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151 6 Evidence- and Reason-Based Instructional Strategies Intervention studies are a form of applied research; they examine the effectiveness of a specific instructional approach, method, program, or set of activities on students’ learning. Researchers conduct intervention studies to establish direct links between the intervention and anticipated growth in students’ knowledge and skills. In this chapter, we review literacy-focused intervention studies that have been conducted recently with d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) students. Each intervention study used either an experimental, quasiexperimental, single-subject, or pretest–posttest design and was conducted between 2000 and 2013. Our goal is to document the effectiveness of specific instructional strategies and approaches that support early English literacy or conventional literacy learning in d/Dhh children and adolescents and to build on the findings from previous reviews (e.g., Luckner, Sebald, Cooney, Young, & GoodwinMuir , 2005/2006; Schirmer & McGough, 2005; Trezek, Wang, & Paul, 2010). While intervention research among children and adolescents who have typical hearing is common and has yielded significant findings with respect to evidence-based instructional practices (see, for example, Cain & Oakhill, 2007; Israel & Duffy, 2009), intervention research with d/Dhh students has been rare (see Paul, 2009; Trezek, Wang, & Paul, 2010). Nevertheless, an evidence base is beginning to accrue with respect to instructional interventions designed to promote literacy development in d/Dhh children and adolescents. An integrative review of recent intervention research will provide evidence-based direction for both teachers and researchers whose goal is to promote the literacy development of d/Dhh learners. Given the major tenet of this book, that d/Dhh learners acquire English language and literacy in ways that are developmentally similar to that of their typically developing peers, that is, the qualitative similarity hypothesis (QSH), we compare the findings of our review to the findings reported by the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) (2008) and the National Reading Panel (NRP) (2000), comprehensive meta-analyses of literacy interventions conducted with typically developing learners of English literacy. The 152 Chapter 6 goal of this comparison is to identify intersections between the bodies of research. Such intersections could provide further support, both evidence and reason based, for the QSH as well as important insights for classroom practice and implications for future research with d/Dhh learners. Major differences between the three reviews would also be informative and would highlight the need for differentiated instruction according to the characteristics of individual profiles (e.g., Valencia, 2011; see also Chapters 1 and 2). In the following sections, we review early literacy interventions and conventional literacy interventions that have been conducted with d/Dhh learners. Our review is organized to reflect the categories of intervention research identified by the NELP and the NRP. To provide a context for our review and the comparisons we make, we briefly describe both the NELP and the NRP, especially the major findings and recommendations (see also the discussions in Chapters 4 and 5). EARLY LITERACY INTERVENTIONS The purpose of the National Early Literacy Panel (2008) was to conduct a synthesis of the experimental and quasiexperimental research on early English literacy development in children from birth through age 5 and on home and family influences on that development. The primary goal of the synthesis was to determine the effectiveness of instructional strategies and practices in supporting both precursor skills (i.e., spoken [through-the-air] language, phonological awareness, and alphabetic knowledge) and conventional literacy skills so that teachers and families could better support young children’s English language and literacy development. The panel identified five broad categories of intervention studies in the research literature: code-focused, shared reading , parent and home programs, preschool and kindergarten programs, and languageenhancement interventions. The code-focused interventions reported statistically significant and moderate to large effects across a wide variety of early literacy outcomes, including spoken language (English), and consistently demonstrated positive effects on children’s literacy skills. The shared reading interventions demonstrated statistically significant and moderate effects on children’s print knowledge and spoken language skills. Home and parent programs focused on teaching parents instructional techniques to promote their children’s linguistic or cognitive development, and these interventions produced statistically significant and moderate to large effects on children’s spoken language and general cognitive abilities. Intervention studies that evaluated various aspects (e.g., curricula, policies, extended year) of preschool and kindergarten programs yielded significant and moderate to large effects on children’s readiness for reading and spelling instruction. Language-enhancement interventions demonstrated large and statistically significant effects on children’s spoken language skills...

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