Traditional Versus Technology-Assisted Approaches in the Process of Teaching and Learning English for Learners with Hearing Disabilities The Case of First year Middle School Students with Hearing Disabilities in Bekkaria, Tebessa

Abstract

Hearing disability is a broad term that refers to hearing deficiency of varying degrees. Almost everyone knows or has met someone who is deaf or hard of hearing but very few people understand the obstacles that deaf or hard of hearing persons face. Deaf and hard of hearing learners have the right to learn English. The present study aims to compare and test the effectiveness of both traditional and technology-assisted approaches in the process of learning/teaching English for deaf and hard of hearing students in the special school of learners with hearing impairment in Bekkaria-Tebessa. This study hypothesizes that the technology assisted approach is more effective in the teaching of English than the traditional one for deaf and hard of hearing learners. The research design conducted in this study is one group pre/posttest and the research approach applied is pre-experimental. Data were collected qualitatively and quantitatively using a classroom observation, an experiment with the first middle school students in the special school of Bekkaria and an interview with their teacher of English. The findings showed that the technology-assisted approach is more effective than the traditional approach. For the teacher, technology and its applications helped her to transfer the speech to sign language easily.