Deaf Students and the Qualitative Similarity Hypothesis: Understanding Language and Literacy Development

2 English Language Development

26 2 English Language Development Historically, the development of language in children and adolescents who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) has been one of the most, if not the most, contentious educational issue (Moores, 2001, 2010; Paul, 2009; Quigley & Kretschmer, 1982). More than 30 years ago, King (1981) asserted that the question of language acquisition is actually a bipartite question: (1) How do deaf children learn language? and (2) How well do deaf children learn language? Setting aside, for now, the ambiguous meanings of deaf and language, it seems that King’s two-part question has morphed into a controversial version: What is or should be the first language of deaf children?, with much of the ensuing debate in the United States involving predominantly American Sign Language (ASL) and English (Paul, 2009, 2010). As discussed in Chapter 1, the basic tenets of the qualitative similarity hypothesis (QSH) are applicable to the primary (through-the-air) and secondary (reading/writing) development of English as a first or second language. The focus of this chapter is on the primary development of English as a first language. Our version of King’s question can be stated as follows: How do and how well do d/Dhh children learn English as a first language? To address this question, we synthesize, initially, the dialogues on the features of salient language acquisition models and present general milestones of typical English language development. This is no easy feat considering the variety of dissensions on the methodologies for collecting and analyzing language data, let alone what constitute data and whether the notion of explanatory adequacy for language acquisition is viable or applicable (e.g., see N. Chomsky, 2006; Lund, 2003). We contend that attempts to explicate the nature of language acquisition are just as critical as attempts to specify what is meant by the phrase d/Deaf and hard of hearing. In fact, the lack of specificity with terminologies not only has led to misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the development of language in d/Dhh children and adolescents (e.g., see Blamey & Sarant, 2011) but also might have contributed to the contentious What is/should be perspective , pitting ASL against English. English Language Development 27 With a basic understanding of English language acquisition, we can proceed to a brief examination of the relations between language and literacy (discussed briefly in Chapter 1 as well). Specifically, we mean the relations between through-the-air (primary ) and the written (secondary) development of English. (Note: Chapter 3 provides much more detail on the development of English as a second language, and Chapter 4 presents additional information on English literacy.) One strong justification for this approach is that there is ample evidence that the English literacy process contains English language-based underpinnings. Reflections on both language and literacy acquisition and their relations should yield a better understanding of the development in each domain as well as the contributions of one domain to the development of the other one. To put it one way, at least with respect to English language and reading (Kamhi & Catts, 2012), “knowledge of the similarities and differences between spoken language and reading is critical for understanding how children learn to read and why some children have difficulty learning to read” (p. 1). The application of the construct of spoken language, in this passage, to d/Dhh children and adolescents is complicated and controversial (e.g., see Blamey & Sarant, 2011; Marschark & Spencer, 2010; Paul, 2009). However, Kamhi and Catts (2012) are focused on the relationships between the primary (through-the-air) and secondary (in this case, reading) forms of English. They are not referring to speech per se in the construct of spoken language. Their emphasis is on listening or language comprehension of English and the relation to English literacy development. It would be difficult to find any current scholarly book or textbook on English language disorder/delay or development that does not also explore, sometimes in depth, the subsequent effects on English literacy or the emergence and subsequent development of English literacy (e.g., Bernstein & Tiegerman-Farber, 2009; Kaderavek, 2011; Kuder, 2013; Owens, 2010; Pence & Justice, 2008; Reed, 2012). There are specific, critical differences between the primary (i.e., through-the-air) and secondary (written) forms of English, mainly because the development of English literacy skills requires much more than proficiency in through-the-air English language development. Without a working knowledge (intuitive) in the primary form of English, progress in English literacy, especially during...