A Comparative Study of the Instructional Communication in General and Special Education: A Case Study of Las Piñas Montessori School

Abstract

Communication is an inevitable aspect of daily living. It is known as the exchange of knowledge, information, meaning, feelings, etc. between sender and receiver by using channels to achieve a purpose or a goal. It occurs within a context and is affected by noise. Communication can be verbal or nonverbal and may take place between or among two to fifteen people in close distance with each other. Interpersonal communication can either be dyadic or small group. Communication plays a key role in all aspects of society. One critical contributor in shaping the members of the society through communication is the school. Through education, knowledge, skills, and values are acquired through systematic teaching and experience of students. Many have viewed communication and education as two separate entities until the emergence of instructional communication, which looks at education from the perspective of communication. This recent Western concept, however, lacks focus in the Philippine context. Thus, this research examines the similarities and differences in instructional communication as applied in general and special education by describing the nature of Las Pifias Montessori School (LPMS), its teachers and students. It also identifies the content, instructional strategies, and evaluation procedures used in the general education and special education of LPMS. Discussion on communication is limited to verbal and nonverbal communication, as well as dyadic and small group of interpersonal communication. The communication model of Gamble and Gamble (1990: 15- 16) was used to explain the elements of communication. In education, concepts are limited to general and special education and its students. Concepts in instructional communication are limited to the instructional communication model presented by Richmond and Gorham (Stewart & Roach 1993: 429) and its components. To meet the objectives of this study, the researcher used the exploratory descriptive design. The subjects of this research were the students, teachers and principal of Grades 1, 2 and 4 of general education and Junior and Senior classes of special education. The respondents were selected through purposive sampling. For data gathering, library research, documentary research, in-depth interviews, and participatory observation were conducted. Data were analyzed using content analysis and presented thematically. Based on the interpreted data, it is concluded that LPMS fosters open communication among its members by providing a familial atmosphere while fulfilling its goal of producing competitive and service-oriented students. Due to the physical characteristics of the school, environmental noise cannot be avoided. Teachers of general and special education use verbal communication similarly but differ in the use of nonverbal communication particularly in paralanguage. On the other hand, students of general and special education use verbal and nonverbal communication but vary in terms of their abilities and limitations. The content, instructional strategies and evaluation procedures, also known as the message, channel and feedback, in general education are more difficult and complex than their counterparts in special education. Noise comes in the form of inadequacy in learning materials and the preference for small group discussion in special and general education, respectively.