Investigating the Effect of Educational Methods on the Improvement of Reading and Writing Skills of Deaf Children in Kabul City from Teacher’s Perspective

Abstract

This study assessed the impact of instructional methods on improving the reading and writing skills of deaf children in special education centers in Kabul City form the perspective of teacher. Adopting a qualitative research design, the study employed thematic content analysis to explore teachers’ professional experiences and insights. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers for three special education centers for deaf students in Kabul. The interviews were guided by a researcher-developed protocol. The data were analyzed suing the six phase thematic analysis framework proposed by Braun and Clarke. The findings indicate that effective learning among deaf children is achieved when instruction is grounded in visual learning, direct experience, and active participation. Thematic coding identified five major categories of effective instructional method: visual strategies, systematic use of sign language, demonstrative representational approaches, practical methods, and participatory activities. Among these visual strategies and the consistent integration of sign language demonstrated the greatest impact on improving reading comprehension, accuracy, and fluency. Furthermore, the results highlight that bilingual education incorporating sign language as the primary language and written language as a second language combined with structured repetition, systematic practice, content simplification, and student centered active learning approaches, plays a crucial role in enhancing the writing skills of deaf children. Overall. The study underscores the decisive role of visually grounded and sign supported instructional practices in promoting literacy development among deaf learners.