Role of oral language in phonemic and phonological development of hard of hearing pupils in selected primary schools in Lusaka, Zambia

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Date
2016
Authors
Chikopela, Rose
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University of Zambia
Abstract
Oral language is essential for phonemic and phonological development and critical for pupils’ academic success in initial literacy learning. Recent studies have validated the assertion that hard of hearing pupils benefit developmentally, educationally and socially from modern oralist teaching methodologies like the Auditory-Oral method. There is also evidence of poor phonemic and phonological skills in hard of hearing pupils. It is not known why the hard of hearing pupils perform poorly on phonemic and phonological skills in Zambia. This study therefore sought to establish the predictive role of oral language in phonemic and phonological development in pupils with hard of hearing impairment in grades one and two in Lusaka Zambia. Specifically, the study sought to investigate the extent to which pupils with hard of hearing impairment in grades one and two know about sounds of letters. In addition, the study assessed how much pupils with hard of hearing impairment in grades one and two are able to combine letter sounds into meaningful words. The study further established types of teaching materials that help pupils with hard of hearing impairment to combine letter sounds into meaningful words. The study utilized ex post facto research design as all pupils in their respective grades were assessed. Five schools from Lusaka district took part in the study. The sample comprised 60 pupils of which 31 were girls and 29 were boys, and 40 teachers giving a total of 100. Pupils were tested individually at the start of grades two and three to tap the skills they had acquired having completed grades one and two. The tests were administered in Nyanja (the language of instruction from first grade to fourth grade) in Lusaka. Interviews were used to obtain information from teachers. To assess letter sound knowledge and sound blending skills, the Basic Skills Assessment Tool (BASAT) was used. BASAT includes tests to assess basic skills like letter knowledge, phonemic awareness and short-term memory. Familiarity with language was tested by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test to measure receptive vocabulary and One Word Picture Vocabulary Test to measure expressive language. Teachers were interviewed using interview guides. A variety of methods were used to analyze the data including, correlations, t-test, one way ANOVA, multiple regression and thematic approach.
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Thesis in education.
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