Exploring experiences of special education trainee teachers on braille reading skills: a study of a private University in Tanzania.
Date
2024
Authors
Nkuba, Magreth Paul
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
This study examined the experience of Special Education Trainee Teachers in Braille reading skills, with particular focus on factors contributing to the lag of Braille reading skills to Special Education Trainee Teachers at private teacher training university in Tanzania. The study addressed the following four objectives, namely;(i); Explore special education trainee teachers experience in Braille reading skills (ii); strategies and support systems lecturers use in teaching Braille reading to trainee special teachers (iii); challenges special education Trainee Teachers experience in learning Braille Reading and (iv); assessing the extent to which Braille literacy has been integrated into special education teacher trainee curriculum. Embedded design using quantitative and qualitative techniques was employed. Questionnaires, semi-structured interview and observation checklist were used to collect data from respondents. The sample consisted of 40 respondents drawn from one private University distributed as: 35 third year special education trainee teachers and 5 lecturers. Respondents were selected using simple random and purposive sampling technique. The data was analysed using descriptive calculations whereby, percentage and frequency was obtained and presented on tables and qualitative data were analysed in form of themes direct quotation was analysed. The study revealed a significant challenge with mastering Braille reading skills, attributed to three main factors: lack of specific strategies, motivation from university learning materials, and insufficient Braille literacy integration into the curriculum. The result particularly showed that about 54.29% of responses indicated that, there was no specific strategy lecturers uses when teaching, 82.85% of the findings shows that there were a lot of challenges Special Education Trainee Teachers encounter when learning different Braille reading skills and 74.3% of responses shows that to low extent Braille literacy skills has been integrated into the curriculum. However, the test results revealed that 54.28% of the Special Education Trainee Teachers failed to master overall reading skills like word sign, contracted and uncontracted Braille unfamiliar words when reading comprehension skills test. This failure is said to be the result the major three mentioned factors. The findings suggest improvements in pre-service training, teaching materials, and curriculum through using the updated and specific strategies to import knowledge among trainee teacher also motivation and session to be practical and physical based for the student’s teacher. Key words: Braille reading, experiences, Braille literacy, Special Education Trainee Teachers.
Description
Thesis of Master of Education in Special Education