CHAPTER TWO

LITRATURE REVIEW

2.1 Conceptual Framework

2.1.1. Concept of Hearing Impairment

Hearing impairment is a disability that can affect the effective functioning of the total personality no

matter the period of onset (Okeke, 2018). Among the earliest attempt to define hearing impaired was

the one made by the committee of Nomenclature of the conference of Executives of American schools

for the deaf (2020) which says that the deaf are those people in whom the sense of hearing is non-

functioning for the ordinary purpose of life. According to them also, the hard-of-hearing can be defined

as those in whom the sense of hearing although defective is functional with or without a hearing aid.

The committee went on to categorize the deaf into two, thus:

The congenitally deaf (people that become deaf from birth) ii. The adventitiously deaf (people who

though were not born deaf, still became deaf later in life, due to some accident or illness). Ross (2020)

stated that hearing impairment is a generic term that include both the hard of hearing (partial hearing)

and deaf. These two terms came up because of newer diagnostic and testing method, persons classified

as deaf have total hearing loss. The hard-of-hearing are those who can benefit maximally from auditory

training and from wearing hearing aids. This then enables them to acquire speech and language

naturally. The deaf are set of people whose sense of hearing is completely lost as a result of damage in

the auditory channel, thus such people's sense of hearing are rendered in-active and non-functional

with or without hearing aids for the day-to-day life purposes.

Bryan (2018) observed that it is well documented that deaf children are worse than hard-of-hearing and

normal hearing children in arithmetic problems involving reading skills. Proper diagnosis is therefore
important for proper categorization and eventual realization of the fullest potentials of hearing impaired

children.

Hearing impairment is a handicapping condition that affects the normal functioning of the child. The

condition impedes their educational achievement no matter the degree of impairment. Degree of

hearing impairment refers to the extent to which hearing loss affects the individual. Ernbrey (2018) who

studied the effect of a mild hearing loss on educational achievement found out that the mild hearing

impaired subject did not achieve at the same level as their normal hearing children. The observable signs

by which the hearing impaired could be identified include the following:

1. Articulation of certain speech sounds correctly often eludes the child.

2. The child finds it difficult to write down dictations.

3. The individual fails to respond to or confuse verbal directions.

4. Complains of a buzzing or ringing sound in the ear.

5. Fails to respond when called from a distance.

6. Complains of discharge from the ears.

7. Speaks in an abnormally low, high or loud voice.

8. The child responds only when he/she sees the speakers face or gesture. The individual has frequent

colds and hay fever.

9. The child bends forward so as to hear or understand what is said to him.

10. Asks the speaker to repeat sentences or words.

11. When called from a distance the child fails to respond.

12. Gives wrong answers to simple questions.

13. Often times the child dodges situations that may require him listen or talk to people.

14. The individual is insensitive to sound.

15. Rubs the ears frequently or turning to one direction as if trying to locate a sound.

16. The individual has frequent ear aches and running ears.

17. The child often screams to express pleasure, annoyance or need.

18. The child is withdrawn and does not mingle readily with classmates and neighbours. (Ernbrey 2018).

2.1.2. Concept of Sign Language Strategy

Communication is an ongoing dialogue between human beings. It can occur in a variety of ways. Some

examples are through sight, body language and symbols. All of these types of communication have rules

that need to be followed for understanding to occur. It is amazing that children acquire oral language

and by age 5 have reached a nearly adult level of development (Gustason & Zawolkow, 1993). That is

why it is so important to bridge the gap of understanding at as early age as possible. Teaching through

example is vital to the teaching learning process. Once a sound foundation of signs is established, ELL

learners feel more confident and a part of the learning environment. 3

There are two main approaches in modeling and producing sign language gestures, that are addressed

differently in the different research communities: the first one, addressed by the signed language

linguists, concerns the formation of the meaning from observations; the second one, addressed by

motion science researchers, is related to motion generation and recognition from high-level sign

descriptions. Most of the time, these two approaches are considered separately, as the two research

communities do not share the same tools and methods.

Sign language does provide a tangible means to link two languages together. It does not matter what the

two languages are since signing provides the connection between them. A meaningful two-way

communication between teacher and student will result in more productive result therefore narrowing

the communication gap. Research has shown that sign language can be used as a successful tool to

bridge the gap between children with hearing impairment and English. Sign language would provide a
two-way exchange of communicative language. 4It is important for a teacher to establish a relationship

with the children with hearing impairment. Some ways that this can occur is by the teacher being

prepared. This means having materials in both languages on hand. A welcoming classroom should

represent both languages. It is important to make the student feel welcome (Law & Eckes, 2000).

Displaying the sign language picture beside the English word and the native language word will give the

visual connection between the two words. This is also important when establishing school rules. Picture

schedules are a great visual reminder for students of both languages. These can be labeled with sign

language pictures so that students from both languages know what they mean. One sign can

communicate with both languages. This also connects the students together with a mutual mode of

communication. The communication modality is facilitated by the use of sign language variants as

presented below;

a. Handshape

b. Positioning

c. Orientation

d. Fluency and clarity

e. Signing at Pace

2.1.3. Academic Performance of Pupils with Hearing Impairment

In recent times, public interest is gradually being focused on disadvantaged pupils within the nation’s

educational system. This development is in response to the call by the Federal Government as contained

in the National Policy on Education (2014) that adequate education should be provided for all pupils

with disabilities to enable them play their role and thereafter develop psychological satisfaction. This

challenge has apparently stimulated a lot of studies into the various areas among the various groups of

disadvantaged people. One area that has attracted the attention of scholars is the relationship between
the self-concept and academic achievement of hearing impaired pupils (Ramdall, 2019; Makinde, 2012;

Abdullahi, 2015; Akinpelu, 2017). In an attempt to establish the link between self-concept and, academic

achievement, Ozoji (2013) hypothesized that the way we think about ourselves may be closely related to

our interaction with the environment and our ability to learn and to achieve academically. Hence,

Salawu (2018) posited that some pupils have problems with their studies not necessarily because of low

intelligence, poor hearing or poor motivation but because they have learned to consider themselves as

unable or inadequate. Thus, when comparisons are made as they are under the assessment system

within the school situations, the child who is below the others tends to get discouraged, and to conceive

himself as a poor pupils and vice versa. In general, when a child feels successful, his/her level of

aspiration goes up, and when he/she feels defeated, his/her level of aspiration for the immediate future

goes down. The problem of self-concept vis-à-vis academic achievement becomes aggravated for the

disadvantaged individuals particularly the hearing impaired, who, as a result of the society’s attitude of

labeling, make them to experience psychological depression and subsequently develop negative self-

concept.

Not surprisingly, some studies (Roy, 2015; Ramdall, 2013) have shown that in general, the self-concept

of hearing impaired people are more negative than that of the general population. Attempts to correlate

the relationship between self-concept and academic achievement among hearing impaired pupils have

evoked much controversy. While studies carried out by Bledoe (2017;), Akinpelu (2017) showed positive

relationship, other studies (Nicholson, 2005; Williams,” 2017) reveal no significant relationship on what

might be responsible for the relationship between self-concept and academic achievement of pupils,

studies have revealed environmental variables of rural versus urban settings (Adediran, 1984);

Communication Styles (Campell, 2016) negative labels commonly associated with handicapped

individuals particularly the hearing impaired (Hilton,2016); pupils ability development and level of social

interaction (Johnson, 2015); as well as disabilities of handicapped people (Ozoji, 2013; Kolo, 2013). The
various studies cited above suggest that a poor self-concept, which implies lack of self-confidence in

facing and mastering the environment would or would not be related to deficiency in school

performance not only among ‘normal’ children but also among handicapped ones including the hearing

impaired; and that the degree of relationship will vary from individual to individual. The degree of

variation might even be more pronounced among children with disabilities within the context of the

society’s attitude towards them.

2.1.4. Influence of Sign Language on Vocabulary Acquisition.

Language through language processes (Freeman & Freeman, 2004). Teachers are often trained how to

teach their children to learn through the use of language. Children who are trying to learn without

English being their native language often struggle and become confused. Educators must assume that

when a student is trying to communicate that what he or she is trying to say is any less important than

what an English-speaking child would be saying. This is where sign language would come into play.

Teachers might not know what that child is saying because he or she are unfamiliar with the language

but the teacher could recognize the sign and have a grasp of the content that is being spoken. This

would help the teacher understand the intended meaning without assuming. Sign language would allow

the teacher to check the child’s meaning before continuing.

There are lots of researches done on alternative assessments for children with hearing impairment

(O'Malley & Pierce, 1996). Sign language could provide an alternative way to assess these students

understanding of what is being taught. The student may not be able to correctly verbalize what they

want to say but they could sign it. Teachers should encourage children to explore the two languages and

establish their own meanings using various techniques such as sign language. Students must learn a new

language with an understanding input that will produce and understanding output (Constantino, 1994).

The two-way exchange should be meaningful and there should be a means to negotiate the information
gap. Sign language is a great tool to use for this. It would provide a two-way exchange of communicative

language.

It is not just deaf and hard of hearing children who use sign language for language development.

Another large segment of sign language users is hearing nonverbal children who are nonverbal due to

conditions such as Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, trauma, and brain disorders or speech

disorders. For parents, sign language provides a means of quick communication, particularly for those

whose attention spans may be very short or language very limited. Or it may be a tool for language

development prior to developing spoken language. For children, it is a means of expressing themselves

so that they are less frustrated (Acredolo, 2000). This could be applied to students who are also non-

English speaking. They may be verbal in another language but they are non-verbal in English, the

language being taught. These same principles 7 apply. Picture dictionaries with the student’s native

language, the sign language picture and the English word would be a great resource to provide to an ELL

student (Col, 1996). As they fill out the dictionary and use it, their learning will become more meaningful

and they will have ownership over how they are learning the new language. This gives the student one

more tangible way to communicate.7

A small number of studies concern hearing children of deafparents. Holmes and Holmes (1980), Prinz

and Prinz (1981), Orlansky and Bonvillian (1985), and Griffith (1985) all report early acquisition and

accelerated development of language when hearing children of deaf parents are simultaneously

presented sign language and English. These findings were repeated in a recent study of 14 hearing

children of deaf parents, who learned American Sign Language and English as preschoolers. The research

results reported by Daniels (1993) show these bimodal bilingual youngsters achieved higher than

average scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and suggest knowing American Sign Language

has a positive effect on a hearing child's acquisition of English.

Reports using sign language with hearing children without disabilities or without deaf parents or deaf

siblings are rare. A limited number of studies suggest that sign language aids language development in

normally developing mainstream hearing children. Ellison (1982) found that sign offered a positive

contribution to expressive language development in hearing nursery school children. DeViveiros and

McLaughlin (1982) provide evidence of sign's enhancement of hearing kindergarten children's use of

descriptive adverbs and adjectives.

More recently", Sacks (1990) wrote of a series of effective educational experiments using sign with

hearing children in the United States. $acks described one program by Wilson and Hoyer (1985) and

another by Brown (1990), both conducted in Prince George's County, Maryland, a unique educational

environment that welcomes innovative programs. In each of these interventions sign proved to increase

the young learners' language abilities.

Daniels (1994) research study in the same Maryland county found the addition of sign to

prekindergarten curriculum increased hearing children's receptive English vocabulary. Subjects for the

study were from four preschool classes of the identical size in two schools in the same district in

adjoining neighborhoods with analogous socioeconomic status. Each of the classes contained 19

students. Some moved during the course of the year, but with the addition of new students, the class

size remained constant.8

2.2. Empirical Studies

A study was carried out by Ademokoya and Shittu (2017) on the onset of hearing loss, gender and self-

concept as the determinants of academic achievement in English language of student with hearing

disability in Oyo state. In the study, 100 senior secondary school class3 pupils with hearing disability

were purposively selected to participate in the study. The study also raised 3 hypotheses to ascertain

relationship between onset of hearing loss, gender, and self-concept and English language achievement.
Adapted English language Test and Audio Logical Reports were used for the study. Findings showed that

pupils with high self-concept outclassed those with low self-concept of adolescent pupils data inventory.

It was also revealed that post-lingual, hearing disabled pupils were superior to their pre-lingual hearing–

disabled colleagues, male pupils did better than female pupils and pupils with high self-concept out

classed those with low self-concept.

A study was also carried out by Mohammed (2007) on the influence of Sign Writing on academic

achievement and vocabulary acquiring for deaf pupils at Al-amal school for deaf in Amman city. In the

study, the researcher developed and applied a training program by using Sign Writing lesson which was

created by Valerie Sutton, to teach Sign Writing for deaf pupils at the fifth grade at Al-amal school for

deaf in Amman city, and to teach them a selected part of science book from the second semester. The

study was conducted at a purposive sample contained of 21 male and11 female pupils from the 5th

grade, they were divided into two groups, one of them was randomly assigned as an experimental group

which contained 15 pupils (10 male ,5 female) , the second was a control group which contained

17pupils (11 male, 6 female). Two tools were used to collect the data; the first was a multiple choice test

which was built according characteristics table, the validity and reliability for this tool was verified. The

second tool was a list of vocabulary that was selected randomly from the science lessons, validity and

reliability for this tool was also verified. The two tools were conducted as pre and post-test for the two

groups .The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for research question and

hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using (ANCOVA). The results obtained indicated

significantly differences between the two groups in favor of experimental groups in achievement and

vocabulary. Also, the findings showed the influence of the interaction between the group and gender in

vocabulary.
Another study carried out by Anita, Jones, Reed and Kreimer (2009) on academic status and progress of

deaf and hard of hearing pupils in general education classroom used 197 deaf or hard of hearing pupils

with mild to profound hearing loss who attended general education classes for 2 or more hours per day.

Scores on standardized achievement test of Mathematics, reading language, writing and standardized

teachers rating of academic competence annually for 5 years, together with other demographic and

communication data were generated. Results on standardized achievement tests indicated that over the

5-year period, 63% - 79% of pupils scored average or above average range in Mathematics, 48% - 68% in

reading and 55% - 76% in language and writing. Average student progress in each subject area was

consistent with or better than that made by the norm group of hearing pupils’ and79% - 81% of pupils as

average or above average in academic competence over the 5 years. Findings showed that majority of

these pupils are achieving within the normal range (i.e. between +1 and -1 SD) of hearing pupils on

standardized tests of mathematics, reading, and language/writing. Similarly, most of them are perceived

by their teachers as performing academically within the range of their classmates. Findings also revealed

that most of the pupils are also making one (I) year’s progress in one (I) years’ time and in the area of

language/ writing, many are making more than I year progress in a year time. A study was also carried

out by Richardson, Long, & Foster (2009) on academic engagement of student with a hearing loss in

distant education. In the study, the researcher did performance comparison between pupils who had a

hearing loss and those who did not have hearing loss were taking courses by distant learning. The study

however did not define distant learning, whether it is through the internet, video, television or phone.

The first groups were pupils who had hearing loss and it included 267 pupils. The second group was 178

pupils without hearing loss. The result of the study showed that pupils who had hearing losses and who

received distant learning were lower achievers than the pupils who were not hearing impaired.

In a study carried out by Moller, (2019) on the relationship between age of enrollment in intervention

and language outcomes at 5 years of age in group of deaf and hard of hearing children. Vocabulary skills
at 5 years of age were examined in a group of 112 children with hearing loss who were enrolled at

various ages in a comprehensive intervention program. Verbal reasoning skills were explored in a

subgroup of 80 of these children. Participants were evaluated using the Peabody pictures, vocabulary

Test and a criterion referenced measure, the preschool language assessment instrument, administered

individually by professionals skilled in assessing children with hearing loss. A rating scale was developed

to characterize the level of family involvement in the intervention program for children in the study. The

findings showed a statically significant negative correlation between ages of enrollment and language

outcomes at 5 years of age. Children who were enrolled earlier (e.g. by 11 months of age) demonstrated

significantly better vocabulary and verbal reasoning skills at 5 years of age than did later- enrolled

children. Regardless of degree of hearing loss, early-enrolled children achieved scores on these

measures that approximated those of their hearing peers. In an attempt to understand the relationship

among performance and factors such as age of enrollment, family involvement, degree of hearing loss

and non-verbal intelligence, multiple regression models were applied to the data,. The analyses revealed

that only 2 of these factors explained a significant amount of variance in language 58 scores obtained at

5 years of age, family involvement and age of enrollment.

Another study was carried out by Itano, Sedey, Coulter and Meh (nd) on language of Early and later

identified deaf and hard of hearing children. The study compared the receptive and expressive language

abilities of 72 deaf or hard of hearing children whose hearing losses were identified after the age of 6

months. All of the children received early intervention services within an average of 2 months after

identification. The participants’ receptive and expressive language abilities were measured using the

Minnesota child development inventory. The result showed that children whose hearing losses were

identified by 6 months of age demonstrated significantly better language scores than children identified

after 6 months of age. For children with normal cognitive abilities, this language advantage was found
across all test ages, socio economic strata. It also was independent of gender, minority status and the

presence of absence of additional disability.

Another study was also carried by Nwangi (2011) on relationship between home environment, and

academic motivation and performance of upper primary pupils with hearing impairment in central

province; Kenya. The study was based on Atkinson motivation theory. A sample of 75 upper primary

pupils classes (5, 6, 7, 8) between the ages of fourteen and eighteen were randomly selected from three

special school for the hearing impaired in central province. Survey design was used whereby two

questionnaires were used to collect data. The academic achievement motivation questionnaire (sp

profile) was used to obtain information on pupil’s level of academic achievement motivation. The home

environment questionnaire was also used to collect information on pupil’s home environment. The

result of the end of the year 2005 was used as measure of their academic performance. For data,

analysis, statistical soft-ware, SPSS was utilized. Pearson’s product moment correlation analysis and two

- tailed t-test for mean differences were used to test hypotheses.

The hypotheses were tested at a significance level of 0.05. The findings showed that sex influence their

academic motivation and their academic performance. The mean score for academic motivation score of

boys was (x =51.70) higher than that of girls (x=51.13) Eskay, Onu, Ugwuanyi&Eze (2012) on the

influence of training of teachers on the use of local sign language on the academic performance of

children with hearing impairment in social studies. In the study, the two schools for the deaf in Enugu

Education zone were sampled. The population for the study comprises of 34 pupils with hearing

impairment from the schools. The instrument used for this study was Achievement Test on Social

Studies (ATS). Research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Mean and

standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected from the study. An analysis of covariance
was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that gender has no

significance effect on the academic performance of children with hearing impairment.

2.3. Theoretical Framework

2.3.1. B.F. Skinner’s Theory of Language Acquisition (1952)

Skinner, a behaviorist psychologist propounded a theory of language acquisition which is anchored on

the process of learning involving the shaping of grammar into a correct form through reinforcement of

other stimulus. This theory views language acquisition as a building process that results from interaction

with the environment. According to Skinner (1990) language is behavior and because of that, it is subject

to the dictates of an environment. Skinner was concerned with observable and materialistic nature of

behavior. To him, there is no underlining meaning to words. This implies that verbal behaviorism due to

the conditioning that occurs between the words and the reinforcement properties of the stimulus. The

reinforcement could be physical (such as presentation of gifts), or social which could be in form of praise

or encouragement.

In their analysis of behavior in Skinners’ theory, Essuman, Nwaogu and Nwachukwu (1990) interpreted it

as an action of an individual or any organism that can be seen or not seen. Behavior can be operant,

respondent or learned, it is operant when it is natural, it is not emitted as a result of response from any

stimulus, it is also respondent when it occurs as a result of their being, elicited by known stimuli and

finally, it is learned when it is learned in an environment.

Therefore, when we say that language is behavior as noted by Skinner (1990), it means that language

can be acquired naturally and can also be learned. It is natural because every human has the ability to

acquire it except if there is any impairment. And it is learned because it is when it is spoken that it can

be heard and learned by the pupils.

According to Skinner, as cited in Ugwuanyi (2009), children acquire language through selective

reinforcement or approval of the children’s responses in native language. This encouragement and

reinforcement increases the children’s responses to sound. That is to say that those children learn

language as interplay of reinforcement and imitation. They learn these through the words they hear

from their parents, teachers and peers He also noted that children learn language through verbal means

and imitation of speech made in their environment. The implication of all this is that children with

hearing impairment do not acquire enough language through verbal means because of their

impairment. They are also unaware of the presence of sound because of their impairment in the use of

spoken language and as a result may not comprehend verbal instruction nor make use of it.

However, acquiring language through imitation is in line with the way children with hearing impairment

acquire language by imitating the speech through observing the lips of the people they interact with in

their environment, (that is lip reading).They also acquire language through the language of sign. It is

imperative therefore, that whoever that is teaching the child lip reading should use the appropriate lip

movement to avoid misinterpretation by the children. This theory is relevant to the present study

because of Psychological influences of pupils with learning disability on the academic performance in

public secondary schools has a lot to do with observation and imitation which is critical to Skinner’s

theory.

2.3.2 Vygotsky theory of language acquisition (1978)

The Vygotskian perspective of literacy/language acquisition emphasizes social interaction but places less

emphasis on stages of behavior. From this perspective, language and cognition emerge in development

at about the same time and are intertwined. Vygotsky suggested that learning is a matter of internalizing

the language and actions of others. He also believed that children need to be able to talk about a new

problem or a new concept in order to understand it and use it.

This can be possible through social interaction. In line with this, the Ecological Theory of Language

Acquisitions as viewed by Francisco, Eeva, Lisa, Lisal, &Ulla, (nd) viewed the early phases of the language

process as emergent consequences of the interaction between the infant and its linguistic environment.

The new born infant is considered to be linguistically and phonetically naïve but endowed with the

ability to detect similarity between the multisensory stimulate is exposed to. The initial steps of the

language acquisition process are explained as unintended and inevitable consequences of the infants’

multi- sensory interaction with the adults. That is to say that a child acquires language through social

interaction with children and adult in an environment.

Going further, Vygotsky explained that as a child discusses a problem or task with an adult, the adult

supplies language to assist the children in solving the problem and gradually internalizes the language

until the task can be completed independently. Vygostky placed his language acquisition theory squarely

on an inter-pupils setting, a context which is determined by the culture in which one is reared.

Vygostky(1978) emphasized that when we caution children on the proper way of eating we are giving

them instruction on the ways of our culture. According to him, socialized speech improves the children’s

convention of language use, which according to him is self-regulatory when they hear their own.

It is in the view of this that Werner(1988) reported that performance in school is related to the way

children use language. This assertion does not hold for children with hearing impairment since language

use here depends on the extent that children hears or understand language. They do not hear enough

or be aware of presence of speech. He also noted that children use gestures, sounds to interact with

others. This will not work out very well for children with hearing impairment since they receive limited

linguistic input and output. Their inability to receive enough sound makes it difficult for them to interact

with people around them. They can only use gestures which they are familiar with. Even though they

can use gestures and signs for interaction, such interaction can be possible if the children are familiar
with such gestures. Children with hearing impairment do not hear themselves when they speak and lack

conversation experience and this in turn affect or influence their language acquisition (Ugwuanyi, 2009).

However the theory is related to the present study because T.C also relies in the use of gestures in

language learning and social interaction and when children with hearing impairment interacts regularly

with others, their chances of spoken language will increase since they will be in a better position to

mimic the lips of speakers.

Considering the theories, each is either saying that language can be acquired naturally or can be learned

through imitation of sound and speech and social interaction with adult in the environment. However,

what is clear is that children with hearing impairment acquire language by the use of signs, lip-reading,

eye contact and body movement and the like. Of all these theories it appears that Skinner’s theory is

more relevant to this study.

2.3.3. Linguistic Theory of Sign Language Perception

Linguistic researchers work on signed languages from some observation of natural utterances, most

often through video data: they build theories describing the mapping between these observations and

linguistic components (phonetics, phonological structures, etc.). The resulting models are still widely

debated in the sign language community, and usually, motion characterization is not seen as a prime

objective for elaborating phonological model [1] or phonetic model. In order to validate their

observations and analysis, they need better knowledge of movement properties: kinematic invariants

within signs and between signs,physical constraints, etc. Invariant laws in movements are discussed in

[3].16

Modern linguistic theory has long been tied to the notion that language is expressed solely in terms of

speech. This view, fostered by linguists not attuned to the special visual-spatial relationships of sign

languages, has led, as Markowicz (1977) points out, to the perpetration of several myths regarding sign
languages: 1) reality, for the sign language user, is word based; 2) sign language is concrete; 3) signs are

glorified gestures; 4) sign languages have no syntax; and 5) sign language is ideographic. These myths

are, in part, the result of a lack of any systematic study of the linguistic properties of sign languages, and

the notion that language can only be expressed through speech. The first notable linguist to discuss the

interrelatedness of speech and language was Sapir. He states:

The essence of language consists in the assigning of conventional, voluntary articulated sounds, their

equivalents, to the diverse elements of experience (Sapir 1921: 11). In a somewhat stronger statement,

Bloomfield supports Sapir: "In human speech, different sounds have different meanings. To study this

co-ordination of certain sounds with certain meanings is to study language" (1933: 27). Bloomfield

specifically addresses sign languages (grouping them with telegraphy) in a series of statements: It seems

that these gesture languages ( "lower-class Neapol i tan, Trappist, Plains Indians, deaf-mute") are merely

developments of ordinary gesture and that any and all complicated or not immediately intelligible

gestures are based on the convention of ordinary speech (1933: 39).Apparent exceptions (to this dictum

that "speech and the manner of speech are our most effective method of signalling") such as elaborate

systems of gesture, deaf-and-duml::> language, signalling codes, the use of writing, telegraphy, and so

on, turn out, upon inspection, to be merely derivatives of language (1933: 144)

• Hockett (1963), in an attempt to discover the universal characteristics of all human languages,

proposes a set of design features which delineate human languages from animal communication

systems. The entire list of design features need not be examined in depth, but four of his features

explicitly link linguistic communication to vocal-auditory processes:1. Vocal-auditory channel: The

channel for all linguistic aUditory, from mouth to ear. information transmission communications is vocal-

2. Broadcast transmission and directional reception: linguistic signals are transmitted broadcast in

directions at once, as opposed to "tight-beam" directional transmission. All all or3. Rapid fading: All
linguistic signals are evanescent.4. Complete feedback: The transmitter at the same time receives the

message he or she transmits. (Hockett 1963). More recently, Chafe (1970) has also linked language to

sound but in much stronger terms. He defines language as a "system which mediates, in a highly

complex way, between the universe of meaning and the universe of sound" (1970: 15). For Chafe, this

connection is irrefutable: "If we look at language in its18broadest perspective, then, there seems no

need to debate its nature as a link between meaning and sounds" (1970: 16). Given this long tradition of

language as manifest in sounds, it becomes clear why initial explorations into the structure and

functions of sign languages has been greeted with suspicion, or, even worse, simply [Link]

researchers on the other hand (bio-mechanicians, neuroscientists, computer animators, or roboticians)

try to build simulation models that imitate real movements. Their approach consists, from high-level

descriptions (planning), of specifying a sequence of actions as a procedural program. They need to

acquire better knowledge of the rules governing the system behavior, such as syntactic rules or

parameterization of the sign components according to the discourse context. The next problem consists

of interpreting these rules using specific computer languages (from scripting languages to procedural or

reactive languages), and traducing them into sensory-motor processes underlying the physical system

that produce [Link] of the works in this area focus on the expressivity of the high-level

computer languages, using descriptive or procedural languages, for example the XML-based

specification language called SiGML [4] which is connected to the HamNoSys notation system, and

interpreted into signed language gestures using classical animation techniques. A more exhaustive

overview of existing systems using virtual signers technology can be found in. For these kinds of

applications involving signed language analysis, recognition, translation, and generation, the nature of

the performed gestures themselves is particularly challenging. Alternatively, data-driven animation

methods can be substituted for these pure synthesis methods. In this case the motions of a real signer

are captured with different combinations of motion capture techniques. Though these methods
significantly improve the quality and credibility of animations, there are nonetheless several challenges

to the reuse of motion capture data in the production of sign languages. Some of them are related to

the spatialization of the content, but also to the rapidity and precision required in motion performances,

and to the dynamic aspects of movements. All these factors are responsible for phonological inflection

processes. Incorrectly manipulated, they may lead to imperfections in the performed signs (problems in

timing variations or synchronization between channels) that can alter the semantic content of the

sentence. A detailed discussion on the important factors for the design of virtual signers in regard to the

animation problems is proposed in.

Little has been done so far to determine the role of sensory-motor activity for the understanding

(perception and production) of signed languages. The idea that semantic knowledge is embodied into

sensory-motor systems has given rise to many studies, bringing together researchers from domains as

different as cognitive neuroscience and linguistics, but most of these works concern spoken languages.

This interaction between language and action are based on different claims such as:– imagining and

acting share the same neural substrate [8];– language makes use in large part of brain structures akin to

those used to support perception and [Link] these recent research interests, some researchers

share the idea that motor production is necessarily involved in the recognition of sensory

(audio,19visual, etc.) encoded actions; this idea echoes what is called the motor theory of speech

perception which holds that the listener recognizes speech by activating the motor programs that would

produce sounds like those that are being heard. Within this theory, sensory data are auditory or visual

clues (mouth opening), and the motor actions are vocal gestures (movements of the vocal tract, tongue,

lips, etc.).This theory can be easily transposed to sign languages, and we will call it the Motor Theory of

Sign Language Perception. In this case too, the linguistic information is embodied into sensory-motor

processes, where sensory data may be visual clues (iconic gestures, classifiers), or perception of action

(contact between several body parts, velocity or acceleration characteristics, etc.).

2.3.4. Motor Theory of Sign Language Perception

All the evidence briefly reported in the previous section tends to show that perception and production

of language utterances are closely related. It remains to describe or model this relationship. At the light

of this evidence, the motor theory of speech perception, which states that what we perceive is nothing

but the movement of the articulatory system (body movements), suggests that part of conceptual and

language structures are encoded at motor program levels, e.g. as a sequence of motor actions allowing

to produce the desired sensory (or perceptive) effect.

Similarly to the motor theory of speech perception, the motor theory of sign language perception that

we promote in this paper claims that what we perceive is the movement of body articulators, and that

the encoding and decoding of linguistic information should be partly addressed at motor program level

characterizing the movement intention. Furthermore, if we accept the idea that the motor program

level is where the linguistic cues are encoded, then the motor theory of perception leads to consider

that we can infer motor programs from observed sensory cues only (motor act). It is called this inference

an inversion process since its purpose is to deduce the cause from the consequence (sensory

observation).Therefore, if we go further in the modeling of these concepts, we assume that the motor

theory of sign language perception is based on two inversion mechanisms, one for sign language

production, and the other one for sign language perception. These mechanisms will be used as part of

encoding and decoding processes of linguistic units. By linguistic units we mean here phonetic and

phonological elements specific to sign [Link] first inversion process for sign language production

is also called encoding process. It is a closed-loop system, where the signer uses sensory information to

produce the desired actions corresponding to a specific motor program. The signer performing gestures

perceives the environment through many sensory cues: he can view his interlocutor, and also the

entities20positioned in the signing space (spatial targets); he may also capture auditive, tactile
(perception of touch), proprioceptive (perception of muscles and articulations), and kinesthetic clues

(perception of velocity, acceleration, etc.) from its own body movements. These sensory cues are then

inverted to provide motor commands that modify the current action applied to the musculor-skeleton

system. When producing sign language gestures, the linguistic information is also exploited to generate

a sign language utterance which is then translated into amotor program.

In the context of sign language synthesis, the motor programs may be represented by a sequence of

goals, as for example key postures of the hand, or targets in hand motion, or facial expression targets.

These targets are then interpreted into continuous motion, through an inverse kinematics or dynamics

[Link] second inversion process used for gesture perception, also called decoding process. From the

observation of a signer, it consists in extracting multi-sensorial cues, and then to simultaneously infer

motor programs (allowing to reproduce the detected sensory cues), and extract linguisticinformation.

Our approach to sign language perception can be divided into two kinds of analysis studies. The first one

consists of a linguistic analysis that tries to extract phonetic or phonological features from the

observation of signers. The second one consists in finding invariants or motor schemes in the data,

above which one can build linguistic knowledge.

This last approach, inspired from the neuroscience community, may exploit statistical tools in order to

extract some regular features or schemes embodied to motion data.

2.4. Summary of Literature Review

The literature is reviewed under conceptual, theoretical and empirical studies. Children with hearing

impairment a lot of challenges in their academic performance due to learning disability are disability

that affects the total pupil’s ability no matter the period of onset. When it affects the total pupil’s ability

of an individual, it affects the well-being of pupils which includes his social, physical, psychological,

mental and academic state.

It is imperative therefore, that acceptable method should be used in order to improve their social,

physical, psychological, mental and academic wellbeing. There has been a controversy among scholars in

the field of special education on which method should be used in educating them. It is between the

moralist and mentalist, the moralist believes in the use of speech and lip-reading in educating children

with hearing impairment while the mentalist believe in educating them through sign language and finger

spelling. However, despite the fact that children with hearing impairment are been taught with these

sign systems, there is still evidence of poor performance in their academic work. Total communication is

another sign system which uses any and every means of communication to convey information and

message to children with hearing impairment. Total Communication combines every other sign language

mode in teaching and learning and it has been observed to be effective. The assumption is that using

total communication will not only help children with hearing impairment in their academic work but will

also help them to adapt to any environment they find themselves.

Theoretical support on language acquisition which is the basis for learning was reviewed under

Chomsky, Skinner and Vygotsky theoretical stance on language acquisition. It also reviewed empirical

support on the influence of pre-lingual and post-lingual on the academic performance of pupils with

hearing impairment.

The issue of pre-lingual and post-lingual and academic performance was also discussed. Since studies

have shown that children with hearing impairment have not being performing well academically due to

the type of method used in teaching them, the researcher deem it fit to carry out a study on the

influence of pre-lingual and post-lingual on the academic performance of pupils with hearing

impairment to ascertain if it could improve their academic performance. From the literature reviewed so

far it appears that there has not been any work known to this researcher on the effects of sign language
strategy on vocabulary acquisition of children with hearing impairment in Government Special school

Lafia, Nasarawa state. It is this gap that the present study intends to fill.