EFFECTS OF TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIREMENT AT KAREN TECHNICAL TRAINING INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF, NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Professional training greatly influences the development of human resource capacities that in turn boost sustainable economic growth and development. Provision of quality education has been given emphasis in legislations and acts of parliaments. The purpose of this study was to establish effects of teacher characteristics on academic performance of hearing-impaired students at Karen Technical Training Institute for the Deaf with an aim of finding ways of improving the academic performance of the institution. It aimed to determine the effect of trained teachers in special needs education and instructional strategies used on academic performance of hearing impaired students at Karen Technical Training Institute for the Deaf. The study also correlated teachers’ perceptions on hearing impaired learners and their academic performance at the same institution at the time determining the effect of using Kenyan Sign Language for academic instructions on academic performance of hearing impaired students at this institute for the Deaf. The study was supported by the social learning theory by Albert Bandura. Descriptive research design was used to sample 30% of the targeted population thus 15 teachers and 113 students from a population size of 61 teachers and 450 students. Stratified and random sampling was used to get the number of respondents for the teachers as one stratum and for the students as the other. Simple random sampling was used to get the individual respondents from the two strata. Two sets of questionnaires were used for collecting data; one for the teachers while the other for the students. The questionnaires were validated and their reliability tested after pilot testing. Validity was achieved by discussing the items in the tools with the supervisors. Reliability, on the other hand, was achieved by checking internal consistence using Spearman-Brown prophecy formula. Raw data that was systematically organized, coded and analyzed through descriptive as well as inferential statistics. The results were thereafter presented through frequency tables. The study investigated the effect of independent variable on dependent variable using Multinomial Logistic Regression. It used the KNEC system to categorization put students into three levels namely Good, Fair and Fail. The results showed that an increase in teacher training in SNE increases the odds of students getting categorized as Good by 2.49. This implied that an increase in teachers training in SNE is associated with a positive increase in learners academic performance. An increase in instructional strategies increases the odds of students getting categorized as Good by 1.519. This implied that an increase in instructional strategies is associated with a positive increase in learners academic performance. An improvement on teacher perceptions increases the odds of students getting categorized as Good by 1.519. Additionally, the results indicated that using KSL increases the odds of students getting categorized as Good by 3.049. The results implied that the use of KSL was also positively associated with increase in academic performance. From this analysis, the researcher thus failed to accept the null hypothesis. The study recommended that teachers should be trained to have more confidence when it comes to the use of KSL so as to make them effective in their teaching, there is the need for improvement of sitting arrangement in classes by ensuring that they adopt horse-shoe shaped arrangement. In terms of perceptions of the teachers, teachers need to have higher academic and positive behavioral expectations of students with HI than of their hearing peers. This creates a learning environment that is positive to the learners. Teachers should embrace the use of KSL for academic instructions as it makes it easy for students with HI to understand academic content.