Practitioner Talk on Deaf Children's Reading Comprehension: Analysing Multiple Voices

Abstract

This study examined different perspectives of deaf education practitioners on deafness and reading comprehension. This involved a full deaf education support team comprising teachers of the deaf, communication support workers, and deaf instructors from a UK citywide service covering early years, primary and secondary settings. Using a focus group methodology practitioners were asked to consider what reading comprehension involves for deaf learners and identify factors that influence success. Analysis of the focus group ‘talk’ about deaf children's reading comprehension reveals commonalities and differences across different practitioner ‘voices’ which shape different understandings of the reading comprehension issues. Themes which were identified as problematic, such as the processes of decoding and the role of sign language are drawn out as focus areas for further discussion. These findings provoke discussion of research, assessment and intervention approaches which better exploit the research–practice interface by incorporating the diverse perspectives that practitioners and other agents bring to the process.