Home > Exploring the Use of Ict in Supporting Teaching and Learning of Reading and Writing Skills for Children With Hearing Impairment in an Inclusive School in Karachi, Pakistan
Exploring the Use of Ict in Supporting Teaching and Learning of Reading and Writing Skills for Children With Hearing Impairment in an Inclusive School in Karachi, Pakistan
The purpose of this research was to explore the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching and learning of reading and writing skills to/by children with hearing impairment in an inclusive school in Karachi, Pakistan. In order to achieve this purpose, the research question that guided the course of the research was, 'what are the ways in which ICT might be used for teaching and learning of reading and writing skills to/by children with hearing impairment in an inclusive school in Karachi, Pakistan'. Embedded in the qualitative paradigm, action research was used to explore my research question. Action research is a flexible spiral process which allows action for change and improvement and research for understanding and knowledge to be achieved at the same time (Dick, 2002). The Kemmis, McTaggart and Retallick's (2004) model of action research was implemented in the study. However, only two cycles of action research could be completed. Classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, document analysis, reflective journal, video recording of classroom teaching, field notes were used as data collection methods. Four students (two with hearing impairment and two without hearing impairment) from a private inclusive school of Karachi, Pakistan, were selected as participants on the basis of a criteria. Moreover, the class teacher and assistant teacher acted as my critical friends. It was found that in order to address the learning needs of children with Special Education Needs (SEN), the use of multiple pedagogies and methodologies were helpful in keeping all the students engaged in the learning process. The use of ICT allowed the teacher to enrich the curriculum with relevant and interesting activities downloaded from the internet. However, the teacher's knowledge and skills of teaching children with hearing impairment posed several challenges. Thus, the professional development of teachers and their capabilities, in using ICT in an inclusive setting was found to be critical. It was found that children with SEN needed more input for improving their vocabulary. It was found that the overall low reading level of children with hearing impairment hinders them in participating in the reading activities and discussion processes even when multimedia were used. The written instructions, along with verbal instructions, projected through multimedia projector were found helpful to include children with hearing impairment in the classroom discourse. The features of power point presentation like hypertext, hypermedia and animations, use of digital stories and colourful pictures helped in gaining students' attention for
مولانا فضل الحسن حسرتؔ موہانی شاید جہاں سے حسرتِ دیوانہ چل بسا ہاں ہاں جب بھی تو چشمِ جنون اشکبار ہے بالآخر کئی مہینہ کی موت و حیات کی کشمکش کے بعد ہمارے قافلہ آزادی کا پہلا حدی خوان اور میرکاروان بھی کوچ کرگیا اور گلستانِ تغزل کا بلبلِ نغمہ سنج ہمیشہ کے لیے خاموش ہوگیا، یعنی گذشتہ ۱۳؍ مئی کو سیدالاحرار مولانا فضل الحسن حسرت موہانی نے اس دارِ فانی کو الوداع کہا کلُّ مَنْ عَلَیھْاَ فَانٍ ویبقی وجہ رَبِّکَ ذوالجلال وَالاکرام۔[الرحمن:۲۶۔۲۷] مولانا حسرت کی ذات ستودہ صفات مجموعہ اضداد و کمالات تھی، وہ ملک و وطن کے جانباز مجاہد اور شاعرِ رنگین نوا بھی، انقلابی سوشلسٹ بھی تھے اور صاحبِ و جدوحال صوفی بھی، بوریہ نشینِ فقرومسکنت بھی اور مسندنشینِ غروتمکنت بھی انہوں نے اس زمانہ میں انگریزوں کی مخالفت کی صدا بلند کی ، جب اسکی پاداش دارورسن تھی، اس زمانہ میں آزادی کا صور پھونکا جب کانگریس بھی اس نام سے گھبراتی تھی اور بڑے بڑے محبِ وطن آزادی کے کھلونوں میں الجھے ہوئے تھے، اور اس زمانہ میں قوم و ملک کے لیے قید و بند کی مصیبتیں جھیلیں جب جیل سیاسی تفریح گاہ نہیں بلکہ حقیقۃً قید محن تھے، انہوں نے اس راہ میں جو قربانیاں کیں اور جتنے مصائب اٹھائے اسکی مثال اس زمانہ کے کسی لیڈر کی زندگی میں مشکل ہی سے مل سکتی ہے اور موجودہ مدعیانِ آزادی کو توآزادی کا شعور و احساس بھی نہیں تھا، بلکہ حق یہ ہے کہ گاندھی جی بھی ایک عرصے تک اس راہ میں ان سے بہت پیچھے رہے، حسرت کایہ دعوی اولیت بالکل صحیح ہے۔ تو نے کی حسرت عیاں تہذیبِ رسمِ عاشقی اس سے پہلے اعتبارِ شانِ رسوائی نہ تھا وہ اخلاص و صداقت حق گوئی و حق پرستی اور جرات و بے باکی کے جس درجہ پر تھے،...
Islam teaches its follower purification in every walk of life, be itassociated with creed, character, worship or economic activities; it is advised that they should avoid contaminated substance. Unlawful income (Maal-eHaram) is also prohibited by sharia to be earned or kept in custody; . However types of unlawful income are more than few, for instance riba, robbery, bribery etc and Sharia scholars have different views about each one of them, similarly opinions of sharia scholars are also different on profit earned on the lawful investment of unlawful income. In this paper, sharia guidelines regarding lawful and unlawful income is presented, different types of unlawful income and views of sharia scholars regarding the income and profit earnedfrom the investment of the same are mentioned with arguments, in the end suggestions are given in light of present era regarding each type of unlawful income.
Asking questions is central to intellectual effort. The questions which one asks play a significant role in bridging the gap between the known and unknown. Teachers in Pakistan use questioning as a major strategy to teach science in the primary classroom. However, most of these questions check the memory of their students, keep them on task, or check the instructions the teachers have given usually for class work or homework. Science teachers are the sole owners of questions and therefore students in Pakistani science classrooms have been positioned as the people who answer questions which have been posed by the teacher. The growing dominance of active learning environments in the developed world has done much to challenge this positioning but in our context, still, there remains an immensely strong institutional presumption that being a successful student is tested by the capacity to answer questions. This study was conducted to try out different strategies a teacher can use in a primary science classroom to promote students' questioning skills. The study revealed that a variety of 'hands-on, minds- on' activities with an appropriate level of difficulty can help to promote students' questioning skills. A gradual increase in the level of difficulty of stimulating activities, a friendly environment and acceptance of students' ideas helped them to overcome their fear of 'being wrong' and instead nurtured their innate curiosity. This resulted in the students' ability to create their own learning strategies which were all used as part of the science lesson. Several challenges to this approach in the learning of science were identified. They include completion of syllabus, time allocated for science lessons, product oriented assessment, school culture, individual accountability in the classroom and creativity on the part of teacher. Growing evidence from existing literature and my study seem to suggest that, primary science teachers in Pakistan need to review their role in the teaching/learning process. Any attempt to change the educational policy regarding the teaching of science would be useless if the implementers (teachers) of the policy do not realise their changing role. They are on the cutting edge and responsible for promoting students' curiosity, to help students to be autonomous learners.