Writing: Characteristics, Instruction, and Assessment

Abstract

Today’s information-based societies require technological knowledge and sophisticated literacy skills. Society’s literacy expectations are reflected in school standards, and with increased diversity in student populations, educators have had to find alternate models and approaches for students to use to meet these standards. This is true especially in the area of teaching students to write. Focusing on research conducted since the 1970s, this chapter examines what and how deaf students write, educators’ conceptions of writing the development of writing skills, the influence of language and modality on teaching deaf students to write, and assessment. Research indicates that grammatical and lexical performance will improve with direct instruction over time, and that use of familiar genres and functional approaches to the teaching and testing of writing will contribute to the learning of fluency and discourse organization.

Assessment of Language and Literacy in Children Who Are d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing

“…For d/Dhh children, there are four major considerations for the assessment of writing. First, examiners should not let writing conventions overshadow the other aspects of writing, as they are typical areas of difficulty for d/Dhh children [50,51] and may unduly affect the overall score on a holistic writing assessment [52]. Second, writing assessments that require too much reading may also negatively affect a child's writing score.…”

“…The selection of an assessment that does not create a burden due to the amount of reading it requires, or the use of accommodations when the amount of reading is excessive, may be necessary to capture a child's true writing abilities. Third, it is hard to establish interrater reliability for formal writing assessments, even when the criteria are detailed [52]. Finally, informal assessments are needed to provide detailed information about a child's present levels of writing skills, create writing goals, and to continually monitor writing improvement over time.…”

Inclusive education for Deaf students: Literacy practices and South African Sign Language

“…1 adults who use a signed language as preferred language 2 demonstrate poor text literacy skills (Albertini & Schley, 2003;Hyde & Muspratt, 1998;Powers, Gregory & Thoutenhoofd, 1999). In South Africa as few as one in three Deaf adults who use South African Sign Language (SASL) is functionally literate (Aarons & Glaser, 2002;DEAFSA, 2009) and the average Deaf school leaver has a written language comprehension ability equal to that of a hearing child of eight (Aarons & Reynolds, 2003;DEAFSA, 2009).…”

Using Scaffolded Self-Editing to Improve the Writing of Signing Adolescent Deaf Students

“…The emphasis on literacy skills for students has increased due to technological advances in recent years. Because students who are prelingually profoundly deaf and whose first language is American Sign Language (ASL) and second language is English do not have access to English by natural means (Mahshie, 1995), they experience an even greater challenge in acquiring literacy skills (Albertini & Schley, 2003;Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002;Mayer, 2010;McAnally, Rose, & Quigley, 1994). It is far more difficult for Deaf students to write than it is to read.…”

“…When writing in English, Deaf students have to encode their ideas into a language different from ASL. Researchers have documented the writing difficulties experienced by Deaf students since the 1940s (Albertini & Schley, 2003; R. R. Kretschmer & L. W. Kretschmer, 1984;Marschark et al 2002;Wolbers, Dostal, & Bowers, 2012). Mayer (2010) describes writing as an activity that is cognitively demanding for Deaf learners.…”