The Concept of Inclusive Education: Teacher Training and Acquisition of English Language in the Hearing Impaired

Three languages are widely used in schools in Kenya – English, Kiswahili and Kenya Sign Language. Many pupils with hearing impairments are taught separately from the mainstream, in specialist settings. The fact that most of the formal teaching, assessment and examination processes in Kenyan schools rely upon spoken and written English compounds the separation of these pupils from the mainstream of education and, potentially, from the mainstream of society. In this article, Gertrude Wamae, graduate assistant in the Department of English and Linguistics at Kenyatta University, and Rachael Kang'ethe-Kamau, lecturer in the Department of Special Education at Kenyatta University, discuss the relationships between language, hearing impairment and inclusion in the Kenyan context. The article suggests that the use of signed exact English would enhance opportunities for inclusion for those with hearing impairments and that programmes of teacher training need to take account of persuasive research in this area. The article closes with a plea for further research, carried out collaboratively by educationalists, linguists, teacher trainers and practitioners, to develop policies and practices suited to more inclusive futures. The article is based on a paper presented to the International Conference on Inclusive Education run by Maseno University in September 2002.     

Foreign Communication (Specific Countries)

Gertrude Joch Robinson and Donald F. Theall's Studies in Canadian Communications (Montreal: McGill University Department of English, 1975—price not known, paper)

Multilingual Broadcasting in the 1970s

A.C.H. Smith's Paper Voices: The Popular Press and Social Change, 1935-1965 (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1975—$12.50)

Television Advertising Conditions in Europe No. 4: Cyrus, Greece, Italy

R.K. Chatterjee Mass Communication: India, the Land and People (New Delhi: National Book Trust, 1973—R9.75 or about $1.25)     

International Communication

Gertrude Joch Robinson, News Agencies and World News in Canada, the United States and Yugoslavia: Methods and Data (Institute for Journalism and Mass Communication Research, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland 1981—price not given, paper)

Uplink: The Newsletter of the Rural Satellite Program (AID Rural Satellite Program, Academy for Educational Development, 1414 22nd St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037—free on request/quarterly)

Thesaurus of Development Communication (Clearinghouse on Development Communication, 1414 22nd St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037—$4.00, paper)

William E. McCavitt's Broadcasting Around the World (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: TAB Books, 1981—$22.95)

Judith Budd, Register of Current British Research on Mass Media and Mass Communication: December 1980 (Leicester Documentation Centre for Mass Communication Research, Centre for Mass Communication Research, University of Leicester, 104 Regent Rd., Leicester LEI 7LT, United Kingdom—price not given, paper)

Peter Calvocoressi, Freedom to Publish (Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, N.J. 07716—$15.50, paper)