Effect of peer tutoring on social adjustment among English learners with hearing impairments in special primary schools

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Different studies have shown the prevalence of high level of social adjustment among English learners with hearing impairment. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of peer tutoring as a social adjustment intervention among English learners with hearing impairment in special primary schools in Enugu State, Nigeria. METHOD: The area of the study was Enugu State. The study adopted a pre-test–post-test quasi experimental research design. The population of the study comprised 30 pupils with language hearing impairment. There was no sampling because the population size was small and manageable. The instrument for data collection was a social adjustment scale with reliability coefficient of 0.88. After the experiment, the experimental group were taught using peer tutoring teaching strategy while the control group were taught with conventional teaching method. Analysis of covariance was used to test the formulated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. RESULTS: Results showed that peer tutoring teaching strategy significantly increased social adjustment of pupils with language hearing impairment. Gender did not significantly influence social adjustment of pupils with language hearing impairment. The interaction effect of teaching strategies and gender on social adjustment of pupils with language hearing impairment was not significant. CONCLUSION: Peer tutoring can be used to alleviate social adjustment problem of pupils with language hearing impairment. The implications of the results for curriculum innovation were highlighted.