Relations Between Teacher Talk Characteristics and Child Language in Spoken-Language Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Classrooms

The quality of teaching behaviors in learning environments of DHH students

Classrooms are complex learning environments, with instruction, climate, and teacher-student interactions playing important roles in students' academic progress. To investigate the learning environments of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students, we developed a new observational tool called the Quality of the Learning Environment-DHH rating scale (QLE-DHH) and rated 98 teachers of DHH students being educated in a range of classroom environments. The present study sought to (1) determine if the items on the QLE-DHH are good indicators of theoretically meaningful dimensions of classroom quality; (2) determine to what extent these dimensions predicted language and reading outcomes of DHH students; and (3) examine how teachers of DHH students were rated on the indicators of classroom quality. The findings suggested that the QLE-DHH has excellent structural validity. Ratings predicted student reading outcomes. Finally, the QLE-DHH was able to capture teachers' strengths and skills in need of improvement. The QLE-DHH appears to hold promise for use in both research and teacher preparation programs.

The effect of retrieval practice on vocabulary learning for DHH children

On average, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children have difficulty developing expressive spoken vocabulary comparable to hearing peers. Yet, there are no evidence-based practices to guide classroom instruction for teachers of the deaf. Retrieval practice-a robust learning strategy-has been shown to improve children's retention of vocabulary, but it has not been investigated with DHH children who use listening and spoken language. The present study examined whether DHH children benefit from using retrieval practice to learn new vocabulary. Sixteen DHH children (in the age range of 5.0-8.11 years) were taught a set of new vocabulary words using retrieval practice or repeated exposure. A recall test was administered two days later. Results showed that DHH children were twice as likely to recall a word taught through retrieval practice than exposure (OR = 2.01, p = .02). Presence of an additional diagnosis and number of practice trials were also significant predicting factors of vocabulary learning.

Teacher Vocabulary Use and Student Language and Literacy Achievement

PURPOSE

We sought to examine second grade teachers' word use throughout the school day to identify the amount and type of teacher vocabulary use across content areas as well as to examine relationships between this teacher talk and student language and literacy achievement.

METHOD

Second grade teachers (n = 64) and a random sample of half of their students (n = 619) participated. Teachers recorded instruction during the school day throughout the year, and students were assessed on vocabulary, grammar, and reading measures in the fall and spring.

RESULTS

Findings reveal second grade students hear thousands of words spoken by the teacher each hour of the school day, including more than a thousand different words per hour on average. The large majority of words were the most common words in the English language. On average, there were few academic or curriculum vocabulary words used, but this varied widely between teachers. The proportion of academic words used by teachers during the school day significantly predicted students' end-of-year vocabulary. Teachers who used more academic words had students with higher vocabulary achievement at the end of the school year. There were no other significant relationships between teachers' language and student achievement.

CONCLUSIONS

This correlational evidence adds to the existing knowledge of the importance of academic language to student school outcomes and provides implications for further research in the area of academic language at the early elementary level.

Word-Level Instruction for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students: An Observation Study

Despite the fact that children's word reading and spelling skills are crucial for developing text-level comprehension and composition, little is known about what teachers do in classrooms to promote deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students' learning of word reading and spelling. This observational study examined strategies teachers of DHH students used when teaching word reading and spelling to DHH students who used spoken English. One day of language arts instruction in 23 kindergartens through second-grade classrooms was observed. Teachers' word-level instruction was coded. Results indicated that teachers spent substantially more time on word-level instruction during decoding and encoding contexts than they did during text reading and writing contexts. In addition, differences were found in teachers' use of strategies depending on the instructional contexts. Teachers utilized phonological strategies considerably more frequently than any other strategy in their word-level instruction.

Acquisition of turn-taking in sign language conversations: An overview of language modality and turn structure

The task of transitioning from one interlocutor to another in conversation – taking turns – is a complex social process, but typically transpires rapidly and without incident in conversations between adults. Cross-linguistic similarities in turn timing and turn structure have led researchers to suggest that it is a core antecedent to human language and a primary driver of an innate “interaction engine.” This review focuses on studies that have tested the extent of turn timing and turn structure patterns in two areas: across language modalities and in early language development. Taken together, these two lines of research offer predictions about the development of turn-taking for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) acquiring sign languages. We introduce considerations unique to signed language development – namely the heterogenous ecologies in which signed language acquisition occurs, suggesting that more work is needed to account for the diverse circumstances of language acquisition for DHH children. We discuss differences between early sign language acquisition at home compared to later sign language acquisition at school in classroom settings, particularly in countries with national sign languages. We also compare acquisition in these settings to communities without a national sign language where DHH children acquire local sign languages. In particular, we encourage more documentation of naturalistic conversations between DHH children who sign and their caregivers, teachers, and peers. Further, we suggest that future studies should consider: visual/manual cues to turn-taking and whether they are the same or different for child or adult learners; the protracted time-course of turn-taking development in childhood, in spite of the presence of turn-taking abilities early in development; and the unique demands of language development in multi-party conversations that happen in settings like classrooms for older children versus language development at home in dyadic interactions.

Effects of Parents' Mealtime Conversation Techniques for Preschool Children With Hearing Loss Who Use Listening and Spoken Language

Purpose This mixed-methods study aimed to examine the conversation techniques used by parents of young children with hearing loss (HL) during dinnertime at home. Parents' usage rates of open- and closed-ended language elicitation, reformulation, imitation, directives, and explicit vocabulary instruction were examined in relation to children's receptive vocabulary and basic-concepts skills. Method Twenty-minute dinnertime segments were extracted from naturalistic, daylong recordings of 37 preschoolers with HL who used listening and spoken language. The segments were hand-coded for parents' use of conversation techniques. Children's receptive vocabulary and basic concepts were assessed using standardized measures. Results Parents' use of conversation techniques varied widely, with closed-ended elicitation and directives used most frequently during dinner. Explicit vocabulary instruction was correlated with general receptive vocabulary and basic-concepts skills. Thematic analysis of the conversations revealed common themes, including concrete topics and sibling speakers. In addition, parents who used many techniques often introduced abstract conversation topics; electronic media was present in all conversations with few techniques. Conclusions Parents of preschoolers with HL may benefit from specific coaching to elicit language and introduce new vocabulary during home routines. These techniques may help develop their children's receptive language.

Applying Generalizability Theory to Optimize Analysis of Spontaneous Teacher Talk in Elementary Classrooms

Purpose Although sampling teachers' child-directed speech in school settings is needed to understand the influence of linguistic input on child outcomes, empirical guidance for measurement procedures needed to obtain representative samples is lacking. To optimize resources needed to transcribe, code, and analyze classroom samples, this exploratory study assessed the minimum number and duration of samples needed for a reliable analysis of conventional and researcher-developed measures of teacher talk in elementary classrooms. Method This study applied fully crossed, Person (teacher) × Session (samples obtained on 3 separate occasions) generalizability studies to analyze an extant data set of three 10-min language samples provided by 28 general and special education teachers recorded during large-group instruction across the school year. Subsequently, a series of decision studies estimated of the number and duration of sessions needed to obtain the criterion g coefficient (g > .70). Results The most stable variables were total number of words and mazes, requiring only a single 10-min sample, two 6-min samples, or three 3-min samples to reach criterion. No measured variables related to content or complexity were adequately stable regardless of number and duration of samples. Conclusions Generalizability studies confirmed that a large proportion of variance was attributable to individuals rather than the sampling occasion when analyzing the amount and fluency of spontaneous teacher talk. In general, conventionally reported outcomes were more stable than researcher-developed codes, which suggests some categories of teacher talk are more context dependent than others and thus require more intensive data collection to measure reliably.

Language and Reading Progress of Young Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

We examined the language and reading progress of 336 young DHH children in kindergarten, first and second grades. Trained assessors tested children's language, reading, and spoken and fingerspelled phonological awareness in the fall and spring of the school year. Children were divided into groups based on their auditory access and classroom communication: a spoken-only group (n = 101), a sign-only group (n = 131), and a bimodal group (n = 104). Overall, children showed delays in language and reading compared to norms established for hearing children. For language, vocabulary standard scores were higher than for English syntax. Although delayed in language, children made expected gains based on hearing norms from kindergarten to second grade. Reading scores declined from kindergarten to second grade. Spoken-only and bimodal children had similar word reading and reading comprehension abilities and higher scores than sign-only children. Spoken-only children had better spoken phonological awareness and nonword reading skills than the other two groups. The sign-only and bimodal groups made similar and significant gains in ASL syntax and fingerspelling phonological awareness.

Modality and Interrelations Among Language, Reading, Spoken Phonological Awareness, and Fingerspelling

Better understanding of the mechanisms underlying early reading skills can lead to improved interventions. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine multivariate associations among reading, language, spoken phonological awareness, and fingerspelling abilities for three groups of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) beginning readers: those who were acquiring only spoken English (n = 101), those who were visual learners and acquiring sign (n = 131), and those who were acquiring both (n = 104). Children were enrolled in kindergarten, first, or second grade. Within-group and between-group confirmatory factor analysis showed that there were both similarities and differences in the abilities that underlie reading in these three groups. For all groups, reading abilities related to both language and the ability to manipulate the sublexical features of words. However, the groups differed on whether these constructs were based on visual or spoken language. Our results suggest that there are alternative means to learning to read. Whereas all DHH children learning to read rely on the same fundamental abilities of language and phonological processing, the modality, levels, and relations among these abilities differ.