Correlation between Learners’ Experience of each Characteristic and the

Learning Centre S11

I feel this P2P course is easy for me.

S18

I am satisfied with P2P course.

S19

I will keep using the SLEND in the future. Mean (n = 44) 4.4 3.5 4.4 Coimbatore Centre (n = 6) 4.2 3.5 4.7 Indore Centre (n = 12) 4.2 3.4 4.3 Palakkad Centre (n = 10) 4.3 3.6 3.8 Thrissur Centre (n = 10) 4.5 3.6 4.8 Vadodara Centre (n = 6) 4.8 3.7 4.8 5.3 CORRELATION OF EXPERIENCE

Learners’ corresponding experience of the SLEND in terms of each characteristic and overall experience has been presented above. In this section, the correlation between learners’ experience of each characteristic and the overall experience, and the correlation between characteristics are examined. As identified in Chapter 4, the SLEND is situated in a Deaf-led, peer supported context with real life English, learner-created content, sign bilingualism, peer-to-peer interaction, Web 2.0 technology-enhanced provision, Emergent syllabus mapped to the CEFR, and continuous training and support as the key characteristics. The characteristics are not isolated but interacting with each other. Therefore, it is assumed that learners’ experience of each characteristic, if not all, should correlate positively with their overall experience. It is also expected that learners’ experience of some characteristics, if not all, should correlate to some extent.

5.3.1 Correlation between Learners’ Experience of each Characteristic and the Overall Experience

In the learner experience questionnaire, the responses to several statements relevant to the same characteristic are merged before correlation analysis. The categorization is briefly introduced in Table 5.15 with learners’ average response.

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Table 5.15 Average Response of categorized statements in relation to Each Characteristic

Categories/ Characteristics Statements in the questionnaire

Experience of real life English S1, S3

Experience of Vocabulary and Grammar Learning S2

Experience of Sign Bilingualism S5, S7

Experience of Peer Tuition and Collaborative Learning S4, S8, S9

Experience of Multimedia materials S6

Experience of Web 2.0 social tool (WhatsApp Group Chat)

S10

Experience of SLEND access S12, S13

Experience of the CEFR S14

Experience of Literacy attainment S15, S16, S17 Overall experience of the course S11, S18, S19

Experience of SLEND key elements S20, S21, S22, S23, S24 A Shapiro-Wilk test demonstrates that the responses of the 44 learners for most of the categories are inconsistent with being normally distributed. Only their response of experience of SLEND access is consistent with being normally distributed. The descriptive statistics are elaborated in Table 5.16.

Table 5.16 Descriptive Statistics of the Statements

Categories Median SD Variance Minimum Maximum Percentiles 25 50 75 Experience of Real Life English (S1, S3) 4.0 0.82 0.680 2.0 5.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 Experience of Vocabulary and Grammar Learning(S2) 5.0 0.82 0.670 1.0 5.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 Experience of Sign Bilingualism (S5, S7) 4.5 0.60 0.366 3.0 5.0 4.0 4.5 4.5 Experience of Peer Tuition and Collaborative Learning(S4, S8, S9) 4.3 0.73 0.528 2.0 5.0 3.7 4.3 4.7 Experience of Web 2.0 social tool_WhatsApp Group Chat (S10) 4.0 0.98 0.968 2.0 5.0 3.3 4.0 5.0 Experience of the CEFR (S14) 4.0 0.94 0.888 2.0 5.0 2.3 4.0 4.0 Perception of Literacy Attainment (S15, S16, S17) 4.0 0.64 0.405 2.0 5.0 3.8 4.0 4.6 Overall Experience (S11, S18, S19) 4.3 0.76 0.578 2.3 5.0 3.7 4.3 4.7

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Key Elements (S20, S21, S22, S23, S24)

4.6 0.55 0.307 3.0 5.0 4.1 4.6 4.8

Due to the non-normal distribution of data, a non-parametric correlation test, Kendall’s tau, is utilized to investigate the correlation concerning the small sample size (n = 44) in the current study. In fact, both Kendall’s tau and Spearman’s correlation test are for non-normally distributed data. Kendall’s tau is a non-parametric correlation test for small samples. However, Kendall’s tau is more likely to draw more accurate generalizations than Spearman’s correlation test for small numbers of data and a large number of tied ranks (Field, 2009). Therefore, Kendall’s tau is used to detect the correlation.

According to the results of Kendall’s tau, experience of real life English is positively correlated with perception of literacy attainment, overall experience and experience of SLEND key elements, r(N = 44) = .33), p<.01; r(N = 44) = .24), p<.05; r(N = 44) = .58), p<.01 respectively. These positive correlations imply that real life English as a key characteristic identified in Chapter 4 is decisive for learners’ overall experience of the SLEND and the intervention, as well as for their self-assessment of English literacy attainment.

Experience of vocabulary and grammar learning is positively correlated with perception of literacy attainment, overall experience and experience of SLEND key elements, r(N = 44) = .29), p<.05; r(N = 44) = .45), p<.01; r(N = 44) = .35), p<.05 respectively. The statistics indicate the important role of vocabulary and grammar learning in Deaf learners’ English literacy development. A better knowledge of vocabulary and grammar ensures a more pleasant experience of learning at each SLEND key element, and a better perception of literacy attainment.

Experience of sign bilingualism is positively correlated with perception of literacy attainment, overall experience and experience of SLEND key elements, r(N = 44) = .46), p<.01; r(N = 44) = .48), p<.01; r(N = 44) = .69), p<.01 respectively. This justifies the importance of sign bilingualism as a key characteristic of the SLEND that makes use of ISL for face-to-face communication and ISL videos to deliver learning content on the SLEND.

Experience of peer tuition and collaborative learning is positively correlated with perception of literacy attainment, overall experience and experience of SLEND key elements, r(N = 44) = .47), p<.01; r(N = 44) = .46), p<.01; r(N = 44) = .59), p<.01 respectively. These correlations acknowledge the positive role of peer-to-peer interaction including peer tuition and collaborative learning in Deaf learners’ English literacy development.

Experience of WhatsApp group chat is positively correlated with perception of literacy attainment, overall experience and experience of SLEND key elements, r(N = 44) = .27), p<.05; r(N = 44) = .27), p<.05; r(N = 44) = .49), p<.01 respectively. The effective use of WhatsApp group chat as a means of Web 2.0 social application fosters literacy development, and pleasant use of the SLEND and the intervention.

Experience of CEFR benchmarking is positively correlated with perception of literacy attainment, overall experience and experience of SLEND key elements, r (N = 44) = .63), p<.01; r(N = 44) = .50), p<.01; r(N = 44) = .27), p<.05. Learners who are more able to

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describe their level of English literacy have better perception of their literacy, and are also more comfortable with learning on the SLEND and with the overall experience of the intervention.

In a nutshell, based on the correlation statistics above, it is convincing to conclude that all the concerned characteristics identified in Chapter 4 are positively correlated with learners’ perception of literacy attainment, overall experience and their experience of the SLEND key elements reflecting the characteristics. The positive correlation further articulates the importance of each characteristic during Deaf young adult learners’ English attainment on the SLEND within the P2P Deaf Literacy project.