Recall of English Function Words and Inflections by Skilled and Average Deaf Readers

This study examined whether skilled deaf readers sustain a more complete memory trace of English function words and inflections compared to average deaf readers and whether this is related to processing that has a phonological component. The superior accuracy of skilled readers on a verbatim recall task indicated that they are more able than average deaf readers to sustain a record of English function words and inflections. Elevations in processing time under the recall versus a comprehension condition were highly correlated with recall accuracy. On a separate task, the relative speed of skilled readers when making lexical decisions about phonologically similar word pairs indicated greater access to phonological information during word reading. However, the phonological facilitation measure did not correlate highly with recall accuracy nor increments in processing under the recall condition.