Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

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Implications of Hearing Loss on Written Language

Many students who are deaf or hard of hearing will use English with the same proficiency as their hearing peers. It is helpful, however, for educators to be aware of some of the areas in which hearing loss can have an impact on written language and reading.

Students Who Use American Sign Language

For people who have grown up using American Sign Language, English is a second language. These students will face many of the same challenges faced by international students. A review of materials on teaching English as a second language may help faculty members who have students who use American Sign Language. As is the case for anyone writing in their non-native language, certain errors are likely to occur. An understanding of how ASL differs from English may help you understand the errors that sometimes occur in the writing of people who are deaf.

Word order. The grammar and structure of ASL is more similar to the romance languages that to English. Since the word order differs from English, word order may be reversed in writing.

Verb choice and tense. In ASL, there are no "endings" added to verbs to change the tense. Instead, past tense and future tense are indicated by separate signs. Sometimes the words for these signs are incorporated into written English.

Gender references. There are not separate signs in ASL for "he" or "she," "his" or "her," or "him" or "her." Some native ASL users do not use these gender references with the same fluency that native English speakers do.

Idiomatic expressions from ASL. Like other languages, ASL has its own idiomatic expressions. Just as English speakers may make the mistake of using the phrase "catch a cold" in another language, people who are deaf may mistakenly incorporate idiomatic expressions from ASL into their written English.