This pilot study explored effects of hearing loss on deaf children's reading comprehension in an online context. Eighteen deaf secondary students, ages 12-14 years (11 with British Sign Language as their dominant language, seven with English as their dominant language) engaged in an online research comprehension task. Six age-matched hearing…

The discussion on the role of American Sign Language (ASL) in deaf students' reading development has been long and contentious. The students' limited knowledge of English has been commonly perceived as a culprit in making reading difficult. However, a more nuanced explanation of reading performance and its relationship with competence in ASL's…

The acquisition of effective reading comprehension for adolescents with a cochlear implant (CI) in inclusive settings is crucial for ensuring the benefit of current traditional reading curricula and instructional practices. Executive functions (EF) are recognized as important cognitive processes during reading by students with typical hearing…

Text comprehension, a daily academic activity in primary and secondary school, is especially challenging for deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) students. The present study analyzed the effect of text genre (narrative vs. expository) on accuracy and eye-movement patterns during text comprehension by DHH students (ages 9-15 years) when compared to a…

Purpose: This study examined classroom listening experiences reported by students who are deaf or hard of hearing using the Listening Inventory For Education--Revised (LIFE-R). Method: Retrospective electronic survey responses from 3,584 school-age participants were analyzed using descriptive statistics to report student perceptions of listening…

More U.S. community college students are enrolling without the requisite reading skills to be successful. Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students are following a similar pattern with a little less than half requiring remedial instruction when entering college. College-age readers were the first population that we studied to learn about reading and…

Purpose: In spite of improvements in language outcomes for children with hearing loss (HL) arising from cochlear implants (CIs), these children can falter when it comes to academic achievement, especially in higher grades. Given that writing becomes increasingly relevant to educational pursuits as children progress through school, this study…

Universal design for learning (UDL)--an instructional design framework that promotes expert learning by promoting accessibility and reducing of barriers to learning-is gaining momentum on the global stage. However, UDL implementations with deaf or deafdisabled learners remain limited. This study examined how UDL enabled educators of deafdisabled…

Phonological coding plays an important role in reading for hearing students. Experimental findings regarding phonological coding in deaf readers are controversial, and whether deaf readers are able to use phonological coding remains unclear. In the current study we examined whether Chinese deaf students could use phonological coding during…

Children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HH) learning in inclusive educational settings must be aware of how well they hear and understand spoken language to advocate for themselves. This study explored elementary-age children's self-reported listening abilities using thematic analysis of brief interviews. Participants were 16 D/HH and 16…

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)…

This study examined the reading comprehension profiles, and the related linguistic and cognitive skills, of 146 Chinese students in Grades 3-9 who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/Dhh). Employing a rigorous regression approach, the current study identified 19 unexpected poor comprehenders, 24 expected average comprehenders, and 16 unexpected good…

The reading comprehension levels of students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) are low compared to those of their hearing peers. One possible reason for this low reading levels is related to the students' prior knowledge. This study investigated the potential factors that might affected DHH students' prior knowledge, including their degree of…

Academic English is an essential literacy skill area for success in post-secondary education and in many work environments. Despite its importance, academic English is understudied with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Nascent research in this area suggests that academic English, alongside American Sign Language (ASL) fluency, may play an…

The aim of this study was to identify and implement research-based practices in reading comprehension that would enable deaf and hard-of hearing adolescents to monitor their comprehension actively to increase the reading level beyond fourth grade. Making meaning out of teachers' and students' reading comprehension experiences through their…