Reading Process and Mediation

    The National Institute for Child Health and Development (NICHD) has been looking at the reading process in hearing children for the last 30 years. Recent information gathered by NICHD found that phonemic instruction integrated into teaching is most effective. Findings also revealed that fluency and automaticity in reading are vital to reading comprehension. This data is problematic for educators of the deaf since auditory input is limited; they are unable to associate what they hear with what is written in English print. As a result, educators of the deaf must ask themselves if successful deaf readers develop a system of phonological awareness that allows them to decode words. Educators, then, must ask themselves how they do that. In doing so, educators must be aware of how deaf children process information and the reading process, as it compares to hearing children.
       Before looking at the reading process, it is important to look at information processing in both deaf and hearing readers. Frank Smith composed a model that describes information processing. Information processing is the ability of the mind to perform tasks such as remembering, applying, and comprehending. The Frank Smith model of language processing incorporates three mental structures and explains how information is encoded, stored, and retrieved.  
       The three mental structures that Smith describes include sensory storage, short-term memory, and long-term memory. A diagram of Smith’s Model can be viewed in figure 1.1. Sensory storage is the first stage of information processing. In this stage, new, unexplored information is taken through the sensory pathways for a short amount of time. The information is encoded when one takes information in and stores it with representation that can be used in the cognitive structures. It is then recoded by the reader. Relevant information from sensory storage is then transferred to the brain’s short-term memory (STM), which is also called working memory.

Short-term memory is the second stage of information processing. It provides temporary storage for the information that is currently being processed. There is, however, a limited amount of information that can be stored into short-term memory. Only five to nine items can be stored at one time. There are two compartments of the short term memory. These compartments are temporary storage and information processing.
       Once a person takes information from his or her environment, it is stored in temporary storage. Information is stored in temporary storage and remains there until processed. It is at this stage where information may become lost. The longer it takes for a person to process things, the more space that is taken up from temporary storage, meaning that there is less space for other information.  If a person has to pause when taking information in, more cognitive space is taken up and information drops out of storage before a person can retrieve and apply it. This is one of the many reasons why it is so difficult for a deaf person to learn the English language.
       When a person is introduced to a complex language he or she has to hold information until they process all of it.  Frequently, information drops out because not all of it is able to be processed. Deaf children, who do not yet have a language base, have to use much of their cognitive energy to figure out words, their meanings, and to put them in English word order.  The information processing acts on the information being processed, and in order for the information to get to long term memory (LTM), it has to be given meaning.
       Short term memory has been researched extensively and has been found to be critical in the reading process for both deaf and hard of hearing children (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). If a task does not require a lot of cognitive energy in information processing, the amount of storage capacity for information can be increased. There is a trade-off relationship between storage and working memory, which could determine reading comprehension levels.
       Short-term memory is important in getting information to long-term memory (LTM). Long-term memory is the third stage of information processing. Long-term memory holds a person’s knowledge of the world. In long-term memory, information can be stored and retrieved for later use. The information that is stored is called prior knowledge and is activated to interpret new experiences and knowledge. The new information is then connected to what is already known and incorporates it into information that is already in long-term memory. Information that is given meaning is classified and categorized into groups called schemata.
       Schemata are semantic networks in the long term memory that are composed of interrelated knowledge. Schema is the knowledge that is grouped in these schematic networks. Schemata are made of personal background knowledge and act as a filing system to fit new information with the old. Schemas are built from experiences and are constantly being modified and extended. A reader’s schema helps one understand new text, make connections, and create pictures while reading. When schemas do not match, students are forced to recall information on a rote basis. If a reader does not have prior experience with what he or she is reading about, there is a major block in comprehension of the text. It is important that a teacher provides instruction that helps students become aware of strategic reading tactics so they can plan, assess, and regulate their own thinking. Students need to know how to retrieve what is in their long-term memory.
       Reading involves the language and cognitive processes. It demands complex, mental activities to be preformed such as live information processing, construction of meaning, and information storage and retrieval. At the same time, reading involves both expressive and receptive language. The reader must process information while performing the language task, such as writing, speaking, signing, listening, and seeing. Information processing involves the mind and its ability to retrieve information through memory and to comprehend information.
       Jay Samuels took Frank Smith’s model of information processing and applied it to the reading process. Smith’s model gives teachers a framework for reading and language development, and the implications of Smith’s model give educators a framework for teaching reading and promoting language development. It is important for teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing to know how the brain functions in processing and storing information and how hearing loss can affect it. Samuels created two models, one representing hearing children and the other representing deaf children.
       Hearing children already have many skills to bring to the task of learning to read. King and Quigley (1985) found that children have already developed a considerable vocabulary and mastered most of the major syntactic structures of the English Language in the first 5 or 6 years of their lives (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). Because of experiential knowledge, many students have already developed a good amount of schema and cognitive structure to apply to the reading process; they have also developed some inferential and figurative language skills that are vital in comprehension. These attributes are considered higher-level thinking skills and are all involved in the reading process. One skill that hearing children do not have when they begin reading is decoding skills.  Generally, children begin learning this skill in kindergarten and first grade (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999).
       Jay Samuels describes the mediation process, involving Smith’s three mental structures. The mediation model (Figure 1.2) begins with sensory storage. When hearing children read, they access information through seeing printed words. This information is then brought into short-term memory, where it is held in temporary storage. A strategy used most often in hearing children is speech and phonological recoding. This allows them to gain meaning and understanding. An example of this is when a hearing child sees the word “map” and recodes the letters into the sounds “m-ap”. When the child sees the letters together to form the word, they are able to form a concept that is transferred into long term memory. The concept is connected to or forms schemata.
       Like a hearing child, a deaf child accesses the printed word through vision. However, the mediation process of a deaf child varies from that of a hearing child. The mediation process of a deaf child is shown in figure 1.3. Because a deaf child does not have direct access to phonemes through sound, they process information through alternative avenues. Where hearing children generally process information through speech and phonological recoding, deaf children may use sign recoding, fingerspelling recoding, visualization, as well as speech recoding. Many times, a combination of these methods are used for processing information.
       Sign recoding occurs when print is related to a sign and then the sign is directed to a concept in the child’s long-term memory. The same thing happens with fingerspelling recoding. In fingerspelling recoding, print is related to fingerspelling the letters of the word, and then the fingerspelled word becomes a concept and is transferred into long-term memory. Visualization is also a way that deaf people process information to gain meaning. This strategy, however, is only successful for young readers who do not yet have an experience base to build from. The child takes a word, relates a picture to the word, and tries to transfer that into long-term memory. An example of this is the word airplane; an airplane is concrete and would be easier to process. If the word is more abstract, the child cannot visualize that word until he or she has a better vocabulary. It is not an efficient strategy; when forced to think more hierarchical, deaf children using visualization struggle.
       Research done in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s proved that deaf students were able to use speech recoding to gain meaning from words. Those deaf students who used speech recoding were generally two to three years ahead of their hearing peers. Non-speech-based codes like signing, fingerspelling, and visual imagery to gain meaning from the printed words were found to be less effective than speech-based codes. Speech-based codes allow for deaf students to store more information into their short-term memories, which may be necessary for the comprehension of the hierarchical structures in the English language (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999).
       Reading is complex and contains many elements. It is both a language and cognitive process. It includes phonology, graphemes, semantics, and syntax. It also involves mental operations and includes most kinds of thinking; these include attention, perception, encoding, memory, and retrieval (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999).
       When hearing children enter the task of learning to read, they already understand the several components that it involves. According to King and Quigley (1985), hearing children almost have full mastery of the English language around the age of five; they have increased vocabularies and understanding of many major syntactic structures. They also add that some inferential and figurative language skills are developed at this time (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). There are only a few complex parts of English that children do not get until they are seven or eight. Hearing children also have a rich prior knowledge with which they have formed diverse schemata. This allows them to manipulate new information and apply it to their experiential knowledge base. Therefore, most of what is taught in learning how to read (in kindergarten and first grade) is focused toward decoding skills, one thing hearing children do not bring to the reading task.
       Deaf children, however, generally have not yet mastered the English language by the age of five, depending on parental support. They do not bring many of the skills that hearing children do to the task of reading. Deaf and hard of hearing children have a much lower vocabulary than their hearing peers (Anderson & Freebody, 1985; Paul & O’Rourke, 1988); they also acquire vocabulary at a much slower rate than hearing children (LaSasso & Davey, 1987; Paul, 1984). One reason for this is that deaf and hard of hearing students have greater difficulty acquiring language through context clues. It is also important to recognize that deaf and hard of hearing children may have experiential backgrounds that are close to hearing children; the problem is that deaf and hard of hearing children often do not link their experiences to language because of a lack of communication. Because of this, it is difficult for deaf children to link their experiences to written words. In 1993, Marshark related word recognition to a deaf child’s struggle in reading. Because word recognition is often not automatic, there is a greater demand put on working memory’s temporary storage. When this happens, there is less space for a child to process information in working memory and there is less chance for information to enter into long-term memory.
       A deaf child’s linguistic competence tends to lag behind their hearing peers. A study done by Quigley (1976) showed that 18- to 19-year-old students have performed at levels comparable to 8- to 9-year old hearing students (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). Deaf children have difficulty understanding figurative language. Figurative language involves many components in the English language. In figurative language, many linguistic components, such as vocabulary and syntax, interact; however, vocabulary and syntax alone will not give meaning to the statement. A simple sentence such as, “Paul has been at it for days but is just running in circles” does not have difficult syntactic structure, nor does it hold an expansive vocabulary. It has been found by Fruchter, Wilbur, and Fraser (1984) that a deaf and hard of hearing child’s figurative language capacity is related to their reading achievement levels (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). Deaf children also have difficulty responding with nonlinear questions. Davey and LaSasso (1983), LaSasso (1986), and Wold and Schildroth (1984) found that deaf children have poor inference skills and choose inappropriate strategies, including word association, copying, and visual matching on vocabulary and reading tests (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999).
       Although there is limited research in deaf children’s metacognitive skills, Quigley (1976) inferred that the majority of deaf and severely hard of hearing children do not have effective metacognitive skills for reading. It is assumed that their lower metacognition is due to the lack of teaching metacognitive skills.
       Home language environment is a factor that has been found to influence a child’s reading development the most. Without a mutually shared communication system at home, a deaf child has no access to information to the environment which negatively affects the deaf child’s language development as well as their reading development. McAnally, Rose, and Quigley (1994) found that the majority of deaf children who have hearing parents and communicate through oral English are not able to develop a mastery of the English language before they start learning how to read (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). This is also true to the deaf population with deaf parents, instead using American Sign Language (ASL) for communication. ASL, however, is a language, and when a child has already acquired a first language, it is easier for them to acquire a second (Israelite, Ewoldt, & Hoffmeister, 1992). Strong and Prinz (1997) studied the relationship between ASL skills and English literacy amongst deaf children. Their results showed that even a moderate fluency in ASL benefited deaf children in acquiring English literacy (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999).
       Other factors that have been found to influence a child’s reading development are the values at home and school. When the values at school do not coincide with values at home, it is generally difficult to motivate the student in learning to read. Also, when basic needs are not being met (food, shelter, clothing, etc.), the student’s focus is not on learning how to read but rather to have their needs fulfilled. King and Quigley (1985) found that if parents value reading, hold high expectations for their child, and provide ample reading experiences and assistance, children should become successful readers no matter their socioeconomic status (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999).
       Center for Assessment and Demographic Studies (1991) states that the Stanford Achievement Test-Hearing Impaired (SAT-HI) indicate that deaf students generally only increase their reading levels by approximately .3 reading levels each year and tend to plateau around the 3^rd- to 4^th-grade reading level. They also found that only about 3% of deaf 18-year-olds read at the same level as their hearing peers. In 1993, Kelly found that English grammatical conventions have a direct impact on deaf students reading competence (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999).
       The success of speech-based codes raises questions in many educators, asking how speech recoding skills can be developed in deaf children. Speech recoding has been found to be a huge predictor in reading ability in both deaf and hearing children. How to teach speech recoding in deaf children is not yet understood. Some believe that it is taught through an internal ability to lip read; others feel that speech training at a young age is what determines speech recoding success. The search for reading approaches and instructional strategies for deaf and hard of hearing learners continue. Teachers must be updated on reading practices and strive to find how to adapt these practices most effectively for deaf and hard of hearing children.

 Copyright © 2005, Danielle Thor. All Rights Reserved.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact [danielle.thor@marshall.k12.mn.us].
Last updated: 04/04/08.