The stages of faith development of the deaf students at De La Salle University-College of Saint Benilde

• Main Author: Newall, Maria Cristina Manlapig
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2004
• Subjects: Faith development—Philippines; Deaf students—Religious life—Philippines; Spiritual formation; Religious Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6871
• Institution: De La Salle University

The primary aim of the study is to analyze and describe the stages of faith development of Deaf students enrolled in 2000-2001 at the Special Schools Studies at the De La Salle University – College of St. Benilde. It specifically seeks answers to the following questions: (1) What is the profile of the respondents, (2) At what stages of faith development are the Deaf students of the College of St. Benilde. Fourteen out of twenty randomly selected students responded to the interview. The students were interviewed using an open-ended format adapted from Deborde’s Interview Guide. The researcher, who is a sign language interpreter herself, conducted each interview being videotaped. Each tape was then transcribed into written English by a sign language teacher and checked and verified by two other sign language interpreters. The transcript was coded and scored according to Fowler’s criteria for faith stage by the researcher and two (2) other scorers. The inter-rater reliability was established at 67%. The Non-Language Multi-Mental Test Form A was also administered. The descriptive statistical analyses included means, frequencies and percentages. Results show that there was one student who is at Stage 2 (Mythic-Literal Faith), nine students who are at a Transition Stage 2 to 3 (Mythic-Literal and Synthetic- Conventional Faith) and four students are at Stage 3 (Synthetic-Conventional Faith). According to Fowler, Stage 2 occurs at approximately between the ages 18 and 12,, and Stage 3 is usually between the ages 13 and 18. Comparing the students mean age (22) with Fowler’s classification, the students seem to be delayed in their faith development. However, they are at the same stage as grade school students who participated in Deborde’s study in 1996. Students at Transitional Stage 2 to 3 manifest concrete-literal thinking and of inductive-deductive reasoning. Thus the students in the present study were a little bit delayed in the faith development in comparison to Fowler’s categorization. This study also found that the use of sign language by parents seemed to be associated with the student’s stage of faith development. The more they use sign language, the higher is the stage of faith development. Furthermore, the more crises the student experienced in life, the higher is the faith stage of faith. The older the student, the higher is the stage of faith development. However, there seem to be no association between age and stage of faith development because of the small sample size of the study. Students with higher intelligence seem to have higher faith than those with lower intelligence. The more the students are involved with Campus Ministry activities, the higher is their faith stage. Recommendations for planning and organizing religious educational program for the Deaf and for further research in the area of their faith development were presented.