ASSESSING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF STUDENTS WITH CONGENITAL HEARING IMPAIRMENT IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF LAFIA, NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study assessed Artificial Intelligence and Communication Skills of Students with Congenital Hearing Impairment in Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The study was guided by three objectives. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population comprised 43 students with congenital hearing impairment enrolled across various departments in Federal University of Lafia, including Special Needs Education, Library and Information Studies and Social Works. A census sampling technique was employed, involving all 43 students. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled "AI and Communication Skills Questionnaire" (ACSQ) which was validated by experts and tested for reliability using Cronbach's Alpha (α = 0.84). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages and mean scores. Findings revealed that learners face significant communication challenges including poor grammatical structure, incorrect tense usage and disjointed sentence construction. AI tools were found to be effective in providing instant grammatical corrections and enhancing language accuracy. AI applications significantly improved overall communication skills by facilitating clearer expression and better interaction with the hearing world. It was recommended among others that the university should establish a Language Support Center staffed by language specialists trained in deaf education to provide weekly small-group tutorials addressing persistent syntactic deficits using instructional materials tailored to the disjointed expression patterns identified in the study.