Development of Language and Literacy in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Elementary School Children: Strengths and Weaknesses

• In Event: Language and Literacy Learning of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

Abstract

Objectives or purposes

1. To describe language and literacy development amongst a diverse sample of deaf and hard of hearing children
2. To examine the Simple View of Reading as it relates to these children’s reading

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework

The Simple View of Reading posits that reading comprehension is a product of the ability to decode written words efficiently into spoken or signed words and of language comprehension.
Most educators and researchers accept that DHH children’s language skills are critical for literacy, yet the relative importance of language skills and sublexical decoding abilities is hotly debated. The current study examines relations among these skills to address this issue.

Methods & Data sources, evidence

A battery of tests was individually administered to 110 DHH children enrolled in kindergarten through second grade in 13 schools in 4 states in fall 2013. These schools included bilingual schools for the deaf, schools where teachers use spoken language, and classrooms where DHH children are integrated with hearing students.

Tests were administered in the language of the school. Only children who sign were given the ASL and fingerspelling tests. 59% of the children signed, while 40% used only spoken language. 70% had sufficient functional hearing to be able to understand spoken words through audition alone. See Table 1 for demographics.


Results

Standard scores for those tests that were developed for hearing children showed that DHH children were relatively strong in vocabulary and word reading, while English syntax, language comprehension (assessed in ASL or English depending on child’s dominant language), and writing were most delayed (Table 2). Standard scores for literacy (but not language) showed a significant effect of grade, with children become more delayed with age. This suggests that, while language delayed, DHH children are making a year’s progress in a year in language but not literacy.

Language and literacy measures were moderately to highly correlated (see Table 3). For children acquiring sign, ASL syntax and English syntax receptive abilities were moderately correlated, suggesting many children were bilingual.
Regression analyses indicated that WJ letter word identification (word reading) was predicted by spoken phonological awareness (PA), phonological decoding skills, and expressive vocabulary (see Table 4). For those children who sign, fingerspelling skills was a strong additional predictor, and was stronger than PA and phonological decoding skills (See Table 5). Reading comprehension was exclusively (and strongly) predicted by Letter word ID (see Table 6).

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work
This study suggests that early reading skills relies on abilities to analyze and use sublexical features of words as reflected in their PA, phonological decoding, and fingerpelling skills. Fingerspelling can serve as an alternative and strong pathway to learning to read. Like hearing children, these sublexical processes were more important for early reading than is language. However, it is likely that DHH children’s weak syntax and language comprehension will affect reading comprehension in later grades.

Authors

• Amy R. Lederberg, Georgia State University

• Shirin D. Antia, The University of Arizona

• Susan Easterbrooks, Georgia State University

• Brenda Schick, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Lee Branum-Martin, Georgia State University

• Carol M. Connor, Arizona State University

• Poorna Kushalnagar, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Mi-Young Lee Webb, Georgia State University