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Language development is an important task for children who suffer from hearing impairment. Therefore, educators, parents, social workers, and healthcare providers are interested in factors that can influence this process positively or negatively. The problem is in the fact that some social and economic conditions in such countries as Saudi Arabia can prevent parents from asking for help and identifying the hearing loss.
Thus, according to Alyami, Soer, Swanepoel, and Pottas (2016), in Saudi Arabia, “before the establishment of the NHS [Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening] program in 2010, the average age at which HL [hearing loss] was identified was around three years,” and “milder HL commonly remained undetected until a child had entered school” (p. 142). As a result, many deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Saudi Arabia are not provided with enough resources to develop their skills in language and literacy before entering school.
The economic status of their families can be one of the conditions that harm the situation. The purpose of this research is to study the impact that economic factors can have on the language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children who study in primary schools in Saudi Arabia to conclude about the possible relationship and actions to take to address the problem.
Literature Review
The language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing students is a topic of many recent studies because educators and social workers are interested in finding out the most effective intervention or strategy to support students who have problems with hearing. While studying elements of programs that can contribute to language acquisition in children, Nelson, Powell, Bloom, and Lignugaris-Kraft (2014) focused on the idea of basic concepts or words that need to be learned by all children to interact effectively.
Nine educators having five to seven children in the class were expected to integrate different programs to promote language development in deaf and hard-of-hearing children. It was found that students with disabilities could develop language skills while learning basic concepts, but the variety of demographic factors could also influence their success.
The quantitative study involving fifty-four students was conducted by Phillips, Wiley, Barnard, and Meinzen-Derr (2014) to assess the cognitive development of children, including the progress in language acquisition. The researchers found that deaf and hard-of-hearing children usually demonstrate a similar level of cognitive development in comparison to their hearing peers, but the level of language development can differ.
In their cross-sectional study, Netten, Frijns, Rieffe, Theunissen, and Soede (2015) focused on finding the relationship between the early identification of the hearing loss and the further development of language and social skills of children. Eighty-five students participated in the study, and it was found that deaf and hard-of-hearing students demonstrated the lower level of the development of language and communication skills than hearing peers. Thus, studying language development in deaf and hard-of-hearing students, researchers are inclined to connect it with cognitive development and applied interventions to address the problem.
Even though deafness and hearing impairment in children are problems that are also related to the context of Saudi Arabia, there are a limited number of studies that discuss the issue in detail. Al-Shammari, Ashankyty, Al-Mowina, Al-Mutairy, and Al-Shammari (2014) conducted the cross-sectional study the purpose of which was to determine the social and emotional functions and perceptions of deaf students in Saudi Arabia.
Referring to the sample of seventy female participants, the researchers found that deaf and hard-of-hearing students felt comfortable in school and university settings, but they could experience difficulties while interacting with other persons because of problems with language development. Furthermore, the researchers concluded that Saudi students develop skills in speaking Arabic more actively in comparison to English because Arabic is often the primary language for Saudi deaf and hard-of-hearing children (Al-Shammari et al., 2014).
Al-Rowaily, AlFayez, AlJomiey, AlBadr, and Abolfotouh (2012) also concentrated on studying the problem in Saudi Arabia, and the purpose of the cross-sectional research was to examine the hearing loss among children in Riyadh. While focusing on the large sample of 2574 school-aged children, the researchers concluded regarding the prevalence of hearing loss among children in the city and explained the role of early diagnosing for further language acquisition.
Alyami et al. (2016) also conducted a quantitative study involving 60 participants in Riyadh to determine the relationship between the early intervention for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their further experiences. It was found that early access to the intervention contributed to more positive outcomes and language development among children with disabilities.
It is also important to note that social and economic factors play a significant role in the development of the children’s language capacity. However, according to Al-Shammari et al. (2014), the social or economic status of children in Saudi Arabia cannot affect the language development significantly, and more attention should be paid to the nature of a child’s problem because deaf children are just more limited in their opportunities to develop language skills than hard-of-hearing and hearing children. In their study, Hashemi and Monshizadeh (2012) focused on examining how the use of the cochlear implant could influence language acquisition in children who grew in similar social and economic environments.
The experiment involving sixty students demonstrated that the cochlear implant could contribute to the development of language skills significantly. However, there were no conclusions regarding socioeconomic factors. Wiefferink, Rieffe, Ketelaar, and Frijns (2012) also studied how the use of the cochlear implant could influence the social interactions of children with hearing impairment. More than 130 children were involved in the quantitative study, and the researchers found that the use of the implant did not influence the participants’ interactions, but it influenced their abilities to communicate.
Thus, the question about the economic status and language development remained to be non-answered. Still, Macaulay and Ford (2013) concentrated on examining the problem of deafness and its impact on the cognitive development of children with a focus on families who had different economic status. The quantitative study involved ninety-five participants. It was found that the economic status of families with deaf children had an impact on the person’s intellectual development because parents in families with high social and economic status paid more attention to developing and educating their children.
In their longitudinal study, Leigh, Ching, Crowe, Cupples, and Marnane (2015) also referred to the experiences of 301 deaf and hard-of-hearing children to find the connection between social factors and psychological or emotional development of children with disabilities. The researchers found that the social and economic status of families could influence the language development of such children, but more attention was paid to other demographic factors. Therefore, more research on this problem is necessary.
Rationale and Research Question
The recent scholarly research on the problem of language acquisition in deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Saudi Arabia demonstrates that many researchers associate the success in developing literacy and communication skills with the early interventions, the use of the cochlear implant, and the social impact. Still, there are no studies that directly examined the relationship between economic factors and the language development of children with hearing impairment. Furthermore, there are a few studies conducted with the focus on students, not infants or toddlers.
Therefore, this study will provide a direct answer to the problem of whether complex economic factors can influence the language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and certain recommendations to address the issue will be proposed. Thus, the study will answer the following research question: What is the impact of economic factors on the language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children studying in primary schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia?
Method
Research Design
The correlational research will be used to find the relationship between the economic status of families with deaf or hard-of-hearing children and their language development. The correlational quantitative study is selected for this research because this approach is effective to demonstrate how differences in economic factors influencing the development of children with disabilities can be correlated with their language acquisition.
The independent variable that will be used in the study is the socioeconomic status of the family that is measured regarding the family’s average annual income and other economic factors. The dependent variable is the language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Language acquisition and development will be measured regarding the language development test’s scores.
Sample
The sample will include 200 students who study in the primary school for deaf students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as well as their parents who will agree to participate in the study and answer the questions from the questionnaire. The focus is on recruiting 6-12-year-old male students who are deaf or suffering from hearing impairment. The participants for the study will be selected with the help of the purposive sampling technique.
The reason to use the purposive sampling for the quantitative study is the limited access to students from different classes or schools in Riyadh (Creswell, 2013). The authorities of the school for deaf students and children with hearing impairment in Riyadh are expected to provide the permission to conduct the study and use school materials related to the students who are selected as participants.
Instruments
There are no studies that were focused on finding the relationship between the economic status and the language development of children with disabilities. Therefore, it is rather difficult to select the appropriate questionnaire to adapt it to the purpose of the planned study. The specific questionnaire will be developed for this study to include items regarding the economic factors that influence the family and its income. The questionnaire will also include the demographic section to conclude regarding the socioeconomic status of the family.
The items for the questionnaire will be adapted from the previously used surveys aimed at determining economic factors that influence families in Saudi Arabia and other countries to guarantee high reliability and validity of the instrument. Cronbach’s alpha will be measured to select the most reliable items to include them in the questionnaire, and the final version of the questionnaire will be evaluated by experts in the field (Creswell, 2013).
The 5-point Likert scale will be used to rate the answers to the items in the questionnaire. Appendix A provides the sample items to be used in the survey. The standard language development tests used in the primary school in Riyadh will also be used for the study. Thus, the language development test’s scores provided by the class teachers will be used to measure the dependent variable in the study.
Procedure
Before starting the research study, it is necessary to ensure that parents of students involved in the study will sign the informed consent form and accept the conditions of participating in the survey. The parents should provide permission to use the information regarding their economic status. After receiving the signed informed consent forms, the class teachers will be contacted to provide the language development test’s scores related to 200 selected male students. All the received information will be based on scales and presented in the numerical form to guarantee the usage of these data in the statistical analysis.
Parents of students will be contacted with the help of e-mail, and the electronic version of the questionnaire will be distributed to the parents. The answered questionnaires will be sent back in two weeks. To guarantee the confidentiality of participants, symbols will be used to indicate the names of students and parents, and the electronic folder with the information on students and their families will be protected with the help of the password.
Analysis Plan
After the preliminary analysis of the test’s scores, students will be divided into two groups: students who demonstrate the language development at the level equal to or higher than the average or standard norms, and students who demonstrate the language development at the level lower than the average or standard norms. The
Pearson correlation coefficient will be calculated for two groups of students to determine the presence of possible positive or negative correlations between the economic status of the family and the student’s language development. The linear regression analysis will be used to determine the relationships between the variables in the context of the determined two groups. The linear regression analysis will allow for concluding whether economic factors can predict differences in the language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
Limitations
The use of the purposive sampling technique to select the participants from the population of deaf and hard-of-hearing boys in Riyadh can be discussed as one of the study’s limitations. The problem is in the fact that the use of purposive sampling can result in the impossibility to generalize the received findings appropriately because risks of bias are high. From this point, non-purposive random sampling techniques are more suitable for quantitative studies. However, this limitation will be addressed with the focus on the large sample size that is appropriate to provide credible results.
References
Al-Rowaily, M. A., AlFayez, A. I., AlJomiey, M. S., AlBadr, A. M., & Abolfotouh, M. A. (2012). Hearing impairments among Saudi preschool children. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 76(11), 1674-1677.
Al-Shammari, M., Ashankyty, A., Al-Mowina, N., Al-Mutairy, N., & Al-Shammari, L. (2014). Social-emotional perceptions of deaf students in Hail, Saudi Arabia. American Journal of Educational Research, 2(5), 304-315.
Alyami, H., Soer, M., Swanepoel, A., & Pottas, L. (2016). Deaf or hard of hearing children in Saudi Arabia: Status of early intervention services. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 86(1), 142-149.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. New York, NY: Sage Publications.
Hashemi, S. B., & Monshizadeh, L. (2012). The effect of cochlear implantation in development of intelligence quotient of 6-9 deaf children in comparison with normal hearing children (Iran, 2009-2011). International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 76(6), 802-804.
Leigh, G., Ching, T. Y., Crowe, K., Cupples, L., & Marnane, V. (2015). Factors affecting psychosocial and motor development in 3-year-old children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 20(4), 331-342.
Macaulay, C. E., & Ford, R. M. (2013). Family influences on the cognitive development of profoundly deaf children: Exploring the effects of socioeconomic status and siblings. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 18(4), 545-562.
Nelson, L. H., Powell, K. L., Bloom, S. E., & Lignugaris-Kraft, B. (2014). Development of basic concepts in early education programs for children who are deaf and hard of hearing using listening and spoken language. The Volta Review, 114(1), 7-29.
Netten, A. P., Frijns, J. H., Rieffe, C., Theunissen, S., & Soede, W. (2015). Early identification: Language skills and social functioning in deaf and hard of hearing preschool children. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 79(12), 2221-2226.
Phillips, J., Wiley, S., Barnard, H., & Meinzen-Derr, J. (2014). Comparison of two nonverbal intelligence tests among children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35(2), 463-471.
Wiefferink, C. H., Rieffe, C., Ketelaar, L., & Frijns, J. H. (2012). Predicting social functioning in children with a cochlear implant and in normal-hearing children: The role of emotion regulation. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 76(6), 883-889.
Appendix A
Questionnaire
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