The "Silk Road" to Literacy for Chinese Deaf Students.

Abstract

The "Silk Road" to Literacy for Chinese Deaf Students Jean F. Andrews (bio) and Gabrielle A. Jones (bio) Special Section: Language Development and Literacy Learning Among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Chinese Communities In this special section of the Fall 2021 issue of the American Annals of the Deaf, the Silk Road, a historic network of trade routes used to import Eastern (Chinese) porcelain, silks, and other products to the West, serves as a metaphor for how our invited scholars bring their ideas about literacy learning of deaf1 students from East Asia to the Western world. Studies exemplifying East-West connections in this particular field of study are scarce; however, we see this scholarship increasing. In one notable study conducted in Nanjing, China, Chinese hearing parents "linked the ability to read and write to the children's need to communicate," and viewed literacy as "contributing to their child's language development" (Callaway, 2000, pp. 184–185). Since 2000, there has been an escalating interest in studies about literacy and Chinese deaf students. For example, in a recent search on ERIC/Professional Development and ComDisDome from 2000 to 2021 using the intersection of the terms deaf, Chinese, reading, and literacy, we found more than 30 peer-reviewed studies. To expand this base, we solicited manuscripts from four distinct regions: Mainland China (People's Republic of China), Taiwan (Republic of China), Macau, and Hong Kong. Before introducing our contributors, we will briefly highlight deaf children's diverse sensory and linguistic experiences, as these serve as a linchpin for an understanding of their language and literacy learning (Emmorey & Lee, 2021; Goldin-Meadow & Mayberry, 2001). Generalizations can, of course, obfuscate more than elucidate. But this much we know is true: Along with a lack of diverse sensory and linguistic experiences, insufficient access to language, either spoken or signed, bars deaf children from literacy learning (Kuntz & Golos, 2020). Diverse Sensory and Linguistic Experiences, But Limited Language Access Catherine McBride, a prolific writer and researcher on literacy and Chinese children, explains that the fundamental difference between language learning and literacy learning is that language unfolds naturally, after which literacy must be directly taught (McBride, 2016). Such a sequence, however, is different for deaf children, according to researchers who suggest that deaf children are often learning the English language at the same time they are learning to read it (Hoffmeister & Caldwell-Harris, 2014). In a retrospective study, Hong, a Chinese deaf adult, [End Page 439] reported that when she was 3 years old, her parents taught her Chinese words by labeling objects in the home with Pinyin and Chinese characters. Admittedly, this is just one case, but it does illustrate the point that Hong, via written language, was learning spoken and written Chinese at the same time she was learning to read it (Q. Wang et al., 2016). Dwelling on this idea further, we see that Chinese children with typical hearing arrive in first grade having internalized 6 years of spoken and listening Chinese-language experiences which they can use to build Chinese literacy skills. In comparison, deaf individuals not only have different sensory and linguistic experiences (Emmorey & Lee, 2021), but have limited language access (Kuntz & Golos, 2020), with both factors influencing the character and amount of linguistic resources they bring to first grade. And while deaf children may use advanced hearing technologies (e.g., hearing aids, cochlear implants), it has nonetheless been shown that using such devices can lead to highly variable literacy learning outcomes (Herman et al., 2021). Combined with diverse sensory and linguistic experiences and limited language access, we were not surprised, in reviewing our six articles, to find other divergences among deaf students in literacy learning as well as in the literacy instruction they receive. Even though China shares cultural traditions with Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong, for historical reasons each of these regions has distinct languages (spoken and signed) and dialects, with their own regional educational standards and literacy teaching methods, some of which we highlight here. Our first region, Mainland China, is home to 1.4 billion...