Text-to-Speech-Based Textbook for University Students with Visual Impairments in English Syntax Inclusive Learning: A Need Analysis Study

DOI

10.2991/yicemap-17.2017.35How to use a DOI?

Keywords

English syntax, inclusive education, text-to-speech-based textbook, syntactic analyzer, visually impaired student

Abstract

This study aims at finding needs and expectations for designing a user-friendly textbook of English syntax which can be used by university students with visual impairment in inclusive learning. English syntax learning is chosen because of its certain difficulties undergone by visually-impaired students, particularly those dealing with syntactic analysis which is commonly visualized in a tree diagram notation. The subjects of this study were those involved in English syntax learning including visually-impaired students, lecturers, and Pertuni (Indonesian Blind Union). Three lecturers, six visually-impaired students, and three Pertuni staffs participated in the focus group. The study was conducted in Semarang City by including all the English departments which have students with visual impairments and offer English syntax course in their curricula as well as implement it in inclusive learning. The data were collected by observation, in-depth interview, and focus group discussion. The findings show that a user-friendly textbook of English syntax for visually-impaired students should accommodate the following main needs and expectations: (1) the textbook is presented in digital format to be easily accessed by a visually-impaired student using a screen reader, such as JAWS (Job Access with Speech), (2) the text book is supplemented with an add-ons program - called English Syntactic Analyzer - that can guide a visually-impaired student in analyzing a syntactic unit, and (3) the textbook enables visually-impaired students to have the same access to learning activities and success as the normal students in the class.

Copyright

© 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Sunardi Sunardi
AU  - Raden Arief Nugroho
AU  - Purwanto Purwanto
PY  - 2017/05
DA  - 2017/05
TI  - Text-to-Speech-Based Textbook for University Students with Visual Impairments in English Syntax Inclusive Learning: A Need Analysis Study
BT  - Proceedings of the 1st Yogyakarta International Conference on Educational Management/Administration and Pedagogy (YICEMAP 2017)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 210
EP  - 214
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/yicemap-17.2017.35
DO  - 10.2991/yicemap-17.2017.35
ID  - Sunardi2017/05
ER  -