The
connection between language, literacy and education is undoubtedly acknowledged.
Reading and writing are essential to surviving in our society, and without the
development of these skills at a young age, many obstacles tend to arise in educational
settings. As discussed in my child development class, at California State
University Northridge, stimulation of the brain is crucial at a young age, to
help aid in cognitive development. Many young children, such as myself,
received this stimulation in the form of bedtime stories and frequent
conversation, thus gaining constant exposure to language. However, many deaf
children are deprived of continual communication at a young age, therefore a
language delay develops, ultimately hindering their chances to improve their
literacy at the same rate as their hearing classmates. For the past two years,
I volunteered at Venado Middle School and Taft Elementary’s Deaf Summer School
Programs, and was given the opportunity to work with children and aid them with
their reading comprehension, improvement of grammar usage and key concepts of
the English language. My experience working within the deaf community has
caused me to appreciate my literacy and is the reason that I chose to pursue a
career in the field of Deaf Education.
As a teacher’s assistant, working with the children at Venado Middle School in Irvine changed my life and the way I view literacy and education. Rather than just helping pass out, collect and file papers, I was able to help teach and really interact with the students. the program, every year the students were assigned a novel to read and in Ms. Asia’s class, the classroom I was assigned to. In her course, the focus was reading and writing comprehensions and I was excited to know that the year I volunteered the novel was the classic Holes by Louis Sachar. The students had little notebooks were they were required to copy down the chapter summary for the day and many times when asked questions immediately after in regards to the text, they were unable to answer correctly. A couple chapters into the reading, Ms. Asia and Ms. Kim, the English teacher, called a meeting because a handful of the students were continually failing the comprehension quizzes, which were mandatory at the end of the week. Ms. Kim suggested that rather than allowing the students to complete the test independently, to sign the question, as well as the answer choices, directly to the students, to see if it caused an improvement on their test scores. I then was asked to take the handful of students and try out this new method with them. It was nerve-racking to think that this theory they were testing depended on my ability to properly sign the questions and possible answer choices. To my surprise, the test scores of the students improved drastically just as Ms. Kim hypothesized. How shocking it was to me to see how merely changing the method of communication had such an impact on their understanding. At the same time this gave evidence to a more serious issue. These children were incapable of reading independently and struggled to grasp the connection between language and literacy. It was just as Helen Keller discussed in her narrative, she “ did not know she was spelling a word or even that words existed; [she] was simply making [her] fingers go in monkey-like imitation” (Keller). When I was in middle school, I remember having to analyze themes and use critical thinking skills and it baffled me how these student who were suppose to be entering and graduating from middle school lacked basic comprehension skills.
Prior to working with the deaf and hard
of hearing, I took my reading and writing comprehension for granted. When
learning to read and write, my parents were a huge part of my literacy journey.
My mother was a teacher before she decided to become a stay-at-home mom and I
recall constant hours of summertime workbooks to prepare for the upcoming
school year. We would do homework as a family, when I was younger, and Mother would
read the directions and my responses aloud with me to make sure that I fully
understood my assignments and their purpose. Compared to the deaf students I
worked with, they struggled because of language barriers and lack of guidance.
The students when given a handout and asked to read the directions and complete
independently, failed. However, if the directions were explained to them in
sign language, they could compete it perfectly with minor errors. I formulated
the question then, how can this constant issue be justified? I spoke with Ms.
Kim then about why these issues of literacy were common among deaf students.
She told me that it was because these children were essentially being required
to learn two languages at once. I was informed that the average deaf adult has
a fourth grade reading comprehension level, and unfortunately this is because
they did not receive proper education. I began to feel a sense of frustration
that the education I received growing up was considered a privilege compared to
the education that many of these children were deprived of. I can remember
being apart of the AR reading program in my elementary classroom and how
through this program, students were to focus on improving their reading
comprehension. I had cultivated a love for reading at a young age and was
fascinated with the complexity of stories and their underlining messages. I
took pride in my 8th grade reading level as a 5th grade
student and to think that someone else was not given the proper assistance and
attention needed to learn to read as I did, deeply saddened me.
Over the years, I developed an interest
in linguistics, which pushed me to become curious about how language shapes our
education and its effect on our literacy. Pronunciation and comprehension of
language are two different concepts and many times people use these terms
interchangeably. Helen Keller’s experience serves as a clear example of how
language is irrelevant without understanding. In her narrative, she was able to
spell the word “doll” paralleling pronunciation but the word held no meaning
until she was able to make the connection that words are symbolic to objects in
the world. This led me to reflect back to 2 years ago when I volunteered in the
2nd grade deaf elementary classroom. Our focus back then was to
expose these children to as much language vocabulary as possible. I remember
having fifty flashcards of just commonly used words and having the student sign
the word on the flashcard or find the flashcard as I signed the word. Through
this activity we were shaping the connection between the words and the language
ultimately striving to connect the language and literacy.
Since American Sign Language is not
English and does not have a written from, these children were being told to
write and understand a second language simultaneously. Many of the students
were very well spoken in sign language, when talking to them; however, they
could not comprehend many grammar concepts at a seventh grade level. A student
that I became close friends with shared that she was the only deaf person in
her family. As expected in this common situation, her family members did not
take the time to learn sign language and they only knew the basics of Deaf
Culture. It made her very happy to see me, a hearing person, taking a moment to
step into her shoes and spend time with her and to help guide her education;
Just as Ann Sullivan did for Helen Keller. It broke my heart to know that some
of these children did not have anyone at home to talk to and how the majority
of them just wanted to be encouraged and supported. I felt as though I had been
given insight into her world and it made me take a step back and reflect on how
people perceive language and literacy. It is just as Amy Tan discussed in her
narrative how many people “believed that [her mother’s] English, reflected the
quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly
her thoughts were imperfect” (Tan). Many times I have witnessed not only with the
deaf but other groups of people such as African Americans that their
intelligence is determined by their literacy, however literacy is not the
definition of intelligence. John Corcoran, a man who was a relator and teacher
for seventeen years, was illiterate and hid it over the course of his life. He
said that it wasn’t until he joined the Adult literacy program and “had a one
on one relationship with somebody who thought and believed they could teach
[him] how to read” (Corcoran). Many deaf children struggle with literacy and I
also believed that it is because they need one on one experiences and
relationships, which is something that school systems cannot necessarily
provide. I wanted to be that one teacher, for these students, that has an
impact on their lives.
When looking back at my experiences,
I came to realize how much of an effect that communication and language has on
developing a strong literacy. My overall experiences with literacy also caused
me to reflect on the meaning of language, the concept of words and writing and
its importance. Without language literacy is impossible and without
communication language is irrelevant. I
appreciate my literacy, and when working with these children, I was able to see
the desire they had to be successful and the love they had towards learning and
receiving an education. I was able to build relationships with these students,
thus inspiring me to use my abilities and talents to help those around me. Everyday
the desire to learn was evident even though the connection between language and
reading comprehension was difficult to understand. They ignited a passion in
me, which inspired me to do all that I can to help promote and improve deaf
education and deaf literacy.
Corcoran, John. "John Corcoran
Illiterate Life Story." YouTube. YouTube, 3 Sept. 2008. Web. 20
Nov. 2014<https://www.youtube.com/watchv=NaGuMqs9E4M>.
Keller, Helen. "The Story of My
Life." Helen Keller. American Foundation for the Blind, Web. 17
Nov. 2014.
Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” Literacy Narrative, Essay. PDF file
credit
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