Teachers’ Communication Ability and Retention of Learners who are Hard of Hearing in Secondary Schools in Siaya County

Abstract

Inclusive education seeks to promote equitable access, participation, and retention of all learners, including those who are hard of hearing. Despite policy efforts to support inclusion, communication barriers between teachers and learners remain a critical challenge in regular secondary schools. This study examined the influence of teachers’ communication ability on the retention of learners who are hard of hearing in regular secondary schools in Siaya County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population comprised 47 learners who are hard of hearing, 20 teachers, and 5 heads of institutions drawn from five selected secondary schools implementing inclusive education. Purposive sampling was used to select schools with inclusive education programs, while a census sampling technique was employed to include all identified learners who are hard of hearing, teachers, and heads of institutions due to the relatively small population size. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and interview schedules. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, and mean scores, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The study concluded that teachers’ communication ability had a statistically significant effect on retention of learners who are hard of hearing (β=.781, P=0.000<0.05).The coefficient of determination (R²=0.397) shows that approximately 39.7% of the variation in the retention of learners who are hard of hearing can be explained by teachers’ communication ability. The study recommended the need to strengthen both pre-service and in-service teacher training in specialized communication strategies, as well as promoting the use of multimodal instructional approaches to enhance retention of learners who are hard of hearing.