La formación del profesorado y su incidencia en el proceso de aprendizaje

In this section we discuss themes that arose from the various lessons we observed and participated in. These themes are organised in the subsections below.

Teaching methods

Although the lessons in the e-Learner manual have the same structure, the teaching of the lessons is never the same. The facilitator adapts the teaching method and content of the lesson to make it relevant for the Deaf learners. In lessons that required use of different Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel and Powerpoint), the teacher would first introduce the different programs of Microsoft office then proceed to open the program. Once it is open, the facilitator goes through each

and every tool(icon) in the program showing the function of each. This generally takes up the whole lesson duration and the Deaf learner would only get hands on experience to perform the lesson tasks in the next class session which would be the following week.

Images play a big role in the teaching of the computer literacy skills. The facilitator makes use of the data projector to display open documents in Microsoft Word, Excel or Powerpoint. There are numerous times when the facilitator points at the projected image of the computer application that is being used in the lesson, pointing out buttons and icons to click and lists to scroll through.

Currently the procedure to teaching Deaf learners is demanding on the facilitator.

There is only one copy of the e-Learner manual that is used in the class. The manual is the instructor’s version of the e-Learner and not to be used by the learners because of the low literacy of the Deaf learners to follow the task steps. The teaching procedure is as follows:

1. Read the instructions of the lesson from the e-Learner manual 2. Understand the information of the lesson

3. Get the attention of the Deaf learners using various means discussed in the section below.

4. Sign the instructions to the Deaf learners.

5. Proceed to use the mouse and keyboard to demonstrate to the learners using the data projector what has just been signed.

6. Move around the class to check if the Deaf learners have understood and implemented what they have been shown.

During our participation in the classroom activities, we are involved in controlling the mouse and keyboard of the projected computer screen. Our role in the lesson is the facilitator’s assistant. This adds an additional step for the facilitator while teaching because we have to be told what to do. Therefore, it makes it even longer for the learners to receive the instructions. In this scenario, the facilitator first

signs to the Deaf learners and then voices to us (Computer Science students) the instruction to perform on the computer so that the learners can have an example to see and understand.

In addition, when a Deaf learner need additional assistance, the facilitator has to navigate through the limited space in the computer lab to get to the learner. Her free movement is restricted which further adds to the frustration of teaching.

Attention getting techniques

In order to gain the attention of all the Deaf learners, the facilitator waves her hands in front of the learners. This is necessary in order for the facilitator to explain a concept or give instructions to Deaf learners due to the visual nature of sign language. This is a distinguishing factor between Deaf and hearing learners called divided visual attention. Hearing learners can simultaneously listen to instructions is being given and look at their computer monitors without looking up. Deaf learners cannot watch the SASL signing and look at their computer screens at the same time.

So we need to gain their eye contact first before beginning to sign.

English vocabulary

Deaf learners primarily use SASL as their principal language of communication.

English users bring all the necessary vocabulary to the task of computer literacy skills learning. Deaf learners do not have this English vocabulary to rely on, hence they are learning English vocabulary and ICT skills at the same time. English vocabulary in computer literacy classes has to be broken down by either making use of synonyms, definitions or descriptions. For example, in a lesson observed, the facilitator broke down the word “duplicate” into two separate words “copy and paste” after which the Deaf learners associated copy and paste with their respective signs in SASL.

In the lesson observed, “Studying Stats - HIV/AIDS”, the facilitator explains the concepts statistics and global using simpler words like numbers and worldwide respectively to help the learners understand. To paint a picture of the location of Sub-Saharan Africa (see Figure 3.5), the facilitator sketches a map of Africa on a

flip chart pointing out the location of the Sahara desert and indicating the area below the desert as Sub-Saharan Africa. By using the analogy of a submarine, the facilitator isolates the prefix sub in submarine to simplify it to below whereby the learners now understand the link between sub and below. In addition to teaching English vocabulary, concepts from Geography are introduced. A lack of general knowledge because of poor language skill and low literacy skills.

Figure 3.5: A breakdown of the concepts in the lesson “Studying Stats - HIV/AIDS”

Learning Pace of the Students

We observed different work rates from the Deaf learners during our class participa-tion. The faster Deaf learners usually finished their tasks earlier and often spent time waiting for the slower learners to catch up. The three faster learners easily and quickly understood the instructions better than the slower learners they would implement them because of their prior exposure to EqualSkills programme (see Sec-tion 3.1.2). The pace of learning was hence dictated by the slower learners and the facilitator was forced to teach at a slower pace to accommodate the slower Deaf learners. When a slow Deaf learner doesn’t understand something, all learners have to be interrupted. This puts pressure on the slower learners and makes it boring for the faster learners.