Matthew Kelly

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the communication modality preferences and reading skills for a group of 1,419 deaf first-year college students. These students were enrolled between the years 1984 and 2002 at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology. First, the relationship between self reported preference for communication and performance on a standardized assessment of English literacy is examined. Second, the relationship between self-rated sign language skills and reading performance is explored for the same group. Students prefering "Speech Alone" performed significantly better on the measure of reading ability than students prefering "Sign Alone" or "Sign and Speech together". Students who reported having No sign language skills or some sign language skills performed significantly better on the measure of reading ability than students who reported having Fair, Good or Excellent sign language skills. Contrary to previous studies, neither degree of deafness nor the hearing status of parents showed a significant relationship to performance on the measure of reading ability. A discussion of these results follows at the end of the paper.

Publication Date

9-20-2005

Document Type

Master's Project

Student Type

Graduate

Department, Program, or Center

Master of Science of Secondary Education of Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (NTID)

Advisor

Albertini, John

Advisor/Committee Member

Kelly, Ronald

Advisor/Committee Member

Bateman, Gerald

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works in December 2013.

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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