# The Effectiveness of an Authentic E-Learning Environment for Deaf Learners
## 2 Background
### Learning Challenges of Daf Learners  
Research believes that learning from a distance can have many challenges for deaf learners in parallel with having several benefits, such as flexibility. These challenges have arisen when improving learners' skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, and communication, impacting teaching outcomes [22]. There is a lack of teaching approaches to how learning from the real world may increase motivation and influence the learning processes of deaf learners when e-learning is used for learning from a distance. There is a significant gap in the literature, especially in research on increasing motivation among deaf learners in distance learning [27, 28]. In language learning, deaf learners have fewer abilities in reading and writing in the first language compared to hearing ones, which increases learning challenges [24]; thus, transferring their abilities from the L1 to the L2 cannot depend on the same condition as hearing peers. Learning language happens by mapping between oral language and printed vocabularies between hearing learners; however, deaf learners, because of the lack of auditory, do this mapping through hand movements and onto a visual code via sign language [26]. Thus, teaching deaf learners (L1, L2, L3) involves more than just written material; visual aids like pictures, videos, and sign language are also crucial [24, 25]. Deaf learners learn from visual materials [26]. Therefore, supportive technology tools can increase deaf learners' motivation to learn from a distance when the teaching materials can be observed in real-life situations [27]. It is recommended that the design of learning environments should support the needs of deaf students, including visual aids that present deaf culture [28] and the use of instructions through sign language [21]. In an e-learning environment, the research explored strategies to develop accessibility in e-learning for deaf learners, concentrating on how characteristics can support these learners' needs. Likewise, adaptive technology tools for enhancing engagement and illustrating e-learning settings play a key role in promoting digital education for them [23]. The study suggested that the performance of an online education system may be influenced by the attitudes of deaf learners toward it, specifically their level of satisfaction with it. Happiness and better performance in online learning courses are positively correlated with lower dropout rates [29]. Despite the lack of sufficient teaching approaches in e-learning environments designed for deaf learners, as mentioned by [26], using e-learning would have negative effects due to a lack of videos with sign language translation, the unavailability of real-world learning contexts, and the limitation of visual learning design. This means that adopting videos for designing e-learning for deaf learners can have a significant impact on deaf learners' learning processes [30]. In addition to these challenges for deaf people, preparing for learning online has difficulties for both learners and teachers, where face-to-face communication is eliminated and can reduce the motivation between learners. Therefore, the design of e-learning does not only help improve the skills of learners; it also should encourage learners to be motivated in the learning setting. Teaching deaf students through digital tools has more difficulties for teaching deaf students when all teaching materials have to be prepared for visual needs. As stated by World Health Organization research, the opportunity of distance education may be the only chance to have a modern educational system if there is no face-to-face learning, even if online education reduces motivation and engagement among deaf learners [31]. However, some studies suggest that deaf learners learn from their real-life situations when they can observe and feel them in their daily lives [32]. Deaf learners regularly depend on their observation of real-life contexts to develop their knowledge and skills [25].