Impact of Interactive Reading Intervention on Vocabulary Development of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students at Wangsel Institute of the Deaf

Abstract

Learning English as a second language is challenging for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students at Wangsel Institute for the Deaf. One of the most important components for improving English language is vocabulary knowledge. Vocabulary is fundamental for communicating, reading, thinking, and learning. This action research aims at examining the effectiveness of the use of pictures in teaching English vocabulary to DHH students at Wangsel Institute. The research also examined the effective strategies to teach vocabulary to DHH students.  A pre-intervention interview was conducted to ask about students’ experience in learning English. A total of thirty students participated in the study. They were provided intervention for this action research for a period of over two months with focus on teaching targeted words using pictures. The participants' understanding of the targeted words were assessed and analysed using pre-intervention and post-intervention vocabulary tests. It was found that all the participants had improved scores during the post-intervention vocabulary test compared to pre-intervention vocabulary test. The finding of the study indicated that the use of pictures to teach English vocabulary to DHH students was effective.  It also calls for teachers of the Deaf to use pictures to enhance the effectiveness of the teaching and learning of English vocabulary for DHH students.