Introduction to the Special Issue on Literacy

Abstract

This special issue concerns one of the most challenging areas in the education of children who are deaf and hard of hearing: the development and improvement of literacy (reading and writing) skills. Much of what we know about the reading and writing achievement levels of these students has been obtained through the use of norm-referenced or criterion-referenced tests. Data from such studies indicate that most deaf and hard-ofhearing students do not read or write as well as their hearing counterparts upon graduation from high school. Many 18to 19-year-old deaf and hard-ofhearing students are performing no better than the average 9or 10-year-old hearing students. With respect to reading, there seems to be an annual growth rate of only 0.3 grade level per year with a leveling off or plateau occurring at the thirdor fourth-grade level. If poor readers are invariably poor writers, then it is not surprising that the findings of research on the written language productions of students who are deaf and hard of hearing also reveal low levels of achievement. These students cannot benefit much from the reciprocal relationships between reading and writing. That is, typically, students can increase their reading skills through writing activities and can improve their writing skills through reading activities. If deaf (or hearing) students have not developed an internal representation of English, they will receive only limited ben-