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PAM: Research has been done since before the 1970's on this and that's where they determined
that deaf individuals can only read at a 4th grade level on average came from. Its based on old
research, do you want to talk a little about where that notion came from?
ELSIE: Absolutely. Most of the time, the research process is based on studies by using a specific
control group. The participants of the control group is a group of hearing individuals and their
first language (L1) is English. The control group is used as the main group and the other groups
including deaf individuals are constantly compared with the control group. This sets a dangerous
precedent and that is how the data are collected. The other groups will always lose because they
are not meeting the "standards" established by the control group. Is the research fair? It is not.
PAM: There are two groups being tested. There's one group whose L1 is English against someone
whose L2 is English. They are not the only ones, deaf individuals who read at that 4th grade reading
level. There are also those who speak Spanish as their primary language or those who come
from other countries-- they tend to also be behind in their reading levels. So for a second language
acquisition of English, it is pretty typical for individuals to be behind, not in language, no, but in reading levels.
Let's make this distinction of language and reading. You have reading, language and cognition. People
often test reading levels and then make the assumption that their language is also behind
when they are two completely separate entities. The same goes for cognition as well. It is very
separate, but often times it is only reading levels that get tested. That is extremely dangerous because,
perhaps they are a little behind in their reading, and then it is automatically assumed they are behind
linguistically and cognitively when truly they are only behind in their reading levels, not behind
linguistically and cognitively. A lot of determinations about a child are made based on reading levels.
Unfortunately, this makes the notion that deaf individuals can only read at a 4th grade.
This comes from research and maintains the stereotype such as "4th grade reading level."
Really, it is all about their reading skill, not their language and cognition.
I have seen it in deaf education programs when they declare: "Oh, you know children hit a glass
ceiling." But wait a minute. When they say that this is typical for deaf children, or say that there is
even a glass ceiling. This is an awful perspective. They put it on the kid, deciding that their cognition
has also reached its limit. It is not true. If they were tested cognitively or on their expressive
language skills, they could be right on par with their peers and their results would be much higher.
I have seen it when I taught for 9 years. Their struggle is with reading, specifically, and I avoid making that
jump to the assumption that deaf children also have cognitive and linguistic issues.
ELSIE: Exactly. A lot of research is published without deliberation about the history of reading. Often
researchers will simply cite resources while not seeking deeper issues. There are a lot of information
out there but what is missing is what happened right at the birth which is Motherese. Did the
parents share language and information with their baby? Did the parents maintain eye contact?
Did the parents sign bigger? These are vital to raising a deaf child and many are unaware. So to
compare deaf children with the control group is not the right way to do contain research. Keep in
mind, the control group is L1 users. They always had full access to language and communication.
Therefore, the data is invalid.
PAM: Now if we look at that 4th grade reading level, we need to look at why. Let's put deaf
education aside for now and look at the curriculum nationwide in the United States and
what actually happens at the 4th grade. Let's go back to kindergarten through 3rd grade, the
educational focus typically is on teaching the child to learn how to read. That's pretty typical
for public schools in the United States for children whose first language is English.
Now at the 4th grade level there is a shift to independent reading and reading to learn.
That is when that shift happens and that is when many children whose second language
is English struggle, including deaf children.
And to make matters worse, teachers in kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades typically
who are teaching deaf children to read, foster dependence from the child. They hope to help
the child do better and give extra information, ask leading questions. Deaf children become dependent
on the teacher, then at 4th grade, all of a sudden they are expected to read independently.
Teachers will ask questions first without giving students opportunities to ask questions.
We need to empower the students to become more independent in reading. The shift will succeed.
By shifting from one section to another, the students will be able to read from 4th grade to 7th grade.
Both sections are completely different and we need to have different type of teaching that allows that to
happen. We also need different development plans.
In the first section, the student will learn to read and the second section, the student will read to learn.
If we keep saying that that deaf child is the problem and their cognition is the issue, we are not looking
at the real problem. The real problem is lack of curriculum shift and the teachers that are not
prepared to make the shift with the students to develop that independence. If we develop
independence, the notion of the 4th grade reading level average will no longer be there.
ELSIE: Do you want to talk a little about the controlled communication that occurs as well?
PAM: Sure sure. Often times if a teacher struggles to communicate with a deaf child or there is some
miscommunication, they will ask the child many questions, such as what or who questions, and
control the conversation. For example, there are situations where the teacher will prompt the child:
"tell him" or "ask her" or "tell me." What is happening here is that the child does not develop
those independent communication skills. So how can they learn to read independently if they can
not have independent conservation? Teachers need to work on empowering their students
to communicate independently with their peers and let them be the conversation starters. Or ask them a
general question to allow them to have that reciprocal communication and learn how to become independent,
then consequently, they will be better able to learn how to read independently. We can't expect that independence
if they haven't developed that independence conversationally. I saw too much of that.
ELSIE: Right, there are a lot of factors as to why they might be behind and we always look at thinking that
having an adult there is the best way to learn. Do you want to talk about that?
PAM: Sure, there's been some research done in Australia on one tribe. There are three different communities where
this tribe lives. One lives in an urban area, one lives a little bit kind of in the middle and the third lives far in a rural area.
The third group adheres to and speaks their own language, does not use English at all. The middle group is more mixed,
using both their language and English. They use English for specific situations only. The first group that lives in the city
uses English for political and economic purposes and such. The study focuses on the middle group where the parents
speak English for specific situations, but within their community they are speaking their own language. Now the children in that
second group became more proficient in English than their parents. And the reason for that is they were talking with each
other, with their peers. They socialized with each other. They would learn the English from their parents, but they
would practice and develop skills from having independent conversations with their own peers. Kids do not
practice their language skills with adults as much as they do their peers.
ELSIE: Perfect! Right, we often talk about early intervention, that's the missing link with these deaf children and what is the
best solution. And I think that having peers with these deaf children will really help their language acquisition skills.
PAM: Right, socializing is very important, no matter what level they are at. As long as there isn't controlled conversation.
They can learn from adults but then can practice independent conversational skills and that is one way to help with
will lead down the road to independent reading.
ELSIE: And remember when you are looking at studies and information, do not just look at the numbers of participants
and that type of thing but you need to look at who is involved and what is their age, what is their background, what type of family are
they from, ethnic and racial backgrounds, socioeconomic status. You can not make a generalization based off of one group.
Individuals who do that are very irresponsible. Their research can cause a lot of damage to the community because that seems to
be what's happening currently.
PAM: Nationwide, when we look at the reading issue, we have to become more responsible with how we disseminate the
information. We can't just say, "Oh well, deaf children commonly can only read at a 4th grade level on average," "They only fall
into a range," or "They hit this reading ceiling." Instead of using this language, we need to look at the "why."
And one way of doing that is by looking at the fields of education, linguistics, second language acquisition, and psychology.
To look at these fields separately is not going to work. There needs to be more interconnectivity. The deaf community is
small, deaf education is small, so it needs to be more of an interdisciplinary approach and we can find a solution and be
more successful with our children. If we look at it from a really narrow perspective is not going to be successful.
ELSIE: Community accountability is very important. We need to keep up with new research. It is dangerous to leave it all on
researchers and stay in the dark. By then, they'll have published a lot of things that does not reflect us correctly. For example,
there are lots of great scientific research published by a specific science organization yet where are the information in American
Sign Language? Where are the videos in ASL? They are talking about ASL in written English. That is odd. This activity is called
linguicism. It means one language is perceived as superior to another language, creating discrimination.
PAM: Right, there's a lot of great research out there, and it is all published in English, which is fine if it's a published article.
That makes sense. But we need more workshops, where is the information sharing with psychologists, educators, those working
in language acquisition and with linguists, and such? My perspective is that having that, "Oh well on average deaf people
can only read at that 4th grade reading level" viewpoint is because we're not using that interdisciplinary approach.
If we can have that type of approach, we can then change the way we look at things, and maybe phrase it as, "Deaf children
have a hard time transitioning from dependent to independent readers." That's more accurate and factual.
"Deaf people are limited at 4th grade level" will become rubbish. They are not looking at the bigger picture.
If we worked together and have more workshops and more information sharing I think that we can be more successful
in this area, I really do believe that.
ELSIE: Exactly. One more thing I want to add is that if you are a researcher you are responsible for what you publish. You hold
a lot of power. It is dangerous if you publish a research without any conscience. When there are issues with your research,
you need to come back and fix your mistake. Observe accordingly with different frameworks then publish your work.
PAM: Right. To say well, "This is just what it is." No, there is a lot more to the story.