Text interpretation by deaf children during early literacy acquisition

Abstract

This research investigates if deaf children who are learning to read follow the same patterns as hearing children, according to the psychogenetic theory of writing acquisition (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979). The experimental design involved reading three sentences written in Spanish using Mexican sign language (LSM). The interviewer presented the interpretation and, afterwards, the children had to identify the elements from the passage that were written and where in the text these were located. This study involved the participation of 22 deaf children (15 boys and 7 girls aged from 6 to 9 years old) that were studying in a private school in Mexico City specialized in LSM, reading and writing techniques for deaf people. The results show how the reconstruction of what was written made by the deaf children is also a developing process, although with major differences relative to the results obtained from hearing children. This is mainly due to the structure of the languages involved. The study discusses such differences and introduces new data that allow us to reflect on ways to teach reading and writing skills to deaf people.