A Sociolinguistic Study of Visually Impaired Students of English in Croatia

Abstract

Vision plays an important role in learning in general, which is why many believe that visually impaired learners (VILs) cannot be successful in acquiring a foreign language. It is not uncommon that the VILs themselves feel this way, too, which is why the purpose of this research was to look into how VILs perceive themselves as students of English as an L2. The subjects of this case study were 3 partially sighted and 2 blind high school students enrolled at the Vinko Bek Centre for Education and Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired. By using the methods of participant and non-participant observation and sociolinguistic interview, this paper examines how family as a social factor in SLA, social and educational settings in which the VI students grow up and psycholinguistic factors such as aptitude, motivation, learned helplessness and coping mechanisms affect their self-perception and success. The study confirms the initial hypothesis that family members, the VILs’ social background and the environment in which they grow up affect their attitudes towards language learning and their success. It also underlines the importance of the psycholinguistic factors in the self-evaluation of the subjects and offers some implications for teachers working with VILs in mainstream schools