The interactional patterns of hearing, deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) students participating in Hong Kong sign bilingual and co-enrollment classroom

Abstract

Co-enrollment offers D/HH student social integration opportunities with hearing peers. When co-enrollment partners with sign bilingualism, all students, deaf and hearing, are immersed in a classroom environment where they can interact and learn from other's language and culture. The aims of this study were to investigate the frequency and pattern of classroom interaction in terms of language use and Initiation-Response-Follow-up (IRF) patterns among the students with different hearing status in the Hong Kong sign bilingual and co-enrollment (SLCO) classroom over a period of six years. The interaction patterns and language use of 6 D/HH students and their 25 hearing peers were followed for 6 years from Primary One to Six in a SLCO classroom. A mixed-method approach was adopted using qualitative (naturalistic observation and semi-structured interviews) and quantitative (systematic observations based on video data) research methods. Results showed that students' classroom participation and frequency of interactions increased significantly over time. Hearing status affects neither the quantity of classroom participation nor their interlocutors in classroom interaction. Student-student and teacher-student interaction increased significantly after the initial observation period. D/HH-D/HH, hearing-hearing and D/HH-hearing interactions all increased in quantity over time. There was an increase in the use of Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) with students of different hearing status over time. The number of D/HH students' initiation moves out-numbered their hearing peers during the initial observation period. In the later observation periods, both D/HH and hearing students' initiation, response and follow-up moves increased over time. Findings of this study filled the gap of the previous literatures by exploring the language use of D/HH students and their hearing peers in the natural SLCO classroom. Favorable classroom ecologies which could facilitate D/HH and hearing peer or teacher interactions were identified. This longitudinal study is the first in the field which used systematic observation to explore D/HH and hearing students' IRF patterns at different stages of their school life. This study indicates that D/HH and hearing students in a SLCO setting can develop skills for interacting with each other. Moreover, the classroom shifted from teacher-centered to a more student-centered one. Co-enrollment seemed to facilitate D/HH-hearing and D/HH-D/HH interactions, in other words, benefiting both D/HH and hearing students.