Analysis of the Relative Instructional Efficiency of Microcomputer-Based Instruction and Teacher-Directed Instruction for Hearing-Impaired and Normal-Hearing Youth

Recent literature has emphasized the virtues of computer-assisted instruction for hearing-impaired learners. Critics, however, have cautioned that the absence of empirical research suggests that microcomputer enthusiasts have oversold the technology. The present study was designed in response to this criticism. Its major objective was to contrast the efficiency of teacher-directed instruction with that of computer-based instruction for hearing-impaired youth.

Four groups of six adolescents were randomly formed: hearing-impaired/microcomputer, hearing-impaired/teacher-directed, normal-hearing/microcomputer, and normal-hearing/teacher-directed. Information presented over five 10-minute sessions in each instructional condition was controlled through the use of paced and scripted presentations by the teacher. Hurkle, Elementary—Volume 1, developed by the Minnesota Education Computing Consortium, served as the basis for instruction. The dependent variables were the total number of responses, the number of correct responses, and the number of errors.

Three separate 2 × 2 completely randomized factorial designs with tests for simple main effects were conducted on the dependent variables. The results of these tests indicated the following: no significant differences in the total number of responses: significantly more correct responses and fewer errors for the normal-hearing subjects, regardless of the instructional condition: and significantly fewer errors for hearing-impaired subjects in the microcomputer condition than for hearing-impaired subjects in the teacher-directed condition. In general, these data affirm that hearing-impaired students are less efficient learners than are normal-hearing students. However, the use of microcomputers appears to be an effective strategy for increasing instructional efficiency.