Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Laura Weidner

Abstract

Teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students spend more time in conflict resolution than their general education colleagues do. Although emerging research suggests that both students and teachers benefit from an approach to student conduct that is more purposeful than traditional behavior modification models, further research was necessary to clarify how such an effective purposeful program would work. The purpose of this inquiry was to explore how teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students perceived and used a purposeful approach to student conduct. Deutsch's conflict resolution theory served as the conceptual framework. A single case study design was selected for this qualitative study conducted in a rural residential school for deaf and hard of hearing students in the western United States. Data were collected from interviews with six teachers, observations, and documents. Data were analyzed using line-by-line coding and the constant comparative method to construct categories for each data source, and examined across all data sources to determine emergent themes and discrepancies. Results indicated that teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students used a two-step approach to collaborative conflict resolution that included engaging in perspective-taking and engaging in solution generation. This study promotes positive social change by informing school administrators on how to plan effective teacher training on using a purposeful approach to student conduct with deaf and hard of hearing learners.

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