Teaching English for Students with Visual Impairments
by Widya Aryanti, S.TP, MSi.
Email: widyaaryanti@yahoo.com
Introduction
Learners with visual impairments have different needs compared to sighted students. The learning strategies have to be adapted to fully support their inclusion in the classroom. Various teaching strategies suitable for sighted students might not be appropriate for individuals with visual impairments like asking a student to describe a picture with mountains. However, asking to describe his/her own representation of mountains can be a perfectly suitable adaptation easily implemented. As an English lecturer, my duty is not to merely teach students but also to motivate and support them for empowerment, self-esteem and independence. Thus, the question is: What teaching strategies are meaningful to a learner with visual impairment in a regular classroom? The following are suggestions of adaptions for students with visual impairment. They are based on the Services for Students with Disabilities at the University of Indianapolis, USA (http://www.uindy.edu/ssd).
General Tips for Positive Communication – Do not hesitate to ask a student what accomodations, if any, are required in the classroom. The student is the “expert” about his or her particular needs.- A comprehensive syllabus with clearly delineated statements about exception is helpful to students who need help with structure and organization. Include a disability statement in the syllabus and read it aloud during the first class meeting.- Introduce yourself and anyone else who might be present when speaking to a student with vision impairment.- Use a normal voice level when speaking; remember a student with a vision impairment has sight problem, not hearing loss.- Speak directly to the student with vision impairments and address him or her by name. – Do not hesitate to use such word as look or see; students with vision impairments use these terms also.- When walking with a student with vision impairment, allow him or her to take you arm just above the elbow. Walk in a natural manner and pace.- When offering a seat to a student with vision impairment, place the student;s hand on the back or arm of the seat. This give the student a frame of reference to seat him or herself.
Suggested Classroom Accommodations – Discuss necessary classroom accommodations and testing adaptations early in the semester (within the first couple of class days) with the student.- Allow student to work with a partner or allow a volunteer in the class to support the student.- Make sure materials are organized and easily accessible to the student.- Taped textbooks may be available. Check with the publisher company.- The student should also be familiar with other ways to make print accessible, such as ebooks. Ask him/her about it if the textbook is not yet adapted.- Be open to students’ taping your lectures- Allow student to record result verbally instead of writing them.- Provide appropriate written and verbal descriptions to accompany any visual aids, diagrams, film or videos that you might use in class- Provide student with a copy of vocabulary words, definitions and examples ahead of time in either large print or braille, so he or she is familiar with concepts as they are introduced- As you are writing on the white board or discussing a diagram, verbalize what you are writing. When using technical terms, remember to spell them out or give descriptions if appropriate.- Try to speak directly to the class, remembering that turning your head away can muffle sound, body language and gestures cannot be seen.- Appropriate seating is important for a visually impaired student; since the student cannot see visual cues, he or she needs to be seated in a position to receive verbal cues. Control background noise.- Arrange computer lab accessibility with IT technician and PSLD.- Allow student to do worksheets/papers on a computer using appropriate hardware and software.
Exam Accommodations
– Discuss exams; arrangements with student early in the semester to assure that the process will be smooth when it is actually time to schedule and administer exams.- Tests can be administered by having the questions read to the students by a volunteer.- Reproduce exams in a large print if the student has a low vision.- Allow extra time (about 50% longer) for test taking in a separate, quiet setting.
Teaching Students with Visual Impairments : A Case Study
One of the most difficult things when I started to teach English was to value each student in the classroom regardless of their abilities. The experience proved to be even more complex when I received the first student with visual impairment in my class. Rini (name changed to protect privacy) had different learning needs.
Inclusion not only means to be in the same classroom together with peers. It also means that the content of the course is similar for all students but involves some type of adaptations. Rini, like all students with special needs, requires specific instructional methods and adapted material to reach her academic potential. During the first class, I was slightly worried about how best to teach Rini. “Alhamdulillah” (all praise is to Allah in Arabic), she is very open-minded and helpful, personally asking me to help improve her English during our first meeting. It encouraged me to seek information about the most appropriate way to teach her without neglecting the rest of the class.
Some inclusive adaptations
While other students in the classroom can understand what is written on the whiteboard, Rini needs to have it read out loud by myself or the writer. When other students can read and practice exercises in their academic books, Rini would have it read by a colleague in order to accomplish the exercise. When other students can simply describe pictures, play cards, complete crosswords and mime activities, I would adapt them to ensure she can follow. It is also the case with role play, line up, and bingo so Rini can join and share enjoyment in class. It is important to use clear words (e.g., left, right, in front of…) to describe any situation. The use of “this” or “that” must be refrained because it does not make any sense for students with visual impairment. As a lecturer, I realized that forcing myself to be more descriptive not only facilitate the inclusion of Rini but also other students seem to benefit as well. In terms of body behavior and verbal communication, students in general can actually feel the teacher’s emotions through gestures, and it affects learning awareness. A teacher who is funny, warm and smiley, with a passionate soul would influence students to work better. With Rini, the contact through a smile happened with a clear and pleasant intonation and sense of humor. She can feel that I am motivated to teach her efficiently.
The English of Rini is better than her peers in the class. I uses this advantage to ask her to help by leading discussion group and solve problems together with the other students. In reading groups, Rini has the directive to check the other students’ pronunciation or to translate. Then, she has for example to make a summary of the passage. Rini enjoys this activity because she is with her colleagues, she is learning as well, and is not bored. Moreover, by joining discussion groups, all students become closer and bound better.
An issue that requires immediate solution
Rini loves English very much. When I asked her about how she studied English, she said that practice makes perfect. She likes to listen to English news, and read English Braille where she studied grammar from. When Rini was in high school, she used to talk in English with her teacher. As said earlier, her level of English proficiency is much higher than the other students. However, she was put in my class which is for beginners. When I asked why, she explained to me that when she completed her placement test, the volunteer that read to her the exam was not from the English department. He had difficulty speaking English and she could not understand everything he was saying. The support she received at that moment was very weak. Besides, no extra time was allocated during the test taking so she did not have time to listen to the volunteer reading the questions, think of the answers, and dictate and spell them to the volunteer.
This astonishing situation leads to the fact that Rini can help her colleagues but not surprisingly, the material studied is too easy for her. Therefore, she dominates the flow of the discussion. Rini needs higher challenges in order to not get bored or sleepy during the class. My next steps to provide her with the best teaching possible is to future adapt reading materials or worksheets in Braille and to allow her to work on a computer using JAWS software which reads out loud the screen. A learner with visual impairment, like Rini, needs to be understood. While she is a student just like other people of her age, she has special needs that needs to be taken into account.
Conclusion
This paper aimed to understand which teaching strategies are meaningful to a learner with visual impairment. As an English lecturer, I am really affected by these matters. My duty is not to merely teach my students, but also to motivate and support them so they can maximize their learning. The commitment of the University UIN Sunan Kalijaga to fully support the equal and inalienable right to education and accessibility to students, regardless of their differences is laudable. We, as the lecturers of UIN, need now to facilitate this process.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Widya Aryanti, is currently an English lecturer at Islamic State University UIN Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. As a lecturer, Widya Aryanti is deeply concerned by offering the best environment possible to all students in her classroom. She believes she can make a difference in the inclusion of people with disabilities with innovative and stimulating strategies to inspire each one to reach his/her academic potential.
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