Using Sign Language to Promote
Reading Comprehension for Deaf
Students
Jean F. Andrews, Ph.D.
Lamar University
[email protected]
March 9, 2010: Taichung Deaf School
March 10, 2010: Tainan Deaf School
Topics
• Definitions
• Reading achievement levels of US deaf
• Case studies and importance of Background
variables
• ASL and English structures differ
• Research showing correlation btwn ASL and
English reading
• Instructional Practices
• ASL/English bilingual strategies
• Summary and conclusions
Terms
Language experiences
Phonological coding
Sign coding
Orthography
Visual Phonics
Phonemic awareness
Alphabetic principle
Schema theory
graphemes
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension
Prior knowledge
Metacognition
Syntax
Morphology
Inferences
Phonological awareness
Phonemic awareness
Reading achievement & deafness
1. average18 to 19 yr old
student with severe to
profound HL leave
school at the 3rd or 4th
grade reading level
(Traxler, 2000).
2. Annual growth rate of
less than a half grade
per year with leveling
off or plateau effect
occuring at 3rd to 4th
grade level for most
students (Trezek & al.,
2010).
What is reading achievement?
• A measure of reading comprehension
• A number that compares proficiency across
different age groups
• Criterion-references or standardized
What is the simple view of reading
comprehension? (Trezek et al., 2010)
• Emphasis on…
1.Decoding
2.comprehension of single passage
3.Passage-specific information
What is the broader view of reading
comprehension?
• Emphasis on
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Prior knowledge
Metacognition
Attitude
Engagement
Use of several passages on comprehension tests
Shortcomings of comprehension tests
1. Use of one short passage for assessment
purposes
2. Overuse of literal questions
3. Need for inferential questions
4. Need for reader to make evaluative comments
5. Overuse of multiple choice formats
6. Overuse of passage format, what abt newspaper
and magazine formats
Background variables
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Age hearing loss
Extent/type hearing loss
IQ
Ethnicity
Gender
Etiology
Additional disabilities
8. Age of early education
9. Mode(s) of
communication
10. Language(s)
11. Family language use
12. Family sign/speech skill
13. Books in home
14. Type education
15. Quality of
language/reading
instruction
Case studies & background variables
Cases
1. Alicia
2. Jake
3. Ellen
4. Matt
5. Lola
6. Natalie
7. Larry
QUESTION
• How do each of these
case studies illustrate
the importance of
background variables in
understanding language
and reading
development?
ASL & English
ASL
• Language status: historically
suppressed and oppressed
• Does not have a written form
• Linguistically described by
William Stokoe in 1960
• Used by 2 million Deaf Americans
• Visual, gestural modality
• Facial grammar, Body movement
• Use of space
• Acquired easily by babies of deaf
parents
• Deaf children learn ASL at
different times in their lives
depending on access
English
• Language status: World’s
most prestigious language
(economy, government,
research)
• Linear sequential grammar
• Based on auditory language
(written form)
• Morpho-grammar
information redundant
• Acquired easily and
naturally by young babies
Linguistically congruent or linguistically distant?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chinese – English?
ASL – English?
Tawainese sign language –Chinese?
Spanish-English?
Hebrew-English?
Arabic-English?
HOW does this affect the teaching of reading?
Correlations studies: ASL & English
Read Comp relationships
• Moores (1987,
1990)
• Mayberry (1989,
1994, 1999)
• Strong & Prinz
(1997)
• Hoffmeister (2002)
• Padden & Ramsey
(2002)
• Smith (2006)
• Rusher (2007)
Instructional Practices
• Balanced reading approach
• Reading theory
– Whole language
– Interactionist
– Dual coding theory
– Schema theory
Taiwan folk tale: Instructional example
• How to implement a balanced reading lesson:
whole to part and part to whole
Other instructional strategies using
sign language to teach reading
•
•
•
•
ASL summary technique
PVR (preview-view-review)
Free writing using story books (signed)
Sign-meaning-print connections to build
vocabulary
• Using comic books (visual pictures) to teach
reading comprehension
ASL/English reading strategies in the
classroom
•
•
•
•
•
Codeswitching
Translation
ASL summary technique
PVR
Sandwiching, chaining (Padden, 2002)
Using ASL and visual diagrams
•
•
•
•
•
Semantic mapping
Story maps
Venn Diagram
Timelines
Graphic organizers
How to assess?
• Sign fluency rubric (Easterbrooks & )
• French’s ASL and reading checklists
• Smith (2006) Test of American Sign LanguageReceptive (TASLA-R).
Deaf students reading errors using sign
language
• What kinds of errors to deaf children make
when reading in sign language?
• Are these errors phonologically based?
• Visually based?
• How does this impede the learning to decode?
• Is decoding necessary?
Use of technology
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Captioned TV
Pages
Video games
Videophones
Video relay
Remote interpreting
E-books
U-Tube
DVD technology
Summary and Conclusions
• Sign and English are linguistically distant
• Semantic-based transfers can be made from
signing (through the air) and print
• Specific sign to meaning to print strategies are
provided
• How reading is assessed?
• How sign is assessed?
• Role of technology