Educational affordances of a specific web-based assistive technology for students with visual impairment

• Published in: Interactive learning environments Vol. 29; no. 6; pp. 1037 - 1054
• Main Authors: Kamali Arslantas, Tugba, Yıldırım, Soner, Altunay Arslantekin, Banu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 18.08.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: accessibility; Accessibility (for Disabled); Affordances; Assistive Technology; Blindness; Data analysis; Data collection; drill and practice; Drills (Practice); Education; English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; foreign language learning; Individualized Instruction; Instructional Effectiveness; Middle School Students; Pacing; Progress Monitoring; Qualitative analysis; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Semantics; Spelling; Students; Students with Disabilities; Visual impairment; Visual Impairments; visually impaired education; Vocabulary Development; Web Based Instruction; Turkey
• ISSN: 1049-4820; 1744-5191
• DOI: 10.1080/10494820.2019.1619587

The main aim of this study was to design, develop and test the instructional effectiveness of a web-based English vocabulary drill program developed for visually impaired middle school students. In this respect, the study focused on the educational affordances of the program and its contribution on VI students' spelling and semantics knowledge in English vocabulary. Depending on the purpose and the nature of the study, exploratory case study and single-subject research were implemented. Face-to-face intervention sessions were applied from October 2015 through to February 2016. There were two groups of participants in the study, which were students and experts. The data were collected through interviews, vocabulary and retention tests. Collected data were analyzed with both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques. Based on the qualitative data analysis, educational affordances of the web-based drill program were identified as instantaneous access to content, individualized instruction and tracking progress. Quantitative findings revealed that students showed substantial progress on the vocabulary tests and maintained their achievements after the study.