THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRACTICAL ENGLISH CURRICULUM BASED ON AUTONOMOUS LEARNING THEORY TO ENHANCE WRITING ABILITIES OF DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING COLLEGE STUDENTS

Abstract

The research aimed to develop a practical English writing curriculum based on autonomous learning theory and evaluate its effectiveness in improving the writing ability of deaf and hard of hearing college students (DHH). The target group comprised 18 deaf freshmen. Curriculum development included four stages: (1) research on basic information on curriculum development; (2) development of a practical English writing curriculum; (3) the implementation of the curriculum; and (4) evaluation of the curriculum with a focus on improvement. After three months implementation, the researchers made a statistical analysis of the students' writing scores in the pre-test, mid-test and post-test, and analyzed the demographic variables. The validity of the evaluation results of the practical English curriculum and analysis of research data showed as following: (1) an enhancement was student writing skills in the curriculum; (2) the practical English writing curriculum was effective in improving the English writing ability of deaf and hard of hearing college students. Further analysis of the data indicated that the schools attended by deaf and hard of hearing college students, their communication methods, and their learning psychology all have an impact on their curriculum learning results. Consequently, curriculum designers, implementers and managers should all pay attention to the above issues and useful suggestions were given according to the results and conclusions of this research.

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