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This is appropriate to teach English grammar implicitly Richards and Rodgers, 2003, p. 155.
7. Hearing Impairment
This part discusses some theories of hearing impaired students which still deal with the development of instructional materials in this research. The
theories are about the definition of hearing impairment, the classification of hearing impairment, and the characteristics of students with hearing impairment.
a. Definition of Students with Hearing Impairment
Most peop le often define the term “impairment” the same as the terms
“disability” and “handicap”. According to Hallahan and Kauffman 2006, those terms are often used interchangeably. However, they are distinctive and the
distinction is an important thing for teachers to understand. A disability is an inability to do something or a diminished capacity to perform in a specific way.
Meanwhile, a handicap is a disadvantage imposed on an individual. A disability may or may not be a handicap depending on the circumstances. Yet, the term used
in this research is neither disability nor handicap but impairment which refers to a condition which avoids parts of the body from working properly. In this case,
the body part which is avoided from working properly is ear. Therefore, this condition is labelled hearing impairment.
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b. Classification of Hearing Impairment
The classification of hearing impairment leads the experts to know the characteristics of those who suffer from it. These characteristics are beneficial for
educational field because they help teachers who teach students with hearing impairment prepare themselves before starting teaching learning process. In this
research, the classification of hearing impairment used is the one proposed by Pierson 2002.
He divides the hearing impairment into five categories. They are slight, mild, moderate, severe, and profound hearing loss. The first category is slight
hearing loss which means students can hear vowel sounds well, but they may miss some consonants. In other words, their speech cannot be as correct as normal
students. Meanwhile, in mild hearing loss, students with hearing impairment miss a lot of what is happening in the classroom, especially if some students are
talking. It is also hard to get their focus back regarding to one of the characteristics of young learners which is active. He also adds when students are
hard to understand normal speech and can get the message when the speaker is directly in front of them 5 or 6 feet away, they suffer from moderate hearing loss.
When students suffer from severe hearing loss, they cannot speak in a way strangers understand. As they are hearing voices, they seem hearing shrill noise in
such extern loudness as burglar alarm. Therefore, the students need to look at the speaker because they communicate with signs and little speech. Furthermore,
students possibly suffer from profound hearing loss. To communicate, they use
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signs, lip reading, and writing because their speech is impossible to understand Pierson, 2002.
c. Characteristics of Students with Hearing Impairment
