Date of Award
Spring 5-2017
Degree Type
Dissertation-Restricted
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Program
Special Education
Department
Special Education and Habilitative Services
Major Professor
Kate Reynolds, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Janice Janz, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Linda Flynn-Wilson, Ph.D.
Fourth Advisor
Marc Bonis, Ph.D.
Abstract
In Saudi Arabia, deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) individuals rarely gain admission to Saudi universities, even though there is a law (i.e. the Disability Code) passed in 2000 to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to post-secondary educational opportunities as their non-disabled peers. In the 16 years since the passage of this law, some attempts were made to enroll D/HH students in Saudi universities. Unfortunately, most of these attempts failed and therefore the actual enrollment of D/HH students in higher education is still limited. Possible reasons may include faculty members’ insufficient knowledge about, and negative attitudes toward, people who are deaf and hard of hearing. A literature review revealed few studies investigating faculty members’ knowledge and attitudes toward D/HH students. This study is designed to investigate the level of knowledge and the attitudes Saudi faculty members have about deaf and hard of hearing students. Data were collected through a convenience survey of selected faculty members in a single Saudi university. All participants in the study were faculty members (N=224) in the Humanities Colleges and Scientific Colleges at the university. A quantitative descriptive correlational analysis on the data revealed that faculty members who participated in the study generally have adequate knowledge about hearing loss and positive attitudes towards enrollment and instruction of this population of students. However, age, college type, academic rank and length of teaching experience were found to have significant effects on the knowledge and attitudes of faculty members, whereas gender was not a discriminating factor. Implications for deaf education in higher education institutions and recommendations for further study are provided based on the results of this study.
Recommended Citation
Alajlan, Mohammed, "Knowledge and Attitudes of Faculty Members at a Saudi University Toward Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Higher Education" (2017). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2288.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2288
Included in
Higher Education Commons, Humane Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Other Education Commons, Special Education and Teaching Commons, Student Counseling and Personnel Services Commons
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.