language as a third language is possible, but it requires a lot of preparation.
Interview №6
Shakenova Gulsan Zhanatovna, Russian language teacher
We hope to see more developed education in our country. In most schools in Kazakhstan regular students and deaf students study together. It is called inclusive education. Their studying together doesn’t fit the principles of the books used in the classrooms and underlines very different way of teaching such kind of groups of students.
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The preparation of teachers is realized almost in all big cities of our country. But I feel the lack of information (or its inexistence) about the education of such kind of children with hearing disabilities in Kazakhstan.
The opportunities in our country are not so big. There are only few children around Kazakhstan who achieved in studying in the special colleges and graduating universities. In most cases their families played the most important role in their achievements.
I pay more attention to the education of deaf children in Russia. There is a Sign Language Teacher whose name is Leonhard; works on the integration of the students with hearing disabilities into the regular schools. It increases the quality of the socialization process in general.
I would like to change the behaviors of the society to the children with hearing disabilities.
I think that the learning English language is a necessary aspect because in parallel to the learning English language deaf children would pay more attention to the development of their native language (Russian or Kazakh); they would have an opportunity to use that language in their adulthood; and it would develop the discovering opportunities of children.