Logopedics, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2014.
Original scientific paper
Reading comprehension in students with hearing loss
Iva Hrastinski
orcid.org/0000-0003-2307-5104
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet, Odsjek za oštećenja sluha
Ljubica Pribanić
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet, Odsjek za oštećenja sluha
Jelena Degač
; Udruga za osobe s invaliditetom Ludbreško sunce, Ludbreg
Abstract
Due to the fact that substantial hearing losses adversely affects spoken language development, students with such losses often struggle with reading skills. This study was aimed at assessing performance of 54 students on reading comprehension tasks and amount of time needed to complete them as well as determining any differences in performance on two types of reading comprehension tasks (literal and inferential) as a function of participants' age and educational placement. Despite very poor reading comprehension achievement of students with hearing loss, performance on literal types of questions was better compared to scores on inferential questions, suggesting inadequate higher reading comprehension skills and metacognitive reading strategies in this population. Although statistically significant age differences have not been determined, educational context has been found to be important. Students with hearing loss attending special schools for the deaf had significantly lower overall reading comprehension scores as well as poorer performance on both literal and inferential reading comprehension question categories compared to their peers attending mainstream schools, suggesting that special education context might not provide adequate support for higher literacy skills development in this population. Overall, reading comprehension skills of students with hearing loss are at a low level, especially in tasks requiring inferencing, indicating a need for explicit teaching of strategies that would support the development of reading comprehension skills in this population.
Keywords
hearing loss; reading; reading comprehension; literal and inferencing questions
Hrčak ID:
131471
URI
Publication date:
23.12.2014.
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