EFFECT OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING ON READING COMPREHENSION IN CHILDREN WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENTS 

Abstract

The researchers set out on a quiet quest to see how reading—that hidden thread tying learning together—might blossom for kids with hearing impairments, where words often twist into shaky bridges instead of open gates. In a fifth-grade classroom in Taichung City, Taiwan, they watched two boys wrestle with texts, their struggles lighting a question: could cooperative learning or self-instruction carve a brighter path? With a hands-on design, they guided these kids through three stages—baseline days of plain reading, then a whirl of fifteen lessons each of teamwork and solo reflection, topped off with five rounds of the stronger approach. Using a trusted benchmark and a tailor-made test, they tracked growth not just in scores—up 9 and 10 points—but in the way stories started to hum, from basic facts to big ideas. Cooperative learning rolled in like a warm breeze, its shared buzz lifting understanding higher than self-instruction’s soft nudge, though both kindled real strides. Those gains weren’t mere marks; they were flickers of kids stepping past shadows, a hint that these rough, hopeful efforts might steady the bridge to literacy. From this, the researchers call for classrooms alive with group chatter and quiet coaching, dreaming of workshops and reading circles to carry the spark further, nudging future trails toward wider fields like science to see how far this light can stretch.