READING IN SILENCE: EXPLORING ENGLISH READING DIFFICULTIES AND STRATEGY USE AMONG HEARING-IMPAIRED FORM 1 STUDENTS

Reading is essential for language development and academic success, yet hearing-impaired students often face unique barriers when acquiring literacy skills in English as a Second Language (ESL). Limited access to auditory input can hinder vocabulary acquisition, syntactic understanding, and overall reading comprehension. This study examines the reading difficulties faced by Form 1 hearing-impaired students in a Malaysian secondary school and investigates the strategies they employ to overcome these challenges. Adopting a qualitative case study design, the research involved six participants selected through purposive sampling from a special education program. Data were gathered using reading comprehension tasks, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews conducted in Malaysian Sign Language (BIM). Thematic analysis revealed four major difficulties: limited vocabulary knowledge, challenges with complex sentence structures, poor inferencing skills, and low reading confidence analyzed using NVivo 12 software. Despite these difficulties, students employed several compensatory strategies, including re-reading, peer collaboration, sign language translation, and identifying visual cues. The findings emphasize the importance of explicit reading strategy instruction and multimodal support in ESL classrooms. This study contributes to inclusive education discourse by highlighting the cognitive flexibility and resilience of hearing-impaired learners and recommending pedagogical practices tailored to their needs.