A Microcomputer Communication Game for Hearing-Impaired Students

Hearing-impaired students communicated with hearing students in a referential communication game using an Apple II microcomputer. Sets of pictures were displayed and the hearing-impaired students and hearing students tried to describe pictures in the sets by writing descriptions on the keyboard. Their partners tried to choose the picture described by pressing a number corresponding to the picture. The microcomputer indicated whether the choice was correct or incorrect. Ten mainstreamed hearing-impaired high school and middle school students played the game with hearing peers. Analyses based on the typed messages, errors, and interviews with students and their teachers gave evidence of the educational potential of this type of learning activity.