The development of phonological awareness in moderately-to-profoundly deaf developing readers: The effect of exposure to cued American English

The impact of deafness on measured reading achievement is well documented; studies have consistently indicated that students who are deaf, on average, achieve measured reading abilities between the third and fourth grade levels. Studies specifically implicating language experience indicate that moderately, severely, and profoundly deaf individuals can and do attain measured reading comprehension abilities commensurate with hearing peers, and that these individuals often demonstrate phonological awareness (PA). This study aimed to investigate the influence of several factors on rhyme generation, an indicator of PA. Central to the comparison is the use of Cued Speech, a communication system invented to visually disambiguate the phonemes of traditionally spoken languages. Study participants consisted of 30 adolescents divided into the following groups: (a) hearing students; (b) deaf students educated via cueing; and (c) deaf students educated via orally. Instruments included: (a) a reading comprehension test; (b) a paper-and-pencil generative rhyming task; (c) a speech intelligibility rating scale; and (d) a parent demographic questionnaire. Performance on the generative rhyming task was compared to measured reading comprehension, family demographic information, and speech intelligibility, to investigate the importance of these factors on these students' development of PA and reading comprehension. Results indicated that PA correlates to reading comprehension for developing readers, whether hearing or deaf. Degree of PA varied according to hearing status; however, the observed difference in degree of PA between the hearing and cueing groups did not reach statistical significance. Comparing the cueing and oral groups of deaf participants, the cueing group, despite lower ratings of speech intelligibility and more severe degree of deafness, demonstrated a higher degree of PA and a higher mean reading score than the oral group. Both speech intelligibility and degree of deafness were more closely related to measured reading comprehension for the oral group than for the cueing group. Speech intelligibility correlated to measured reading comprehension for the oral group, but not for the cueing group. These findings suggest that early and consistent access to English via cueing can provide prelingually deaf children, regardless of degree of deafness or speech intelligibility, with phonological awareness sufficient to aid in reading achievement.