This study will take the form of a case study of a group of Deaf Information Technology
(IT) students and their Sign Language interpreters at Durban University of Technology
(DUT). These students are enrolled under a Programme for the Deaf run by the
Information Technology Department. The department provides additional assistance in
the form of Sign Language interpreters who attend all their lectures and also provide
extra tutorials for them. The aim of the research is to identify the main challenges
encountered by this group of students at DUT. I first became aware of the existence of
these students while engaged in an action research project at the beginning of 2005 and
realised that this was an area that needed further study.
There is a lack of research on Deaf students in tertiary institutions in South Africa and
there are not many tertiary institutions which enrol Deaf students and provide them with a
Sign Language interpreter. I realised that this was an area which needed to be researched
and that the resulting findings could make a difference to the lives of Deaf students at
DUT by identifying the main problems and perhaps suggesting ways in which these
could be addressed. Group interviews with the Deaf participants were conducted with the
assistance of a Sign Language interpreter in order to explore their challenges. Further
interviews were conducted with the interpreters who were interviewed individually.
The study was limited to Deaf students enrolled under the undergraduate Programme for
the Deaf at DUT and, as a result, might not reflect challenges faced by any other deaf
students at DUT or other tertiary institutions. The findings identified, amongst others,
problems such as poor literacy levels of the Deaf students and lack of communication
between the Deaf students and hearing staff and students on campus among other
problems. The Deaf students felt marginalised and largely ignored on campus. There was
very little awareness of Deafness among hearing students and staff at DUT. Some
possible solutions to these problems were suggested such as including deaf awareness in
the orientation of hearing staff and students. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/8633 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Mazoue, Patricia. |
| Contributors | Searle, Ruth. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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