Reading Comprehension and Deafness: the Impact of E-learning in an Italian EFL Context

Foreign language learning holds a number of challenges that vary according to a wide number of variables. Deaf learners face the additional challenge of not being able to fully rely on the acoustic channel as a source of linguistic input. This paper presents the results of a one-sample pretest/posttest study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of a deaf centred e-learning environment (DELE), compared to the traditional pen and paper approach, in three reading comprehension tasks. Eight Italian prelingually and profoundly deaf students were asked to complete a multiple choice, a cloze and a true/false task. A series of t-tests revealed an overall statistically significant decrease in the number of wrong answers and no answers provided, as well as a reduced average item response time, when using DELE. These results seem to suggest that a more visually oriented learning environment, specifically designed for deaf learners, may prove to be more effective than traditional paper-based materials.