Blumenthal Lior, Sefotho Maximus M
Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Afr J Disabil. 2022 Oct 28;11:886. doi: 10.4102/ajod.v11i0.886. eCollection 2022.
This research investigated the phenomenon of learners with cochlear implants and their challenges with cognitive effort in private mainstream schools in Gauteng. Many learners with cochlear implants encounter academic and social challenges at school, despite the advanced technology.
This study aimed to explore how learners with cochlear implants experience cognitive effort and whether it impacts their academic potential.
Research was conducted using a phenomenological design. Phenomenography was used as theoretical framework to perceive, interpret and understand experiences of the cochlear implant recipients. The six former learners who were recipients of cochlear implants were selected using purposive sampling. Semistructured interviews were utilised to gather information, which was analysed using thematic content analysis.
Five themes emerged from the analysis, namely auditory challenges, cognitive functioning, peer interactions, emotional health and concealed disability. This article only presents the first theme of cognitive functioning and highlights three subthemes related to cognitive effort. Findings show that many learners struggled with their concentration span and fatigue, as a result of their cognitive effort difficulties.
This study demonstrated how learners with cochlear implants face challenges with cognitive effort at their mainstream schools. It indicates the need for awareness of and training on educating learners with cochlear implants to help them reach their academic potential.
This study contributes a unique focus on learners with cochlear implants in mainstream schools in South Africa. The study highlights that cognitive effort of learners with cochlear implants influenced their capabilities to multitask and retain information, despite the effort they have to put into listening. Further research should be conducted to develop interventions that could lesson cognitive effort while increasing learner productivity. The article responds to disability studies and inclusive education.
本研究调查了豪登省私立主流学校中接受人工耳蜗植入的学习者的现象及其在认知努力方面面临的挑战。尽管有先进的技术，但许多接受人工耳蜗植入的学习者在学校仍面临学业和社交方面的挑战。
本研究旨在探讨接受人工耳蜗植入的学习者如何体验认知努力，以及这是否会影响他们的学术潜力。
采用现象学设计进行研究。现象学被用作理论框架，以感知、解释和理解人工耳蜗植入接受者的经历。使用目的抽样法选取了六名曾接受人工耳蜗植入的学习者。采用半结构化访谈收集信息，并使用主题内容分析法进行分析。
分析得出了五个主题，即听觉挑战、认知功能、同伴互动、情绪健康和隐藏残疾。本文仅呈现认知功能这一主题，并突出了与认知努力相关的三个子主题。研究结果表明，许多学习者由于认知努力困难，在注意力持续时间和疲劳方面存在问题。
本研究展示了接受人工耳蜗植入的学习者在主流学校中如何面临认知努力方面的挑战。这表明需要提高对教育接受人工耳蜗植入学习者的认识并进行相关培训，以帮助他们发挥学术潜力。
本研究独特地聚焦于南非主流学校中接受人工耳蜗植入的学习者。该研究强调，尽管接受人工耳蜗植入的学习者在听力方面需要付出努力，但他们的认知努力会影响其多任务处理和保留信息的能力。应进一步开展研究，以开发能够减少认知努力同时提高学习者学习效率的干预措施。本文回应了残疾研究和全纳教育。
