This preliminary qualitative case study presents teachers' and head teachers' views on factors which enable and challenge the teaching of the Sinhala language literacy skills to Deaf primary school students in two residential schools in Sri Lanka. Seven basic themes were identified from the information drawn from face-to-face interviews, classroom observations gathered prior to the pandemic and phone interviews gathered during the pandemic.
Quality education is a fundamental human right and a powerful tool. Education is regarded as a long-term solution for elevating the quality of life of marginalised populations including people with disabilities. One specific group, the Deaf student population, show diversity in their communication modes thus opening doors to an array of approaches in the education of the Deaf. However, teaching reading and writing skills (literacy skills) of an oral language to a Deaf student remains a significant challenge. There is a substantial Deaf student population receiving primary education from residential educational facilities in Sri Lanka and the Sinhala language is the medium of instruction in majority of the residential Deaf schools. This preliminary study attempts to capture the views of the teachers and head teachers in two residential Deaf schools which has been providing Deaf education for more than 60 years in Sri Lanka. This is a qualitative inquiry which draws information from interviews and classroom observations that were carried out prior to the pandemic and also during the pandemic. This inquiry identifies factors that teachers and head teachers view as 'enabling and challenging' the teaching process of Sinhala language literacy skills to the Deaf primary school students in Sri Lanka. Seven basic themes were identified. Three themes were associated with the factors that enabled the teaching of literacy skills while four themes engaged in the challenges that are associated with this teaching process in Deaf primary schools.
