Attitudes Towards Use of Hypermedia in Hearing Impaired Students’ Pedagogy

This study investigated the attitudes on use of hypermedia based on constructivist learning context. Traditional methods and tools applied in classrooms are not found to be attractive or thrilling resulting to boredom, fatigue and negative attitude towards learning. New technologies such as hypermedia proved to be successful for improving the ability of deaf children in pedagogical process promoting attention, interest and attitude. While using hypermedia can be viewed as a new platform for delivery, there are still many teachers who look to hypermedia as a replacement of their current teaching methods. The objectives of the study were to; investigate students’ attitude towards the use of hypermedia and establish teachers’ attitude on use of hypermedia. The study was informed by constructivist theory emphasizes learner-centered learning. The study assumed a pragmatic research paradigm adopting mixed methods using quasi experimental approach involving Solomon four nonequivalent control group design.  The sample size consisted of 79 students and 10 teachers. Data instrument was questionnaire. Data were analyzed through inferential statistic chi- square and descriptive include; tables, mean, frequency, percentage and standard deviation. The results indicate that hypermedia impact positively; students were positive and satisfied with hypermedia because it is found to be enjoyable, motivating, interactive, promotes understanding, encourages autonomy and foster learning than traditional learning. Teachers agreed that hypermedia leads to greater understanding of abstract topics. The findings of this study may create awareness and need for integrating hypermedia in pedagogy to improve attitude, thus helping learners to focus attention that promotes teachers’ instructional technique. Keywords: Hypermedia, Attitude, Pedagogy, Hearing Impaired, Geomorpholog

İşitme Engelli Öğrencilerin Okuma-Yazma Eğitiminde Mobil Uygulama Kullanımı

Literacy is a fundamental skill to function in society. However, hearing impaired are severely disadvantaged in literacy development by lack of access to language's phonemic system. Recent developments in information and communication technologies stimulated technology integration endeavors in special education field. Hearing impaired children’s literacy instruction stands a fruitful area of technology integration. Former studies generally reported development or examination of supportive tools like visual dictionaries, sign language support, vocabulary drills or storybooks. However, few studies developed an overall approach and reported whole technology integration procedures. This study reports findings from a research which investigated the affordances of mobile devices in hearing impaired children’s literacy instruction. Two mobile applications were built from scratch and optimized through design based research. Furthermore, affordances and integration guidelines of these applications were investigated in a case study. The research was conducted in Anadolu University’s Applied Research Center for Hearing Impaired Children (İÇEM). Participants of the study are hearing impaired children studying at İÇEM in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years. Data sources of the project were observations, video recordings, audio recordings of expert panels and semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed inductively using NVivo 10 software. Results suggested significant increase in student motivation towards the technology enriched instructional environment. This paper summarizes design and optimization studies along with technology integration guidelines to hearing impaired children’s literacy classes.Okuryazarlık, toplumda işlev görebilmek için gereken temel becerilerden biridir. Ancak işitme engelli bireyler, dilin fonetik sistemine erişememeleri nedeniyle okuryazarlık gelişiminde dezavantajlı durumdadır. Bilgi ve iletişim teknolojilerindeki güncel gelişmeler, özel eğitim alanında teknoloji entegrasyonu çabalarını teşvik eder niteliktedir. Bu durum, işitme engelli çocuklara yönelik okuma-yazma eğitimi için verimli bir teknoloji entegrasyon alanı olarak öne çıkmaktadır. Alanyazındaki teknoloji entegrasyonu çalışmaları genellikle görsel sözlüklere, işaret diline, kelime egzersizlerine ya da hikâye kitaplarına yoğunlaşmaktadır. Bunun yanında, çalışmaların süreci değil, sonuçları raporladığı görülmektedir. Ancak, bütüncül bir yaklaşımla tüm teknoloji entegrasyonu sürecini betimleyen az sayıda çalışma bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışma, işitme engelli çocuklara okuma yazma öğretiminde mobil araçların uygulanabilirliğini inceleyen bir araştırma projesi kapsamında gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu bağlamda, iki uygulama sıfırdan başlanarak geliştirilmiş, tasarım tabanlı araştırma yoluyla iyileştirilmiş ve durum çalışması yoluyla sınıf ortamında kullanımları incelenmiştir. Araştırma, işitme engelli bireylere işitsel ve sözel yöntemle eğitim veren, İşitme Engelli Çocuklar Eğitim Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi’nde (İÇEM) gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmanın katılımcıları 2013-2014 ve 2014-2015 eğitim öğretim yıllarında İÇEM’de öğrenim gören ilkokul ve ortaokul kademesindeki işitme engelli öğrencilerdir. Araştırmanın her aşamasında farklı katılımcılar ile çalışılmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri gözlemler, video kayıtları, uzman panelleri, ses kayıtları ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler yoluyla toplanmıştır. Toplanan veriler tümevarım analizi yoluyla ve NVivo 10 programı kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Verilerin analizi sonucunda öğrenme ortamında teknolojiden faydalanılmasının öğrencilerin derse yönelik ilgilerini ve motivasyonlarını arttırdığı görülmüştür. Bu çalışma, geliştirilen mobil uygulamalara yönelik tasarım, iyileştirme ve entegrasyon aşamalarını özetlemekte; işitme engelli çocukların okuma yazma öğretimine ilişkin öneriler sunmaktadır

Effectiveness of a Computer-Based Program for Improving the Reading Performance of Deaf Students

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of the reading component of Ticket to Read®, a computer-based educational program, developed to improve hearing students’ fluency could improve deaf students’ fluency in order to improve comprehension. Fluency, the ability to read text accurately and automatically, forms a bridge from decoding to comprehension. This research is significant because the median reading level of deaf students who graduate high school has remained around a fourth grade level equivalent for the past thirty years, and there is a paucity of research that examines evidence-based practices to improve the reading performance of deaf students. There were 27 subjects in this study from an urban day school for the deaf. A dependent t-test was conducted using the subjects’ scores on a pretreatment and posttreatment reading assessment after nine weeks of treatment. No significant difference from pretreatment to posttreatment assessment was found, t(26) = 1.813, p \u3e .05. In addition, an exploratory analysis using treatment and control groups was conducted using a quasi-experimental design based on mean gain scores from a pretreatment and posttreatment reading assessment. Twenty-seven pairs of subjects were matched on ethnicity, gender, and grade level to determine the main effect of treatment, the interaction effect of treatment and gender, and the interaction effect of treatment and grade level. No significant difference was found for the main effect of treatment, F(1,42) = 1.989, p \u3e.05. Statistical significance was not found for the interaction between treatment and gender, F(1,50) = 1.209, p \u3e.05. Statistical significance was not found for the interaction between treatment and grade level, F(2,48) = .208, p \u3e.05. The results of this study have implications in the field of deaf education and are congruent with the findings of similar studies involving Repeated Readings to influence comprehension. Although significant tests were non-significant regarding students’ improvement on the reading assessment after the intervention, the direction and magnitude of the mean differences effect sizes for students in the treatment group support the need for further research regarding the evaluation of computer-based educational programs that can be used as effective educational strategies to improve deaf students’ reading performance

Effectiveness of a Computer-Based Syntax Program in Improving the Morphosyntax of Students Who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing

The purpose of this study was to determine if the frequent use of LanguageLinks: Syntax Assessment and Intervention (LL), produced by Laureate Learning Systems, Inc., as a supplemental classroom activity, affected morphosyntax structures (determiners, tense, and complementizers) in participants who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) and use American Sign Language (ASL). Twenty-six students from an urban day school for the Deaf participated in this study. Two hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) growth curve analyses were used to examine the influence of LL on the comprehension of morphosyntax based on two dependent variables: 1) the scores from LL’s Optimized Intervention (OI; Wilson, 2003) reports; and 2) the scores from a subset of the Comprehension of Written Grammar (CWG; Easterbrooks, 2010) test. The results of the HLM analyses revealed that time was a statistically significant indicator of progress on both dependent variables: 1) LL, t(25) = 4.510, p \u3c .001, and 2) CWG, t(25) = 4.750, p \u3c .001. Two independent variables served as predictors of where the participants started on the level-1 intercept of the growth curve: 1) Degree of Hearing Loss; and 2) Age. The results indicated that Age, t(23) = 2.182, p = .039, was a statistically significant predictor of the level-1 intercept. A second set of independent variables served as predictors of change over time on the growth curve: 1) Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation Norm-Referenced (DELV-NR; Seymour, Roeper, & de Villiers, 2005) pretest scores on the syntax and semantic subtest; and 2) the Basic Reading Inventory (BRI; Johns, 2008) scores. The results indicated that the BRI scores, t(22) = 3.522, p = .002, were statistically significant predictors of change over time on the LL program. A dependent t-test was used to examine the comprehension of morphosyntax based on the third dependent variable of the DELV-NR assessment, and revealed statistically significant results on the syntax subtest, t(25) = -2.394, p = .024. The daily use of LL affected the morphosyntax of the participants in this study and may be an evidence-based practice for students who are DHH and use ASL