Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

home about the conference programme registration accommodation contact

COGNITIVE ANALYSIS OF DEAF CHILDREN’S WRITING AND READING

COSTA, Maria da Piedade Resende da
BATISTA, Adriana deSouza
Federal University of Sao Carlos
Sao Paulo-Brazil
piedade@power.ufscar.br

The domain of the writing affects three types of competences, according to Miguel (1999):

1. Recognition of words: the identification of a word supposes a recognition action given by visual origin in the reading, and hearing in the writing under dictation.

2. Understanding and expression: once identified the word, is initiate a relation process in the search of meanings and his/her understanding in the context in that he is. Initially it is possible connect the extracted information of the text, for later to integrate the information obtained with our bottom of knowledge.

3. Specific competences: they concern the abilities that allow the reader and the writer to need with that objectives accomplish the reading or writing (planning), to detect the difficulties that appear during his/her execution (supervision) and to evaluate the content being verified the objectives was reached (evaluation).

Analyzing the processing of alphabetical codes (as the Portuguese), it can be evidenced the competences previously described inserted in three procedural of the reading and writing (Pinheiro, 1994):

• Logographific: it involves the recognition of the words through his/her drawing, their forms.
• Phonological: it involves the analysis of words in their correspondents (letters and phonemes) using the code and decoding, according to the correspondence rules between phonemes and letters (Capovilla and Capovilla, 2000).
• Lexical: he grows in the last phases of acquisition of the writing and it implicates in the construction of units of lexical recognition and morphemic

      It is important to highlight that when a new strategy grows the previous ones don't disappear, but her application and importance decrease. In this case, the choice of the strategy depends on the item type to be read or writing. The strategy logographic is useful to read change signals, marks and logos, for which there is no need of phonological decoding; the phonological to read pseudo-words (words without meaning) and new words, once these don't exist in the lexicon for they be accessed directly; and the lexical is made necessary to read irregular words, because the phonological conversion would bring mistakes in the reading or writing, once the sounds don't respect to you rule and they possess phonemes that can be represented by several graphemes. The other regular words (relationship grapheme-phoneme) they can be read by strategy lexical or phonological, according to the domain of the reading and writing.

This way it is evident the influence of characteristics psycholinguistics of the items processed on the cognitive strategies (Ellis and Young, 1988). Enter these characteristics are:

• Regularity: he concerns the type of existent correspondence between letter and sound. In the Portuguese language the linguistic incentives can become separated in three types according to the regularity (Lecours and Parente,1997):

         a) Regular: words whose literal structure makes possible a reading or writing through conversion, governed by conversion rules phoneme-grapheme. However it is important to point out that in the Portuguese's spelling some graphemes are regular in the reading (conversion graph phonemic), but not in the writing under dictation (conversion phonemic- grapheme).

         b) Rules: they are those in that the correspondence letter-sound is regulated by position rules (Capovilla and Capovilla, 2000).

        c) Irregular: they are words that possess letters, sequence of letters or phonemes with more than a phonological accomplishment or grapheme (Lecours and Relative, 1997).

2. Length: he refers to the size of the item. It can be defined by the number of letters or syllables. The reading in the lexical route doesn't suffer effect of the length, but the phonological reading is more necessary for items short that long (Capovilla and Capovilla, 2000).

3. Frequency: he refers to the degree of occurrence of certain word in the language. There are words that used in high frequency and words that happen in low frequency.

Besides the characteristics psycholinguistics, other factor that it interferes in the processing for phonological route it is the phonological conscience. The phonological conscience refers the conscience that the speech can be segmented, as well as the ability to manipulate such segments. The phonological conscience grows gradually, as the child goes if turning conscious of words, syllables and phonemes as identifiable units (Bertelson and Of Gelder, 1990; Blischak, 1994).

The models for learning of the reading have as proposition the relevance of the phonological code in the process of identification of written words and they have been detaching the paper carried out by the phonology in the process of learning of the reading, because they make possible the generalization of the alphabetical system. The alphabet is a code with a system of rules that assures to each phoneme of his/her language different graphic representation. These rules allow to understanding a series of orthographic signs seen never previously (as a new word) and they also allow to create new series of signs to represent new concepts so that their representations are intelligible for every person that knows the system (Gutiérrez, 1999).

This way, a flaw in the phonological domain hinders the access the reading of new words (ignored) and pseudo-words (groups of letters composing a whole pronunciation, but lacking of sense associate).

The objective of this research was to identify the strategies used by deaf children inserted in different communicative contexts in the learning of the alphabetical code and his/her influence in the acting of the reading and writing.

Method

The study was accomplished with 12 children of both sexes that studied to 2o or 3o grado of the Fundamental Teaching, bearers of loss hearing deep neurosensory of nature congenital or acquired in pre-lingual period, inserted in home listener and without other compromising. The participants were divided in four groups characterized below:

• Group 1 (G1): Three deaf children inserted in the bilingual Program of the Integrated Nucleus of Rehabilitation and Qualification (NIRH), of the Hospital of Rehabilitation of Anomalies ‘Craniofaciais’ (HRAC) of the USP-Bauru/SP, and special Class of the Regular Teaching of the State School of First Degree" Teacher Luiz Braga", of the city of Bauru/SP.
• Group 2 (G2): Three deaf children only inserted in Class common of the Regular Teaching and support of the Room of Resources of the School" Teacher Luiz Braga", that you/they make use just of LIBRAS (Brazilian Language of Signal) and that you/they had not inserted during the literacy period in the special teaching.
• Group 3 (G3): Three deaf children inserted in the Program oral of the Education Center of the Deficient Hearing (CEDAU) of HRAC of the USP-Bauru/SP and Class common of the Regular Net of Teaching.
• Group 4 (G4): Three deaf children only inserted in only in special Class of the Regular Teaching that you/they make use only of the oral language, and that during the literacy period were not inserted in the special teaching.

The procedure of the research was made in four stages:

• Evaluation of Reading
• Evaluation of Writing under Dictation
• Evaluation of the Conscience Metalinguistic
• Evaluation of the Spontaneous Writing

         The children were submitted to the evaluation in the following situation: the bilingual children (G1-G2) they were appraised in the situation researcher-interpreter of signals, and the children oral (G3-G4), they were appraised in the situation researcher-participant. The proofs were applied one to each session, with minimum interval of one week among them.

Results

The data obtained in the evaluations meet compiled in the table 1, for subsequent discussion of the characteristics of the participants' acting, discussing differences and peculiarity of each group.

Table 1. Profile of the groups in the accomplished evaluations

Observing the general acting of the groups as for the routes cognitive maids in the reading and writing, it can be observed similar data between G1 and G2 (bilingual), and similarities in the income between G3 and G4 (oral), revealing the influence of the communicative context in the processing of the reading and writing.

In the case of the results obtained between the bilingual groups and oral, significant data appear for difficulties of lexical access for the children users of the language of signs in reason of the absence of the use of phonological codes. The bilingual groups (G1 and G2) they presented strong influence of the memory in the process of identification of words in the reading and in the recovery of incentives for writing. This could be observed during the reading evaluations and writing under dictation taking to the identification of routes logographic. In the reading proofs, most of the incentives was read through the dactylology (that would owe if it restricts the pseudo word), in reason of the non recognition of his/her form writing. In these cases it can be observed that the dactylology assumed an intermediate paper in the attempt of decoding of the writing, but for not having direct relationship with the representation in signs, it didn't aid the evocation of the words in LIBRS and consequently of her understanding. In the writing under dictation, the high index of refusal answer for real words also confirms this argument. It is important to recall that the presented words were part of the lexicon in the bilingual children's signs, because when presenting in signs the word objective, the children were capable to define his/her meaning. The groups oral (G3 and G4) they were capable to answer all of the presented incentives, not being observed refusal answers.

This statement consists of a precious die and it confirms the descriptions given by the teachers of the group G1 and G2 that told these students' difficulties in the reading extra-class. These difficulties are justified for the fact of there being a limitation imposed by the memory to the vocabulary visual necessary writing for the recognition of the present words in texts of these matters. In situations extra-class the teacher is not present to present the meaning of the presents words in the text, and the child doesn't get to access them in his vocabulary of signs, in reason of the discontinuity among to LIBRAS and the Portuguese writing. This harms the acting and it turns the bilingual deaf dependent of an auxiliary that facilitates the relationship among the two languages, so that it can memorize the form visual writing of the concept to use her/it in other situations.

           In the case of the oral, in which the construction writing is leaning in the oral language, the phonological access to the internal lexicon can be hindered in reason of the hearing deficit. These characteristics can be observed in the mistakes committed by the children oral (G3 and G4), that they presented omission problems and disrespect to the rules of conversion graph phonemic in great proportion for pseudo word. The most frequent omissions elapse of problems of hearing identification for final consonants, that they possess a low resonant energy inside of the syllable being more difficult his/her detection and even the observation in the facial reading, in reason of the speed articulation with that they are produced. Another verified problem was the disrespect mistakes to the conversion graph phonemic, linked to problems as substitutions of phonemes (in the reading) and grapheme (in the writing) for her equivalent one deaf. Mistakes of this nature occur of a support in the facial reading, where the learning of the associations grapheme-phoneme is not totally specified (Leybaert, 1999). The phonemes visually fellow creatures only differed by the sonority (as it is the case of / b / and / p /; / f / and / v /) they were constantly confused by children deaf oral.

          Souza (1998)   affirms that the labial reading can be a road of acquisition of the phonological system for the deaf child, but a good amount of phonemes exists whose articulation is of difficult discrimination in opposition the other ones (the deaf-resonant correspondents). Besides, only 25% than one say can be identified for the best labial readers of the world.

The interesting, is that in spite of the foregoing phonological problems the children deaf oral don't stop building his/her mediation through the phonology, as observed in the spontaneous writing of one of the participants of G3 (it presented use of the syllabic hypothesis: former. He wrote" go" for cat," it hauls" for banana," hi" for two), nor they stop building larger units of visual recognition, the ‘logogens’, important in the lexical processing.

The lexical processing went verifying in the reading and writing of most of the children of G3 and G4, being shown more effective than the phonological road in the accomplishment of these activities. Current mistakes of the stabilization of irregular words, unlike the expected, they were not observed in this population. Pinheiro (1994) and Ellis (1995) they point out that the ability to work with the spelling of irregular words has her key in the lexical processing.

            In the bilingual children's case, the procedural route was different from the observed in the groups oral. G1 and G2 presented a processing essentially logographic, perfectly accountable for the imposed linguistic discontinuity    these children.

             Klima and Bellugi (1979) affirm that while the listener recites words in his/her internal speech, the deaf ones accomplish    for signaling interns. This way, it is verified that the mediation for writing, in these children's case, happens for a translation through this interior signaling, that it doesn't maintain continuity relationships with the Portuguese writing since to LIBRAS it possesses a structure morphologic, phonological and syntactic own.

            Then, of the bilingual child it is waited much more in the development of the writing, once she thinks and he/she communicates in language of signs (of visual nature and quiro articulation), but for front to the task of writing is waited that does through a language that possesses a hearing nature and phono articulation. Observing this discontinuity among the used codes, the only processing alternative would be for a visual route, dependent of the memorization of a great number of incentives so that they can be recognized in the reading and evoked in his/her form grapheme in the writing. This moderated processing for signs can be verified by the ‘paralexia’ mistakes and paragraph verified in G2, where the evoked word maintains a visual similarity in signs with the presented word.

This way the restriction for a dependent processing of the memory to access the signaling interns that accomplishes the mediation with the writing, it ends up consisting for the deaf of a complex and mute attaché of visual lines, maintaining an arbitrary relationship with his meaning (Capovilla and Raphael, 2001). Considering that an adult's lexicon gets to store about 60.000 to 120.000 words (Kandel, Shwartz and Jessell, 1997), it can be had an idea of the difficulty and limitation that the own memory imposes to the need of memorization of the sequence of each one of the grapheme in these incentives and his/her subsequent correlation with the signs.

All this information on the processing among children oral and bilingual it can be reinforced by the average yield of the groups in Conscience Metalinguistics's Evaluation:

Table   2. Medium punctuation of Successes for sub test and total punctuation in Conscience Metalinguistics's Evaluation

                An exam of the data of the table 2 reveals that the participants of the bilingual groups (G1 and G2) they presented smaller income for Conscience Metalinguistics's Evaluation, indicating an inefficiency level for this experimental task. The participants of the groups oral (G3 and G4) they presented an income a little larger than the other two groups, revealing larger efficiency that the bilingual groups in the use of the phonology.

              It is important to detach that the first two mentioned groups presented a better income for the sub test than they involved alphabetical abilities that for their equivalent ones syllabic. Unlike these first groups, G3 and G4 they presented larger easiness for the sub test of syllabic abilities, what coincides with the data found by Capovilla and Capovilla (1998) in children without sensorial alterations, physics or mental. These authors postulate that the syllabic abilities are more easily dominated by the children, while the abilities phonemics go if developing in agreement with the increase of the education and literacy.

These data corroborate with the reading evaluations and written discussed already previously and they demonstrate that the bilingual children's little ability metalinguistics can occur of the grapheme manipulation evoked through the signs, also used to evoke the movements dactylology. This justifies the largest success index for alphabetical activities.

An advantage in the use of the phonological and lexical routes is the possibility of the use of the present syntactic structuring in the oral in the construction of the writing. The writing of the groups oral showed the use of several have context, a more varied lexicon probably due to the processing for lexical road, that it allows until a better syntactic structuring (sentences with periods composed by coordination and subordination), for making available terms frequently used in the oral language, as organizers phrases (correct verbal conjugation, use of goods, prepositions), use of cohesive elements and textual coherence. The lexical efficiency was also shown in the absence of orthographic mistakes.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

          Before the data it is important to have in view that the first need in the deaf children's case is to make possible that the child can have access to her communicative lexicon, facilitating his/her learning process. When we propose these alternatives is important to value the respect need to the cognition of this population seeking the best development of these children's linguistic potential.

During years the communicative approaches are losing their objectives when leaving of focusing the individual, the context in that it is inserted, and their possibilities of linguistic development to the detriment of their conceptions crystallized about the deafness. It is necessary that the professionals that work with this population have in mind the well-being, the linguistic potentialities and the subsequent need of literacy of these children when informing the parents fairly on the communicative and education approaches so that they make a conscious option.

With base in a cognitive analysis, this work had as importance to reveal which are the mechanisms used in the appropriation of the writing by the deaf child and to alert about the need of considering it in the moment of choice of a communicative approach.

Bibliographical references

Batista, A.S.; Noronha-Souza, A.E.L.; Feniman, M.R. and Crenitte, P.P. Phonological Conscience: evaluation and intervention of the writing disturbances in deaf children. Brazilian magazine of Special Education, v.7, n.2, pp.39-51, 2002.

Batista, A.S. Learning of the reading and of the writing for deaf children in different communicative contexts. 2003. 217f. Dissertation (Master's degree in Special Education). Center of Education and Humanities, Federal University of São Carlos.

Bertelson and Of Gelder. Learning about reading from iliterates. Cambridge, The MIT Press, 1990.

Blischak, D. M. Phonological Awareness: implications goes individuals with little or in the functional speech. Alternative comunication, v.10. pp. 245-254, 1994.

Capovilla, A.G.S. and Capovilla, F.C. Proof of phonological conscience: development of ten abilities of the pré-school to the second series. Themes on Development, v.7, n.37, pp.14-20, 1998.

Capovilla, A.G.S. and Capovilla, F.C _. Reading problems and writing - How to identify, to prevent and to remedy in an approach fônica. Publisher Memnon, São Paulo, 2000.

Dockrell, J. and McShanne, J. Crianças with learning difficulties: a cognitive approach. Publisher Artmed. Porto Alegre, 2000.

Kandel, E.R.; Shwartz, J.H.; Jessell, T.M. Foundations of Neurociência and of the Behavior. Rio de Janeiro: Prentice Hall of Brazil, 1997.

Klima, E.S. and Bellugi, U. The signs of language. Cambridge, MA: Havard University Press, 1979.

Ellis, A. Leitura, writing and dyslexia: a cognitive analysis. Publisher Artmed. Porto Alegre, 1995.

Ellis, A.W. and Young, A.W. Human cognitive neuropsychology. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltda, 1998.

Capovilla, F.C. and Raphael, W.D. Cultured Encyclopedic Dictionary Bilingual. Edusp. São Paulo, 2001.

Fávero, L.L. Cohesion and textual coherences. São Paulo, Publisher Ática, 1993.

Ferreira, S. and Cárnio, M.S. Interferences of the access to the different linguistic modalities in the process of spontaneous writing of the deaf inserted in the context of special education. Magazine of Scientific Updating Pró-fono, v.1, n.2, pp. 38-45, 1999.

Blacksmith, E. Reflexões about literacy. Publisher Cortez, São Paulo, 1995.

Gesueli, Z. M. the deaf child and the process of acquisition of the writing. Reviewed of Scientific updating Pró-fono, v. 6, 1994.

Gutiérrez, A.B.D. Written Lenguaje Y Sordera: On qué cuestiones you are important reflexionar. In: Gutiérrez, A. B. D. & ALONSO, C. V. Lenguage written y sordera: theoretical Focuses y derivaciones prácticas. Publicaciones Papal Universidad Salamanca, pp. 47-55, 1999.

Harrison, K.M.P.; Lodi, A.C.B. and Moura, M.C. Schools and Choices: I Process Education of the Deaf ones. In: Lopes Filho, B.C.. Treaty of Fonoaudiologia. Publisher Rocca, pp. 359-400, 1997.

Iscoa, J. A. La lectura en el niño sordo: elements for one discusión. In: Gutiérrez, A. B. D. & Alonso, C. V. Lenguage written y sordera: theoretical Focuses y derivaciones prácticas. Publicaciones Papal Universidad Salamanca, pp. 59 .75, 1999.

Lecours, A.R. and Relative, M.A.M.P. Dyslexia: implications of the system of writing of the Portuguese. Publisher Artmed, Porto Alegre, 1997.

León, M.C.B. and Mariscal, G.S.O. Use of wools roads of acceso meant al of palabra written in adolescents with hearing deficiency. In: Gutiérrez, A. B. D. & Alonso, C. V. Lenguage written y sordera: theoretical Focuses y derivaciones prácticas. Publicaciones Papal Universidad Salamanca, pp. 191-201, 1999.

Miguel, E.S. is Qué written lenguaje? In: Gutiérrez, A.B.; Alonso; C.V. Lenguage written y sordera: theoretical Focuses y derivaciones prácticas. Publicaciones Papal Universidad Salamanca, pp.21 - 42, 1999.

Leybaert, J. phonological Abilities of niños sordos expuestos to different comunicación models. Juicios from it scans rhyme, scan spelling y scans lectura. In: Gutiérrez, A.B.; Alonso; C.V. Lenguage written y sordera: theoretical Focuses y derivaciones prácticas. Publicaciones Papal Universidad Salamanca, pp.77 - 89, 1999.

Oliveira, M.K. to Think the Education. Contributions of Vygotsky. In: Castorina, J.A. et al. - Piaget & Vygotsky. New contributions goes the discusses. Publisher Ática, São Paulo, 1996.

Pinheiro, A.M.V. Reading and Writing: A cognitive approach. Editorial Psy, Campinas, 1994.

Sacconi, L.A. essential Grammar of the Portuguese language. Current Publisher, São Paulo,1991.

Souza, R.M. What word that lacks you? Linguistics and education: Considerations epistemológicas starting from the deafness. Publisher Martins Fontes, São Paulo, 1998.

Svartholm, K. Acquisition of Second language for deaf. Magazine Space, June, pp.38-45, 1998.

Valentini, C.B. Net telemática: the appropriation of the language written by deaf children. Magazine Integration, Year 6, n.15, p.15-19, 1995.

Vygotsky, L. S. Pensamento and language. Translation of J.L. Camargo, Publisher Martins Fontes; São Paulo, 1993.

Williams, C.L. The Language and Literacy worlds of three profound deaf preschool children. Reading Reaserch Quarterly, Ohio, v.29, n.2, 1994.

home . about the conference . programme . registration . accommodation . contact