Teachers' Perceptions of Environmental and Instructional Barriers to Speech and Language Comprehension in Hearing-Impaired Primary Students

Abstract

Speech and language comprehension among hearing-impaired children is not only affected by hearing disability, but also by the size of the classroom, instructional choices, and the classroom environment. This study explores the perceptions of primary teachers related to these barriers that affect speech and language comprehension in hearing-impaired students. Data were collected from six primary school teachers selected through a convenient sampling technique. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Teachers were selected from two special education schools. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. According to the findings, teaching-related factors (mode of communication, rate of speech, and frequency of teacher turnover), environmental factors of a classroom (background noise, reverberation, and classroom size), and educational institutional adaptations (note-taking support, reduction in classroom size, and seating arrangement) were reported as the major barriers for the hearing-impaired students. Moreover, this study shows that the large size of the classroom and background noise are identified as the strongest barriers in the classroom, while daily note provision and individualized seating were considered the most effective addressing strategies. This study indicated that instructional and environmental factors are the central barriers to understanding the difficulties of hearing-impaired students.