An investigation of two different modalities of language used in an educational setting and the behaviour of deaf learners.

[摘要] Research conducted on the prevalence of behavioural adjustment in Deaf children andadolescents, in erstwhile countries, points towards an appreciably elevated percentage ofemotional and behavioural problems amongst this population group when compared tohearing normative groups. Studies specify that the prevalence of behaviour and emotionalproblems in Deaf children and adolescents varies from 4.8% to 50.3%. From existingresearch conducted, it is ambiguous as to why the reported prevalence rates ofmaladjustment are higher amongst Deaf children and adolescents.This pioneering study is the first of its kind to research dissimilar modalities of languageused as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in schools for Deaf learners andhow this could possibly correlate to learner behaviour in the classroom. Taking intoconsideration the reported pervasiveness of maladjustment in Deaf children andadolescents; this study uses the Teacher Report Form (TRF) to investigate the types ofbehaviour problems displayed by Deaf learners in the classroom. It further investigateswhether Deaf learners display certain types of behaviour problems when dissimilarmodalities of language are used as the language of learning and teaching.The overall findings of this study suggest that teachers who use manually coded spokenlanguage report an elevated prevalence of behaviour problems on the TRF compared toteachers who use South African Sign Language (SASL). Results further suggest that thegroup of teachers who use SASL report somatic complaints and attention problems as themost frequently encountered behaviour problems in their classrooms. In comparison thegroup of teachers who use manually coded spoken English (MCE) report social problemsand attention problems as the most frequently encountered behaviour problems in theirclassrooms. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand