Challenges Faced By The Hearing Impaired Learners In Composition Writing And In Answeringcomprehension Questions During English Language Lessons

Abstract

Hearing impaired learners are exposed to the same curriculum as those without the impairment. This paper is a report of a study on the challenges faced by the Hearing Impaired learners in composition writing and in answering comprehension questions in English language lessons. The study was carried out in selected special schools for the Hearing Impaired in Homa Bay County in Kenya in the year 2012. The study adopted Knowles (1973) theory of learning. The study utilized a descriptive survey design with a mixed methods approach. Head teachers were purposively selected to take part in the study while simple random sampling method and census technique were used to select the teachers and students who took part in the study. A total of 3 head teachers, 8 teachers and 39 learners with Hearing Impaired participated in the study. The study used structured interview guides for the head teachers, questionnaires for the teachers and tests for the pupils for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of quantitative data while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The research established that the Hearing Impaired faced challenges in composition writing and in answering comprehension questions in English language lessons. The study recommended that teachers should train the learners to develop good handwriting, master correct spellings and acquire adequate vocabulary for effective composition writing. Teachers should assist the Hearing Impaired to develop a reading culture for effective comprehension skills. This study sheds light on some of the challenges encountered by the Hearing Impaired learners during English language lessons which if addressed can facilitate them to achieve to their full educational potential for self-reliance.

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European Journal of Education Studies
ISSN: 2501 - 1111
ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111
Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu
Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved 1
Published by Open Access Publishing Group ©2015.
10.5281/zenodo.166048
Volume 2│Issue 10│2016
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN
COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION
QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
William Omondi Kodiango1,
Anne Syomwene2
1Moi University, Kenya
2M.Ed, Moi University, Kenya
Abstract:
Hearing impaired learners are exposed to the same curriculum as those without the
impairment. This paper is a report of a study on the challenges faced by the Hearing
Impaired learners in composition writing and in answering comprehension questions in
English language lessons. The study was carried out in selected special schools for the
Hearing Impaired in Homa Bay County in Kenya in the year 2012. The study adopted
Knowles (1973) theory of learning. The study utilized a descriptive survey design with a
mixed methods approach. Head teachers were purposively selected to take part in the
study while simple random sampling method and census technique were used to select
the teachers and students who took part in the study. A total of 3 head teachers, 8
teachers and 39 learners with Hearing Impaired participated in the study. The study
used structured interview guides for the head teachers, questionnaires for the teachers
and tests for the pupils for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used in the
analysis of quantitative data while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The
research established that the Hearing Impaired faced challenges in composition writing
and in answering comprehension questions in English language lessons. The study
recommended that teachers should train the learners to develop good handwriting,
master correct spellings and acquire adequate vocabulary for effective composition
writing. Teachers should assist the Hearing Impaired to develop a reading culture for
effective comprehension skills. This study sheds light on some of the challenges
encountered by the Hearing Impaired learners during English language lessons which
if addressed can facilitate them to achieve to their full educational potential for self-
reliance.

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 2
Keywords: hearing impaired; English language; composition writing; comprehension
1. Introduction
Hearing Impairment is a general term indicating a disability that may vary in severity
from mild to profound (Kirk, 1992). According to the Persons with Disabilities Act
(2003), no persons or institutions shall deny admissions to a person with such disability
to any course of study by reason of such disability, if the person has the ability to
acquire substantial learning in that course. The learning institutions shall therefore take
into account the special needs of persons with disabilities with respect to the entry
requirements such as pass marks, curriculum, examinations, use of facilities, class
schedules, physical education requirements and other similar considerations. However,
upon admission into these institutions, learning arrangements seem not to favour the
Hearing Impaired in terms of curriculum differentiation.
This study was an investigation of the challenges faced by the Hearing Impaired
learners in coping with some aspects of the Primary school curriculum in English
lessons and in particular the challenges faced in composition writing and in answering
comprehension questions.
2. Statement of the Problem
The Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 states that special education is important for human
capital development as it prepares those who are most likely to be dependants to
become self- reliant. Of importance is the fact that the Hearings Impaired are subjected
to the same curriculum that the hearing pupils in regular primary schools follow. This
may be unfair because there are some aspects of that syllabus which they cannot cope
up with due to their disability or special needs.
Moores  notes that the Hearing Impaired childrens language development
is more frequently assessed through written language because of their problem with
spoken language. Furthermore, sign language has a grammatical structure of its own
which does not follow the spoken or written English (Ndurumo, 1993). An example is
that the normal English structure follows Subject, Verb and Object (SVO) such as Tom is
going home. The sign language structure is however completely different as it follows
Object, Subject and Verb (OSV) such as school Tom go. As a result, when the hearing
impaired childs sign language is compared with the spoken language, the learner is
penalized because of the differences in language structure which negatively affects the
way learners write compositions or answer comprehension questions.
The researcher has confirmed these arguments from his experience in teaching
the Hearing Impaired learners for the last twenty four years. The researcher has worked

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 3
with the hearing impaired learners during this period both in class and in co-curricular
activities. The performance of the hearing impaired learners is therefore wanting in
composition writing and in answering comprehensive questions.
When children are unable to hear the language being spoken, they are also
unable to learn its rules until special instruction is provided. The impact of this can be
better appreciated when one considers that the children with normal hearing will
usually have acquired all the basic structure of that language that is a vocabulary of up
to 700 words by the time they are three years (Walter, 2003).
This problem is fundamental because unless the deaf are given a suitable
curriculum, they will continue to fail in examinations and this will affect their progress
in education in order to develop to their full potential and will not be able to go for
further training, get jobs and be self-reliant. The hearing impaired is considered to be
among a group of learners referred to as Learning Disabled (LD). LD is a condition in
which one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or
using language are deficient. They therefore require special attention or additional
instructional support in order to escape the labelling of impaired academic performance
which is a major element in most current definitions of LDs (Hallahan, 2002). This study
was an investigation of the challenges faced by the Hearing Impaired learners in
composition writing and in answering comprehension questions in English language
lessons.
3. Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study was to investigate the challenges faced by the Hearing
Impaired learners in composition writing and in answering comprehension questions in
English language lessons.
4. Research objectives
This study was guided by two research objectives:
1. To identify the challenges facing learners with Hearing Impairment in
composition writing in English language lessons.
2. To identify the challenges faced by the learners with Hearing Impairment in
answering comprehension questions during English language lessons.
5. Theoretical framework
This study was guided by Knowless Theory of learning. According to Knowles 
emphasises that learners should be shown why something is important to learn. This

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 4
theory explains that learners should be shown how to direct themselves through
information. The theory contends that teachers should relate the topics to learners
experiences in order to maximise content delivery and performance.
The theoretical framework of the study depicts that teaching should be child
centred and related to the learners environment. This will motivate the learners to
overcome the challenges they face in selected aspects of the school curriculum. The
curriculum planners are equally expected to develop content that is conducive to
learners with special needs so that they can succeed like others through cognition. The
hearing impaired learners however lack the ability to use their cognitive ability to relate
to their experiences thus resulting into difficulties in composition writing and in
answering comprehension questions. The challenges they face in coping with these
aspects of the school curriculum are also compounded by other factors such as lack of
speech and language development and ineffective use of hearing aids. This theory
guided the researcher in investigating the challenges faced by the Hearing Impaired
learners in composition writing and in answering comprehension questions in English
language lessons.
6. Literature review
6.1 Hearing impairment: Some basic information
The term hearing impaired is used to describe individuals who have hearing defects
ranging from a very slight loss to a total loss of hearing. Hearing impairment affects a
large percentage of the population and is indeed probably the single most prevalent
chronic physical disability. Hearing could be impaired as a result of many different
factors including heredity, disease and accident. When deaf people have difficulty
communicating with hearing people they often write notes to them. Some deaf people
are able to speech read, and understand the lip movements and facial expressions of a
hearing person and comprehend what is said (Project IDEAL, 2013). This is a very
difficult form of communication and when used in the learning process, it is slow and
tedious and can hardly be used effectively to cover the syllabus. This state can affect the
learners in composition writing and in answering comprehension questions in language
lessons.
Ndurumo (1993) states that hearing impairment affects developmental areas in
children such as: language, speech, intelligence, educational achievement and
psychological development. The needs of the hearing impaired should therefore be
considered when preparing a curriculum. Ndurumo adds that one of the major
difficulties the Hearing Impaired children experienced was language development. This
is an important area since difficulties in it affects other areas of hearing since language
is crucial in learning all subjects of the school curriculum. Walter (2003) compared the

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 5
abilities of hearing and hearing impaired children in understanding printed English
words and found that the hearing impaired performed at a level far below that of
hearing children as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: A comparison of learners with Hearing Impairment and the hearing learners in their
ability to understand printed words in percentages
Age
Group
2000 words
5000 words
10,000 words
20,000 words
10 years
With H.I
32
29
21
22
Without H.I
85
73
61
44
11 years
With H.I
40
29
23
23
Without H.I
92
80
69
50
12 years
With H.I
39
28
22
22
Without H.I
99
85
76
57
13 years
With H.I
59
38
27
23
Without H.I
95
90
82
69
14
With H.I
62
46
34
30
Without H.I
97
95
89
71
From Table  its clear that the learners with Hearing Impaired lag behind in
their ability to understand printed words compared to their counterparts without
hearing impairments. This negatively affects them in composition writing and in
answering comprehension questions.
When children are unable to hear the language being spoken, they are also
unable to learn its rules until special instruction is provided. The impact of this can be
better be appreciated when one considers that the children with normal hearing will
usually have acquired all the basic structures of that language, that is a vocabulary of
up to 700 words by the time they are three years. According to Special Education Guide
(2013-2016), the most important difference between the hearing and the hearing
impaired is that the hearing children acquire language by hearing it and then producing
it. The Hearing Impaired children on the other hand either do not hear it or else they
may hear it in such a distorted way as to make learning it impossible. This may be a
cause of difficulty in composition writing and answering comprehension questions.
Most hearing impaired learners also have limited speech and reading skills. In
educational setting, when detailed information must be understood, deaf people will
often enlist the aid of a certified sign language interpreter who translates the spoken
information to sign language and then vocalise in English what the hearing impaired
person wishes to say.
Problems in the use of the English language typically persist throughout a deaf
persons life which is a great challenge in his or her education. Those who lose their
hearing in infancy or at birth usually do not benefit from language stimulation from
their parents and siblings during the early period when language is acquired. However,

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 6
by learning sign language, deaf children can acquire the language base which assists in
the acquisition of English as a second language. People who lose their hearing after
acquiring English language skills have less academic handicap than those with mild
hearing loss (Edward & William, 1981).
6.2 Implications of hearing impairment in communication and language
development
Language is the process and means through which learning takes place. Deaf children
have difficulties in oral skills hence they may not acquire enough receptive and
expressive language which is needed in reading for comprehension and for writing
compositions. The development of reading and writing depend upon the satisfactory
language foundation and is facilitated by a reasonable speech vocabulary.
When learning to speak, a hearing child follows a series of stages such as
gurgling and swallowing sounds into babbling. He/she experiments with his voice as he
babbles, hears himself/herself and sometimes repeats the sound over and over again.
He/she later repeats other peoples sound by imitation of his own babbling sounds and
the sounds his parents make. He/she then connects the sounds as he/she learns to talk
(Otiato, Kithure & Osong 2007). However the hearing impaired child cannot hear his
own babbling and it soon stops. He doesnt hear sounds and words from his own
parents and hence neither imitates them nor attaches any meaning to them. He/she
doesnt learn to speak by ordinary channels and has to use other routes which are
tedious, if he/she is to learn to speak.
However, it has been found that a totally deaf child can learn to speak if properly
taught by skilled parents and teachers through vibrations, sense of touch, visual aids,
kinaesthetic and proprioceptive cues, and the use of residual hearing through a hearing
aid, are all part of the process as he learns to speak. This process is slow and laborious
and may not develop good speech for learning and hence may be a challenge for the
hearing impaired in coping with some aspects of the school curriculum.
In a study by Cooper (1988) found out that deaf children also apply general rules
to words, but not to the same extent as hearing children. Brown and Bellugi (1990)
gives three processes by which children develop language (i) by imitation (ii) by
expansion in which the parent repeats what the child says (iii) by induction in which
the child constructs language he has not heard. The performance by the deaf in school
subjects and examinations is in most cases is affected by lack of well-developed
language for reading, communication and concept formation.
The hearing impaired childs ability to develop speech and language has been
compounded by their articulation disorders. Articulation disorders include
substitutions, omissions, distortions and additions of one letter sound or phonemes
with another thus affecting their reading, spelling and writing abilities (Kirk, 1992).

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 7
Kirk, (1992:82) states that articulation disorders may be caused by inability to effectively
use their tongue, lips, teeth, palates, and jaws to modify the flow of air sound from the
larynx by changing their positions and contacts in order to make intelligible speech
sounds. This may cause difficulty in writing compositions because learners tend to
write the way they articulate the words.
6.3 Challenges facing the deaf in composition writing during English lessons
Writing is an advanced language skill that requires the learner to communicate ideas
effectively and has wide ranging implications for the way we think and learn. It is an
expressive language skill that requires a high degree of organization (Vikiru, 2007). It
also encourages and trains the learner to think critically and to be organized, logical and
creative in his thinking as she/he responds to situations. Learners need help to acquire
skills that enable them to express their ideas clearly and effectively in writing (KIE,
2006)
According to Vikiru, (2007) composition is a continuous piece of writing
following a logical sequence and made up of different points that are organized
together in a certain order. Composition writing involves putting ideas or pieces of
information together for others to read. Good composition writing therefore entails
good handwriting, correct spelling, sentence building skills, paragraphing and
punctuation marks. However, most learners especially those with special needs such as
the hearing impaired face problems in grasping the above skills in order to enhance
their composition writing skills. They also have difficulties such as wrong shaping of
letters, size of letters, spacing of letters and words, mixing capital and small letters.
Spelling is critical in good composition writing. It refers to the formation of
words with letters in the correct order. Learners need to pay closer attention to spelling
since incorrect spelling hinders effective communication and sometimes may change
the meaning of the text which is detrimental particularly in examinations. The hearing
impaired have problems in composition writing because they are not fluent in reading,
have limited vocabulary, cannot read extensively to help them remember spelling of
words and at times tended to use Sign Language structures in composition writing.
Relevance and choice of vocabulary is equally critical. It is important to choose a wide
range of appropriate vocabulary that allows a student to imaginatively communicate
his/her ideas by using appropriate expressions and spelling words correctly is
imperative in order to write a good composition (Mungai, et al 2006).
In order to be successful in any academic discipline, the ability to write well is
essential as it enhances acquisition of knowledge and is a cornerstone in academic
success. It influences our chances of success, personal development and our relations
with other people. The hearing impaired however faced difficulties in composition
writing mainly because the Sign language structure is different from the English

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 8
language structure. Their composition therefore appear haphazard and disorganized
when compared to the hearing pupils. This makes them be penalized for writing poor
compositions without taking into account their special needs and since good writing is
necessary for academic success, they cannot do well due to their inability to write well.
The teacher of the deaf should therefore design tasks that will lead to gradual
development of the learners writing ability putting into account their special needs. It
is important to make the activities in teaching composition writing be interesting and
manageable tasks so as not de-motivate the learner.
6.4 Challenges facing by the Hearing Impaired Learners in answering
comprehension questions in English lessons
According to Vikiru , comprehension questions tests a students ability to read
and understand information. The comprehension questions are therefore designed in
such a way as to elicit answers either out of memory or through inference. The
questions should be able to test the ability of the learner to infer the meanings of the
words used in a particular way and not to take the literal meanings of the words as
used in the passage.
To overcome the challenges in answering comprehension questions, some
grammatical aspects will be examined based on the passage or piece of literary work
that the learner has read. The ability of the learner to make notes and to summarise
what has been read is equally important. It is therefore imperative that to answer
comprehension questions correctly, the learner needs to have built an adequate
vocabulary, to have a good grasp of literature and oral literature aspects and a good
knowledge of the grammar of the English language (KIE, 2006). In addition, a learner
must be able to read well in order to answer comprehension questions. This is because
reading enhances retrieval of information from different types of printed media.
It is however unfortunate that the hearing impaired learner lacks the potential
and knowledge to use the required skills in order to effectively answer comprehension
questions. They are equally unable to use the skills needed when answering
comprehension questions due to their lack of adequate vocabulary, reading fluency,
speech and language development.
To tackle comprehension questions effectively, the learners need to apply the
following skills which the hearing impaired learners do not have (Gathumbi &
Mugambi, 2008): Read with understanding, identify facts, respond to questions
correctly in English as regards spelling, punctuation and sentence structure, infer
meanings of words from their text, evaluate what is read and give opinion or
judgement, apply learnt knowledge, synthesize information and make conclusion from
what is read, analyse information and apply gained knowledge in other situations.

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 9
Further, most hearing learners use the following methods which the hearing
impaired finds difficult to use or grasp in handling comprehension passages: read
(skim) through the passage once, in order to give the learner the gist or an overview of
the passage, noting down what the subject matter of the passage is, read the questions
set on the passage then read the passage a second time bearing in mind the subject
matter and the questions asked, read all the questions again before you start answering
them, start answering the questions methodologically without lingering too long on any
one question and if one question is difficult move to the next one. The hearing impaired
however faces challenges in understanding and applying the skills to answer
comprehension questions. They often find it difficult to differentiate a simple question
from a difficult one thus taking a lot of time in attempting a question.
Scores of studies have asserted that deficiencies in basic language are the sources
of low comprehension among deaf readers, suggesting need to eliminate these gaps in
knowledge (La Sasso & Davey, 1987; Quigley, 2000; Strassman, Kretschmer & Bilskey,
1987). Other research with deaf readers presents evidence that is consistent with low
automaticity as an explanation for low comprehension. But the cognitive processes of
working memory are normally covert, when breakdown in reading comprehension
occur, the source of the problem remains hidden, obscuring whether it stems from
limited capacity for storing information, low automaticity processing information, or
some other source.
7. Research design and methodology
The study adapted descriptive survey design with a mixed methods approach. This
design was preferred since it involved collecting of information by interviewing,
administering of questionnaire or tests to a sample of respondents or individuals
selected from known research population (Orodho, 2003). Head teachers were
purposively selected to take part in the study while simple random sampling method
and census technique were used to select the teachers and students who took part in the
study. The study was conducted in three schools for the Hearing Impaired in Homa Bay
County in Kenya in the year 2012. A total of 3 head teachers, 8 teachers and 39 learners
with Hearing Impaired participated in the study. The study used structured interview
guides for the head teachers, questionnaires for the teachers and tests for the pupils for
data collection. The instruments were tested for validity and reliability. Descriptive
statistics were used in the analysis of quantitative data while qualitative data was
analyzed thematically.

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 10
8. Findings
The first research objective was to identify the challenges facing learners with Hearing
Impairment in composition writing in English language lessons. From the findings, the
major difficulty the learners with Hearing Impairment faced in composition writing
was inadequate vocabulary as mentioned by majority of the teachers. This was also
noted in the students performance in the tests given. Composition writing was about
how much vocabulary a student had acquired so that he/she organized facts and
through critical thinking about the topic to write on. Without enough vocabulary it was
difficult to write a composition as required hence their difficulty. The deaf also tended
to use Kenya Sign Language Structures instead of the English Language structures
when writing compositions. Other challenges included inability to read fluently, poor
spellings, omissions, reversals and substitutions of words.
The second research objective was to identify the challenges faced by the learners
with Hearing Impairment in answering comprehension questions during English
language lessons. From this objective, the study established that the Hearing impaired
faced challenges in relation to poor comprehension skills, poor memory skills, inability
to read fluently, inadequate vocabulary and poor inference skills.
In Table 2 the results showed that both standards 7 and 8 pupils had difficulties
in answering comprehension questions. Only two pupils, one from school B and C for
the Deaf scored above average in the test given. The rest of the learners scored below
average.
Table 2: The scores recorded in answering comprehension questions by the learners with
Hearing Impaired
School
Class
Score out of 50
No. of pupils
School A
7
17
1
8
21
1
School B
7
29
1
8
21
1
School C
7
29
1
8
17
1
Total
6
6
9. Conclusions
The first research objective was to identify the challenges facing learners with Hearing
Impairment in composition writing in English language lessons. The study concluded
that the Hearing Impaired faced various challenges in composition writing in relation to
inadequate vocabulary, lack of organization and creative skills, poor spellings, poor

William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 11
handwriting, use of sign language structures instead of English language structures,
inability to read fluently and generally poor reading skills.
The second research objective was to identify the challenges faced by the learners
with Hearing Impairment in answering comprehension questions during English
language lessons. From this objective, the study concluded that the Hearing impaired
faced challenges in relation to poor comprehension skills, poor memory skills, inability
to read fluently, inadequate vocabulary and poor inference skills.
10. Recommendations
The study recommended the following:
 To alleviate the problems faced by the Hearing Impaired in composition writing,
the teachers should assist the learners to develop legible handwriting, correct
spellings; adequate vocabulary; organisational and creative ability skills; and the
need to differentiate Kenyan Sign Language structures and English Language
structures so as to avoid confusion in composition writing.
 To alleviate the problems faced by the Hearing Impaired in answering
comprehension questions, the study recommended that there is need for teachers
to assist the Hearing Impaired learners to develop a reading culture that would
expand their vocabulary and enhance fluent reading; assist learners in
developing inference skills and memory skills. This would enable the Hearing
Impaired learners to overcome their inability to read.
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William Omondi Kodiango, Anne Syomwene -
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE HEARING IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING AND IN
ANSWERINGCOMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 10 │ 2016 13
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