Children with Hearing Impairment and Their Difficulties in Learning in School and Community Environments: The Case of Buea-South West Region Cameroon

This study assessed some challenges faced by children with hearing impairment in acquiring the knowledge needed to make progress in school and community environments. It had as objectives to investigate the influence of family knowledge of sign language on academic assistance before and after enrolment in school, the history of hearing impairment in the family and its influence on the acquisition of the sign language skill by learners with hearing impairment before enrolment in school, check the perception of the learners about the pedagogic approaches used to teach and the challenges faced in class. The study was both a survey and qualitative and made use of questionnaires and single group quasi experimental designs respectively. A sample of 17 students from Buea School for the Deaf constituted the population of the study. A 7 cluster 34 items questionnaire was used to collect some data while some data was collected experimentally. Data was analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics percentages and means and inferential statistics Chi Square test . The results from analysis indicated that, there was a significant difference in performance between the students with background knowledge in sign language at home and who also received academic assistance at home and those who did not have some background knowledge of sign language before enrolment in school. The students approved the learning approaches used by their teachers and were comfortable in class hence faced minimal challenges in class. There was also a significant improvement between those in the experimental group who received the treatment and those in the control group who did not. This was indicative that with proper training and education, these learners with hearing impairment could achieve significantly in their academics. Cecilia Tongwa | Nkemngong Atemnkeng "Children with Hearing Impairment and Their Difficulties in Learning in School and Community Environments: The Case of Buea-South West Region Cameroon" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-1 , December 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29650.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/home-science/education/29650/children-with-hearing-impairment-and-their-difficulties-in-learning-in-school-and-community-environments-the-case-of-buea-south-west-region-cameroon/cecilia-tongwa