Paper Title
Overcoming Hearing Obstacles in the Second-Language Classroom - A Preliminary Study

Abstract
This paper introduces some of the issues and challenges of teaching English to Japanese university students with hearing impairments and aims to raise awareness among all educators of the particular needs that may require accommodation, and what strategies can be employed to make all classes more accessible. Although the number of students with this disability may be small, it is important to consider in advance what can be done to provide a supportive classroom, including assessing the level of disability and students’ previous educational background. This may test the skills of teachers who have not received specialist training. The background to the teaching of students with special needs in Japan will be presented and approaches will be suggested that could be taken to provide an environment in which every member of the class can actively engage. The presenter will share experiences in both face-to-face and online classes, summarize published research on the topic, explain the system a private science college has established to assist all learners with special needs, and share a small number of basic BSL (British Sign Language) greetings. Keywords - Special Needs/ Hearing Impairments/Teacher Training/English as a Second Language