Abstract
Literacy is essential for success
and an enhanced quality of life in our society. It is estimated that 2 -3 % of
Canadians are Deaf and the majority of them have inadequate literacy skills
(Schein, 1996). This prevents most Deaf people from attaining post-secondary
education (Carver, 1991), limits their opportunities for employment (Carbin,
1996) and results in a loss of human potential. What disables Deaf people is
not that they cannot hear, but that they cannot read and write. This framework
suggests that one way of addressing the literacy crisis in the Deaf community
is to refine and adapt language arts curricula for Deaf students incorporating
visual language processing, meaning-based strategies, and bilingual teaching
principles. The question of how best to promote literacy in deaf children has
long frustrated teachers. From the beginnings of English literacy instruction,
which primarily emphasized the use of amplification (hearing aids) to develop
speaking and listening skills, to the development of simultaneous communication
(speaking and signing at the same time) in the 1970’s, the overall reading
level of deaf high school graduates did not increase beyond the level of grade
four (Fruchter, Wilbur, & Fraser, 1984; Holt, 1993; Moores, 1987; Quigley,
Montanelli, & Wilbur, 1976). However, one group of Deaf children, those
with Deaf parents, scored consistently higher on tests of English reading
skills than their deaf peers with hearing parents (Allen, 1986; Trybus &
Jensema, 1978). These children had the advantage of learning their first
language through consistent and accessible exposure to proficient language
models. Even though that language, American Sign Language (ASL), was different
from English, it facilitated their ability to learn written English as a second
language (Hoffmeister & Wilbur, 1980). These observations suggested to
educators that Deaf education should be considered a form of bilingual
education. In this system children learn a natural signed language as their
first language and a spoken/written language, such as English, is introduced as
a second language (Strong, 1988).