Teaching Academic Language to d/Deaf Students: Does Research Offer Evidence for Practice?

Abstract

The authors culled evidence-based recommendations and guidelines for effective instruction from practice guides and national studies addressing the development of academic language in English Language Learners (ELLs). Working within the framework of the qualitative similarity hypothesis (Paul, Wang, & Williams, 2013), the authors used the evidence base from the ELL literature as a starting point for researching similar findings with d/Deaf students. The etic areas of academic talk, reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing, technology, teacher training, sheltered instruction, and small-group instruction are discussed. Given the parallels in findings (despite the lack of studies in d/Deaf education that meet the design standards for scientifically evidence-based research) between research with d/Deaf students and research with ELLs, the authors, like others in d/Deaf education, suggest that the field should employ the findings from the ELL research to nurture the use of academic language by d/Deaf students.