Exploring the Potential Usage of Mobile Technologies Among the Hearing-Impaired Students in Learning English as a Second Language (ESL)

Abstract

With the emergence of mobile technologies in education, the special needs students are gaining the infinite benefits that could enhance their learning sessions. Numerous studies are conducted on the usage of mobile technologies    among the special needs students including their acceptance towards the technologies, its advantages as well as the obstacles on the utilisation of mobile technologies. However, fewer studies are done on the usage of mobile technologies among the hearing-impaired (HI) students. There is a need for more studies on that as the number of hearing-impaired people are increasing continuously around the globe. Hence, the aims of the study are to explore the hearing-impaired students’ perspectives on the usa of mobile technologies in learning ESL. In-depth interviews are conducted among the selected ten hearing-impaired students from four different secondary schools in Malaysia and the notable finding demonstrates the majority of them believed that mobile technologies assist them in learning. This study provides the insights for the education stakeholders, especially the policy makers and inventors to create the solutions and improvise the features of mobile technologies that are more user-friendly towards the hearing-impaired students.