Section 1. Examining written-language assessment and intervention: links to literacy. Can lexical/semantic skills differentiate deaf or hard-of-hearing readers and nonreaders?

This article describes three studies. The first study attempts to demonstrate that semantic analyses of written narratives are more sensitive assessments of students with hearing losses' language ability than traditional approaches. Results of a factor analysis indicate that inter- and intrasententi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Volta Review Vol. 98; no. 1; pp. 39 - 62
Main Authors: Yoshinaga-Itano C, Snyder LS, Mayberry R
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf Winter96
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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Summary:This article describes three studies. The first study attempts to demonstrate that semantic analyses of written narratives are more sensitive assessments of students with hearing losses' language ability than traditional approaches. Results of a factor analysis indicate that inter- and intrasentential semantic/syntactic productive written-language variables are more sensitive than other traditional psychoeducational assessment variables. The second study compares the written-language characteristics of writers matched by reading abilities alone and matched by reading ability and age. The third study compares the written-language characteristics of deaf and hard-of-hearing writers by method of communication (aural-oral versus simultaneous or total communication). No significant differences were found between the two groups on any language measures, indicating that critical questions concerning language development and deaf or hard-of-hearing students may be lexical/semantic expressive language rather than communication/instructional methodology.