Working memory and hearing impairment

Abstract

Some children, particularly those who are hearing impaired, experience difficulties in developing spoken language. Such difficulty typically results in reduced literacy skills and academic achievement. Research suggests that short‐term memory problems are a contributing factor to those language difficulties. Specific training strategies are discussed which may improve the short‐term memory ability of a child with impaired hearing.     

Hearing impaired children in primary schools in Finland

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to present basic data on hearing impaired pupils in primary schools in Finland in 1982‐83. The purpose of the survey was to provide an information base for the development of hearing services and teaching in primary schools. Earlier studies have mainly focused on the screening of moderate and severe cases of hearing impairment. The present study includes also cases of mild (20‐30 dB) hearing impairment, the criterion, however, being that hearing impairment in the better ear is > 20 dB in at least one of the three speech frequencies (500‐1000‐2000 hz).     

Classification of the hearing impaired for independent living using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale

Training hearing-impaired persons in independent living skills has become a focus of education and rehabilitation programs for the hearing impaired. Yet, few programs and assessment instruments are designed to evaluate a person's potential for acquiring independent living skills. In this study, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale was used to classify 118 hearing-impaired persons in groups based on their ability to be trained in independent living skills. Cluster analysis was used to group the subjects according to four domains: communication, daily living, socialization, and maladaptive behavior. The results indicate that the behavior scale can be used to classify hearing-impaired persons according to their ability to acquire independent living skills. The cluster analysis resulted in three groups. The persons in the lowest group did not have the most severe hearing losses, but they were more likely to have additional handicaps. This suggests that additional handicaps may be more important than degree of hearing loss in determining whether hearing-impaired persons can acquire independent living skills.     

Inferencing skills of adolescent readers who are hearing impaired

Two experiments examined the inferencing abilities of a group of adolescents who were hearing impaired compared with a group of hearing children matched approximately for chronological age. The first experiment used on‐line methods and suggests that pupils who are hearing impaired are less efficient at drawing inferences. When they do so correctly, they draw inferences automatically as the text is encountered in a similar manner to the hearing pupils. In the second experiment, the same material was presented to the hearing‐impaired adolescents in British Sign Language. However, from the results obtained, it is not possible to comment on how the information is processed when it is presented manually, and suggestions are made on ways this might be further investigated. It is suggested that the difficulties encountered by the students who are hearing impaired, when reading implicit material, reflect the relative impoverishment of their experiential backgrounds.     

Recent policy,the numbers game and the schooling of the hearing impaired: a study of one teacher's career

ABSTRACT

This paper describes and analyses the fate of an educational innovation, namely the mainstreaming of hearing impaired children into a primary school. Set in the context of recent State policy, it is a critical case study of a ‘caring’ organization staffed by ‘professionals’ engaged in work upon children with special needs. The data presented are derived from ethnographic interview with a specially qualified teacher of the hearing impaired. Primarily, it explores the teacher's interaction with her male headteacher, from her perspective. Conflict developed between the two around the meaning of integration, and the use of the hearing impaired children as a resource to preserve the school, at a time of threatened closure. Eventually, there was a polarized antipathy between teacher and head; and a consequent teacher career failure and head career success, resulting in the ultimate resignation of the teacher. As such, the paper is a critique of the socially oppressive schooling of those children deemed to have special needs.     

Gender issues in vocational education and training and workplace achievement of 14–19 year olds: an EOC perspective

ABSTRACT

The role of education and training historically was to prepare men and women for different roles beyond schooling. Despite equality legislation in 1975, designed to secure wider opportunities for women in society and in the workplace, progress towards achieving equality in employment–with the exception of entry into the lower levels of some professions–has been slow and traditional patterns of occu‐ pational segregation remain. Traditional attitudes and expectations have proved diffi‐ cult to change. This is reflected in the participation rates of men and women in vocational education and training programmes currently on offer to young people.

The compulsory education system has seen the removal of structural barriers to equality and access to all subjects has provided girls with the opportunity to achieve well and outperform boys even in non‐traditional subjects such as maths, science and technology. Disappointingly, however, academic gains have not been marked by wider vocational choice within and beyond schooling where stereotyping in option, subject, training and employment decisions is still overt.

In this article, we use the examples of Part 1 GNVQs, further education, Modern Apprenticeships and National Traineeships to illustrate the current extent of stereo‐ typing and segregation in vocational education and training. We argue that it is of par‐ ticular concern that these recent policy initiatives reinforce rather than challenge stereotyping and that 25 years after the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA), vocational education and training provide young people with narrow and segregated routeways while delivering to industry limited and gender‐based pools of talent. We recognize that young people, women particularly, are disadvantaged as a result, and their poten‐ tial for career development and economic independence is reduced.

We argue that gender stereotyping is a barrier to equality which should be addressed in all new education and training policy development, such as the review of the National Curriculum, and should be included in government policy direction to vocational education and training providers. We use the example of TVEI to show how good practice can be promoted in education and training in schools and we identify and recommend the use of good practice strategies in vocational education and training, particularly the positive action provisions of the SDA.     

Deaf and hearing partnerships: ethical and communication considerations

With few exceptions, a hearing perspective controls the direction of deaf education nationally and internationally. People who are hearing have a powerful influence over decisions that affect legislation, policies, professional organizations, research agendas, and curricular decisions related to deaf education. Although this situation is changing in some arenas, people who are deaf often have relatively less influence than their hearing counterparts in shaping the educational agenda. The authors, one deaf and one hearing, relate their views on the challenge of changing this imbalance of power and discuss their personal experiences as friends and professional collaborators as they offer strategies for creating and nurturing partnerships between people who are deaf and people who are hearing.     

Reducing prejudice: constructivist considerations for special education

ABSTRACT

How might teachers think about moving to challenge prejudice against persons with handicap? Drawing on Piaget's and Bateson's constructivist theories, prejudices are examined in terms of the processes by which they are formed within the individual, the role they play in identity, and the reasons they may be resistant to change. Consideration is then given to strategies which may be useful in inviting reconsideration of cognitive items of this type. Looking at the learner's experience these include certain types of questioning strategies and counterexamples. Looking at the teacher's experience a number of techniques are recommended including, neutrality, circular questioning, and parenthesising.     

Effect of postsecondary education on the economic status of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing

This article examines the effect that postsecondary education has on earnings and the duration of time spent in the Social Security disability programs for young persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Our hypothesis is that investments in postsecondary training increase the likelihood of employment for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and thus reduce dependency on disability-related income support programs. A longitudinal data set based upon records from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and Social Security administrative records is used for this analysis. We find that those who graduate, even those who graduate with vocational degrees, experience significant earnings benefits and reductions in the duration of time spent on federal disability programs when compared with those who do not graduate with a degree. This finding suggests that reductions in the duration of time spent on Social Security programs are not limited to those with the highest level of scholastic aptitude and that investments in post-secondary education can benefit a broad group of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. In addition, the data show that individuals who attend college, but withdraw before graduation, fair no better economically than individuals who never attended college.     

听力障碍者职业教育研究热点及发展趋势

为了解我国听力障碍者职业教育领域的研究热点,把握发展趋势,笔者使用BICOMB 2软件和SPSS 25软件对来自CNKI的120篇有关听力障碍者职业教育的有效文献进行了计量可视化分析,绘制出了国内听力障碍者职业教育研究热点知识图谱。研究表明,我国听力障碍者职业教育研究主要集中在听力障碍在校生的职业教育、高等职业教育、中等职业教育、就业、课程设置、校本课程等方面,并形成了以课程研究为主,美术教育研究和职业技能培养研究次之的热点领域。研究热点领域呈现出三大发展趋势:日益重视听力障碍者职业教育课程改革与设置;日渐注重听障生职业教育综合素质培养;职业教育学校日益重视听障毕业生就业问题。     

引导职校学生树立正确的成才观

无论中等职业学校还是高等职业学校的学生都有一种自卑心理,认为自己不如别人,缺乏自信心,对自己成才失去希望。职校教师要从正确认识自己、正确对待学习、正确认识社会等方面引导学生,提高他们的自信心,帮助教育他们成才。     

Environmental Sensitivity and the Mass Media

Abstract

The traditional methods of interpretation have placed most of the emphasis on presentation, form, and accuracy of content. These points remain important, but if the audience to whom the program is directed is not understood, the program will be a failure. There is a diversity of people found in recreation areas. Recent efforts in interpretive research have emphasized the need to include the audience as a factor in interpretive planning. This paper has been concerned with one such audience, the handicapped, and its purpose is to provide interpretive suggestions based on knowledge of their individual requirements.

One cannot conclude that because people have some physical or mental impairment, their needs for outdoor recreation, or abilities to benefit from it, are impaired. Rather, variations in interpretive approaches are required to match these unique visitors with a message. In many cases very little modification will be required.

Blind: As only five to ten percent of blind people read Braille, information can be best presented by way of sound, such as by use of cassette tape players. No special guiding apparatus is necessary; they move throughout the rest of the world without guide ropes or kickrails, and the interpretive setting is no different.

Deaf: If interpreters would use fingerspelling or some sign language, they could make some of their programs available to deaf persons.

Deaf-Blind: Because deaf-blind visitors would usually be accompanied by someone who is not handicapped, no special accommodations are necessary.

Mentally Retarded: Interpretation that is geared to their particular level of comprehension and which allows total personal involvement is the most satisfactory.

Ambulatory Limitations: Facilities made accessible and navigable is all that is necessary.     

Contact with Mainstreamed Disabled Children and Attitudes Towards Disability: a multidimensional analysis

Attitudes towards disabilities of 156 hearing students who experienced different levels of contacts with mainstreamed hearing impaired students were evaluated by a multi‐dimensional questionnaire, the Disability Factor Scale—General. Forty‐four subjects were studying in the same classes with hearing impaired students (high level of contact), 57 students were studying in the same school but not in the same classes with the hearing impaired students (moderate level of contact) and 55 subjects did not have any contact with hearing impaired children.

Subjects who had a moderate level of contact expressed more negative attitudes than subjects of the two other groups on a scale which measured the tendency to advocate segregation of disabled people and to hold a derogatory approach towards them. Subjects of the group with a moderate level of contact tended to attribute more functional limitations to disabled persons than subjects who had a high level of contact. No differences were found between attitudes of subjects who experienced high level of contact and of those who had no contact.

These results are discussed in relation to the characteristics of the different contact situations which the three groups of subjects had and the affective, behavioural and cognitive‐evaluative components of their attitudes.     

Does workplace training participation vary by type of secondary level qualification? England and Germany in comparison

ABSTRACT

Existing evidence shows that the higher the level of education the higher the likelihood to participate in workplace training. However, we know little about training participation of individuals educated to the secondary level, and whether this may vary by the type of qualification attained, i.e. vocational or general. Vocational qualification holders are known to find employment sooner after school than those with a general qualification but we do not know whether they are also more likely to participate in workplace training. Using data from the 2012 Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and logistic regressions, we investigate whether vocational qualification holders are more likely to participate in workplace training than general ones in Germany and England. Germany is a coordinated labour market economy with a large emphasis on the provision of vocational qualifications which facilitate school-to-work transitions whereas England is an example of liberal labour markets where the focus is on general qualifications. Results show that in Germany general qualification holders are more likely to participate in training compared to vocational ones; however, differences reduce when controlling for endogeneity. In contrast, in England there is no difference between types of qualification.     

Nostalgia in the narratives of vocational teachers as a way of understanding responses to change

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on nostalgia in the narratives of vocational teachers. The aim is to understand the role of nostalgia as a mechanism for adapting to or resisting educational change. The paper is based on the secondary analysis of semi-structured interviews with 30 Estonian vocational teachers. In the teachers’ narratives, the nostalgia for the former vocational education system, which provided more autonomy and empowerment for teachers in their work, was overlaid with the nostalgia for a society with more stable family and work-life patterns and trusting attitudes towards vocational teachers. Although there were examples where the nostalgic narratives were strategically used to legitimize resistance to change, in most cases, nostalgia tends to serve as the mechanism for making sense of the educational changes teachers have been faced with. Nostalgia also contributes to making sense of oneself as a teacher in a new situation and collective identity building. It is argued in the paper that we should acknowledge the positive functions of nostalgia and create support mechanisms to facilitate sense-making and critical reflection upon the changes for teachers. Nostalgia should be recognized as a productive force indicating the contradictions in present reforms and practices and opening up new directions.     

高职教师素质能力结构探析

高职教师必须具备多方面的素质与能力,才能符合职业教育发展的要求,才能真正提高受教育者的素质,为生产、管理一线的职业岗位输送实用型、技能型专门人才。德高、学高、技高是现代高职教师必备的素质和能力。高职教师的素质与能力只有不断得到提升,才能适应高职教育发展的需要。     

The views,verdict and recommendations for school and home sex and relationships education by young deaf and hearing people

The purpose of this survey study was to explore the views of young deaf and hearing people (16–25 years old) on school and home sex and relationships education (SRE). The study addressed a critical knowledge gap in the research literature on deaf youth's perception of SRE. The small-scale study explored young deaf people's experiences of SRE and the challenges they had faced when learning about sexuality and relationships. Recommendations on how to improve school SRE lessons were also obtained. Data were collected from 81 young people (n = 27 deaf, n = 54 hearing). Overall, deaf participants indicated greater levels of satisfaction with school SRE than hearing respondents. More deaf young people than young hearing people felt that the school had provided them with enough opportunities to learn about sexuality and relationships. The deaf group showed a preference for school SRE lessons to start at a later age than the hearing group. Mothers and friends were the two sources most frequently consulted in both groups. Teachers and school nurses were a third source frequently used by the deaf group. The views of deaf and hearing youth on their own SRE are important for the development, implementation and delivery of the school SRE curriculum. The study's findings can provide educators with valuable insight on the needs of a minority group who are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and sexual misinformation due to their sensory loss and associated factors.     

Conceptions of learning and quality of university life among deaf,hard of hearing,and hearing university students

ABSTRACT

This study explores how conceptions of learning relate to quality of university life among deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) and hearing university students in mainland China. The Conceptions of Learning Inventory III and the Quality of University Life Measure were administered to 200 DHH and 240 hearing students. Results showed that deep-level conceptions of learning (learning as duty) significantly and positively predicted quality of university life among DHH and hearing students, while surface-level conceptions of learning (learning as gaining information) significantly negatively predicted quality of university life among DHH students. The significance, limitations, and implications of the present research for university administrators, teachers, and students are discussed.     

对职业教育开发校本课程的思考

中国加入WTO，职业教育首先迎来新的挑战。国外教育市场的介人，经济的全球化都对我国的职业教育提出了新的要求，我国职业教育能否适应新的环境变化，能否培养出具有参与国际竞争能力的人才，关键在课程建设。过去的职教课程设置已远不能适应国际型人才培养的需求，更不能适应我国复杂多样的地方经济建设的需要。怎样才能提高我国职业教育的竞争力，使其更具活力与生命力，校本课程开发是不可忽视的环节。