Reading for Deaf and Hearing Readers: Qualitatively and/or Quantitatively Similar or Different? A Nature versus Nurture Issue

The authors discuss whether the covert reading process differs qualitatively and/or quantitatively for hearing and deaf peers and whether formal reading instruction should be different for deaf and hearing students. The authors argue that hearing status (deaf, hearing) is less important in learning to read than environmental factors, including: (a) the richness of the early linguistic environment leading to an age-appropriate L1 prior to formal reading instruction and (b) clear, complete visual access to the instructional language (e.g., English, Spanish, American Sign Language) used to deliver curriculum via conventional or English Language Learner methods. In U.S. schools attended by 89% of deaf students, English is “regularly” used as the language of instruction (Gallaudet Research Institute, 2013, p. 11). Of the available communication systems for conveying English conversationally (oral-aural methods, Manually Coded English sign systems, Cued Speech), only Cued Speech is structurally capable of affording clear, complete visual access to English.