Building a foundation for reading success: early American Sign Language and academic literacy outcomes among deaf and hard of hearing adolescents

ABSTRACT

Although there is evidence that academic registers of English are important for hearing monolingual and multilingual learners as they develop through adolescence, there has been less research in this area with deaf and hard of hearing students. The current study sought to determine whether students who were exposed to American Sign Language (ASL) before age 5 experienced a different relationship between language and literacy skills (e.g. reading comprehension, reading fluency, academic English, ASL proficiency) as compared to students who learned ASL after age 5. Findings suggested that academic English was a predictor of reading comprehension across all students, though differences in language development seemed to exist between those who had early ASL and deaf parents as compared to students with later ASL exposure and/or hearing parents. Findings indicate the need to continued research in these areas and for increased opportunities for language learning during the earliest years of life.

KEYWORDS:

• Deaf/hard of hearing
• literacy
• bilingualism
• academic English
• early language exposure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 There is an argument that language registers exist on a continuum, rather than in clearly identifiable versions of a language that are either colloquial or academic. For ease of communication, the term academic English is used here to refer to a specific grouping of language features that appear more frequently in academic settings than in colloquial settings. The use of this term is not intended to convey the idea that academic English is a different language than colloquial English, but rather the features of English that more frequently appear in academic communication in English.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Spencer Foundation [grant number 201800051].

Notes on contributors

Jessica A. Scott

Dr. Jessica A. Scott is an assistant professor in deaf education at Georgia State University. Prior to this, she worked as a high school teacher and K-12 reading specialist in bilingual schools for the deaf.