The project aimed to: Empower DHH learners to become more autonomous and effective by exploring their learning styles and strategies. Provide DHH learners and teachers with adapted learning styles and strategies surveys to enhance learner autonomy and control over the learning process. Adapt an existing learning styles surveys suitable to the specific needs of DHH learners. Create a resource pack highlighting the benefits of identifying learning preferences to support self-reflection and motivation and providing tips on using these tools. Collect and analyse data on the prevalent learning styles and strategies among DHH learners, addressing the current lack of research. Share tips and insights from successful DHH foreign language learners to inspire and motivate others. Foster dialogue within DHH communities on the challenges and opportunities in learning foreign languages. Offer DHH higher education learners a unique multilingual and multicultural platform to exchange experiences and best practices. Promote collaboration and discussion with experts in the field of foreign language teaching for DHH learners to advance knowledge and practice.
The reasons for our project remain the same as at the time of application. Knowledge of foreign languages is essential for improving educational, social, and professional opportunities. However, gaining proficiency in a foreign language is particularly challenging for Deaf, deaf, and hard of hearing (DHH) learners, and our project aimed to address these challenges. DHH learners often have limited access to learning audio-oral languages, focusing primarily on the written form. Communicative teaching methods are less accessible, and mainstream teaching materials often lack cultural relevance. The field of teaching foreign languages to DHH learners has only recently begun receiving proper attention and faces a scarcity of culturally appropriate resources (Domagała-Zyśk 2015). Finally, research on Czech DHH students of English highlights their tendency to assign responsibility for learning outcomes to teachers (Sedláčková, Kontra 2020). DHH learners are often dependent on directed learning and lack study skills and strategies, which, alongside social and literacy issues, negatively affects their educational success.