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Foreign language teaching and children with disabilities - hearing

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 SERBIAN GOVERNMENT
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

PROCEEDINGS

SPEECH AND LANGUAGE 2017

6th International Conference on Fundamental and Applied
Aspects of Speech and Language

Editors

Mirjana Sovilj
Slobodan Joviĉić
Miško Subotić
Slavica Maksimović

Belgrade, Crowne Plaza

27-29 October, 2017

1
Patrons:
Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development – Republic of Serbia
- Serbia
Organizers:
Life activities advancement center - Serbia
The Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology ―ĐorĊe Kostić‖ -
Serbia

Organiziation:
Organizing Committee, IEPSP, LAAC Secretariat, Gospodar Jovanova 35, 11000
Belgrade, Serbia. Tel./Fax: (+381 11 3208 544, +381 11 2624 168)
e-mail: iefpg@iefpg.org.rs web: http://www.iefpg.org.rs

Publisher:
Life activities advancement center
The Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology ―ĐorĊe Kostić‖

Electronic version on publication

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81'234-053.2(048)
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INTERNACIONAL Conference on Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Speech and
Language (6 ; Beograd)
Speech and Language 2017 [Elektronski izvor] : proceedings / 6th
International Conference on Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Speech and
Language, Belgrade, 27-29 October, 2017. ; [editors Mirjana Sovilj ... [at
al.]. - Belgrade : The Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech
Pathology "Đorđe Kostić" : Life Activities Advancement Center, 2017
(Belgrade : Draslar partner). - 1 elektronski opticki disk (CD-ROM) : tekst
; 12 cm
Sistemski zahtevi: Nisu navedeni. - Nasl. sa naslovnog ekrana. - Radovi na
srp. , rus i engl. jeziku. - Tiraž 500. - Bibliografija uz svaki rad.
ISBN 978-86-89431-24-7 (LAAC)
1. Sovilj, Mirjana [уредник] 2. Jovičić, Slobodan [уредник] 3. Subotić,
Miško [уредник] 4. Maksimović, Slavica [аутор]
a) Говорни поремећаји - Деца - Зборници b) Вербална комуникација -
Дефектолошки аспект - Зборници c) Говор - Развој - Деца - Зборници d)
Словенски језици - Изговор - Зборници
COBISS.SR-ID 252533004
Circulation: 500

ISBN: 978-86-89431-24-7

2
Scientific Board Organizational Board

President: President:
M. Sovilј (Serbia) S. Maksimović (Serbia)

Vice Presidents: Vice Presidents:

D. Popov (Bugarska) S. Đoković (Serbia)
M. Subotić (Serbia) S. Punišić (Serbia)

Members: Members:
G. Brikman (Israel) T. Adamović (Serbia)
R. Bjelјac Babić (France) V. ĐorĎević (Serbia)
G. Garyev (Russia) Lj. Jeličić (Serbia)
B. Gerazov (Makedonia) V. Nenadović (Serbia)
S. Golubović (Serbia) M. Panić (Serbia)
M.Stepanovna Gončarenko (Ukraine) M. Stokić (Serbia)
S. Gudurić (Serbia) Z. Šarić (Serbia)
O. Gouni (Greece) M. Vojnović (Serbia)
J. Grigorjevs (Latvia)
V. Delić (Serbia)
R. Dragićević (Serbia) Secretariat:
S. Jovičić (Serbia) J. Bojović (Serbia)
Đ. Koruga (Serbia) V. Ţikić (Serbia)
A. Kostićnikola (Serbia) S. Fatić (Serbia)
L. Nazarenko (Ukraine) D. Sovilj (Serbia)
N. Nedelјković (Serbia) N. Stanojević (Serbia)
V. Popova (Bulgaria) N. Tatić Urošev (Serbia)
Lj. Rakić (Serbia) N. Popić (Serbia)
M. Rakočević (Serbia) D. Zečević (Serbia)
D. Raković (Serbia)
M. Sečujski (Serbia).
T. Tarner (Netherlands)
H. Tivadar (Slovenia)
M. Čukić Radenković (Serbia)
G. Škarić Varošanec (Croatia)
D. Zec (SAD)

3
CONTENTS

Linguistic personology – a new science in paradigm of anthropological linguistics

D. Popov 11

Assistive character of speech technology

V. Delić, M. Seĉujski, N. Jakovljević, D. Mišković 18

Валеологические аспекты речи, звуков, букв

М.С.Гончаренко, Т.П. Камнева 27

Lingvopedagogical process as a part of spiritual development of a human

M. Goncharenko, T. Bogomaz 33

EEG rhythm correlates in the examination of state of inner prayer

M. Sovilj, Z. Radiĉević 41

On quantum-holographic and trans-generational implications for child developement

D. Raković 51

Language acquisition in infants raised in bilingual environments

R. Bijeljac-Babić 61

The possibility of studying deeper levels of meaning in the most frequent verbs in
Serbian language
69
M. Sovilј, A. Margot

“To be or not to be?” What a question!©2017

J. R. G. Turner, T. G. N. Turner 75

Хармонијски језички код ДНК у историји светске цивилизације

M. Гроздановић, А. Маргот, М. Совиљ 79

Harmony of languages code of DNA in the history of world civilization

M. Grozdanović, A. Margot, M. Sovilj 93

Слово E у Делфима и ''опет'' времена и хармоније србског језика

M. Гроздановић, А. Маргот, М. Совиљ 107

Letter ''Е'' in Delphie, ''opeth'' - ''again'' of time and harmonies of serbian language
M. Grozdanović, A. Margot, M. Sovilj 121

EMA measures for representation of articulatory movements

M. Subotić, R. Bilibajkić, P. Subotić 135

Negative influence of hyperventilation to phonation

M. Ostojić 143

Probabilistic approach to the nearest neighbor classifiers in the characterization of

the phonemes
147
D. Furundţić, S. Punišić, R. Bilibajkić

5
Identificational probability functions of the perceptual recognition of africates’ and
fricatives’ duration
154
S. Punišić, M. Subotić, D. Furundţić

Modeling of the KSAFA speech therapy device transfer function using gamma-tone
filter bank
168
Z. M. Šarić, M. Subotić, R. Bilibajkić, S. T. Joviĉić, M. Barjaktarović

Problems of creating stimulus sentences for hearing test with QuickSIN test
M. N. Vojnović 175

Active imagination in the nature – verbal implications

S. Zdravković, S. Joviĉić 180

Developmental relationship between language and theory of mind in the children

S. Todorović, I. Stanković, V. ĐorĊević 186

Onomatopoeias as precursors of grammar in the ontogenesis

V. Popova 196

Assessment of linguistic closeness and comparison of acoustic characteristics of

Croatian and Serbian languages
205
G. Varošanec-Škarić

The effect of F0 and formant manipulations on the perception of voice attractiveness

and likeability in the Czech context
211
L. Tyleĉková

Single gene disorders and language phenotype

M. Rakonjac, I. Bogavac, B. Bobić Gece 219

Overview of the language neurobiology

M. Vujovic, M. Rakonjac, M. Stokić 225

The importance of live blood analysis dark field microscopy in treatment of

neurodevelopmental disorders
230
T. Antin Pavlović

Hyperbilirubinemia as a potential predictor of speech and language deficits

expression
238
I. Bogavac, S. Fatić, M. Tešović

Risk factors in children with speech, language, learning and behavioral disorders and 242
type of delivery
S. Maksimović, M. Mitrović, S. Fatić

Irregular patterns in EEG activity as a potential predictor of speech – language

deficits
253
Lj. Jeliĉić, Z. Radiĉević, N. Stanojević

Increased right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity reflects anxiety-related

memory decline in adults who stutter
260
M. Stokić, V. Nenadović, N. Stanojević

6
Electrophysiological correlates of verbal memory in children with specific language
impairment
267
N. Stanojević, D. Zeĉević, M. Stokić

The relationship between the ability to understand speech and EEG findings in
children with disabilities in language development
273
D. Zeĉević, V. Zikić, A . Veselinović

Correlation of balance ability and speech-language development in 5 year-old

children
281
T. Adamović, M. Sovilj, M. Vojnović

Assessment of vestibular function at birth as an early intervention in the prediction of

speech and language development of the child
287
K. Ribarić-Jankes, T. Adamović, Lj. Jeliĉić

Personal narratives from students experiencing emotional and behavioural problems:

consciousness and cognition the procrastination and withdrawal
293
M. Drossinou – Korea

Asimetry in tone-hearing threshold and speech detection threshold in the left and
right ear among children with speech and language disorders
302
V. Plećević, S. Đoković

Examining the association between restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behavior

and sensory response in minimally verbal children with ASD
313
V. Nenadović, M. Stokić, B. Bobić-Gece

Lexical and semantic abillities in children with SLI

S. Fatic, I. Bogavac, S. Maksimović 319

Fricatives and developmental speech-language disorders

V. ĐorĊević, M. Panić 324

Analysis of gross motoric movements in phonetic correction based on verbotonal

method
328
A. Dobrić

Vowels in Croatian as foreign language – example of native Slavic speakers

A. Bukovski , A. Dobrić 334

The role that speech and language plays in the medicines of ancient people
A. Ţikić 342

Валеологический туризм, как один из методов восстановления энергетики

горлового центра (на примере посещения пирамид и туннелей в г. Високо Босния
и Герцеговина, валеологического питания и применения технологий Сознания) 347
И. В. Яровая

Neurocardiological anamnesis: development from complementarities with syndrome

differentiation of Traditional Chinese Medicine
351
Z. A. Matić, T. Bojić, A. Ţikić, D. Raković, B. Milovanović

7
Towards a homeopathic remedy by exploring the matrix of human being existance
T. Karajanov Ilić 361

Prenatal roots of communication - a few cases of evidence

J. Jovanović, O. Vasić 365

The significance of dramatization for the development of adequate communication of

mother and child
369
D. Sovilj, V. Kljajević

The influence of ultrasound on the speech and language development

D. M. ĐorĊević 373

Pre-lingual monitoring of the speech apparatus development

M. N. Vojnović 379

Cognitive advantages of intensive second language acquisition

D. Purić, J. Vuksanović, V. Chondrogianni 385

Requests as speech acts: the case of parliamentary requests

O. Jojić 393

The potential link between digestive system and behaviour in children with autistic
spectrum disorder
401
B. Bobić Gece, Lj. Jeliĉić, M. Tešić

Applying phonetics in communication disorders research – perspectives in Bulgaria

G. Padareva-Ilieva 406

The algorithm for the automatic detection of phoneme intensity disorders

R. Bilibajkić, Z. M. Šarić, S. T. Joviĉić 412

The treatment of relative clauses through the explicit teaching of syntactic properties:
two pilot studies on Italian cochlear-implanted children
418
S. D‘Ortenzio, F. Vanzin, S. Montino, A. Martini, F. Volpato

The production of Wh- questions in a group of Italian cochlear-implanted children

F. Volpato, S. D‘Ortenzio 421

Phonotactic constraints in young cochlear implant recipients

P. Binos 428

Examination of articulation-phonological abilities of dysphasic children

A. D. Veselinovic, V. Ţikić, D. Zeĉević 433

The ability of movement imitation and knowledge of their own body topography in
children with developmental dysphasia
439
M. Mitrović, M. ĐorĊević, S. Maksimović

Relationship of grammar and EEG findings in children with specific language

impairment
443
M. Tešić, M. Vuković, M. Tešović

8
Skills of word decoding: a case study of a student with intellectual disability (ID) in
the middle school
449
N. Panopoulos and M. Drossinou – Korea

The importance of group work for socialization and communication in children with
speech, language or behavioral disorders
458
M. ĐorĊević, I. Bacić, N. Tatić Urošev

Examining differences in parents’ attitudes towards corporal punishment on

preschool children with developmental disorders and their peers with typical
development 462
M. Marisavljević, V. Nenadović, A. Veselinović

Dysphagia in patients with acute stroke: early screening

G. Tomić,V. Miković, M. Stojanović, I. Arsić, O. Bakić, J. Pajović, D. Jovanović 466

The importance of early screening of disgraphic remarks in the children of young

school age
473
A. Milošević Vasiljković, I. Pavković

Developmental level of graphomotor skills in children with specific learning disorders

V. Ţikić, S. Golubović, M. Panić 479

The level of adoption of physics teaching content in students with the hearing
impairment
485
I. Pavković, J. Kovaĉević, I. Roksandić

The level of adoption of educational content in chemistry for pupils with the hearing
impairment
489
J. Kovaĉević, I. Pavković, A. Milošević

Foreign language teaching and children with disabilities - hearing impairment

D. Tomić, D. Posedi, R. Geld
494

9
Foreign Language Teaching and Children with Disabilities - Hearing
Impairment

D. Tomić1, D. Posedi2, R. Geld1

1
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
2
Davorin Trstenjak Primary School, Zagreb

Abstract. Hearing impairment causes numerous difficulties on the development of oral communication skills.
Usually, rehabilitation is based either on spoken language or sign language. Foreign language learning among
HI is no longer an exception but a frequent educational challenge, especially when HI learners are part of the
inclusion process. Learners are faced not only with difficulties in speech perception but also insufficient L1
knowledge and together with their teachers with lack of proper teaching material, environmental support etc. In
order to address this issue so that necessary advancement of the teaching process can be made, both qualitative
and quantitative studies should be conducted. The qualitative study reported in this paper included focus group
and in-depth interviews with teachers who had experienced teaching hearing impaired children. The topics
included previous experience with learners in inclusion, benefits of inclusion, types of impairment and specific
difficulties during teaching, satisfaction with support provided by institution and additional education aimed at
teaching impaired learners. The analysis revealed that teachers find inclusion beneficial, but stronger support to
the teaching process is required. Support should include not only materials, education, but also information
about impairment which are often missing. The teachers also emphasize that their teaching competence and
skills are mostly based on in-service experience, whereas the specific knowledge about a disability and
evidence-based approach to teaching is missing. Based on the analysis, a questionnaire for quantitative study
was prepared. It consists of one section regarding diagnosis and impairment typology, followed by practical
suggestions for classroom activities, curricular adaptation, teaching strategies, teachers‘ education and language
teaching challenges.

1 Introduction

In order to address the complex issue of foreign language teaching to children with any type of
disability or disorder the simplest way is to address the preconditions of the learning process or
simply the elements of the impairment that are influencing the learning process. In the case of hearing
impairment (HI) those are: characteristics of the impairment, types of rehabilitation, preferred
communication modality, use of hearing aid and environmental factors.
Hearing impairment can be defined as a partial or complete inability to hear i.e. to detect and
perceive sound. In order to classify the types of hearing impairment Elberling and Worsoe (2006) list
five dimensions of hearing which can be affected by the impairment thus determining its type and the
degree. Those are: sensitivity to sound intensity or level, dynamic range, frequency resolution,
temporal resolution and binaural hearing. HI causes difficulties in oral communication due to the
reduced or filtered input information, which is why HI individuals rely strongly on the visual
communication. Therefore, HI individuals can either use only visual-manual modality (sign language)
for communication or use the combination of visual and auditory information in variety of
rehabilitation approaches (cued speech, lip reading) or attempt to develop sufficient oral
communication which is promoted by some rehabilitation approaches (Auditory-Verbal Therapy,
Verbotonal method etc.). What often remains unsaid in the debate between rehabilitation approaches
is that language delays among HI individuals are not necessarily caused by the communicative
modality but by the incomplete access to ANY language model. This means that when visual-manual
modality is employed, adults do not provide complete and consistent model, since sign language is
usually their foreign language, but express certain spoken elements (emotions) verbally. HI causes
speech and language difficulties in L1 and this conclusion is the only one that can be considered
definite from the huge body of research on HI speech and language development (Spencer &
Marschark, 2010) while the rehabilitation methods and communication modalities fostering success
remain disputed. Hearing aids, both traditional and implants, aid speech perception and foster oral
494
communication but they do not ‗cure‘ the impairment and the successful use of HA depends on
rehabilitation. Finally, successful development of communication among HI individuals is the result
of strong environmental (family and community) support.
Another important question is about HI prevalence, since it is often mentioned in the research
papers that the number of HI individuals is low which causes heterogeneity in the study samples and
limited results showing only tendencies. The number of individuals who will benefit from the
advancement of foreign language teaching of the individuals with disabilities is not insignificant.
Today, there are 360 million HI individuals in the world (WHO) who have hearing loss greater than
40 dB in the better hearing ear, 32 million of these are children and slightly less than one fifth are deaf
individuals (70 million, World Federation of the Deaf).
Contemporary educational policies promote inclusion as a dominant approach in education of
individuals with disabilities (Vican & Karamatić Brĉić, 2013) because it is based on the right of all
students to participate equally in the education process in order to develop their full potential.
Teachers‘ attitudes towards inclusion have generated a large body of research (Avramidis & Norwich,
2002) showing that teachers have positive attitude towards inclusion, but are clearly aware of the
difficulties in the process. The term inclusion means that a mainstream educational setting is adapted
to the needs of children with disabilities creating a community of all learners regardless of their ability
or disability. Therefore, successful inclusion is a result of involvement and collaboration between
teachers, other educational professionals and parents who support the learner during the learning
process.
Finally, the importance of foreign language learning needs to be addressed. Unquestionably,
foreign language learning is the ‗educational necessity of the 21st century‘ for both hearing and
hearing impaired individuals, and English language is definitely the most frequently learned foreign
language. In order to help HI individuals to use the technology and other benefits of globalization,
foreign language teaching (FLT) should be adapted to their special needs. This question is being
raised among FL teachers in several European countries in which English is taught as L2; in Poland,
Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, France, Serbia, Norway and UK providing information about
policies, teacher attitudes or teaching practice (see (Domagała-Zyśk, 2013) and (Domagała-Zyśk &
Kontra, 2016) for an overview).
Croatia has a long and successful tradition in rehabilitation of hearing impairment implementing
oral/verbotonal method by Petar Guberina (Guberina, 2010). Following that tradition, we also have
great success with cochlear implantation and postoperative rehabilitation (Paškvalin, 2005). In
Croatia, there is a possibility of either inclusive education or education in specialized educational
institution (Polyclinic SUVAG, Slava Raškaj center) for the hearing impaired. Polyclinic SUVAG
offers pre-school and primary education and Slava Raškaj center primary and secondary education.
Both institutions offer individual rehabilitation sessions. Inclusion of a HI child also means that a
team of experts monitors and supports child‘s progress depending on the individual needs. Despite the
professional support provided by the expert team in school, teachers often question their competencies
when it comes to teaching children with disabilities, feel unsecure, unsatisfied or even frustrated with
their teaching performance.

2 Material and method

This study is a part of a larger project employing both qualitative and quantitative methodology in the
study of attitudes on inclusive education. The aim of this study was to examine attitudes of foreign
language teachers in Croatia about teaching children with disabilities in general. In the first phase,
qualitative study design was used to gain deeper insight in the various issues that the teachers
involved in the inclusive educational setting are facing, but also to examine the range of teaching
strategies the teachers develop in practice. The insights from the first phase are used for the
construction of a questionnaire used for the national quantitative study in the second phase.
During the first phase a focus group and two semi-structured interviews were conducted. The
language teachers were recruited in a primary school in Zagreb. That school has a long inclusion
tradition of children with hearing impairment and language difficulties and is a positive example of an

495
inclusive educational setting, thus a great starting point for qualitative insights. The number of
participants in the focus group was nine, three more than planned, due to the greater interest among
the teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted after the focus group to deepen certain
findings.
The topics used for focus group and interviews were (Westwood & Graham, 2003):
(1) Number of students and types of disabilities in inclusion classes,
(2) Benefits of inclusion for typically developing students,
(3) Types of difficulties that teachers find the most challenging,
(4) Satisfaction with the available support (both material and professional),
(5) Teachers‘ education necessary for teaching children with disabilities (both before employment and
during).

3 Results and Discussion

Focus group was opened with the following comments:

I think that I do not give enough attention to my disabled learner.
Definitely, definitely, I always wonder whether he got enough, that is whether I can give him more.
But, we have to achieve something, something average.
I wonder whether I will have enough time for that learner.
The quotes from three different teachers show the current state, but also show teachers‘ motivation to
give more, to adjust to learners‘ needs and teach better.

3.1 Diagnosis

Participants emphasised several problems regarding detection of the disability or disorder. If a child
has hearing impairment it is, in most cases, detected during early childhood. The hearing impairment
diagnosis is followed by rehabilitation and the diagnosis itself is the basis for organization of
educational setting. On the other hand, certain language difficulties (i.e. dyslexia, dysgraphia etc.)
become evident only after the child begins with formal education. Teachers often note that a child has
difficulties with understanding and inform both the parents and educational experts in school. The
expert team assesses the child and directs the parents to specialized institutions for precise diagnosis
in case it is necessary. The diagnostic process is often lengthy and sometimes the precise diagnosis is
set several years later. Therefore, the teachers stress that their education is neither systematic nor does
it cover variety of difficulties so they feel uncertain whether a child shows certain developmental
delay or disability.
Once the diagnosis is set, educational experts decide about program adaptations. Regardless of the
program adaptations (regular or reduced program) student receives certain amount of help. The
teachers are often puzzled by the amount of help needed by individual student. They want to provide
help, but also foster autonomy.

3.2 Program adjustments

According to the Regulations of primary and secondary education of students with developmental
difficulties (cro. Pravilnik o osnovnoškolskom i srednjoškolskom odgoju i obrazovanju uĉenika s
teškoćama u razvoju), students can be educated by regular curriculum with individual adjustments or
by adapted curriculum and individualized adjustments or by special curriculum. The participants say
that most students in their school follow curriculum with individual adjustments while only small
number is educated by adapted curriculum.
The participants agreed that their work is influenced by number of children with disabilities in their
class because they have to offer various types of individualized program (materials, classroom
management etc.). Furthermore, the boundary between individualized and adapted curriculum is
unclear. This causes difficulties with preparations of lesson plans and materials. In most cases they
adapt materials based on their personal judgements.

496
3.3 Parental and professional support

Parents can have both positive and negative influence on the teachers, since the teacher-parent
cooperation is essential. Participants all agree that parents‘ attitude towards disability has great
influence on child‘s success. If the parents accept the difficulty, if they are willing to pursue various
diagnostic procedures in order to get precise and timely diagnosis and follow the recommendations
given by the team of educational experts, the child begins to show progress. However, if the parents
do not encourage their child, the results are slow or none. Regarding the teacher-parent relation,
participants mentioned several examples of great cooperation with parents, sharing findings from
educational process or successful methods. On the other hand, the examples of poor cooperation are
often based on parents‘ attitude toward disability (non-acceptance) and/or attitude that program
adjustments are not required.
Team of experts supports teaching process in all stages, and teachers feel that sometimes there is
too much ‗monitoring‘ and the child often feels pressured. Regarding materials, no explicit comments
were given, except that they generate materials, even published textbooks for some subjects (Croatian
language). It has to be noted that materials are tailored to suit individual needs and type of educational
program, teaching materials are shared among colleagues.

3.4 Benefits of inclusion for typically developing students

When asked about inclusion benefits for typically developing students, teachers emphasized that
the entire class benefits from the adjustments of the teaching process. For an example, slower
exposition is a good example of the whole class benefit, accompanied by frequent repetitions and
more question time.
Participants agreed that children with disabilities are insecure without real reason, leaving the
impression of being unprepared. However, it is not the lack of knowledge that causes this impression,
but fear of mistakes. Focus group participants put strong emphasis on this, saying that integration of
children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms has benefits for all participants of the learning
process. Similarly to Westwood and Graham (2003) the classrooms become encouraging settings
fostering cooperation and tolerance. All the teachers want to create atmosphere in which comments
and corrections, but also help is provided with no hesitation raising awareness that learning abilities
among peers may differ.

3.5 Types of difficulties that teachers find the most challenging and teaching strategies

During the discussion about particular difficulties faced by language teachers, the participants
mentioned: scarce L1 vocabulary and generally low metalinguistic awareness, difficulties with
phonology and semantics. The students with small vocabularies in L1 will certainly have difficulties
with L2 vocabulary because they cannot use L1 to explain new word or a concept. The teachers
described their strategy; in such cases they use foreign language to learn new concepts in L1. Since
L2 is learned explicitly with higher level of metalinguistic awareness, learning L2 indirectly
influences L1. One of the examples is the notion of homesick in English which is translated as a
desire for home in Croatian, but the problem arises when the student is not familiar with the notion of
desire. If the English word is contextualized its meaning is learned but also applied to Croatian.
Furthermore, students with disabilities often have problems in word order tasks. In this case the task
adjustment is to make the task linear so that clauses are already inserted making the task easier.
Additional problem faced by HI students are speech sounds and their role in a language. Surely, if
there are problems with phonology, there will be problems with semantics and this is particularly
evident in L2, since semantics in L1 is less important, while in L2 the focus is on grammatical forms.
Due to the differences in approach, certain phenomena being explained in detail in L2 it may
sometimes seem that students have less difficulties with L2 phonology and semantics.
Participants stress that they do not approach the language as a study object but as a means of
communication. This strategy encourages students to understand the context without details and to
simplify the structures. The examples are: shortening of texts, simplification of sentence structure and
497
emphasizing important information in the text. More examples for wide variety of subjects are
available in a book Can you hear the difference? (Bakota, 2015)
Lesson planning must include students with disabilities, consequently teachers develop certain
teaching strategies. Participants listed the following strategies labelling them as their core ones:
extremely detailed lesson plan, quantitative adjustment of teaching material and speed and
development of ―micro approach‖ depending on the difficulty. Detailed lesson plan means that the
teacher has general (mainstream) lesson plan but also special assignments or procedures for the
students with disabilities. That is why in some classes in which there are more children with
disabilities this will mean preparation of several procedures for a single assignment. The procedure
may include reduction of the teaching material which is another basic teaching strategy used for both
individualized or adapted program. Another problem faced by teachers is assessment. Every subject
teacher must take into account student‘s ability and possible limitations. Participants explain that
teachers follow achievement and encourage progress resulting in a grade which is more an indicator
of effort and progress than real achievement.

3.6 Teachers’ education necessary for teaching children with disabilities

Teachers‘ education is neither systematic nor does it include wide spectrum of disorders, therefore
the teachers are unable to make a difference between disability/disorder or developmental delay. They
agree that educations are useful and can be applied for lesson planning. However, the educations are
rare and sometimes give general information. In other words, the educators refer to children with
disabilities in general terms, perceiving them as a compact group although education, lecture or a
workshop, addressing particular impairment would be of greater use. Considering the fact that most
participants have 20 years of experience in teaching children with disabilities, they pointed that the
received no additional education and training at the beginning of their professional life.

4 Conclusion

The conclusion consists of two parts: final remarks on the qualitative study and the description of the
questionnaire for the quantitative study constructed from the findings from the first part.
Study results show that participants often feel incompetent and unready to teach children with
disability. This is caused by insufficient information about the type and degree of the child‘s disability
or lack of specific education about a particular disability. Teaching skills for hearing impairment and
other disabilities are gained in practice, and with the support from the team of experts they gain
crucial insights for FLT to HI children. Both material and non-material support plays important part in
the process of forming teaching strategy. Despite all the challenges that teaching children with
disabilities brings, all participants agreed that inclusion is positive not only for children with
disabilities, but also for those typically developing because they raise awareness about differences, but
the process of inclusion must be administered systematically. Regarding FLT, participants are aware
that we need to upgrade teaching process in order to make FLL useful for students with disabilities.
The questionnaire which will be used in the quantitative part of the study has six sections and
demographics. The demographics include questions about age, gender, experience and type of school.
The first section addresses diagnoses with the following questions:
1. Have you been informed about student‘s diagnosis?
2. Have you ever received any type of instruction on teaching student with a particular disorder?
3. If you were informed about the diagnosis and/or received instruction when has this occurred?
4. Who provides instruction regarding teaching children with disabilities?
5. Did you recommend diagnostic procedures for some students but they never completed them?
6. Are there students who completed diagnostic procedures and were given instructions which
parents do not follow?
The second section examines teaching instructions and recommendations. Whether they were written
or oral, general or particular, and who issued instructions or recommendations. The third section

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 aimed at the difference between adjusted program or curriculum and individualized program, former
having reduced amount of information. The questions examined authorship of the program and its
supervision. Section four is about teaching strategies. General strategies like preparation of monthly
or yearly planning for the adjusted or individualized program. Questions regarding particular teaching
strategies included: material reduction, teaching speed, task complexity, activity adaptation, usage of
special didactic toys or materials adequate for hearing impaired children. Section five examined
education of the HI teachers. The questions were about the disability they are or were educated the
least, about education before and during teacher‘s degree, education after the degree and about the
providers of additional education. Final section examines the challenges in FLT (low vocabulary
level, low level of metalinguistic awareness, semantic or phonological difficulties, problems with
understanding, slow learning and fear of mistakes).
Further research will bring results from the quantitative study, but also open more discussion on
various aspects of various impairments and foreign language teaching.

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