As I think about aural editing and how to implement it most effectively into my assignments, I have to account for students for whom this pedagogy, though well-intended, is less than ideal. For example, with its focus on reacting to listening, students with hearing impairments seem unlikely to benefit from this exercise. As it is, composition classes already challenge the hearing impaired and the deaf because, as J. L. Monty explains, “English functions as a nonnative language within this population. Because English is [auditory-based], deaf and hard of hearing individuals do not have full access to it across situations.”' At this point, the most obvious response to is arrange an alternative to the recording assignment, though as yet I’m unsure what might count as a reasonable substitute.
Then I have to consider the more statistically likely scenario of the students who speak English as a second language (if not, in fact, as their third). While these students would have to have passed the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to take the core composition classes, and I’m sure many would both manage and benefit from the exercise, I still wonder if it might impede the progress of those whose English proficiency might be borderline. I have several ESL students this semester and their first recording assignment is fast-approaching and so I may get my answer soon. I suspect that it will be as useful to them as it is to native speakers of English, but it will be reassuring to see this practically demonstrated.
' Mounty, J.L. (2001). Standardized Testing: Considerations for Testing Deaf and Hard-of-hearing
Candidates. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University.