Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students' Performance on Arithmetic Word Problems

• Published in: American annals of the deaf (Washington, D.C. 1886) Vol. 148; no. 1; pp. 56 - 64
• Main Authors: Hyde, Merv, Zevenbergen, Robyn, Power, Des
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf 2003; Gallaudet University Press; American Annals of the Deaf
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Arithmetic; Auditory perception; Australia; Biological and medical sciences; Deafness; Delayed language acquisition; Developmental Delays; Ear, auditive nerve, cochleovestibular tract, facial nerve: diseases, semeiology; Educational Status; Elementary Secondary Education; Hard of Hearing; Hearing disorders; Hearing loss; Humans; Kelly, R; Language; Language Acquisition; Language teaching methods; Mathematical Applications; Mathematical problems; Mathematics; Mathematics Achievement; Mathematics education; Medical sciences; Non tumoral diseases; Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Partial Hearing; Persons With Hearing Impairments; Problem Solving; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Reading Comprehension; Stress; Students; Teaching Methods; Teaching. Deontology. Ethics. Legislation; Word problems; Word Problems (Mathematics); Words; Australia; Queensland Australia; Human; Survey; Arithmetics; Auditory disorder; ENT disease; Method; Performance; Public health; Teaching; Hearing loss
• ISSN: 0002-726X; 1543-0375; 1543-0375
• DOI: 10.1353/aad.2003.0003

There has been limited research into the intersection of language and arithmetic performance of students who are deaf or hard of hearing, although previous research has shown that many of these students are delayed in both language acquisition and arithmetic performance. The researchers examined the performance on arithmetic word problems of deaf and hard of hearing students in the South-East Queensland region of Australia; they also examined these students 9 problemsolving strategies. It was found that performance on word problems was similar for deaf and hearing students, but that deaf students experienced delays in achieving successful performance on word problems relative to their hearing peers. The results confirm the findings of other studies showing that students who are deaf or hard of hearing experience delayed language acquisition, which affects their capacity to solve arithmetic word problems. The study conclusions stress the need for greater use of direct teaching of analytic and strategic approaches to arithmetic word problems.