Thinking style changes among deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students

J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2015 Jan;20(1):16-26. doi: 10.1093/deafed/enu038. Epub 2014 Nov 12.

Abstract

This study explores how university students' thinking styles changed over a single academic year by twice administering the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II to 256 deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) students and 286 hearing students from art and design academic disciplines in China. Results showed that after having studied at the university for one academic year, hearing students showed increased use of Type I thinking styles (more creativity generated, less structured, and more complex) and less use of Type II thinking styles (more norm favoring, more structured, and more simplistic), whereas DHH students demonstrated increased use of both Type I and Type II thinking styles. Moreover, students' changes in thinking styles differed across university class levels. The contributions, limitations, and implications of the present research are discussed.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Case-Control Studies
  • China
  • Empirical Research
  • Female
  • Hearing Loss*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Persons With Hearing Impairments / psychology*
  • Students / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Thinking / physiology*
  • Universities
  • Young Adult