Exploring The Status Of Ethiopian Sign Language As Medium Of Instruction For Students With Hearing Impairment. A Case Study From Sewhi Nigus Primary School For The Deaf Mekelle

Using sign language as medium of instruction narrows communication gap, enhances students’rncognitive and academic development and develop sign language for academic purpose.rnHowever, application of sign language as a medium of instruction has various challenges andrnopportunities. Thus ,the purpose of this study was to exploring the status of ‘Ethiopian SignrnLanguage’ as medium of instruction at ‘Sewhi Nigus primary school for the Deaf’, Mekelle. Thernmethodical approach was mixed quantitative and qualitative with descriptive design. To this end,rnthe purposive, availability and simple random sampling techniques were used for collecting datarnfrom n=1 school principal and n=1 SNE expert, n= 16 teachers and n=27 Deaf students, andrnn=52 hearing students respectively. The main data gathering instrument was questionnaire.rnInterview and observation were also used to triangulate the data. The obtained data throughrnquestionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics frequency, percentile, mean andrnstandard deviation. The qualitative data obtained through open ended questions, interview andrnobservation were analyzed using narration to support the data obtained through questionnaire.rnThe major findings of the study revealed that Students who are Deaf were not taught most of thernbasic school curriculum with sign language skilled teachers or did not receive the support ofrnsign language interpreters. As the Deaf Students’ grade level increased, the subjects taughtrnusing sign language in the school is a serious challenge for teachers. Majority of the teachersrnhave used oral method of communication for Students who are Deaf; however, students’rnprefernce is Sign Language. Absence of teaching materials in sign language, disregarding signrnlanguage as subject language, inadequate pre-services and in-services in sign language trainingrn, and majority of the teachers have unfavorable attitude towards sign language as mediumrninstruction whereas majority of the students have favorable attitude. As a result, students whornare Deaf are at risk of educational failures. Hence, the researcher strongly recommends thatrnsign language should be included in the basic school curriculum for Students who are Deaf

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