Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2021 Jun 14;26(3):363-380. doi: 10.1093/deafed/enab004.
The aim of this study was to clarify whether fingerspelling provides a sophisticated mechanism that promotes the development of detailed orthographic knowledge for deaf individuals even in the absence of paralleling phonological knowledge. An intervention program comprised of various procedures chaining between fingerspelled sequences; their written correlates and meaning were administered in a multiple probe single-subject research design across semantic categories to four children with severe to profound prelingual hearing loss (age 4.2-6 years). Results demonstrate the occurrence of rapid orthographic learning during intervention and reliable retention of it in maintenance checks, despite the participants' insufficiently developed phonological skills. Observations of the participants' behavior further suggest fingerspelling to function as an effective mediator in the initial development of robust detailed orthographic lexicon. Analyzes also indicate that "learning through action" and "relevance to the task" provide two key factors in relation to the promotion of orthographic learning, with their absence creating an obvious vacuum in this regard. Insights from the study are discussed with reference to their implication for the development of learning materials and learning environments for prelingually deaf and other novice learners.
本研究旨在阐明，即使在缺乏平行语音知识的情况下，手语是否为聋人提供了一种精细的机制，从而促进详细的正字法知识的发展。在一项跨语义范畴的多项探针单被试研究设计中，为四名严重至极重度语前聋的儿童（年龄 4.2-6 岁）实施了一个由各种程序组成的干预方案，这些程序在手指拼写序列之间、其书面对应物及其含义之间进行连锁。结果表明，尽管参与者的语音技能发育不足，但在干预过程中出现了快速的正字法学习，并在维持检查中可靠地保留了这种学习，此外，还进一步观察到参与者的行为表明，手语在初始发展强大的详细正字法词汇中充当了有效的中介。分析还表明，“通过行动学习”和“与任务相关”是促进正字法学习的两个关键因素，而缺乏这两个因素会在这方面造成明显的空白。该研究的结果与为语前聋和其他新手学习者开发学习材料和学习环境的意义有关。
