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Reader Response Log #2

The Nature and Efficiency of the Word Reading Strategies of Orally Raised Deaf Students

Danielle Saltrick

University of Arizona

SERP 504

September 15, 2017

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Having a student in your class that is deaf, or comes from a signing background is

considered diverse. Their language, culture, and mindset are completely different. As is any

other student with a culture or background. In this article, The Nature and Efficiency of the Word

Reading Strategies of Orally Raised Deaf Students, it explains the background on some deaf

individuals and their language proficiency. The study is conducted on Hebrew language, but the

article is written in English. It focuses on unveiling similarities and differences in the word

reading strategies of orally raised individuals with prelingual deafness and hearing individuals.

There has been studies and research that the majority of individuals who are prelingually

deaf remain poor readers. While this may be the initial thought, from experience and exposure to

the deaf culture, I see more and more becoming fluent in the English language. Yes, while some

still struggle with past tense or ‘-ing,’ more often I come across bilingual Deaf individuals. I do

believe it depends on how you are raised, whether you were raised as a deaf child in a hearing

family, or a deaf child in an all deaf family. I know a Deaf man that teaches English at Arizona

School for the Deaf. He grew up deaf in a hearing family and went through speech therapy. I

have also met other deaf individuals that are taking up Spanish as well. So, while they are fluent

in ASL, English, they are also studying to become fluent in another language. This article also

discusses why a deaf individual may have trouble with language.

Phonological awareness is critical when learning a new language, or developing a

language, “Theories associating proficient reading skills with proper phonological abilities have

dominated the field of reading instruction and the explanations of reading failure for at least three

decades” (Miller). This can explain why most deaf individuals are poor readers. And while those

readers who fail to develop phonological knowledge and phonemic awareness that allows the
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conscious monitoring of words’ phonological properties, may develop a reading disorder. We

know phonological awareness and phonemic awareness are critical in the development of

language. This is why it is taught in schools and why it is such an important part of learning

language. As for deaf individuals, “permanent lack of auditory stimulation drastically interferes

with the internalization of fully detailed representations of spoken words, including the

development of awareness of their phonological structure” (Miller). So how can we determine

what to do in a classroom with individuals who come from a deaf culture?

A study was conducted and the participants included, 31 individuals with prelingual

deafness and a control group of 59 hearing individuals. There were three distinct study

conditions: “(a) a visual condition manipulating the visual– perceptional properties of the target

word pairs, (b) a phonological condition manipulating their phonological properties, and (c) a

control condition” (Miller). Evidence further suggests that prelingual deafness does not

undermine the efficiency with which readers use these strategies. There were also two questions

that were determined for the purpose of this study, “Are adult readers with prelingual deafness

less efficient than hearing counterparts in the processing of written words at the lexical level?

and do these two groups rely on word reading strategies that reference different information for

the lexical processing of the stimulus material, that is, are their reading strategies different in

nature?” (Miller). To determine the outcomes, the study used a set of words that were either

identical or nonidentical. Whether they were typed or written, or if the word looked similar to

another word and if the word sounded like the other word.

There are many studies comparing the reading level of deaf individuals. By educating

ourselves about a deaf diverse background of a student we may have, we can become more

knowledgeable about their culture and what we as the educator can do for them. By
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understanding the difficulty that they go through when reading or understanding words that they

cannot hear, we can change our methods to fit their needs. It is interesting to see how in a special

education classroom, how they practice their sounds and pronunciation, and how if it was a deaf

student in there, how would they get through that lesson. I am interested in becoming more

aware about the strategies that I can use, as we as any methods that may be out there. It is here

that we would consider support services for students with reading or learning disabilities,

whether they are deaf or hearing.

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Work Cited

Miller, Paul. (2009). The nature and efficiency of the word reading strategies of orally raised

deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 14(3), 1-18. doi:

10.1093/deafed/enn044