Teacher’s Strategies in English Vocabulary Instruction for Learners with Hearing Impairment at Special Education School

Authors

  • Sarlan Hamid English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Letters and Culture, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo
  • Sri Agriyanti Mestari English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Letters and Culture, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo
  • Haris Danial English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Letters and Culture, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v14i1.10329

Keywords:

Teacher Strategies, English Vocabulary Instruction, Hearing Impairment, Special School

Abstract

This study aims to explore teacher’s strategies in English vocabulary instruction for learners with hearing impairment at SLB Negeri Kota Gorontalo. It employed a descriptive qualitative design to gain an in-depth understanding of classroom practices in a natural setting. Data were collected through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with an English teacher experienced in teaching learners with hearing impairment. The findings reveal five main strategies: (1) sign language, (2) visual media, (3) fingerspelling, (4) lip reading, and (5) drilling strategy. Sign language is the most dominant, serving as the primary medium to bridge students’ understanding of English vocabulary. Visual media, such as pictures and flashcards, support comprehension, while fingerspelling helps students recognize word structures. Lip reading facilitates pronunciation and articulation, and drilling strengthens memory through repetition. Therefore, more interactive, multimodal, and technology supported strategies are recommended to improve vocabulary acquisition and student engagement.

References

Bernstein, L. E., Jordan, N., Auer, E. T., & Eberhardt, S. P. (2022). Lipreading: A review of its continuing importance for speech recognition with an acquired hearing loss and possibilities for effective training. American Journal of Audiology, 31(2), 453-469.

Gülengül Birinci, F., & Sariçoban, A. (2021). The effectiveness of visual materials in teaching vocabulary to deaf students of EFL. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(1), 628–645. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.43

Kyle, F. E., Campbell, R., & MacSweeney, M. (2016). Speechreading and reading development in deaf and hearing children: The role of visual input. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 146, 297–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.02.003

Lee, B., & Secora, K. (2022). Fingerspelling and Its Role in Translanguaging. Languages, 7(4), 278. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7040278Marschark,

M., & Spencer, P. E. (2010). The Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education, vol. 2. Oxford University Press.

Mayer, R. E. (2024). The Past, Present, and Future of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. Educational Psychology Review, 36(1), 8.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09842-1

Nation, P. (2017). How vocabulary is learned. Indonesian JELT: Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching, 12(1), 1-14.Panduan-Pelaksanaan-Pendidikan-Inklusif Kurikulum. (n.d.).

Sahnan, B. (2024). Peran Bahasa Inggris Dalam Dunia Profesional Dan Globalisasi.

Sari, P. P., & Marlina, M. (2021). Bentuk komunikasi nonverbal guru dalam proses belajar mengajar bagi siswa tunarungu.

Walsh-Aziz, M. L., Schick, B., & Lederberg, A. (2023). Fingerspelling Used in Classrooms by Teachers of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 29(1), 30–39. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enad023

Wolbers, K., Holcomb, L., & Hamman-Ortiz, L. (2023). Translanguaging Framework for Deaf Education. Languages, 8(1), 59. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010059

Yin, K., & Alikhani, M. (2022). Including Signed Languages in Natural Language Processing (Extended Abstract). Proceedings of the Thirty-First International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 5369–5373. https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2022/753

Zhang, D., Ke, S., Yang, J., & Anglin‐Jaffe, H. (2024). Sign language in d/deaf students’ spoken/written language development: A research synthesis and meta‐analysis of cross‐linguistic correlation coefficients. Review of Education, 12(3), e70016. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.70016

Downloads

Published

2026-06-02

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2026): IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Sarlan Hamid, Sri Agriyanti Mestari, Haris Danial

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See the Effect of Open Access)