Theories of literacy development in limited English proficiency deaf people: a review

Abstract

This paper examines two ‘models’ of literacy development relating to deaf individuals with limited English proficiency. In the socio-cultural model, it is considered that deaf people have a culture and language different from hearing people and are linguistic minorities for whom the learning of English skills must be considered a second language learning. In contrast, the medical deficit model emphasizes the important role of normal hearing for the development of literacy skills, because English is auditory-based. It is argued that deaf individuals do not meet most of the assumptions of the medical deficit model. This paper considers sign language to be the ‘mother tongue’ of deaf individuals and argues that sign language systems should therefore be used in bilingual programmes to foster the development of English literacy skills in individuals who are deaf.

Keywords:

• Medical deficit model
• socio-cultural model
• literacy
• children