EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Philippines has been promoting the mainstreaming of the deaf community in the

daily practices and opportunities of the people. Laws such as the RA No. 11106 and RA

No. 7277 are mandated to further supplement the inclusion of this community and

provide equal opportunities, especially in career and employment. However, it is still a

problem, especially with the available institutions for tertiary education, the availability

within the Philippines and only a few universities offer specialized courses to the deaf

community, and one of these is the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde in Manila. With

their School of Hotel and Restaurant and Institution Management opening for

certification for the deaf, it has now further enhanced and given more opportunities to

them, nevertheless, issues still arise, especially in methods of teaching and

communication between the teachers and the peers. Through a focus group interview,

the questions made by the researchers, were addressed and therefore have provided

five distinct themes: (1) Meeting deaf needs, (2) Inclusivity, (3) Achieving academic

goals, (4) Program enhancement, and (5) Level or understanding. Thus, through this

case study, it will aim to determine the challenges experienced by Deaf and Hard

Hearing students on support services and teaching methodologies used by the faculty

members in the certificate program of DLSCSB SHRIM.

INTRODUCTION

According to RA No. 11106, the Filipino Sign Language is declared as the

national sign language of the Filipino deaf and the official sign language of government

in all transactions involving the deaf, and mandating its use in schools, broadcast

media, and workplaces. It is in accordance to RA No. 7277; wherein disabled persons

the total well-being of disabled persons and their integration into the mainstream of

society, have the same rights as other people to take their proper place in society

wherein they should be to live freely and as independently as possible, rehabilitation of

the disabled persons shall be the concern of the Government in order to foster their

capacity to attain a more meaningful, productive and satisfying life, recognizes the role

of the private sector in promoting the welfare of disabled persons and shall encourage

partnership in programs that address their needs and concerns, facilitate integration of

disabled persons into the mainstream of society, and the State shall advocate for and

exchange respect for disabled persons. In relation to these laws, to promote and put

into actions these mandates, a school catered to the deaf community is created and

maintained until now, which is called the Philippine School for the Deaf, wherein it

teaches the Filipino Sign Language and assists deaf students with technological

machines, such as hearing aids and visual guides.

However,[ CITATION Cor \l 13321 ] states that many deaf high school graduates are

not able to enter tertiary educational institutions due to the lack of public universities that

are accessible to the deaf and most of the institutions are based in Metro Manila or the

National Capital Region wherein deaf students will have to incur costs and most of

these students are poverty-stricken. One of these universities is from the De La Salle-

College of Saint Benilde and have a program specifically designed for the deaf

students: School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies, with 8,000 deaf students

enrolled in 2005 and ninety percent of the them are subsidized by the school. School of

Hotel and Restaurant and Institution Management are opening to the department of
deaf students in their certificate program and offers the latter the opportunity to

mainstreamed the deaf students into the career by assisting them in developing their

service skills and confidence under the current and global food and beverage practices.

OVERVIEW OF SITUATION/PHENOMENON

The research aims to determine the challenges experienced by Deaf and Hard

Hearing students on support services and teaching methodologies used by the faculty

members in the certificate program of DLSCSB SHRIM.

ANALYSIS/ISSUES TO BE SOLVED

The following are the problems needed to be solved:

1. Reading difficulties that deaf students experiencing was most likely related to

delays in the acquisition of the spoken language;

2. Mutual access to basic communication services which includes good

amplification, tutoring, real time captioning, interpreting;

3. Classrooms are complex social environments where interaction with teacher and

hearing peers can be challenging for deaf students in terms of accessing support

services;

4. Deaf students were more concerned about pace of instructions and did not feel

as much a part of the university family as did their hearing peers despite some

modifications; and

5. In the Philippines, communication topped as problem despite of teacher’s

knowledge in FSL because of poor facilities and classroom and need of upgrade

for sign language skills for better understanding.

The researchers used a focus group discussion wherein eight students,

composed of four females and four males, age ranging from twenty-six to thirty-six

years-old, with FSL as their primary modality of communication, who successfully

passed the scholarship program and identified as deaf or hard of hearing endorsed by

the CEAD to enroll in the Certificate Program became the potential study participants.

The following are the results found on the focus group discussion wherein they

analyzed using the data coding scheme and the process includes the creation of

storyline that will be used as a draft to identify possible codes, identified and wrote the

words or phrases frequently used and ideas from the participants wherein it will be

organized into codes or categories, thorough evaluation was done and required the

attendance of the interpreters to review the video recorded for accuracy and validation

of information, started the coding process where the researchers marked the

documents and analyzed the messages, initial codes emerged more than fifty-seven

codes and the fifty-seven codes were then included in a notes or list of codes and

evaluated and compared to one another as well as defined on what they mean, since

there are too many codes, the researchers refined and categorized into 9 units which

are again carefully reviewed, analyzed and compared the data to data for meaning to

represent its code and then created a theme, and finally, five distinct themes were

emerged from the data. Listed below are the findings and recommendations according

to the focus study group:

1. Meeting deaf needs

- Reinforcement of support services are needed, such as:

• Replacement of their interpreter since they were bored already

• Need of captioning service and notetaker wherein it must be complete.

• OJT feedbacking to fill the gap

• Needs to be fully equipped before an actual hotel immersion and

employment takes place.

• Access in borrowing books

• They should allow to let them borrow books even in shorter period to

enable them to study and review their notes and assignment ahead of

time.

- Improvement of teacher quality wherein they should enhance further their FSL

skills because that is the only way they can directly communicate and suggested

that the teachers need to explain the lesson a bit slower.

- Support must be extended for them to develop creativity as they are compelled

to research and present their ideas in various activities.

2. Inclusivity

- Access to information and communication:

 Preferred to be mainstreamed with hearing peers in order for them to

experience interacting with them and let them understand the world

they live in.

 That there will be cooperation, patience, and practice give and take

between hearing peers and them.

would be less hesitant to talk to the deaf if they have established

certain level of proficiency in FSL.

 Social networking is helpful in accessing up to date information about

the program.

 The hearing should know the deaf culture for easy access.

 Deaf students should be well represented in any student organization

 Mainstreaming of both hearing and deaf peers because they are parts

of the community and shares ideas to one another.

 Strongly believes that the deaf are equal to the hearing peers.

3. Achieving academic goals

- Personal development:

 Self-development is a way of allowing them to grow as a person that will

give positive significance in their lives.

 Confidence was developed because of what they have learned throughout

the course.

 Capabilities and roles were strengths that they developed because they

were able to showcase them in various school activities and hotel

immersions.

 Well understanding of methods because of exposure and assistance of

hearing staff.

 Classroom experiences and interaction were areas that indicated positive

results towards personal development.

 They pinpointed that they need to move fast their fears and learn how to

interact with hearing peers.

 Hearing peers became their friends and developed certain level of

understanding in the context of inclusivity.

- School leaning experience towards the employment opportunity:

 Life changing experience and provided them with more interesting topics

and discussion.

 They learned so much in the course and developed skills in F&B

 They revealed at they are at par with hearing peers

 Quoted that their achievements in the certificate program will give them

the chance of possible employment

4. Program enhancement

- Continuous improvement of the program, teachers should give more time to

explain the topics and if possible, use FSL, extend the program and time to focus

on one topic because they were not used to multitasking compared with hearing

peers.

- Coaching and tutoring will be used so that deaf peers will not be lagged behind

hearing peers.

- More hands-on activities should be given importance in the program, like one-

one-one teaching approach and coaching.

- Hand-outs should be provided prior to lecture and laboratory session allowing

them more time to read and understand the lesson.

improve themselves through shared concept and ideas.

- Teachers should try to follow the step by step procedures and should replicate

the handouts during demonstration.

- Having smaller groups to help them work easily.

Longer program duration to help them learn more.

5. Level or understanding

- Pairing of deaf to hearing peers to work together and develop confidence and

improve themselves through shared concept and ideas.

- Teachers should try to follow the step by step procedures and should replicate

the handouts during demonstration.

CONCLUSION

They gave emphasis on deaf access in different areas that will need to enhance

such as support services and teaching styles and there were challenges faced by the

deaf students in relation to their personal and academic requirement in inclusive setting:

program enhancement, deaf needs, inclusivity, level of understanding and achieving

academic goals. Fee enhancements in the support system such as inclusion of

captioning, notetaking, reviewing library policy, FAL fluency of the teachers and

strengthening deaf campaign were addressed. Also, difficulty in understanding was a

big challenge in the inclusive environment, wherein communication as major problem,

especially the English Language, which is the medium of instruction, is difficult and were

not able to fully comprehend the F&B service. There were no appropriate signs to

correspond to the terms. Researchers suggest of creating materials with appropriate

Intervention programs such as coaching and tutoring at an early stage of the course

should be given priority to improve communication skills among deaf and hard of

hearing students. Intensive reinforcement of support system such as language

development in FSL, English language and deaf appropriate-instructional materials

should be provided in the implementation of the program.

References
Corpuz-Estiller, M. R. (n.d.). Economic Livelihood of the Deaf in the Philippines. 3.
RA 11106 – An Act Declaring The Filipino Sign Language As The National Sign
Language Of The Filipino Deaf And The Official Sign Language Of Government
In All Transactions Involving The Deaf, And Mandating Its Use In Schools,
Broadcast Media, And Workplace. (2018, July 23). National Council on Disability
Affairs. Metro Manila, Philippines.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7277: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE REHABILITATION, SELF-
DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR INTEGRATION INTO THE MAINSTREAM OF
SOCIETY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. (1992, March 4). Philippines.