The Reading of Deaf Arabic Children in Israel.

Studies on the reading acquisition of deaf children investigate the similarities and differences in the reading process between these readers and typical hearing readers. There is no consensus on the nature of the reading process among deaf readers, whether they use the same reading processing strategies as typical readers or depend on other strategies to close the gap. The present study aimed to test the types of strategies used to process written words by deaf Arabic readers with prelingual deafness, compared to their hearing peers, and to test the effectiveness of deaf readers' use of these strategies. Three experimental paradigms were tested. The findings indicated that deaf Arabic readers rely on essentially similar processing strategies to those used by hearing readers. However, deaf Arabic readers employ these strategies with significantly less effectiveness. The results are discussed in light of international data.

How to Improve Grit Among Deaf or Hard of Hearing Students: The Effect of Thinking Style.

The researchers examined the associations between thinking styles and grit. A cross-sectional design was adopted, with two weeks of data collection. The Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II and the Grit Scale were administered to 365 signing deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) Arts and Design students and 443 hearing university students in mainland China. CFA, MANOVA, hierarchical multiple regression analyses, and a multi-group analysis were executed for data analysis. DHH and hearing students with Type I styles (i.e., more creativity-generating, less structured, and cognitively more complex) had higher grit levels, with large effect sizes for the identified relationships. There were no differences in the relations for either group. The associations between thinking styles and grit may protect against psychological pressure and rehabilitation problems and enable university/school administrators, counselors, social workers, teachers, parents, and students to enhance the grit of students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

A New Method for Documenting Sign Language Productions in Schools.

PURPOSE: There are well-established guidelines for the recording, transcription, and analysis of spontaneous oral language samples by researchers, educators, and speech pathologists. In contrast, there is presently no consensus regarding methods for the written documentation of sign language samples. The Handshape Analysis Recording Tool (HART) is an innovative method for documenting and analyzing word level samples of signed languages in real time. Fluent sign language users can document the expressive sign productions of children to gather data on sign use and accuracy. METHOD: The HART was developed to document children's productions in Australian Sign Language (Auslan) in a bilingual-bicultural educational program for the Deaf in Australia. This written method was piloted with a group of fluent signing Deaf educational staff in 2014-2016, then used in 2022-2023 with a group of fluent signing professionals to examine inter- and intrarater reliability when coding parameters of sign accuracy. RESULTS: Interrater reliability measured by Gwet's Agreement Coefficient, was "good" to "very good" across the four phonological parameters that are components of every sign: location, movement, handshape, and orientation. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicate that the HART can be a reliable tool for coding the accuracy of location, orientation, movement, and handshape parameters of Auslan phonology when used by professionals fluent in Auslan. The HART can be utilized with any sign language to gather word level sign language samples in a written form and document the phonological accuracy of signed productions.

Deaf/hard of hearing students' experiences with higher education's real-time captioning services.

Real-time captions appear to be an effective tool in assisting deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) college students' access information and communication in certain classroom settings. However, there is limited knowledge of DHH students' direct experiences with real-time captioning services. In this study, we gathered narratives from 15 DHH college students across the United States about their experiences with real-time captioning services in college. We analyzed the stories using thematic narrative analysis and uncovered 4 types that students told about their experiences. The story types were (a) stories of overcoming obstacles, (b) stories of resignation, (c) pragmatic stories, and (d) stories of personal connection. These story types reveal that although many students eventually experience effective communication access through real-time captioning services, they can initially struggle to overcome barriers to using the services successfully. Making time and space to listen to DHH students' narratives can teach educators and professionals how to support these students and resolve barriers before they arise.

Visualizing a Framework in Teaching Literacy to Filipino Deaf Students in Multimodal Learning Spaces.

In this article, we visualize a framework of the intersectionality of literacy, spatial justice, and multimodality in teaching literacy to Filipino Deaf students. We propose a metaphor-based framework and discuss how it can be used in teaching literacy to Filipino Deaf students through classroom examples as well as suggestions and recommendations for teachers. We do this mainly through redefining the term literacy, allowing students access to different modalities, and restructuring learning spaces. We also explore the relationship between spatial justice and the concept of Deaf Space and how this applies in the "new normal" of online learning due to the pandemic. We also address the issue of how classroom and education structure may inadvertently produce spatial injustice, especially for Deaf students. Implications and additional questions in teaching Filipino Deaf students are also discussed.

An Alternative Method of Assessing d/DHH Secondary-School Students' L2 Language Development.

Little information is available on d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/DHH) learners' L2 development. Their limited auditory access may discourage them from taking standardized tests, highlighting the need for alternative ways of assessing their L2 development and proficiency. Therefore, this study suggests adopting processability theory, which demonstrates a universal order of L2 development. Interviews with d/DHH learners and their teachers were conducted to explore their current difficulties in regard to understanding their L2 development. Also, we conducted brief speaking tasks to suggest alternatives to testing the L2 development of learners who are d/DHH in comparison to typical literacy learners. The result showed d/DHH students' L2 developmental patterns are similar to those of typical hearing peers, suggesting that d/DHH students and hearing learners share difficulties in similar areas when learning English. Teachers highlighted the lack of appropriate English tests to determine the d/DHH students' L2 development.

Teaching Literacy to Filipino Deaf Students in Multilingual Classrooms Amid a Pandemic.

This article describes the current landscape of teaching literacy to Filipino Deaf students in a multilingual, multi-cultural classroom amid the pandemic. The article highlights the uniqueness of Filipino Deaf students as multilingual learners in a multi-cultural classroom and the lack of literature and research on Deaf multilingualism both locally and globally. Moreover, the article focuses on the role of Deaf teachers in teaching Filipino Deaf students, especially in their literacy development. The steps being done to ensure that the curriculum is inclusive of Deaf learners who use Filipino Sign Language (FSL), teacher preparation and materials development, and the challenges in the shift to distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic are also discussed. Future directions and recommendations include review of curriculum and adaptation, enhancement of teacher preparation, promotion of collaborative teaching and research efforts, and the production of more appropriate and accessible instructional materials for Deaf students.

The Classroom Communication and Collaboration Appraisal: A Comprehensive Tool for Assessing Communication and Collaboration in Classroom Environments.

PURPOSE: The aim of this research note is to introduce a new appraisal form, the Classroom Communication and Collaboration (C3) Appraisal, designed to evaluate communication and collaboration within classroom settings. METHOD: A comprehensive synthesis of the key skills from a broad range of publications on successful communication and collaboration in the classroom was conducted. The resulting appraisal comprises 39 items across six scales: crafting clear messages, appropriateness of communication exchange, active listening, pragmatics and discourse, communication breakdown, and collaboration. To demonstrate its application, an exemplar usage of the C3 Appraisal involving a hearing child and a child with hearing loss engaged in a collaborative learning task is presented. RESULTS: The C3 Appraisal allowed for the quality and successfulness of the collaborative learning task between the two children to be assessed and quantified across the six scales. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the utility of the C3 Appraisal as a valuable tool for evaluating communication and collaboration in classroom environments. Next steps are to test the reliability and validity of the C3 Appraisal on a large data set.

The interpreter's role and deaf students' autonomy in mainstream classrooms.

This article explores the interpreter's role and approaches to working with deaf students as seen from deaf individuals' and interpreters' perspectives. A group of 41 formerly mainstreamed deaf individuals and interpreters offered insights into how the interpreter's role in mainstream classrooms influences deaf student autonomy and participation. This research illustrates the significance of autonomy for mainstreamed deaf students and suggests a correlation between the interpreter's role and deaf students' perceived autonomy in the classroom. In addition, the findings suggest that deaf students do not always know what an interpreter is supposed to do in K-12 classrooms. This study also finds that educational team members do not always explicitly communicate their roles and responsibilities to deaf students, leading to confusion that impacts their autonomy and overall experience. Finally, this research finds that deaf students are not trained with the ability to negotiate and renegotiate the interpreter's role. This article concludes with considerations and recommendations for deaf education and interpreter education communities.

Differentiating Language for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: A Practice-Informed Framework for Auditory and Visual Supports.

PURPOSE: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) serving students who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing (Deaf/hh) and their deaf education counterparts must navigate complexities in language that include modalities that are spoken or signed and proficiency, which is often compromised. This tutorial describes a practice-informed framework that conceptualizes and organizes a continuum of auditory and visual language supports with the aim of informing the practice of the SLP whose training is more inherently focused on spoken language alone, as well as the practice of the teacher of the Deaf/hh (TDHH) who may focus more on visual language supports. METHOD: This product resulted from a need within interdisciplinary, graduate programs for SLPs and TDHHs. Both cohorts required preparation to address the needs of diverse language learners who are Deaf/hh. This tutorial includes a brief review of the challenges in developing language proficiency and describes the complexities of effective service delivery. The process of developing a practice-informed framework for language supports is summarized, referencing established practices in auditory-based and visually based methodologies, identifying parallel practices, and summarizing the practices within a multitiered framework called the Framework of Differentiated Practices for Language Support. Recommendations for use of the framework include guidance on the identification of a student's language modality/ies and proficiency to effectively match students' needs and target supports. CONCLUSIONS: An examination of established practices in language supports across auditory and visual modalities reveals clear parallels that can be organized into a tiered framework. The result is a reference for differentiating language for the interdisciplinary school team. The parallel supports also provide evidence of similarities in practice across philosophical boundaries as professionals work collaboratively.

The effect of retrieval practice on vocabulary learning for DHH children.

On average, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children have difficulty developing expressive spoken vocabulary comparable to hearing peers. Yet, there are no evidence-based practices to guide classroom instruction for teachers of the deaf. Retrieval practice-a robust learning strategy-has been shown to improve children's retention of vocabulary, but it has not been investigated with DHH children who use listening and spoken language. The present study examined whether DHH children benefit from using retrieval practice to learn new vocabulary. Sixteen DHH children (in the age range of 5.0-8.11 years) were taught a set of new vocabulary words using retrieval practice or repeated exposure. A recall test was administered two days later. Results showed that DHH children were twice as likely to recall a word taught through retrieval practice than exposure (OR = 2.01, p = .02). Presence of an additional diagnosis and number of practice trials were also significant predicting factors of vocabulary learning.

Developing expressive language skills of deaf students through specialized writing instruction.

Writing is an essential element of literacy development, and language plays a central role in the composing process, including developing, organizing, and refining ideas. Language and writing are interconnected, making it paramount for educators to attend to the development of deaf students' language skills. In this quasi-experimental study, we examined the impact of strategic and interactive pedagogical approaches, namely Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction, implemented with deaf students in grades 3-6 to develop genre-specific traits in their expressive language (spoken or signed) and writing. In this study, a total of 16 teachers and their 69 students participated in the treatment and comparison groups. Expressive language and writing samples were collected at the beginning and end of the year for three different genres. Students in the treatment group showed statistically significant gains in their expressive and written language for recount and information genres when compared to students in the comparison group. There was not a significant treatment effect on persuasive expressive language or writing. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between expressive language and writing at both time points across all three genres. This study provides evidence on the importance of attending to language skills during literacy instruction.

The quality of teaching behaviors in learning environments of DHH students.

Classrooms are complex learning environments, with instruction, climate, and teacher-student interactions playing important roles in students' academic progress. To investigate the learning environments of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students, we developed a new observational tool called the Quality of the Learning Environment-DHH rating scale (QLE-DHH) and rated 98 teachers of DHH students being educated in a range of classroom environments. The present study sought to (1) determine if the items on the QLE-DHH are good indicators of theoretically meaningful dimensions of classroom quality; (2) determine to what extent these dimensions predicted language and reading outcomes of DHH students; and (3) examine how teachers of DHH students were rated on the indicators of classroom quality. The findings suggested that the QLE-DHH has excellent structural validity. Ratings predicted student reading outcomes. Finally, the QLE-DHH was able to capture teachers' strengths and skills in need of improvement. The QLE-DHH appears to hold promise for use in both research and teacher preparation programs.

Investigating the Writing Achievement of Deaf Learners.

This study investigated writing achievement in a Canadian cohort of school-aged deaf learners (N = 64). In the current context, in which most students are educated in inclusive settings and use hearing technologies, the goal was to establish whether outcomes approach those of hearing-age peers and identify demographic factors (e.g., gender, grade, additional disability, home language, hearing loss, hearing technology, auditory perception) influencing performance. Results indicated that a high percentage of participants performed in the average range or higher on a standardized, norm-referenced assessment, the Test of Written Language-Fourth Edition (TOWL-4, Hammill & Larsen, 2009). Grade, type of hearing loss, higher auditory perception scores, and absence of an additional disability were identified as variables of significance. As auditory access continues to improve, additional investigations of writing achievement in this population will be essential to further inform educational policy and pedagogical practice.

Chinese Grammatical Development of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children in a Sign Bilingualism and Coenrollment Program.

The literacy development of d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) children has always been a matter of grave concern among educators, and grammatical knowledge is said to constitute a major component such development. The present article reports on a study that examined the development of Chinese grammar among groups of d/Dhh and hearing children who received education through a sign bilingualism and coenrollment (SLCO) approach. Findings from administration of a prestandardized assessment tool showed that while the d/Dhh children generally lagged behind their hearing peers at all levels, the gap began to narrow from Primary 2 onward, and they caught up with their hearing peers in most except for a few grammatical constructions by Primary 4. Qualitative analysis revealed a similar developmental profile and similar degrees of difficulty in mastering the more complex constructions in written Chinese between the two groups of children.

Voices of Young Deaf Adults: Supporting Adolescent Social Capital Development.

For most young people, social capital plays an important role in transitioning to postsecondary education and employment. For youth who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), social capital can mitigate negative effects of challenges they will likely encounter after high school. In phase 2 of a two-phase qualitative study in Australia, we investigated DHH young adults' perspectives on how DHH adolescents could best be supported to develop and use social capital to benefit their postschool transition. Nine university students whose primary communication mode was spoken language participated in semistructured interviews, discussing practical ways educators and families could assist DHH high school students. We close by recommending ways schools and families can facilitate social capital development of DHH adolescents in preparation for postsecondary education and employment. Importantly, this research gives voice to young DHH adults with the objective of improving DHH adolescents' outcomes.

The Effects of American Sign Language on English Reading Proficiency.

The authors examine the effects of American Sign Language (ASL) on English reading achievement and English reading comprehension. A systematic review of relevant primary research and research-integrated journal articles was conducted. Based on interpretations of a few salient articles and other sources (e.g., books) selected in a professional review, background on the ASL-English situation is provided. The authors discuss whether the findings reflect a pattern or suggest instructional implications for improving English reading comprehension. Also discussed is whether the findings are confounded by a lack of desirable research characteristics associated with sample sociodemography, teacher-student interactions, or school environment. The article concludes with recommendations for further research to examine the merits of ASL-English approaches or bilingual programs, focusing on improvement of the English reading skills of d/Deaf and hard of hearing children and adolescents.

Think-Aloud: Effect on Adolescent Deaf Students' Use of Reading Comprehension Strategies.

This study examined the effect of explicit instruction of reading comprehension strategies, such as identification of unknown vocabulary and relating text to background knowledge, on four deaf and hard of hearing students' use of strategies and reading comprehension performance pre- and post-intervention. Explicit instruction of strategies consisted of discussion of targeted strategies and think-aloud (verbalizing one's thought processes while reading) to model strategies. The data presented is from a more in-depth study completed during the 2017-2018 academic year. Few studies have implemented think-aloud in evaluating deaf adolescents' reading challenges and the efficacy of strategy use. This study provided insight into both of these issues. Results show an increase in the variety of strategies used by students and frequency of strategy use post-intervention. Results also indicate improved comprehension scores for two students. Close examination of the data, however, reveals ongoing metacognitive challenges (such as lack of consistent identification of key unknown words and lack of awareness of comprehension breakdowns) and inconsistency in the efficacious use of strategies. Findings indicate a need for ongoing assessment of the depth and efficacy of strategy use and individualized instruction.

Deaf Children's Engagement with American Sign Language-English Bilingual Storybook Apps.

Design features of American Sign Language (ASL)-English bilingual storybook apps on the tablet computers, based on learning research, are intended to facilitate independent and interactive learning of English print literacy and of ASL skill among young learners. In 2013, the Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning introduced the first in a series of storybook apps for the iPad based on literacy and reading research. The current study, employing a sample of signing deaf children examined children's self-motivated engagement with the various design features presented in the earliest of the apps, The Baobab, and analyzed the relationships of engagement with ASL skill and age of first exposure to ASL, ASL narrative ability, and grade-appropriate English reading ability. Results indicated a robust level of engagement with the app, and a relationship between app pages specifically targeting reading and early exposure and skill levels in ASL. No evidence of relationships between narrative and vocabulary skills and app reading engagement was found. Topics for future research, and strategies for app improvement are discussed.