Perceptions of diverse educators regarding ethnic-minority deaf college students, role models, and diversity

IN A QUALITATIVE STUDY, the researchers documented the perceptions of deaf and hearing ethnically diverse university faculty and staff regarding issues related to the education of ethnic-minority deaf college students. These experienced educators commented on the importance of ethnic-minority role models for deaf college students, the academic preparedness of ethnic-minority deaf students, these students' level of comfort on campus, and the success of institutional efforts to increase awareness regarding ethnic diversity. The insightful reflections of these diverse educators can be informative in improving the educational experience of ethnic-minority deaf students.     

Deaf college students' mathematical skills relative to morphological knowledge, reading level, and language proficiency

This study of deaf college students examined specific relationships between their mathematics performance and their assessed skills in reading, language, and English morphology. Simple regression analyses showed that deaf college students' language proficiency scores, reading grade level, and morphological knowledge regarding word segmentation and meaning were all significantly correlated with both the ACT Mathematics Subtest and National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) Mathematics Placement Test scores. Multiple regression analyses identified the best combination from among these potential independent predictors of students' performance on both the ACT and NTID mathematics tests. Additionally, the participating deaf students' grades in their college mathematics courses were significantly and positively associated with their reading grade level and their knowledge of morphological components of words.     

Deaf children from ethnic, linguistic and racial minority backgrounds: an overview

Deaf children from ethnic, linguistic and racial minority backgrounds demonstrate significantly depressed achievement levels relative to their White deaf peers. Educators of deaf children and youth have had a tendency to accept the erroneous proposition that deafness in some ways precludes ethnic and racial minority group membership and status. This article describes some of the unique social and educational realities faced by Black and Hispanic children and their families in the northeastern United States and the similarities experienced by deaf Black and Hispanic children and their families. Implications concerning educational assessment, placement, student expectations, curriculum development, staffing and policy making are noted as are recommendations that resulted from the first national conference on Black and Hispanic deaf youth held in March 1989. Demographic data are also presented showing the growth and distribution in the population of minority deaf children, as well as the results of a survey indicating the dearth of minority personnel, board members and specialized programs in schools.     

Patterns of spelling in young deaf and hard of hearing students

The study examined the invented spelling abilities demonstrated by kindergarten and first-grade deaf and hard of hearing students. The study included two parts: In Part 1, the researcher compared three groups (deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing) using posttesting only on the Early Reading Screening Inventory, or ERSI (Morris, 1998), and in part 2 collected and analyzed samples of the spelling of deaf students in a Total Communication program. Analysis showed that the deaf group performed significantly differently in three areas: concept of word, word recognition, and phoneme awareness ("invented spelling"; Read, 1971). The deaf group outperformed the hearing and hard of hearing groups in concept of word and word recognition. But in phoneme awareness, the deaf group performed significantly less well than the hearing group. Therefore, the deaf group's spelling was followed for 1 year. Deaf students' spelling patterns were not the same as those of hearing and hard of hearing students. Deaf students' spelling miscues were directly related to the cueing systems of lipreading, signing, and fingerspelling.     

Integrating hearing and deaf students on a college campus. Successes and barriers as perceived by hearing students

This study had two purposes: (1) to learn how hearing students in a mainstream college setting perceive deaf students as classmates, and (2) to discover how those perceptions influence the integration of deaf and hearing students on campus. Thirty full-time students at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, were interviewed using in-depth, open-ended interview strategies. It was found that even in this setting, designed expressly to integrate deaf and hearing students, full integration did not occur. Deaf students were successfully placed on the campus with hearing students for educational purposes; however, social integration did not occur.     

聋生心理健康状况的初步调查

为了探查聋生的心理健康状况,本研究采用《心理健康诊断测验》(MHT)对重庆市180名聋生进行了测量。结果发现:聋生的心理健康总体状况良好;男生的心理健康状况优于女生,城市学生的心理健康状况优于乡村学生,从五年级到高二聋生的心理健康水平呈M状发展;聋生的学习焦虑和过敏倾向较普通学生为轻,而孤独倾向较普通学生为重。     

Parental Expectations and Children's Academic Performance in Sociocultural Context

In this paper, we review research on parental expectations and their effects on student achievement within and across diverse racial and ethnic groups. Our review suggests that the level of parental expectations varies by racial/ethnic group, and that students' previous academic performance is a less influential determinant of parental expectations among racial/ethnic minority parents than among European American parents. To explain this pattern, we identify three processes associated with race/ethnicity that moderate the relation between students' previous performance and parental expectations. Our review also indicates that the relation of parental expectations to concurrent or future student achievement outcomes is weaker for racial/ethnic minority families than for European American families. We describe four mediating processes by which high parental expectations may influence children's academic trajectories and show how these processes are associated with racial/ethnic status. The article concludes with a discussion of educational implications as well as suggestions for future research.     

Guests in someone else’s house? Sense of belonging among ethnic minority students in a Hong Kong university

The evolution of globalisation and ensuing internationalisation of higher education need radical reform of institutional policies and practices to promote education for diversity, equity and inclusion. Extant literature on university/college student persistence/retention witnesses a lack of research on the subjective sense of belonging on campus among ethnic minoritised students who have been historically marginalised in higher education and are now part of the emerging demographic on campus. This study attempted to fill the gap. Engaging qualitative individual interviews with 12 university students of South/Southeast Asian ethnicity in Hong Kong, the purpose of this study was to examine their perceptions and experiences of institutional affiliations and engagement in university. Findings suggested that being connected to the programme and university, and the depth and quality of intragroup dynamics, are key to a sense of belonging among ethnic minority students. Findings also elucidated a lack of cross-cultural interaction and racial/ethnic diversity within the university environment, which shaped participants’ feelings of isolation and exclusionary experiences as they sought to adjust to the campus academically and socially. The study’s findings could help inform the development and evaluation of institutional strategies that can sustain minoritised students in university transitions and promote institutional connectedness and academic success among all students on campus.     

The relationship between teacher sign skills and student evaluations of teacher capability

This study examines the extent to which deaf students' perceptions of their teachers' effectiveness and ease of communication in the classroom are related to the teachers' sign skills. Thirty-three faculty, teaching a variety of courses at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), were rated on "teaching effectiveness" and "communication ease" by their students over a 2-year period. Faculty sign proficiency was evaluated independently using the Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI). Results indicate a moderate relation between students' perceptions of communication ease and teaching effectiveness, and a weak relation of these two variables to the teachers' assessed level of sign skill. The data also show that the students could clearly differentiate three levels of teacher sign skill in the classroom. Results are discussed in relation to the component parts of effective communication from the perspective of students in the classroom.     

When Race and Class Both Matter: The Relationship between Socioeconomic Diversity, Racial Diversity, and Student Reports of Cross–Class Interaction

This paper delves into a facet of socioeconomic diversity relatively unaddressed in the literature: student reports of cross–class interaction (“reported CCI”). Previous research has found that student interaction across social class is a significant predictor of cross–racial interaction, but it is unknown whether the actual socioeconomic heterogeneity of a student body is significantly related to reported CCI. We use hierarchical linear modeling to identify predictors of reported CCI in the 2003 Freshman/2007 College Student Survey from the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute. In the final model, students who attended more socioeconomically diverse institutions and more racially diverse institutions reported higher levels of CCI. Findings suggest that reported CCI is linked to the actual socioeconomic heterogeneity of a student body. Measures of racial diversity (percent of students of color and diversity engagement), both at the institutional and student level, also predicted reported CCI. Thus, reported CCI is likely influenced by the racial diversity of a student body and other aspects of the campus racial climate, in addition to socioeconomic diversity. Implications for campus climate, diversity, and equity research are discussed.     

Differential Prediction in the Use of the SAT and High School Grades in Predicting College Performance: Joint Effects of Race and Language

The literature on differential prediction of college performance of racial/ethnic minority students for standardized tests and high school grades indicates the use of these predictors often results in overprediction of minority student performance. However, these studies typically involve native English‐speaking students. In contrast, a smaller literature on language proficiency suggests academic performance of those with more limited English language proficiency may be underpredicted by standardized tests. These two literatures have not been well integrated, despite the fact that a number of racial/ethnic minority groups within the United States contain recent immigrant populations or heritage language speakers. This study investigates the joint role of race/ethnicity and language proficiency in Hispanic, Asian, and White ethnic groups across three educational admissions systems (SAT, HSGPA, and their composite) in predicting freshman grades. Our results indicate that language may differentially affect academic outcomes for different racial/ethnic subgroups. The SAT loses predictive power for Asian and White students who speak another best language, whereas it does not for Hispanic students who speak another best language. The differential prediction of college grades of linguistic minorities within racial/ethnic minority subgroups appears to be driven by the verbally loaded subtests of standardized tests but is largely unrelated to quantitative tests.     

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Collegiate Cognitive Gains: A Multilevel Analysis of Institutional Influences on Learning and its Equitable Distribution

Although numerous studies have examined racial/ethnic inequalities in collegiate student outcomes, serious attention to disparities in post-secondary student learning has emerged only recently. Using a national sample of 35,000 college seniors and 250 diverse institutions from the Collegiate Learning Assessment, this study investigates the role of institutional characteristics in promoting the development of higher-order cognitive skills and the equitable distribution of these skills by student racial/ethnic background. Using three-level hierarchical linear models within an analysis of covariance framework, we find that the initial academic gaps that separate African American students from their white peers widen even further during college. Although substantial academic disparities exist between Hispanic and white students at both college entry and exit, Hispanic and white students gain academic skills at statistically comparable rates. Importantly, racial/ethnic differences in cognitive development vary across institutions partly as a function of institutional characteristics. In particular, even after accounting for a host of student- and institution-level characteristics, African American/white and Hispanic/white inequalities are somewhat smaller at colleges that enroll larger proportions of non-white students. However, these benefits of increased minority enrollments are contingent upon the academic backgrounds of students’ peers, with academically weaker student enrollments in some cases negating the benefits of increased racial/ethnic diversity.     

Providing accessible services to minority ethnic deaf people: insights from a study in Alberta,Canada

Evidence suggests that minority ethnic people in general and minority ethnic deaf people (MEDP) in particular face numerous formidable obstacles in their attempts to gain access to services in the community. Deaf people from minority ethnic groups who have no English and/or American Sign Language (ASL) skills have particular difficulty gaining access to services. The study therefore was concerned with identifying some of the special needs and difficulties of MEDP who are trying to gain access to services in multiethnic communities. Qualitative approaches were used in data gathering and analysis. The results indicated six areas of difficulty for MEDP in gaining access to services: (a) communication barriers, (b) a lack of recognition of the needs of MEDP, (c) inappropriate service delivery and a lack of information on available services, (d) insufficient cultural sensitivity on the part of service providers, (e) issues of user involvement, and (f) a lack of specific programs for MEDP.     

A cross‐cultural study: deaf students in a public mainstream school setting

The 1000 primary school students in this study included a minority population of nine deaf children. The underlying foundation of this mainstream environment allowed for accommodations, but only to the extent that the non‐deaf majority was not overtly impacted. Explicit messages of equality and implicit notions of normal were often in conflict. Deaf students learned that acceptance was granted to those who complied with the mores of the majority. The author draws on current pedagogical theory and study findings to offer four principles that will help insure a more inclusive educational experience for deaf and non‐deaf students as they are educated together: (1) care must be taken to understand the lived experience of all students; (2) consideration must be given to scheduling issues; (3) sign language interpreters must be provided for all curricular activities; and (4) all students should be acculturated in the dynamics and issues pertaining to a cross‐cultural learning experience.     

第二课堂对聋生心理健康状况的干预研究

聋生的心理健康问题是长期以来受社会关注的重要问题之一,聋校开展的心理健康教育虽取得一定成效,但也存在一些问题。采用为期一年的第二课堂活动的研究结果表明,聋生的心理健康水平较低,较严重的症状表现依次是强迫、人际敏感、偏执;团体干预活动对聋生的心理健康水平的提升有积极的促进作用,但未达到显著水平。聋童的心理健康教育需要长期不懈的坚持。     

聋人大学生心理健康状况及相关因素分析

聋哑大学生是一个特殊的残疾人群体 ,本文以症状自评量表 (SCL - 90 )和自编的调查问卷为测量工具对我国第一所聋人高等工科特殊教育学院———天津理工学院聋人工学院 1 5 8名聋哑大学生进行测查。结果表明 :( 1 )聋哑大学生SCL - 90量表的大多数因子分值显著高于全国常模 ,心理问题检出率也明显高于非残疾人群体 ;( 2 )家庭经济状况和所学专业是影响聋哑大学生心理健康状况的重要因素 ,而性别、年级、城乡地区、残疾等级、残疾年限等因素对聋哑大学生心理健康状况无显著性影响。研究结果提示应关注聋哑大学生心理健康状况 ,加强聋哑大学生心理健康教育和心理咨询工作。     

Attitudes toward deafness. A collegiate perspective.

The Rochester Institute of Technology is a unique environment; a large number of hearing-impaired students are enrolled on a predominately hearing campus. The authors of this article explored the integration of deaf and hearing students on the campus and the attitudes surrounding deaf-hearing relationships. The major factors that hearing students identified as contributors to positive interaction between the two groups included awareness of cultural diversity, communication sensitivity and development of effective communication skills, structured opportunities for interaction, and mutual accommodation and respect.     

Cross-Racial Friendships and Social Distance Between Racial Groups on a College Campus

This study examined the effectiveness of curriculum-focused diversity initiatives on a college campus by determining the relationships between GPA, social class, year in school, residential status, racial diversity courses taken, and cross-racial friendships on the level of social distance between Whites-Blacks, Whites-Hispanics, Hispanics-Whites, Hispanics-Blacks, Blacks-Whites, and Blacks-Hispanics. The data suggest that, while the institution does a good job of bringing diverse groups of students to the campus, it does not effectively reduce the level of social distance among many members of the different racial groups on campus. Using the Intergroup Contact Hypothesis, the article concludes by suggesting means by which social distance among racial groups on campus might be decreased.     

Student perceptions and instructional effectiveness of deaf and hearing teachers

The study examined the views of deaf and hard of hearing secondary-level students when asked about their preferences for deaf vs. hearing teachers. It also compared elementary- and secondary-level students' achievement scores based on the hearing status of their teachers. Deaf and hard of hearing secondary-level students showed greater preference for deaf teachers, with deaf students showing greater preference for deaf teachers than hard of hearing students did. No significant differences were found in the achievement levels of students based on differences in teacher hearing status. The study supports the limited research done in the past.