Development of Communicative Competence in Junior High School Students with Visual Impairment in Different Institutional and Educational Settings

Introduction. The diversification in education means, inter alia, establishing an institutional balance between integration and differentiation, which should also hold true for visually-impaired children. Junior age is a sensitive period for the development of communicative skills. Hence, one of the key tasks on the educational agenda for visually-impaired junior high school students is the development of communicative competence. The paper is the first attempt to identify how institutional and educational setting impacts the development of communicative competence in junior high school students, namely, such aspects of communicative competence as content/compliance with communication standards, attitude/role relationships, position/function, and involvement/activity. Materials and Methods.The evidence was obtained from four schools in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region. The survey included 55 respondents in grades 1‒3 with deferent degrees of visual impairment from inclusive educational settings with partial integration / differentiation. The methodology included such tools as Effective Communication: Raising Awareness of Visually-Impaired Students; a scale-based interview and questionnaire; L. Mikhelson’s Communication Skills test modified by L.S. Kolmogorova; Joint Sorting by G.V. Burmenskaya; and G.A. Tsukerman’s Picture Dictation. The data was processed using Student's t-test for dependent and independent samples and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results. The assessment of communicative competence in schoolchildren embraced several aspects: content/compliance with communication standards; attitude/role relationships; position/function; involvement/activity. In the context of inclusive education with partial integration and differentiation, visually-impaired junior high school students show different development levels of different aspects of communicative competence. This context has a selective and ambivalent effect. Discussion and Conclusion. The results may find application in the design and testing of a variable modular programme aimed at the development of communicative competence in visually-impaired junior high school students. The results may also lay the foundation for the rehabilitation and training strategy for visually-impaired students and facilitate their integration in social and educational environment.