Investigating phenomenological translanguaging among deaf adult bilinguals engaging in reading tasks

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ASL/English bilingual strategy of translanguaging while reading two texts in English, one without explicit instruction and one with explicit instruction to translate the text into ASL. Translanguaging was defined as a communication and pedagogical technique that utilizes the purposeful, concurrent use of two languages and results in a deeper understanding of the content matter as well as the two languages in use. Two research questions guided the study. 1) When asked to read English passages, what observable acts and strategies can be identified as bilingual Deaf readers translate two passages from English to ASL? 2) When asked to reflect on their early learning of literacy, to employ ASL translation during a reading and engage in a think-a-loud protocol after reading, what insights do bilingual Deaf readers provide regarding their own metacognitive and metalinguistic processes? Cummin's Language Interdependence and Language Threshold Theories and the Social-Cultural Constructivist's perspective of the reading process was used interpret the results. Using a purposeful, convenience sampling, five Deaf adult ASL/English bilingual readers who ranged in ages from 25 to 40 were selected who had a 10th grade reading level as measured by the Stanford Achievement Test, 10th edition and no lower than a level 3 on the American Sign Language Proficiency Interview (ASLPI). A descriptive, qualitative narrative inquiry approach was utilized using videotaped observations of participants' reading the two English texts, interviews about their language and literacy learning histories, and use of a think-aloud protocol to examine readers' metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness during the translation process. Signed videotapes were translated into English text for analyses and strategies were identified. Findings of Deaf adults using the strategy of translanguaging were described in three categories. Category I was use of the two languages and metalinguistic strategies. Category II was use of the two languages and metacognitive skills and Category III was observation skills where participants observed their parents and teachers modeling the act of reading. Implications for future research and practice were provided.