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Taking a historical view, the authors reviewed 40 years of dissertation research by deaf scholars (1973-2013) related to reading. Using a qualitative interpretive analysis approach (J. Smith & Osborn, 2003), the authors selected 31 dissertations as primary texts, reviewing them for themes over five time periods. The first finding was a trend of themes on communication methodology in the 1970s (first period), to English reading skills in the 1980s (second period), to American Sign Language/English bilingualism to support acquisition of English literacy during the third, fourth and fifth periods (1990-2013). The second finding was that most of the dissertations used a combination of qualitatively similar and qualitatively different epistemologies in their research. These two findings are related to (a) the role of the deaf reading researcher, (b) historical and current trends in reading research, and (c) the qualitative similarity hypothesis (Paul, Wang, & Williams, 2013).

In the penultimate article of a two-part special issue of the American Annals of the Deaf examining the qualitative similarity hypothesis (QSH), findings of nine research teams with articles in the special issue are summarized. The teams addressed three questions: (a) For students who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing (d/Dhh), is reading qualitatively similar to the reading process of hearing students (per the QSH)? (b) Is it, rather, qualitatively different (per the qualitative difference hypothesis [QDH])? (c) Or is reading qualitatively similar and qualitatively different? All nine teams recognized that aspects of the reading acquisition process of d/Dhh children resemble those of hearing children and that the QSH is tenable if it is independent of a child's language modality. Two teams concluded that there is research supporting both the QSH and the QDH. Implications for teacher education, future research, and language policymaking are discussed.

In this, the first article in the American Annals of the Deaf special issue on English reading development for individuals who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing, the coeditors aim to promote interdisciplinary dialogue among researchers regarding literacy research with d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) students by setting the tone for an open and inclusive forum. Researchers from various disciplines are invited to discuss the similarities and differences between students who are d/Dhh and their typically developing hearing peers in terms of aspects such as reading process, reading development, and reading assessment. Challenges related to the acquisition of language and literacy by d/Dhh students are described. The article highlights the purpose of the special issue, which is to explore what works where, when, why, and for whom.

A commentary on Williams's (2012) invited article on the use of adapted vocabulary learning interventions focuses on three areas: (a) Vocabulary interventions with storybook reading originally designed for hearing children can be adapted for deaf children. (b) Teachers are invited to reflect on how the read-aloud process in English differs from the read-aloud process in sign. (b) Teachers are asked to consider adding drawing and writing activities to reading lessons to show young deaf readers how reading and writing are reciprocal processes. The emergent literacy theory is used, as it informs and drives instructional vocabulary teaching practices for deaf children in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. The emergent literacy theory broadly captures cognitive, social, perceptual, and linguistic understandings of how young signing deaf children acquire both English word recognition abilities and vocabulary knowledge, among other important prereading concepts.

Deafblind readers are heterogeneous in reading skill acquisition. This qualitative study uses in-depth interviews and protocol analyses and queries the three deafblind adult participants in describing their metacomprehension, metacognitive and metalinguistic strategies used when reading different types of text. Using retrospective analysis, the three adults describe and reflect on how they learned language and how they learned to read as children. The participants also describe the technology that assists them in reading print. Data suggest that deafblind adults use a variety of auditory, visual and tactile-kinesthetic strategies (i.e. braille, large print, and raised print) in decoding English. Some also use ASL, Signed English and tactile ASL and tactile Signed English. (Contains 1 note.)

The national policy in deaf education in Mainland China primarily focuses on oral/aural instruction and hearing rehabilitation. The curriculum in primary grades is specifically structured on speech and hearing skills for language development. But there is little evidence that documents what early literacy instruction looks like or how teachers conduct the teaching of reading and writing in classrooms with Chinese deaf children. By analyzing videotapes from the first and second grade classrooms, we describe how reading and writing are taught to deaf children in China. The key findings are that the primary grade literacy instruction (1) shares features of Gradual Release of Responsibility model with a focus on speech and hearing skills; (2) uses multimodal strategies and pedagogical tools such as lip-reading, Pinyin phonetic symbols, Pinyin Finger Spelling, Chinese Sign Language (CSL), and Signed Chinese (SC). Moreover, the curriculum reflects low expectations for deaf students as it lacks the academic content provided to their hearing peers. We conclude with implications for literacy instruction in deaf education, and suggest a future research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN THIS, the first article in the American Annals of the Deaf special issue on English reading development for individuals who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing, the coeditors aim to promote interdisciplinary dialogue among researchers regarding literacy research with d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) students by setting the tone for an open and inclusive forum. Researchers from various disciplines are invited to discuss the similarities and differences between students who are d/Dhh and their typically developing hearing peers in terms of aspects such as reading process, reading development, and reading assessment. Challenges related to the acquisition of language and literacy by d/Dhh students are described. The article highlights the purpose of the special issue, which is to explore what works where, when, why, and for whom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the literacy issues facing young deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) learners in Taiwan who are learning both a logographic and an alphabetic script. We describe the contextual factors that surround their reading and writing processes such as island demographics, reading achievement levels, and background language learning variables including deaf culture. We then describe and provide graphic illustrations and examples of the linguistic features of the written languages that DHH children are learning (Chinese and English) as well as the sign codes (Signed Chinese, Zhuyin finger alphabet, character signs, palm writing, and air writing) and the Zhuyin Fuhao written visual symbols. We suggest that contextual, cultural and linguistic factors need to be considered in the understanding of how DHH children learn to read and write as well as how they use their sign language and sign codes to build Chinese and English literacy skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the researchers examined how deaf children could demonstrate their awareness of ASL by evaluating the correctness of ASL signs, sentences and discourse presented in stories in American Sign Language (ASL) signed by deaf native signers. To this end, a metalinguistic awareness test-the Test of American Sign Language-Receptive (TASLA-R), was created with eight short stories. The test consisted of 40 items presented in a multiple choice format test. Each of the 40 test items presented correct and incorrect statements about ASL formation using phonology, semantics, morphology, syntax and pragmatic aspects. One hundred and forty deaf children between the ages of 5 and 21 from four state schools for the deaf were administered the TASLA-R. Significant findings were as follows: 1) As the children got older, there was an increase in their ASL metalinguistic awareness and ability to identify incorrect ASL structures; 2) the deaf children of deaf parents group outperformed the deaf children of hearing group on the TASLA-R; 3) comparisons of TASLA-R scores between the junior high group and the high school were not significant; 4) scores on the TASLA-R showed moderate correlation to the English language, vocabulary and reading comprehension subtests on the Stanford Achievement test, 9th Hearing Impaired edition. These findings were discussed in relation to Ellen Bialystok's (2001) theories of metalinguistic uses of language in cognition and language development and in relation to the learning of ASL of bilingual deaf children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information is presented on the implementation of a prereading program in a school setting using the reciprocal training procedure and on implications for educators, teacher educators, and parents. This instructional procedure, grounded in Vygotsky's theory of language and learning, is an interactive dialogue through which the teacher explicitly models four prereading skills: finger spelling, book reading, story retelling, and word recognition during story-time session with experimental storybooks. Pre-post test analyses show that gains were made in letter, word, and story knowledge through the use of the reciprocal teaching procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-eight deaf and hard of hearing Chinese-speaking public school children in Taiwan were tested on literacy achievement tasks at the end of kindergarten (T1), first grade (T2), and second grade (T3) over 2 years. After nonverbal IQ and hearing threshold were controlled for, the results revealed that early oral vocabulary and print awareness tested in kindergarten were related to word recognition in first grade. Moreover, receptive oral vocabulary (T1) was related to reading achievement in first and second grade. Phoneme (onset-rime) blending (T1) was associated with reading achievement in first grade, but not second grade. While onset-rime blending made more unique contributions to picture-book reading comprehension (T2), oral receptive vocabulary contributed uniquely to reading comprehension in T3 more than onset-rime blending. The time (in minutes) per week parents spent in shared book reading with their child was moderately related to reading comprehension at T3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]