Process and product in creating stories with deaf students

¶ … changes are made in the language arts curricular for these students there will be an increase in postsecondary education. Some of the changes suggested by the authors are the incorporation of visual language processing, bilingual teaching and meaning-based strategies. The problem identified by the authors is the development of literacy for deaf people. It is suggested that it is because of illiteracy (the inability to read and write) and not being deaf prevents this group from attaining postsecondary education.

The participants that were involved in this study were fourteen (14) deaf students who were enrolled at a specialized school for deaf students. The students ranged from nine (9) to eleven (11) years of age. The participants were in the fourth (4th) and fifth (5th) grades, sixth (6) and eighth grades (8) respectively.

The study was conducted by implementation of a writing workshop in three (3) classes. Noteworthy is the division of the grade five (5) students being separated into two (2) groups of four (4) receiving instruction in the area of language arts. The focus of this study by the researchers was implementing two activities the familiar language arts activity and the writing workshop while incorporating English stories and American Sign Language targeted at the participants who were deaf students in a setting that was educational and bilingual.

The intervention application involved one hour to ninety minute sessions over a three-week period. This was administered to both fourth (4th) and fifth (5th) grade participants. These sessions included all of the study participants engaged in the writing workshop. Additionally, the participants had an opportunity to have one on one conferencing with the researcher or other project staff to include the teacher, peer, or American Sign Language (ASL) specialist. There was also time available during these sessions for independent writing and sharing of written or signed stories with other participants in the class.

This study was qualitative in its design and as a result, the data collected were not in numerical/quantitative format. Qualitative research attempts to establish the contextual elements of a phenomenon (Creswell, 1994). Some of the data were in the form of video recordings. There was also the collection of quotations from the interviews of teachers, and pre and post classroom intervention, student interviews and assessments. This occurred for both ASL and written English and other samples of work by students.

Three themes emerged from the data after analysis the first theme was the English literacy skills and the pivotal role of ASL in its development. Secondly, the writing/signing process and the nature of metalinguistic awareness and finally the implication of ownership of one's work discussed from teacher perspective. Included in the ownership of one's work is the perspective of the student in relation to self-confidence, developing independence, applying what was learned from ASL and finally the student sense of ownership.

In terms of findings, this study was able to shed light on several issues as reflected in the data collected. There was a clear link between English in its written form and ASL and the necessity of developing both academically. Given the type of data collected and analysis completed as well as the study design there was no causal relationship identified in this study. The lack of a causal or even correlational element in this study is wholly consistent with the nature of the study. As qualitative work is not designed to produce or demonstrate causal linkages but rather to describe or explore aspects of the phenomenon (Kerlinger & Lee 2000 )

There is a need for the use of ASL in higher cognitive functioning, decontextualized situations and at a metalinguistic level by deaf students. This is necessary in order to facilitate their English literacy development over time. The work clearly established that such linkages that are theoretically possible. The initial support for the linkages was based on the findings of the literature review constructed by the researcher.

This study was very forward looking in its design. The interest in understanding these participants is an area in research with respect to their ability to go beyond postsecondary education that has a dearth of knowledge. The study clearly attempted to fill lacunae in the knowledge and at the same time provoke generous thought about the entire field. I liked the study as previously mentioned because of its focus and the participants involved. Deaf persons are a small percentage of society but they still require effective study. To consider those without hearing and their potential for success being hinged on literary as the authors suggested has a direct impact upon human potential. Illiteracy of this group also can influence employability this can in turn affects the quality of day-to-day life. It also signals the commonality of all persons irrespective of their particular impediment. The deaf face similar literacy challenges as other populations and this workforcefully brought home the humanity of all peoples.

Even though I appreciated or liked the study the procedures were somewhat unclear as there was no clear indication of what aspects of the intervention happened at what stage. The consideration of a theoretical framework was somewhat misleading since it is usually a harbinger of quantitative research (Strauss & Corbin 1990). While a historical framework with respect to procedures was provided, as well as an outline of what the students engaged in during their hour to ninety minute daily sessions. Exactly what occurred during those sessions was left to the interpretation of the reader.

The selection of subjects was not clearly explained by the researchers, as there was no indication of how the participants were selected except to suggest that they were students in a specialized school for the deaf. This appears to be a purposive sample design and there is no expectation of generalizability from the sample (Berg 2009)

If I were working on this study, I would adjust the study design to include a larger sample of students with greater variability in age. I would also use trained implementers instead of the classroom teachers with varying degrees of exposure and experience in the subject area. The use of a control group in this study can add to the findings, as there would be a more objective determination of the impact of the intervention on the participants vs. other confounding variables being responsible for the impact of the study. In terms of data analysis there is also no discussion of the ways in which the data were analyzed to develop the themes identified. In my study, a clear determination of data analysis procedures would be outlined to reflect consistency in reviewers resulting in theme development.