# The Effectiveness of an Authentic E-Learning Environment for Deaf Learners
## 5 Data Analysis and Results
because spelling words and the alphabet in BSL is very different.\" (P1)  
Expert performance According to this principle, students experience their instructor's help and assess them in applying the new information to their assignments and tasks. \"The teacher taught the pronunciation of vocabulary related to supermarket items in BSL, his correction of our mistakes was helpful, we used them in our recorded videos...\" (P7)Positive parts: As indicated by deaf learners, the e-learning process was mostly satisfied when authentic learning and tasks were the core of lessons. Additionally, it was remarked that their communication through authentic themes in e-learning was effective in promoting their BSL as an FL. They also mentioned that motivation through this program was because of creating something through technology tools and discussing their products, especially after they learned the difference between FL with L1. \"Learning through the Internet was good with finding pictures about economic problems on the Internet, technology provides more easy ways to learn something.\" (P3)  
\"I was interested in learning BSL, I thought BSL was the same as my language (TSL), however, I found the different shapes of sign language in BSL, e-learning gathered us from the south and north sides of Cyprus, which before we had not had this experience.\" (P1)  
\"E-learning provides the ability to have communication with friends.\" (P2)  
Negative parts: Although deaf learners were positive about e-learning, some learners said there were some weaknesses, like having more meetings and their technological knowledge needing to improve; however, the weakness of L1 literacy in writing and reading was mentioned as a great problem for deaf people. In addition, the speed of the Internet and the quality of digital tools were reported. \"Understanding what we have to do for tasks, was a little bit difficult. We should have more meetings and more time to discuss it.\" (P1)  
\"The learning through the Internet was hard for me, ex: knowing the basic knowledge of technology, having good Internet speed... but it helped me to learn something different.\" (P3)  
\"The tasks could be easier, I had difficulty in downloading programs on my mobile phone, I do have not laptop, and I couldn't complete the task on my own.\" (P9)  
The results from quantitative data show the effectiveness of authentic e-learning for deaf learners when the improvement happened after treatment and there is a significant difference between the pre- and post-test grades. In addition, qualitative results indicate that using the authentic theme of supporting deaf learners in distance education caused motivation among participants when they were interested in talking about the prices and inflation in their local supermarkets. The subject of preparing distance communication and discussion is important when some participants agreed that through e-learning and digital platforms, they attempted to communicate in different sign languages. Adopting technology tools to design tasks and learning settings encouraged deaf learners to improve their digital literacy, same as British Sign Language. However, in some others' beliefs, difficulty in using and learning technology tools was reported. In addition, the important role of the teacher was mentioned when they were asked about the kinds of support; they believed that the teacher for deaf learners is the key to preparing motivating learning settings. From their perspective, e-learning and distance deaf education can be boring if there is no theme for discussing and working on it. The participants also emphasized that employing visualization tools and using sign language are the base factors in designing any learning setting for deaf learners.