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.
Description:
A Thesis in the Department of Applied Linguistics,
Faculty of Foreign Languages Education and Communication,
submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Applied Linguistics)
in the University of Education, Winneba
MARCH, 2021
