Print Exposure, Reading Habits, and Reading Achievement Among Deaf and Hearing College Students

Abstract

This study explored relations of print exposure, academic achievement, and reading habits among 100 deaf and 100 hearing college students. As in earlier studies, recognition tests for book titles and magazine titles were used as measures of print exposure, college entrance test scores were used as measures of academic achievement, and students provided self-reports of reading habits. Deaf students recognized fewer magazine titles and fewer book titles appropriate for reading levels from kindergarten through Grade 12 while reporting more weekly hours of reading. As in previous studies with hearing college students, the title recognition test proved a better predictor of deaf and hearing students' English achievement than how many hours they reported reading. The finding that the recognition tests were relatively more potent predictors of achievement for deaf students than hearing students may reflect the fact that deaf students often obtain less information through incidental learning and classroom presentations.

Academic Outcomes for School-Aged Children With Severe–Profound Hearing Loss and Early Unilateral and Bilateral Cochlear Implants

“…Reading books has been established as a strong predictor of reading outcomes for children with normal hearing (Stanovich, 1986). One study has examined the effects of the reading habits of adult university students with CIs (Marschark et al, 2012), but the authors are unaware of previous investigations of this factor in children with CIs. Cognitive ability was the only other significant predictor for Oral Language, and is a well-established predictor of language outcomes (Geers et al, 2009;Sarant et al, 2009).…”

Computer‐assisted reading intervention with a phonics approach for children using cochlear implants or hearing aids

“…Some studies report that subsets of DHH children are closing the gap to NH children, especially those in their younger school age who have been identified early, receive early auditory stimulation by means of a cochlear implant (CI), and are placed in educational settings among hearing peers (Easterbrooks & Beal‐Alvarez, ). Other studies state that DHH adolescents do not reach reading levels adequate for their age regardless the degree of HL or whether they utilize CI (Marschark et al ., ; Traxler, ), and that they are less accurate in monitoring their own comprehension, regardless of communication mode (Marschark, Sarchet, Convertino, Borgna, Morrison & Remelt, ). Thus, the diverse picture of how DHH children of different ages learn to read, and use reading to learn, makes it important to find methods that promote a good start into reading proficiency.…”

Training Literacy Skills through Sign Language

“…This ability may be particularly important for those who have restricted access to conversation, due either to social isolation or functional impairment. However, these individuals may have difficulty learning to read (Bonvillian et al, 1973;Marschark et al, 2012;Moores, 2013). Reading requires decoding and language comprehension (Haenggi & Perfetti, 1992;Just & Carpenter, 1992;Hulme & Snowling, 2014).…”