MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
THE VIETNAM INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
NGUYEN MINH PHUONG
DEVELOPING
LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS FOR
CHILDREN WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT
AGED 3-6 YEARS
Major: Theory and History of Education
Code: 9.14.01.02
A SUMMARY OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
MANUSCRIPT OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
Hanoi, 2021
This doctoral dissertation is completed at:
The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences
Scientific Instructors: 1. PROF. DR. NGUYEN THI HOANG YEN
2. DR. VUONG HONG TAM
Reviewer 1: ....................................................................
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Reviewer 2: ...................................................................
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Reviewer 3: ....................................................................
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This doctoral dissertation will be presented in an institute-leveled dissertation assessment
council at the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, Vietnam, 101 Tran Hung Dao,
Hanoi
At ..... h00 ..... dd ..... mm .... yy....
The doctoral dissertation manuscript can be found at:
- The National Library of Vietnam
- The Library at the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences
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PREMABLE
1. Rationale
Listening and speaking skills are vitally important because they affect a young child’s
learning and communication. Good listening and speaking skills facilitate the child’s effective
communication and set a foundation for his/her academic success. Besides, listening and
speaking skills provide a means for the child to think about and perceive his/her surrounding
world in a positive manner. It is the mastery of a language, especially listening and speaking
skills that has a strong influence on the child’s social interaction and communication. Good
language skills provide a strong basis for the child to develop academic, thinking, teamwork
competences. At the same time, they help the child to learn and explore the surrounding world
easily. In order to use listening and speaking skills effectively, it is necessary to practice those
skills regularly, continuously, and with a plan. Therefore, it is important to study and find out
what measures can facilitate the development of the child’s listening and speaking skills.
Because of their hearing loss, children with hearing impairment suffer from spoken
language delays, they therefore have a lot of difficulties in thinking and acquiring knowledge.
However, most of children with hearing impairment still have some hearing left. Therefore,
practicing and taking advantage of those hearing are vitally important for the education of
children with hearing impairment. It is the basis for the development of sound perception, a
prequisite for the development of spoken language.
Nowadays, thanks to scientific and technological advances, many modern technical means
have been invented. The birth of hearing aids, cochlear implants is vitally important for children
with hearing impairment, helping them hear sounds from the surrounding environment and of
speech. But, those sensory devices just can help amplify sounds, they can not cure hearing
disabilities. The sounds heard via hearing aids or cochclear implants are different from the sounds
heard with ears. Without propoer practice, rehabilitation, and improvement of the listening and
speaking skills, hearing impaired children can neither hear nor speak. Practice and development
of the listening and speaking skills are therefore vitally important for the education of hearing
impaired children. This is also a basis for the development of spoken language – a major means
of communication, learning in an inclusive education setting.
During the age of 0-6 years, young children experience through the strongest physical and
psychological developments. It is a very important period because initial foundations for life are
formed in this stage. A good foundation creates opportunities for a young child to lead an
independent, confident, happy, and meaningful life, and to become an active citizen later.
Particularly, the period of 3-6 years old is decisive for the child’s language development.
Therefore, it is important to support young children’s language development in this stage so they
can use language (their mother tonge) proficiently in learning about the surrounding world,
communicating, adjusting cognitive, emotional behaviors before they move on to learn in primary
school. Early intervention for children with disabilities and particularly for chidlren with hearing
impairment are mainly practiced in the first six years of their life with two main objectives which
are to support, instruct parents (0-3 years) and organize inclusive education (3-6 years) [20][38].
At the age of 3-6 years old, early intervention programs focuses on assisting children with
hearing loss to integrate into classroom with hearing children and prepare them for grade 1. Many
studies confirmed that in an inclusive environment, thanks to the implementation of systematic
intervention measures and appropriate support strategies, children with hearing loss can achieve
goals of language and communication development, including listening and speaking skills.
Moreover, in such environment, children with hearing and hearing loss have opportunities to play
together, that helps to promote the development of social skills for both groups of the children,
and to create conditions for the children with hearing loss to easily integrate into social life [19]
[45] [81].
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So far, children with hearing impairment in Vietnam have accessed to modern assistive
listening devides. After a period of time wearing an assistive device, they have accumulated
initial listening and speaking experiences. However, the listening and speaking skills of children
with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years are still limited, they therefore face many difficulties in
inclusive kindergarten classes. Specifically, their understanding and expressive vocabularies are
poor, mainly those associated with specific things, phenomenans, actions; they often can hear and
understand simple, familiar instructions only; their speech is not as clear as that of hearing
children; they have speech sound disorders (e.g.: making mistakes of consonant sounds;
intonation is discrete, speaking word by word, up and down arbitrarily); they find it hard them to
understand grammar rules, they often swap words in a wrong order causing great difficulties for
listeners [8][10] [19].
Besides, inclusive teachers also face challenges while working with hearing impaired
children. Most of them have not recieved in-depth training on inclusive education for children
with hearing impairment, so they do not have sufficient knowledge and skills to support the
children; they are not well prepared to organize listening and speaking skills development
activities for children with hearing impairment. In addition, due to the shortage of instructional
materials and studies on listening and speaking skills, ways to develop listening and speaking
skills for children with hearing impairments in inclusive kindergarten classes, the teachers find
the planning and organization of listening and speaking skills development activities for those
children a challenge.
Because of the above-mentioned reasons, I have decided to select the research entitled of
“Developing listening and speaking skills for children with hearing impairment aged 3-6
years” for my doctoral dissertation so as to propose measures to develop listening and speaking
skills for children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years in inclusive kindergarten classes.
2. Research goal
The research proposes a number of measures on the development of listening and
speaking skills for children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years in inclusive
kindergarten classes so as to facilitate their communication, language development
according to age groups, and integration.
3. Research objects and subjects
3.1. Research objects
The educational process of developing listening and speaking skills for children with
hearing impairment aged 3-6 years.
3.2. Research subjects
The relationships between the listening and speaking skills development activities for
children with hearing impairment in inclusive kindergarten classes and the level of their listening
and speaking skills development.
4. Scientific hypothesis
Despite they are given sensory devices, children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years
have poor listening and speaking skills. If measures are built and implemented in line with unique
capacities and bio-psycholigical features of children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years,
advantages of an inclusive education setting are well used, listening and speaking skills
development activities are harmoniously integrated into daily routines and individual supports, it
will surely help the children improve listening and speaking skills so as to facilitate their
communicatioin and integration in inclusive kindergarten classes.
5. Research tasks
5.1. Build a theoretical basis on the development of listening and speaking skills for
children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years in inclusive kindergarten classes.
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5.2. Conduct a survey, analysis and assessment of the listening and speaking skills of children
with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years and the development of listening and speaking skills of
children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years in inclusive kindergarten classes.
5.3. Propose and experiment some measures to develop the listening and speaking skills
for children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years in inclusive kindergarten classes.
6. Research scope
6.1. Content
The doctoral dissertation studies how to develop the listening and speaking skills for children
with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years in inclusive kindergarten classes, in which a focus is placed
on the listening and speaking skills in communication activities.
6.2. Subjects
The doctoral dissertation studies the development of listening and speaking skills of
children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years in inclusive kindergarten classes according to
the auditory and oral approaches, with the use of sensory devices (hearing aids, cochlear
implants) and at the listening thresthold of under 50dB when wearing a sensory devides within
the range of 250-4000 Hz to ensure they can hear speech sounds [75], [99]. Then the dissertation
proposes some measures to develop listening and speaking skills for those children in inclusive
kindergarten classes.
6.3. Sites and objects
Under this doctoral research, a survey was conducted on 36 children with hearing impairment
who are aged 3-6 years, learning in inclusive kindergarten classes, wearing a sensory device, having
the listening thresthold of under 50dB when wearing the devide, and 127 teachers who have worked
with those children in 15 inclusive kindergartens in 05 provines including Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Thai
Nguyen, Yen Bai, and Quang Ngai.
An experiment was conducted on 3 children with hearing impairment aged 3-6 years in
inclusive kindergarten classes who wear a sensory device and have the listening thresthold of under
50dB with the help of the device in three inclusive kindergartens in Hanoi and Thai Nguyen.
7. Research approaches and methodology
7.1. Research approaches
The research was conducted based on the following approaches:
- Individualized approach
- Communication based approach
- Inclusive education approach
- Integration approach
7.2. Methodsologies
7.2.1. Theoretical methods
7.2.2. Practical methods
a. Observation
b. Questionaire
c. Interview
d. Test
e. Products made in educational activities
g. Experiences
h. Case study
7.2.3. Mathematically statistics methods
8. Defense points
8.1. Hearing impairment or hearing loss causes listening and speaking difficulties for
children who suffer from this impairment. Though they are given a sensory device in accordance
with their hearing loss, the listening and speaking skills of children with hearing impairment aged
