Beyond eyesight: communicative competence of senior high school student with visual impairment

Research on the performance of students with visual impairment based on educational setting has not been conducted. It was the purpose of this paper to find out the communicative competence of senior high school student with visual impairment. This student including his mother, teacher, classmate and schoolmate participated in the research undertaking. Case study was the mode of inquiry in this study. It utilized triangulation method such as classroom observation, interview and review of available documents. As a result of this study, it was found out that the student has high communicative competence. This means that he is competent communicator in the context in public, meeting, and group or dyad to strangers, acquaintances or friends.  It was also suggested that further studies should assess the differential impact of a variety of courses on students’ communication competencies in diverse contexts and describe a communication approach to develop communicative competency of student with visual impairment.