Using a Test Adapted to Sign Language to Assess Metacognitive Skill of Deaf Students

Abstract

Abstract Metacognition is people's knowledge about actual cognitive processes and products together with any other information that is relevant to learning. As children develop metacognitive strategies, they interiorize a body of knowledge that will enable them to regulate their learning. In the hearing population there is a clear relationship between metacognition, reading comprehension and academic achievement. However, until now there have been very few attempts to assess metacognition in the deaf in an appropriate way, despite the fact that the difficulties deaf people have in attaining reading comprehension are well documented. This study presents an adaptation of the Scale of Reading Consciousness (ESCOLA, in its Spanish acronym) so that it can be used for Spanish sign language and compares the results obtained from its standard and adapted application. This is followed by a discussion on the results and the biases in interpretation that can arise from an indiscriminate application of the standard test.