1. AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ADRIENNE J. LORME` EDUCATION 7201 FALL 2010 AND SPRING 2011 PRESENTATION DATE 5/5/11 Implementing Literacy Instruction for Students with Hearing Disabilities

2. Table of Contents Abstract Introduction Statement of the Problem Literature Review Statement of the Hypothesis Methods Experimental Design Threats to Internal and External Validity Results Discussion & Implications

3. Introduction Students with hearing disabilities struggle to read and write mainly because of their inability to phonetically break down a written word.

4. Statement of the Problem Three schools for the deaf in Massachusetts use different communication approaches and each incorporates phonics in different ways. The purpose of this research is to prove that all three communication approaches must have phonics instruction in order to increase students reading abilities.

5. Review of the Literature Phonics – Pros: The reason for low reading levels among hearing impaired students is: limited access to the phonological code ( (Bergeron, Lederberg, Easterbrooks, Miller, & Connor, 2009; Corcoran-Nielsen & Luetke-Stahlman, 2002 Hermans, Knoors, Ormel & Verhoeven, 2007; Luckner, Cooney, Young & Goodwin, 2005 ) – Cons: Students fall behind in reading because they are not given adequate time to comprehend the material. (Donne & Zigmond, 2008) Total Communication - Pros: Increases interaction with spoken language and therefore allows students to better comprehend how a word is used in a sentence. (Allman, 2002; Caccamise, Ayers, & Finch 1997; Mayer, 2007) – Cons: Signers/speakers alter their messages to accommodate signing or speaking and therefore messages and comprehension become jumbled. (Cerney, 2007) BI/BI -Pros: Helps students find and embrace their identity within the Deaf Culture. (Chaleff and Ritter, 2001; Evans, 2004) - Cons: ASL and English do not share a phonological system that is remotely similar on many levels (Haptonstall-Nykaza & Schick, 2007) Oral/Auditory Approach -Pros: Society communicates largely through spoken language. (Gatty, 1996) -Cons: Children with hearing impairments have incomplete access to sound and have difficulty learning spoken language naturally. Thus, only deaf children born into families that use a native sign language will develop language naturally. (Easterbrooks & Baker, 2002)

6. Statement of the Hypothesis H1: Hearing impaired students in the first grade, will benefit from a more structuralized phonic instruction that allows them to use a variety of strategies which will help with vocabulary growth and comprehension. H2:Hearing impaired first grade students who use an Oral-Auditory Approach will have better reading abilities and skills than first grade students’ using an ASL or a Total Communication Approach.

7. Methods Participants: The action research will be conducted in three first grade classes in three different schools in Massachusetts. There are six students in (X 1 ), seven students in (X 2 ) and seven students in (X 3 ). Instruments: Reading logs, Phonological Awareness Tests, surveys and Developmental Reading Assessments. The researcher will give each group the same Phonological Awareness Test and Developmental Reading Assessments to determine if there is a correlation between the two. (X 1 ) students : 1. Uses a strong phonic program in their reading instructions. 2.Is taught to read solely by using an Oral-Auditory Approach 3.Phonics is taught everyday. (X 2 ): 1. Uses a Total Communication Approach 2.Phonics is taught twice a week. (X 3 ): 1. Uses ASL 2.Phonics is not taught.

8. Procedure Students received the DRA in October 2010 Surveys were given in February/March 2011 Students were given a reading log for February 2011 Students were retested for the DRA in March 2011 Students were given a Phonological Awareness Test in April 2011

9. Research Design Pre-experimental Pre-experimental Static-Group Comparison Static-Group Comparison Symbolic Design: X 1 O Symbolic Design: X 1 O X 2 o X 3 o Groups are not randomly assigned. Groups are not randomly assigned.

10. Threats to Internal Validity Threats to External ValidityValidity History Some participants may not give honest answers to the proposed survey questions. Parents might sign off on the Reading Logs without recording the accurate amount of time spent reading. Instrumentation Researcher created surveys which might create bias. The collection of data may be compromised by teachers and interpreters who do not sign the researcher’s questions/lessons accurately. Mortality Some participants may leave the classroom, the school or might not want to participate anymore Selection-Maturation Interaction Students vary in the communication approach, hearing loss, assistive devices and education. inclement weather might effect how students behave or their moods. Ecological inclement weather might effect how students behave or their moods. results could be completely different depending on students time of studying, if their assistive devices are working or not, and if they heard the question asked. Generalizable Conditions results could be completely different depending on students time of studying, if their assistive devices are working or not, and if they heard the question asked. Some students may interact differently with the researcher. Specificity of Variables Some students may interact differently with the researcher. There may be some personal bias due to previous interactions with some students. There may be bias in relation to age, race and gender. Experimenter Effects There may be some personal bias due to previous interactions with some students. There may be bias in relation to age, race and gender. Participants may modify their responses because they know they are being observed. Hawthorne Effect Participants may modify their responses because they know they are being observed.

11. Data: Developmental Reading Assessments March/April 2011 DRA Level October 2010- DRA Levels October 2010 Results- All three groups were found to be reading on a kindergarten level. March/April 2011 Results- Group (X 1 ) was reading on a first grade level. Group (X 2 ) and Group (X 3 ) continued to read on a kindergarten level.

12. Reading Logs The researcher graphed the average each group read per week. Group (X 1 ) and (X 2 ) spent more time reading then group (X 3 ). Students in all three groups increased the amount of time they spent reading each week.

13. Data: Phonological Awareness Test PAT-APRIL 2011 Results PAT Explanations: The highest score that can be achieved is 300 (X 1 ) had higher PAT scores then the other two groups. The scores in (X 1 ) ranged between 200-300. The range of scores in (X 2 ) was between 100 and 270. The scores in (X 3 ) ranged between 100-200.

14. DRA vs. PAT Scores The researcher found that there was a positive correlation between reading levels and students phonological test scores. (X 1 ) rxy was.9 (X 2 ) rxy was.7 (X 3 ) rxy was.8

15. Discussion Phonics Instruction has a strong correlation with students reading abilities. (Hermans, Knoors, Ormel & Verhoeven, 2007; Luckner, Cooney, Young & Goodwin, 2005) The action research results supports the theorists ideologies: - Group (X 1 ) practiced phonics every day and outperformed Group (X 2 ) and (X 3 ). Group (X 1 ) had higher DRA Levels and PAT Scores.

16. Implications Researcher presumes that there is a link between phonics and students reading abilities. HOWEVER… The researcher was unable to determine which Communication Approach was better for students. More research is needed.

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