Teaching Vocabulary to Visually Impaired EFL Learners: A Small-Scale Study

Year 2018, Volume: 47 Issue: 1, 151 - 163, 22.04.2018

Havva Zorluel Özer , Neşe Cabaroğlu

https://doi.org/10.14812/cuefd.379823

Cited By: 1

Abstract

This qualitative study aims at providing an in-depth account
of teaching vocabulary to young English as a foreign language (EFL) learners
with visual impairments. In the present study, we investigate how foreign
language teachers teach English vocabulary to the visually impaired (VI) young
learners, what challenges they face and whether they can cope with these
challenges in this particular process. The participants are two EFL teachers
working at a primary and secondary school for blind and visually impaired
students in Adana, Turkey. Semi-structured interviews have been utilized to
collect data. Content analysis results revealed that both teachers most
frequently utilized auditory teaching techniques, used L1 and computer assisted
teaching techniques while teaching vocabulary to VI young learners.
Semi-structured in-depth interviews also provided insights into the challenges
faced while teaching vocabulary to VI young learners. Data showed that the
orthography, material shortage, time constraints and dependency of students on
other people to study were the main difficulties experienced by both teachers.

Keywords

English, vocabulary teaching, visually impaired

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