Teachers' Views on Teaching Mathematics to Hearing Impaired Students in the Distance Education: A qualitative study in Turkey & Romania

Abstract

As a result of the long-term restrictions due to the Covid 19 epidemic, face-to-face education has been switched to distance education. In distance education, some differences have been made in the course contents, teaching materials, and measurement and evaluation processes, and the process has been tried to be appropriately managed. However, it was found that most of these studies did not include students with special education needs, such as the deaf and hard of hearing. This research aims to examine teachers' opinions about teaching mathematics to deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the distance education period. The study was designed according to the case study, one of the qualitative research methods. The study group consisted of 17 teachers working in Turkey and Romania. Data were collected through semi-structured interview forms from teachers selected by the criterion sampling method and were subjected to content analysis. In the data obtained from the analysis, distance education tools are seen as a necessity of the age rather than a necessity. Nonetheless, some infrastructure deficiencies, digital materials increase motivation, and distance measurement and evaluation applications cause stress in students. In light of the findings, it is recommended to plan the Mathematics lessons according to the disability groups of the students and prepare the course materials with sign language and subtitles in a way that is suitable for the hearing impaired.