Developing the Ability of Hearing-Impaired Students to Comprehend and Generate Question Forms

Hearing-impaired students have trouble with question forms, a fact that is well-documented. To date, the implications of this linguistic difficulty on their reading comprehension have been virtually unexplored. This article discusses the importance of questions as a means of acquiring and clarifying information and as a way to develop independent learning processes. The article also discusses roadblocks to learning faced by hearing-impaired students who have difficulty comprehending question forms, especially WH-question forms. Strategies for diagnosing and developing students' ability to understand questions are described, and the importance of parents and teachers working together is explained.