When Learning Doesn’t Linger: Teachers’ Journeys with Learners Experiencing Learning Difficulties

Authors

Flory Ann D. Yting

Abstract

The study investigated how teachers experience their work with students who have memory and recall academic challenges. The study examined how teachers recognize challenges which learners face while they study because it required teachers to demonstrate their teaching methods and their obstacles to learning. The study applies descriptive phenomenology design to reveal how teachers detect memory problems which learners experience and which factors stop them from learning and which solutions they create to overcome these challenges. The researcher interviewed teachers who taught students with memory and recall problems through their experiences with the students. The researchers used a thematic analysis approach to analyze the data after they transformed the data into a transcribed format which they then used to create codes before they established the main themes. The study results showed that teachers were able to identify memory and recall problems through specific signs which included students forgetting their instructions and their previous learning and their multiple step tasks and their signs of frustration and embarrassment and low confidence. The challenges which teachers faced showed multiple dimensions which included problems with their teaching plans and their teaching methods and their teaching assessments and their classroom control and their workload and the educational system limitations which included large classes and insufficient educational materials and no specialized assistance. Teachers developed multiple strategies to handle student learning needs through different teaching techniques which included repetition and chunking and multisensory activities and various teaching methods which included differentiated instruction and scaffolding and peer tutoring and different types of evaluations which allowed students to select between two assessment methods and which presented condensed evaluation tasks and which offered students extra time.

Keywords

memory and recall difficulties, lived experiences, coping mechanisms, cognitive challenges, teacher adaptation