A Comparison of Pragmatic Abilities of Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Their Hearing Peers

Abstract

Pragmatic skills are the key to a satisfying and sustained conversation. Such conversation is critical for the development of meaningful friendships. Previous studies have investigated the conversational skills of deaf children while interacting with adults or when interacting with peers in structured referential tasks. There are few published studies that have compared the pragmatic skills of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) in free conversation with their hearing peers. In this study, the conversational skills of 31 children who are D/HH when interacting with a hearing friend were compared with those of 31 pairs of hearing children. Findings suggest that school-aged children (Years 3-6 of study; aged 8-12 years) who are D/HH have a wide range of pragmatic skills that they use effectively when conversing with their hearing peers. Specifically, these children asked more questions, made more personal comments, initiated more topics, and took longer turns in their conversations with a hearing friend. In contrast, the conversations between hearing peers were very balanced with similar topic initiation, length of turn, numbers of questions, personal comments, and minimal answers. These findings will help teachers to provide support for both pragmatic and social skills in children who are D/HH.

Explaining the Unpredictable: The Development of Causal Theories of Mind in Deaf and Hearing Children

“…To assess general language skill, we used the 22-item syntax ("Sentence Structure") subscale of the CELF (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, 1st ed.-preschool [CELF/P]: Wiig, Secord, & Semel, 1992). This test has been used effectively in prior ToM research with TD children (e.g., Ruffman, Slade, & Crowe, 2002) and with deaf children in the same age range as the present sample (e.g., Paatsch & Toe, 2014;Peterson, Wellman, & Slaughter, 2012). It assesses a broad range of developmentally sequenced lexical, morphological, and syntactic concepts via picturepointing responses and is uniquely suitable for validly assessing linguistic maturity among Auslan users (see Wellman & Peterson, 2013).…”

Production of verb tenses in children with cochlear implants

“…Deca sa oštećenjem sluha imaju neadekvatnu jezičku kompetenciju i produkciju (Dimić, 2004;Kašić i Dimić, 1999). Pač i saradnici smatraju da re/habilitacijski pristup kohlearno implantiranoj deci treba temeljiti na usvajanju pragmatike (Paatsch & Toe, 2014), jer ona ima pozitivan uticaj na razumevanje i upotrebu gramatičkih kategorija (Most, Shina-August & Meilijson, 2010). Ukoliko je re/habilitacioni tretman temeljno isplaniran i sproveden, deca sa kohlearnim implantom mogu pravilno da koriste glagolska vremena, ali sa zakašnjenjem u odnosu na čujuće vršnjake (Guo et al, 2013).…”

How A Teacher Educator in the Field of the Education of Hearing-Impaired Children provides Feedback to a Student Teacher

“…For this reason, group classes are organized with hearing-impaired children in order to support their academic needs, to promote the development of their language and communication skills, and to contribute to their learning of verbal language and vocabulary (Pakulski, 2011;Tannen, 2007). The literature also mentions that informal and formal (planned) one-to-one conversations are important for the development of verbal language and communications skills during the education of hearing-impaired children (Clarke & Stewart, 1986;Cole & Flexer, 2007;Kretschmer, 1994;Lloyd, Lieven & Arnold, 2001;Mahon, 2009;Paatsch & Toe, 2013). In a general sense of the term, formal conversation can be defined as the sharing of events, information, and meanings between the teacher and students, with the intention of forming an orally interactive environment (Clarke & Stewart, 1986;Kretschmer, 1994;Paatsch & Toe, 2013;Spencer & Marschark, 2006).…”

“…The literature also mentions that informal and formal (planned) one-to-one conversations are important for the development of verbal language and communications skills during the education of hearing-impaired children (Clarke & Stewart, 1986;Cole & Flexer, 2007;Kretschmer, 1994;Lloyd, Lieven & Arnold, 2001;Mahon, 2009;Paatsch & Toe, 2013). In a general sense of the term, formal conversation can be defined as the sharing of events, information, and meanings between the teacher and students, with the intention of forming an orally interactive environment (Clarke & Stewart, 1986;Kretschmer, 1994;Paatsch & Toe, 2013;Spencer & Marschark, 2006). Studies in the literature also mention that planned one-to-one conversations provide hearing-impaired children the opportunity to assume the role of both speaker and listener, and that such conversations contribute favourably to the development of their verbal language and communication skills (Clarke & Stewart, 1986;Cole & Flexer, 2007;Girgin, 2003;Kretschmer, 1994;Lloyd et al, 2001;Mahon, 2009;Paatsch & Toe, 2013).…”