Developing Reading Skills Through Semantic Proficiency: A Case of Learners with Mild Hearing Impairment in a South African Mainstream School

This article reports the findings of a study that examined the teaching strategies employed to teach English semantics to enhance the reading skills of learners with mild hearing impairment included in mainstream classrooms in a South African public school. The learners were to be assisted to understand the meaning of words, improve their reading ability, and develop the literacy skills needed to make their learning successful. The study aimed to investigate how semantic proficiency contributes to the reading skills of learners with mild hearing impairment and to determine what teaching strategies teachers employ to teach semantics in inclusive settings. A quantitative case study design was adopted. The study involved two teachers and 13 grade 8 learners with a hearing impairment. A systematic sampling technique was used to select suitable participants. The data were collected through classroom observations and unstructured interviews. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The study found that the teachers believed that exposure to understanding the meaning of words would encourage reluctant learners to read more. To a large extent, the teachers embraced the significance of adopting different teaching strategies to teach semantics, for example, repeated reading. Learners participated actively during the activities and in most instances responded positively to the questions posed by the teachers. This was demonstrated by the learners’ understanding of the words that they encountered. The conclusion drawn from the study is that the teachers comprehended the significance of understanding words and reading them fluently.