Not only is the process of word recognition important in order to learn how to read, but the procedure of reading comprehension is crucial in developing an understanding of the meaning of text. Many beginning readers make use of context when they are reading. By using prior knowledge, they compensate for inefficient word recognition. Word recognition can be summarized as the process of linking the written form of a word with a representation in the internal, mental lexicon dictionary of the brain. Deafness is a condition with so serious a hearing loss that perception of spoken language by primary auditory means is impossible, even with the strongest amplification equipment, such as powerful individual hearing aids. Deaf children can experience enormous problems in the process of learning to read because they lack the ability to hear spoken language. As a result, deaf children start the reading process with less world knowledge, less cognitive and linguistic knowledge, and obviously less knowledge of the spoken language. It is unfortunate that they lack the sounds and grammatical structures of words. Deaf readers are caught in a vicious circle in that: th

Most people are aware that there are at least two main opinions on how to approach a child with reading. According to the text, The Psychology of Reading by Crowder, one method is the phonics method, which emphasizes “learning the sounds made by letters first, then learning to blend these sounds so that the written symbols make contact with their meanings through the spoken language. The other method, sometimes called the whole word method, emphasizes “learning a direct connection between the written word, as a pattern, and the meaning for which it stands” (Crowder, 1992). The text acknowledges that children, who have been hearing impaired throughout their entire lives, pose a unique dilemma if reading is essentially rooted in speech. Nonetheless, many deaf children are determined to learn how to read. Whether the phonics method or the whole word method is the best process to teach a person how to read, people who are deaf have no other choice but to use the whole word method when they try to learn how to become literate. Although they lack phonological awareness, deaf readers can use orthographic representations in order to become familiar with printed text and its meaning. Several researchers have delineated levels of development that young deaf children commonly appear to endure when they learn to read. According to a recent article published in the respected journal Amercian Annals of the Deaf, “[t]he general progression of reading development for deaf children begins with the labeling of people and objects represented by pictures in books, followed by development of story lines to represent the action of the pictures by reading familiar words in context, focusing on sign print, relating sign print to written English, and reading written English independently for meaning” (Rottenberg, 2001). Clearly, the reading process for a deaf child requires certain steps and stages. It also appears that deaf children require more steps in learning how to read than a child who possesses phonoloigical awareness, as the process also involves learning sign language. By analyzing the method, deaf children must first use orthographic representations in order to familiarize themselves with some basic and random stimuli from the environment. Books with various contingent pictures are generally used to provide deaf children with exposure to certain objects. Next, various orthographic stimuli must be presented together in a certain sequential pattern, in order to suggest a picture story where each picture follows a certain chronological order. It is important to note that these two stages do not require any introduction of text to the child. So far, the child is only being subjected to orthographic representations that will follow a sequential pattern for understanding based on context. The third stage involves the deaf child being acquainted with their first language, sign language. The child now begins to learn sign language and communicates with people using various signs as meanings. Sign language now becomes a replacement for oral communication. As time passes, the deaf child soon learns to associate the sign print with written English, and eventually reads the English language independently and with meaning. Studies and journal articles fail to further explain the reading process from a biological perspective with great detail. In other words, various psychologists and educators describe the process in an abstract and cognitive perspective. I am interested in understanding more about the reading process of deaf children in greater detail.

One area of literacy that has received little attention in research with deaf participants is that of text processing, which includes metacognitive strategies and comprehension monitoring and assessment by the reader. Comprehension monitoring refers to the readers’ understanding of how, and how well, they transact meaning with an author through the

Some topics in this essay:
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