Zeitschrift für Phonetik und Audiologie
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Metacognition in the Writing of ASL Dominant Deaf Adolescents

Thangi Appanah, Raschelle Neild , Argnue Chitiyo , Michael Fitzpatrick

This article explores the development of metacognition in deaf adolescents who use American Sign Language as their primary language. The students participated in a study that investigated student use of a writing rubric, Deaf Student Editing Rubric (DSER), and its impact on their writing. An examination of interview transcripts indicated an improvement on how students assessed their own writing. Student responses were summarized to show an improvement in how they described their writing and their thoughts about their own writing. Interview responses indicated the evidence of the development of metacognition among this student population.

As of 2011, the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) writing assessment reported an estimate of around one-fourth of all students between eighth-and-twelfth grade were proficient at writing to share an experience, explain a procedure, or persuade an audience (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). Developing writing skills in English is challenging for many deaf students (Albertini & Schley, 2003; Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002; McAnally, Rose, & Quigley, 1994). Deaf students experience deafness on a continuum ranging from being profoundly deaf to hard of hearing (Fitzpatrick & Theoharis, 2010). They also use a variety of modes of communication, for example American Sign Language (ASL), spoken English, and cued speech. These modes of communication along with other factors can impact their performance in writing.

These writing challenges deaf students face have been consistently documented since the 1940s (see Albertini & Schley, 2003; Kretschmer & Kretschmer, 1984; Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002). One of the primary reasons writing is difficult is because it involves encoding which is more a complex process than decoding which is required for reading. ASL users who do not have access to the spoken form of English demonstrate significant difficulties in expressing their ideas in written form. Despite the critical importance of developing English writing skills, there is a dearth of research on writing development in deaf adolescents. This article will share data from a study on deaf adolescent writers in a residential school for the deaf located in the Northeast that used ASL as their primary mode of communication. It also provides evidence on how discussing their writing in their first language, ASL, will help students develop metacognition.