Analysis of Cognitive Approach in Learning English of the Visually Impaired and Development of Learning Support Systems for them

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The purpose of this study was to find some specific problems which visually impaired students usually have when they learn English and to develop appropriate teaching methods for them. To investigate their English proficiency levels we fast developed a 'Word Recognition Test' and 'PC-based Vocabulary Size Test' for the visually impaired. We have found that their word recognition speed is slow and their vocabulary sizes are rather small compared with those of sighted students. Next we developed the reading support software called 'readKON' for the visually impaired. The most distinguished point of this software is utilization of Text-to-Speech (TTS) system to read the text aloud for users. For the last three years we have tried to develop new teaching programs using readKON in real classroom situations, not only for reading classes but in writing and speech lessons. As a result, a lot of valuable findings were extracted in the real classroom situations where teachers and learners were struggling. In fact TTS technology has given us completely new learning environment of EFL learners with visual impairments. Looking at the dramatic changes of the attitudes of our students, especially poor readers of English, we felt certain that this kind of systems should be useful to any students with problems of language learning.