The Literacy Continuum: Teaching Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Susan R. Easterbrooks, ProfessorGeorgia State UniversityPresented at the GDEAF ConferenceMacon, GAJuly, 2004

What do we mean by a literacy continuum?

Children who are deaf and hard of hearing learn to read across a continuum of stimulus sources. Some children have sufficient residual hearing

and powerful amplification that allows them to develop literacy through the auditory pathway (Izzo, 2002)

some require visual support from English based sign systems (Luetke-Stahlman & Nielson, 2003)

others learn to read English as a second language based on competence in their natural language of American Sign Language (Musselman, 2000) or another native language such as Spanish (Walker-Vann, 1998).

Some of the practices, such as Guided Reading, may be used both as auditory means and as visual means of instructing DHH children in literacy.

Some practices, such as phonemic awareness (e.g., /k/ sound as in cat or kite), vizeme awareness (e.g., a visual symbol represents each sound), or cheremic awareness (e.g., the index finger shape as in think or me) tend to be language-specific (i.e., spoken English, signed English, American Sign Language) and require modifications depending on whether they are being used with primarily auditory learners or primarily visual learners.

We have happy little faces that fall all along the continuum and who want to learn to read. We are responsible for modifying our approaches to meet all their needs.

Auditory Only Visual OnlyEnglish Visual English ASL

Literacy Continuum

Two major perspectives currently in practice.

National Reading Panel

Gallaudet’s Literacy Project

These two pieces overlap

Designated by NRP as THE key factors in literacy instruction.

Phonemic awareness Phonics (traditional decoding and

encoding) Vocabulary Comprehension Text Comprehension (reading

strategies) Fluency (spoken) Motivation

To these, deaf educators must add:

Visual Fluency Visual decoding and encoding (e.g.,

use of Cued Speech, Visual Phonics) Code-Switching (dealing with dual

languages) Reading in the content areas

A note about reading strategies…

“Reading strategies” and “Text Comprehension” go hand-in-hand

But in fact, strategic action is related to the use of all sources of information, both visible information (the print and illustrations that the reader sees) and invisible information (phonology and relation to the letters; vocabulary or word meaning; background knowledge, experiences and concepts; personal experiences, memories, and emotions; and so on.).

Best Practices as identified by the Laurent Clerc center at Gallaudet

The following skills are identified as critical to literacy learning in DHH students by the Laurent Clerc Center of Gallaudet University (http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/Literacy/about/reading.html

Practices to increase; practices to decrease (see handout)

9 key instructional components

Reading to Students Language Experience Shared Reading and Writing Guided Reading and Writing Writer’s Workshop Research Reading and Writing Dialogue Journal Journals and Logs Independent Reading

In summary, we must account for each of the practices on the next page.

Each can be viewed as an auditory process or a visual process.

Each can be viewed as an English process or a process requiring code switching (from ASL or from another spoken language).

Phonemic awarenessPhonics (decoding and encoding)

Vocabulary ComprehensionText Comprehension (reading strategies)

Fluency (spoken)Visual Fluency

MotivationVisual decoding and encoding (e.g., use of Cued Speech, Visual Phonics)

Code-Switching (dealing with dual languages)Reading in the Content Areas

Reading to StudentsLanguage Experience

Shared Reading and WritingGuided Reading and Writing

Writer’s WorkshopResearch Reading and Writing

Dialogue Journal Journals and Logs

Independent Reading

No matter which language or mode, fundamentally we are all concerned with:

Strategies for all elements of unlocking the meaning of print

Underlying meaning

Underlying language facility

Barbara Luetke-Stahlman and Diane Corcoran Nielsen, (2003). The contribution of phonological awareness and receptive and expressive English to the reading ability of deaf students with varying degrees of exposure to accurate English. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 464-484.

Carol Musselman. (2000). How do children who can’t hear learn to read an alphabetic script? A review of the literature on reading and deafness. JDSDE, 5, 9-31.

Walker-Vann, C. (1998). Profiling Hispanic deaf students: A first step towards solving the greater problems. American Annals of the Deaf, 143(1), 46-54.

Izzo, A. (2002). Phonemic awarenss and reading ability: An investigation of young readers who are deaf. AAD, 147(4), 18-28.

The Changing Face of Instruction

Technology in Today’s College Classes

In the past, teacher education followed a predictable pattern: Attend classes in a building on a college

campus Spend a semester doing nothing but

student teaching in a school-based setting

Get a job and start sitting in cafeterias and libraries where staff development activities are being offered.

Today the options for changing this scenario have undergone an explosion of creative options (and some not so creative). Teachers start in the classroom before

taking their first college course. They can’t leave their classes to

participate in practicum during the school day/year and so must engage in these activities on weekends and over the summer, usually when there are no children around to teach.

Newer initiatives in staff development require teachers to engage in outcomes-based staff development of a prolonged nature rather than a “one shot deal”.

Less time and fewer resources are available to provide disability specific, school-based staff development.

Is there a solution? I’m not sure, but there are options that are worth exploring.

Fully online courses: WebCT, WebVista, Blackboard

Partially online courses: some web-based, some face to face

Self-contained modules: Lectora and other authoring tools

vClass by Illuminate

Cybermentors, cyberconsultants

Video-conferencing tools such as ViaVideo, Sorenson, Tamdberg

Chatroom at gatod@yahoogroups.com

“Join Together” grant from ACE-DHH Master teachers Can request ViaVideo, but must be

willing to get permission from superintendent to lower firewalls

Learning communities

Are you ready to take the plunge?

Or are you timid like this little guy is?

I speak for Dr. Scheetz as well as myself when I say,

WE NEED YOUR HELP!