Beliefs, practices, and expectations of oral teachers of the deaf

This study investigated the beliefs and practices of 28 teachers of the deaf about their practices. The teachers were all working in oral settings either as visiting teachers or teachers in a mainstream school facility supporting groups of students with hearing loss. Teachers who used an Auditory Verbal approach largely adopted a positivist paradigm, whereas those using an Auditory Oral approach were more likely to adopt a constructivist paradigm. Those using a mixed approach (AV/AO) adopted a paradigm that was a mix of both positivist and constructivist. Results suggest that there is a strong relationship between the underlying beliefs of teachers and the model of practice that they adopt, and that professional experience, professional development and the inclusion movement exert an influence on those beliefs and practices.