Self-efficacy of vision-impaired students: impacts of technology-enhanced language learning

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact of inclusive technology (an E-book read by vision-impaired adult learners with their accessible software and hardware of choice) on the self-efficacy beliefs of college-level, vision-impaired (VI) EFL students at a Saudi Arabian university, as well as on their agency and performance. This study is predominantly qualitative to best elaborate the impact for each research subject and seeks to investigate the perspectives and attitudes of VI students at the Saudi Arabian university regarding learning English in general, and about the use of accessible technology as a tool for learning.

The methods used in the current study are pre- and post-intervention semi-structured interviews, a focus group discussion at three months post-intervention, and pre- and post-intervention self-efficacy beliefs questionnaires. The analysis of quantitative data was facilitated by statistical tools such as those found in Microsoft Excel. Meanwhile, data analysis for the qualitative component was in the form of content analysis, achieved by extracting relevant themes from the interviews and the focus group discussion.

Qualitative participant data in this study reveal that there are knowledge gaps relating to how best to support vision-impaired learners of English at university in Saudi Arabia, and that a) a lack of proper support and b) the provision of improved support bears a strong relationship to vision impaired English learners’ self-efficacy beliefs. Implications of the research findings are outlined and a number of recommendations are provided for further research and pedagogical adaptations that could and should be introduced to improve the status of vision-impaired adult learners in the Saudi context. In particular, recommendations are made that form the basis of a new pedagogical framework for best practice, training, and government policy.

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