Linguistic but Not Cognitive Weaknesses in Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Poor Comprehenders

Reading metacomprehension of Spanish deaf and hard-of-hearing students

Difficulties in monitoring reading comprehension result in poor comprehension. One key aspect of monitoring is metacomprehension, which refers to one's awareness of one's own reading comprehension. Previous studies have observed difficulties in metacomprehension among the deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) population. This study aims to determine whether the metacomprehension of DHH students corresponds to their reading score and whether they are truly capable of adjusting their metacomprehension to the difficulty of the text. We evaluated 25 Spanish-speaking DHH students with reading scores approximately equivalent to Grades 5 or 6 of Primary School. Participants were asked to read a text and answer questions. The texts corresponded to three levels of difficulty (explicit, inferable, and noninferable). The results revealed that the metacomprehension of DHH students corresponded to their reading score. The DHH population may have better reading metacomprehension than is typically assumed, although the manifestation of this skill may depend on the type of task demanded of them (comprehension judgment or knowledge judgment).

Reading Comprehension of Chinese-Speaking Children With Hearing Loss: The Roles of Metalinguistic Awareness and Vocabulary Knowledge

PURPOSE

This study aims to explore the contributions of phonological awareness (PA) and morphological awareness (MA) to the reading comprehension skills of Chinese-speaking children with hearing loss (HL) and examine the possible mediation effect of vocabulary knowledge on the relationships of PA and MA with their reading comprehension.

METHOD

The participants were 28 Chinese-speaking children with HL, who were followed from Grade 1 through Grade 2. They were administered a series of tests that measured their PA and MA at the beginning of Grade 1, vocabulary knowledge at the end of Grade 1, and reading comprehension at the end of Grade 2.

RESULTS

MA significantly accounted for additional variance in reading comprehension beyond the effect of PA but not vice versa. Both PA and MA contributed uniquely to vocabulary knowledge, which completely mediated the relationships of PA and MA with reading comprehension.

CONCLUSIONS

PA and MA are both essential to the development of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking children with HL; however, MA seems to be more important than PA in their reading comprehension. PA and MA significantly affect children's reading comprehension through their influence on vocabulary knowledge. This study has replicated previous evidence on the importance of PA, MA, and vocabulary knowledge in the reading comprehension of children with typical hearing, and has extended its significance to children with HL. In addition, the findings have the potential to inform educational practitioners regarding the importance of teaching essential reading skills to Chinese-speaking children with HL.