Pedagogical Communication Patterns in Teaching Disabilities in Lombok’s Primary Schools

Abstract

Effective communication is key to successfully fostering a good relationship. The communication patterns employed vary depending on the respective groups. Concerning this, this research aims to identify, describe, and discover communication patterns in the learning process (students and teachers) and the supporting and opposing factors that impede the communication process among teachers and students in Special Needs Elementary School in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The ethnographic realist method was used to qualitatively examine how the interaction patterns unfold between teachers and deaf students during the learning process. According to data gathered through observation, interviews, and note-taking, teachers and students in special needs elementary schools in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, adopted a communication pattern known as total communication. The form of total communication was found by using supporting media which is a supporting factor for the success of deaf students as happened in SLB 1 West Lombok. Students' characteristics (multiple disabilities) and ineffective classroom conditions were often found to be the opposing factors to the teaching process in the classroom. However, teachers-students rapport can be one factor that supports the teacher in delivering the materials well and freely reporting the result to the parents.