EFFECT OF CURRICULUM BASED AUDIO PROGRAMMES ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF EDUCABLE MENTALLY
HANDICAPPED LEARNERS AT THE PRIMARY LEVEL
by
SWARNA GUPTA
Centre for Educational Technology
Submitted
in fulfilment of the requirements of degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
to the
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI
August, 1995
SUPERVISOR
(VEENA KU (AMULYA KHU-RANA)
SUPERVISOR
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the thesis titled "EFFECT OF CURRICULUM BASED AUDIO PROGRAMMES ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF EDUCABLE MENTALLY HANDICAPPED. LEARNERS AT THE PRIMARY LEVEL" being submitted by SWARNA GUPTA to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, is a record of bonafide research work carried out by her.
Swarna Gupta has worked under our joint guidance and supervision and has fulfilled the requirements for the submission of this thesis which to our knowledge, has reached the requisite standard.
The results contained in this thesis have not been submitted in part or in full, to any other University or Institute for the award of any degree or diploma. •
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude and sincere thanks to my supervisors, Dr.Veena Kumar and Dr. Amulya Khurana, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi, for their painstaking guidance, valuable suggestions and constant encouragement throughout this research study. I am greatly indebted to them for their valuable guidance, deep concern, ready availability, infinite patience and willingness to discuss in depth the various facets of the study, despite their busy schedule.
My sincere thanks are due to Dr. Purnima Mathur, Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, and presently Head, Centre for Educational Technology, IIT Delhi, for her help and constructive interaction during the study.
I am extremely grateful to Professor A. K. Ray and Professor K.L. Kumar, Centre for Educational Technology, IIT Delhi, for their constructive suggestions and the help extended to me, in the course of the study.
I owe my gratitude to Dr. N.K. Jhangira, Professor and Head, Department of Teacher Education, Special Education and Extension Services, National Council of Educational Research and Training,New Delhi and Dr. K.N. Ojha, NIMH Regional Training Centre(N), New Delhi for their valuable suggestions at various stages of the study.
My special thanks are due to Dr. B.S. Nagi, Council for Social. Development, New Delhi for computation of the entire data.
I am particularly grateful to all the principals and teachers of the Institutions for the Mentally Handicapped in the National Capital Territory of Delhi who spared their valuable time in discussing the varied aspects of education in special schools and painstakingly conducted the experiments in their schools.
It is their co-operation and help which has made this study possible.
My sincere and heartfelt gratitude goes to the innocent learners who had the most tedious task of serving as 'subjects' for the study. Their tremendous enthusiasm, patience, cheerfulness and above all, their untiring support and co-operation was a continued source of encouragement for me to complete the work. The genuine love and affection of these children will always inspire me to work for their cause. To the children, therefore, I express my deepest thanks.
My special thanks are due to my teachers at IIT Delhi and elsewhere, and to my numerous colleagues, friends and well wishers for their encouragement and assistance in the course of the study. I am specially grateful to Dr. Indu Seth, Reader, NCERT for her help and co-operation.
I am deeply indebted to my parents for their deep concern and constant encouragement from the beginning to the very end. The inspiration provided by my father, in times of difficulty, has greatly helped me in the timely completion of my thesis. I also wish to express my gratitude to my mother-in- law for her support and extreme patience during my preoccupation with my work.
I would be failing in my duties if I do not extend my grateful thanks to my husband Brahm, who has been always assisting me in various ways in the course of this study. My daughters, Sukriti and Priyanka, too, deserve a big
`thank you' for patiently bearing with me and putting up with my odd hours of work and preoccupation with the thesis. Their help in proof-reading is greatly appreciated.
I am deeply grateful to the National Council of Educational Research and Training for the permission and facilities made available to me for undertaking this research study. I am also extremely grateful to the Central Institute of Educational Technology, NCERT for granting me permission to use the recording facilities/audio equipment to carry out the experimental study.
I am thankful to Mr. Vibhor Jain for his help in the preparation of the thesis.
Without the co-operation and help of everyone mentioned above, the study would just not have been possible.
August, 1995 SWARNA GUPTA
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ABSTRACT
The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of curriculum based audio programmes on the academic achievement of educable mentally handicapped (EMH) learners at the primary level. The study also aimed at identifying the most effective audio format for EMH learners and the role of educational media in special schools.
The sample consisted of sixty-four EMH learners in the age group of 10-14 years. The Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design with matching was employed in the study. The subjects were matched on Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and baseline levels and assigned randomly to experimental and control groups.
Ten specially designed audio programmes were used as independent variables. The experimental group was exposed to the audio programmes in addition to conventional teaching, whereas the control group was taught by conventional teaching method only. Teachers were interviewed and their views on utilization and effectiveness of audio programmes were content analysed.
Student's 't'-test was used to find out the significance of difference between control and experimental group on academic performance, retentivity and vocabulary acquisition. Frequencies and percentages were also calculated and graphs were drawn to summarize the data.
Results showed significant differences in the performance, retentivity and vocabulary acquisition of the two groups. The experimental group performed better on all occasions as compared to the control group.
This indicated that the overall academic achievement of EMH learners improved when class-room teaching was supplemented with curriculum- based audio programmes. Findings also indicated that story-based programmes with short interludes of musical rhymes were most effective and popular with EMH learners. The audio programmes were found to be effective by teachers as support material to classroom teaching. Teachers were of the opinion that educational media can be very effective in the teaching-learning process of EMH learners.
The implications of the study have been summarized and suggestions for further research have been made.
APPENDICES
Appendix
1. List of Institutions for the Mentally Handicapped in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Page
2. Criterion Referenced Test for
ii
Programme No. 1.
3. List of Key (Stimulus) words for Vocabulary
iii
Acquisition Test.
4. Questionnaire for Conducting a Survey on "The iv-ix Use of AudioNideo/Film Component in the
Education of EMH learners.
5. Programme Brief - A Sample.
6.(a-j) Programme Briefs (1-10) for 10 Audio Programmes. xi-xxxiii
LIST OF TABLES
No. Page
2.1 Levels of Retardation by IQ and Proportion of Retarded Persons.
22
2.2 Terminology and Levels of Severity of Retardation. 23
2.3 Comparison of Piagetian Stages of Development to 47 Levels of Retardation.
3.1 Summary of Review of Researches, Arranged 81 Alphabetically (by Author's Name)
4.1 Schematic Presentation of the Pretest-Posttest 89 Control Group Design.
4.2 Scoring Pattern of BASIC - MR (Part A) as used in the Study.
105
4.3 Distribution of Sample in the IQ range of 50-66. 109
4.4 Classification Norms of Mentally Handicapped Learners. 114
4.5 C A, MA and IQ of Selected Sample. 115
4.6 Average CA, MA and IQ of Selected Sample. 115
5.1 Summary of Findings of the Survey. 131
5.2 Rating of Programmes and Percentage of Experts' 145 Agreement.
6.1. Significance of Difference Between the Mean 148 Scores of Control and Experimental Group
on Academic Performance.
6.2 Mean Difference Scores (Post-Pre) and S.D. of 151 Experimental and Control Group on Academic
Performance.
6.3 Significance of Difference Between the Mean 153 Scores of Control and Experimental Group on
Retentivity after 7 Days.
6.4 Significance of Difference between the Mean 155 Scores of Control and Experimental Group on
Retentivity after 15 days.
6.5 Significance of Difference between the Mean 157 Scores of Control and Experimental Group
on Acquisition of Vocabulary.
6.6 Mean Difference Scores (Post-Pre), S.D. and 159 't'-Values of Experimental and Control Group
on Vocabulary Acquisition.
6.7 Mean Scores of Experimental and Control 161 Group on Tests of Performance, Retentivity
and Vocabulary Acquisition.
6.8 Rating of Audio Programmes on the Basis of 162 Format (N=32).
6.9 Reasons for Non-Utilization of Educational 187 Audio Programmes (N=12).
6.10 Content Areas Suggested by Teachers in 188 Special Schools for Development of Audio
Programmes (N=12).
LIST OF FIGURES
No. Page
4.1 EMH Learners in the Experimental Condition 118
4.2 EIVIH Learners in the Experimental Condition 119
4.3 EMH Learners in the Experimental Condition 119
5.1 Framework of Instructional Design Plan. 133
5.2 Steps in the Preparation of Media Software. 134
6.1 to Graphs (Bar and Line) : Comparison of Mean 165-184 6.10 Scores on Performance, Retentivity and Vocabulary
(a & b) Acquisition in Experimental and Control Groups for Audio Programme Nos. 1 to 10.
6.11 Bar and Line Graphs: Comparison of Overall 185-186 (a&b) Mean Scores on Performance, Retentivity and
Vocabulary Acquisition in Experimental and Control Groups on all the 10 Audio Programmes.
CONTENTS
PAGE NO.
CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTION 1-13
1.1 AUDIO MEDIUM IN EDUCATION 3
1.2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 7
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 11
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 13
CHAPTER - II THEORETICAL ORIENTATION AND BACKGROUND 14-59
2.1 CONCEPT OF MENTAL RETARDATION 14
2.1.1 Definitions of Mental Retardation 16 2.1.2 Classification of Mental Retardation 20 2.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EDUCABLE
MENTALLY HANDICAPPED 24
2.2.1 Incidence of EMH 27
2.2.2 Causes of EMH (or MMH) 28
2.2.3 Educational Provisions for EMH 30 2.3 EDUCATION OF THE MENTALLY HANDICAPPED :
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 31
2.4 LEARNING IN MENTALLY HANDICAPPED 44
2.5 CURRICULUM AND EDUCATIONAL MEDIA 49
2.5.1 The Curriculum 51
2.5.2 Educational Media 53
2.5.3 Selection of Media 55
CHAPTER - III REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND
DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES 60-87
3.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 60
3.1.1 Status of Research 61
3.2 STUDIES ON LEARNING, RETENTION AND MEMORY 64 3.3 STUDIES USING EDUCATIONAL MEDIA:
FOCUS ON AUDIO MEDIUM 67
3.3.1. Audio Teaching Versus Conventional Teaching 69 3.3.2 Radio Versus Television in Teaching 72 3.3.3 Studies Comparing Different Audio Formats 73 3.4 SCHOOL BROADCAST PROGRAMMES AT THE
NATIONAL LEVEL 74
3.5 DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES 79
CHAPTER - IV METHODOLOGY 88-122
4.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 88
4.2 SAMPLE 94
4.2.1 Institutional facilities for the Mentally Handicapped 95
4.2.2 Selection of Schools 96
4.3 TOOLS OF MEASUREMENT 98
4.3.1 Instructional tools 98
4.3.2 Measuring Tools 100
4.4 VARIABLES IN THE STUDY 109
4.4.1 Independent Variables 109
4.4.2 Dependent Variables 110
4.5 PROCEDURE 112
4.5.1 Controls 112
4.5.2 Selection of EMH learners 113
4.5.3 Experimental Procedure 116
4.5.4 The Experiment 118
4.5.5 Testing Situations 120
4.5.6 Interview with teachers 122
4.6 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS 122
CHAPTER -V DEVELOPMENT OF AUDIO PRO-GRAMMES 123-146
5.1. PLANNING STAGE 124
5.1.1 Rationale 124
5.1.2 Survey of use of Educational Media in Special Schools 125 5.1.3 Instructional Plan Design (IPD)
5.1.4 Review of Curriculum and Selection of Content 135
5.2 SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT 137
5.2.1 Development of a Programme Brief 139
5.2.2 Selection of Format 139
5.2.3 The Draft Script 140
5.2.4 The Revised Script 141
5.2.5 The Final Script 141
5.3 PRODUCTION STAGE 141
5.3.1 Preparation for Recording 142
5.3.2. Recording of the Script 142
5.3.3. Editing and Mixing 143
5.4 EVALUATION OF AUDIO PROGRAMMES 143
CHAPTER - VI RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 147-190
CHAPTER - VII SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY 191-195
CHAPTER - VIII LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 196-199
REFERENCES 200-236
