Acquisition of the Sign Language and Spoken/Written Language for Hearing-Impaired Children at Pre-School Educational Establishments in Latvia

Abstract

The aim of the article is to find out theoretical and practical aspects related to the socio-cultural impact on the acquisition of basic skills of the sign language and spoken/written language for hearing-impaired children having severe disorders at a pre-school educational establishment; to explore the theoretical aspects.The article is based on the research of C. Backer's scientific literature about basic language skills. The paper deals with the dual coding model of A. Paivio and A. Desrochers, its impact on the reading skills and writing skills of children with severe hearing impairments basing on the basic language skills, theoretical analysis methods about language acquisition skills and special practical approaches letting research reading skills and writing skills among hearing-impaired children.They indicate the relation between the dynamics of the acquisition of the sign language and the spoken/written language for children with severe language impairments depending on the socio-cultural impact creating priorities for children in the choice of the sign and spoken/written language acquisition. The results obtained during the research indicate the link between the sign and spoken/written language acquisition skills in the learning process for hearing-impaired children at pre-school educational establishments.The impact of socio-cultural environment makes to choose pedagogical methods and techniques in the acquisition of the sign language and spoken/written language skills among children with severe hearing impairments. The overview and analysis of theoretical and practical material enable to consider the regularities of the acquisition of the sign language and spoken/written language which will help to improve the learning process for hearing-impaired children at pre-school educational establishments. If these techniques and methods are applied qualitatively, the learning process for children with severe hearing impairments is formed positively and dynamically.