Social "Tractions between Deaf and Hearing Students in Inclusive Primary School: The Case of Mechanism School for the Deaf
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Date
2016-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Inclusive education program is one of the approaches in which various countries are
implementing to provide social development opportunities and access to education for
children with disability. Mekanissa School for the Deaf is one of the schools in Ethiopia in
which number of Deaf and hearing students are learning together for many years. The social
interaction between Deaf and hearing students is therefore the main components of activity in
the school. Hence, this research is conducted to answer the following research questions: 1)
How do hearing students perceive social interaction with deaF 2) How do hearing and deaf
students interact each other in the school? 3) What factors motivate and affect the social
interactions between hearing and deaf children in the school? 4) How do the school teachers
and principal perceive social interaction between deaf and hearing students? The research
applied qualitative research approach and used Key Informant Interview (KII), Focus Group
Discussion (FGD), document review and observation to collect the data jiom the research
subjects, 24 in total, who are purposely selected. The research finding shows that the Deaf
and hearing students socially interact at break time, lunch time, jiee period, out of schooling
time and on different event days. The major social interactions between Deaf and hearing in
the school takes place through playing different games like valley ball, hand ball, football,
basketball, organizing and conducting social events, preparing dramas and poems,
participate in different club activities, support children who are in different social problems,
practicing and exercising the sign language, forming social association, doing group
aSSignments, study together, having lunch together and worshiping together and organizing
and participating in different social trips. Limited knowledge and skills on sign languages,
lack of motivation and bad attitude of some hearing students, weak orientation among
teachers and their inefficiency in sign language, absence or weak school mechanisms for
social interactions, and low awareness among some parents are some of the factors affecting
the development of social interactions between Deaf and hearing students in the school. To
strengthen the social interactions between Deaf and hearing students, the school has to work
with students, parents, teachers, government and external supporters with strong orientation
on the values of social interactions and put strong mechanisms in place that will be measured
on regular bases.
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Keywords
Social “Tractions between Deaf, and Hearing Students