Supporting people with disabilities to learn English in on-line environment

Abstract

Knowledge of the English language is very significant for education, employment, and leisure time of people with disabilities. Therefore, the goal of the project “Accessible Online environment for encouraging autonomous English language learning aimed at people with disabilities” is to create a platform for autonomous English language learning aimed at people with different disabilities. In the first phase of research, it was determined whether English language teachers believed that people with different disabilities needed to learn a foreign language at all, which was followed by the assessment of their attitudes toward using virtual learning environment in teaching English to students with special education needs. The sample included 83 English language teachers aged between 25 and 61. According to their self-assessment, 47% of teachers had no or only minimum experience in teaching in virtual environment. One third of the participants used virtual environment occasionally, while only every fifth participant believed to be experienced in this field. Teachers’ attitudes toward the necessity of English language learning within the population of people with disabilities were assessed by a five-point Likert scale, where 1 signified complete disagreeing, and 5 complete agreeing with the given assumptions. The participants had the most positive attitudes toward the need for English language learning of people with physical disabilities, visual impairment, and mild intellectual disability (M=4.46; 4.28 and 4.11 respectively). Most attitudes were neutral or slightly positive, and most reservations were related to the need for English language learning in people with severe forms of intellectual disability. The attitude toward using virtual environment in the process of education was similarly assessed by a five-point Likert scale. Most teachers believed that virtual environment encouraged autonomous language learning and enhanced students’ learning and educational goals (M=4.05 and 4.01 respectively). Most positive attitudes referred to teachers’ beliefs that teaching in virtual environment would facilitate meeting students’ individual needs, and that this teaching method provided more job opportunities and encouraged social inclusion. A modest, positive, and statistically significant correlation was determined between the attitudes toward the need of people with disabilities to learn English and the attitudes that virtual environment enhanced their learning and educational goals, enabled teacher to meet the needs of individual students and encouraged autonomous language learning (rs=0.282, p=0.01; rs=0.281, p=0.01; rs=0.296, p=0.007, respectively). The results of one-way analysis of variance did not show any significant differences in the assessed attitudes related to experience in using virtual learning environment. The obtained data indicate the need for providing additional support to English language teachers before starting the program of teaching in virtual environment.