Design of an English E-book for Deaf Fifth-Graders from the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga
Description
Through this design-based research, an e-book to teach elementary English vocabulary to deaf fifth-graders in the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga was designed and validated. In order to create this material, de Benito´s three-stage methodological design was adopted (2006). First, contextualization and documentation were carried out, where concepts such as the definition of deafness, features of linguistic and cognitive development, features of didactic material, and the acquisition of English and its vocabulary were addressed considering the target population. Second, for the data collection and analysis, a group of five teachers with experience teaching deaf learners was surveyed to determine the lexical content of the e-book. The third stage corresponds to the design and validation of the prototype. The e-book was designed using Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator and it was subsequently submitted to a content validation procedure by a multidisciplinary panel of experts. The results indicate that two main sets of characteristics emerged. One set aligned with Second Language Acquisition Theories: from this perspective the e-book needs to be flexible, technology-based, visual, and concrete. A second set responds to the needs of deaf fifth-graders: from this perspective, the e-book should include strategies such as vocabulary personalization, emotionalization, and visualization.