Examining the Impact of the Slate and Stylus as the Lone Response Accommodation on the Academic Achievement of Candidates with Visual Impairment (VI) in the General Certificate of Education

The assessment of learners with disabilities in high stakes examinations has always been a weak link in all inclusive practices. This is even more a confounding challenge in countries that do not have a long history of inclusive education. One of the areas of this challenge inhibiting the full academic performance of candidates with visual impairment VI in the General Certificate of Education GCE Examinations in Cameroon, in parity with their sighted peers is the limited number of response accommodations from which they can make appropriate choices depending on the severity of their impairment and their familiarity with the accommodation. Since 2005 when the Cameroon GCE Board started examining candidates with visual impairment in the GCE Examinations, the only response accommodation used Braille using the slate and stylus in answering questions has been found to be inadequate for the candidates with VI who often come to the testing arena with different levels of impairment, needs and preferences. The case study design was adopted for this inquiry. Twelve candidates with VI and five computer staff braille experts were purposively selected for the study. The human rights model of disability provided the theoretical framework for the study. Findings of the study indicate that majority of the candidates 11 91 and computer staff braille experts 5 100 confirmed that the only response medium available to the candidates was their preferred writing medium braille using the slate and stylus. Up to 10 83.3 of the candidates reported that their performance in the subjects that calculations were needed was compromised as assistive devices like the talking calculator, cube board and wrist watch were not provided to them during the examinations. The study concludes that there is urgent need for profound reflection on the inclusion of other response accommodations in the GCE examinations for candidates with visual impairment. Therese Mungah Shalo Tchombe | John Teneng Awa | Kenneth Ngu Foncha "Examining the Impact of the Slate and Stylus as the Lone Response Accommodation on the Academic Achievement of Candidates with Visual Impairment (VI) in the General Certificate of Education" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-1 , December 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29448.pd