Department of Developmental Psychology and Education. Málaga University, Spain.
Department of Developmental Psychology and Education. Málaga University, Spain.
J Commun Disord. 2024 Sep-Oct;111:106458. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2024.106458. Epub 2024 Aug 20.
Vocabulary knowledge is an essential element in language development. There is evidence of significant differences in vocabulary knowledge between deaf children and hearing peers of the same age. These differences put deaf students at a disadvantage when compared to their hearing counterparts. The aim of this study was to investigate whether certain types of words characterise the lexical difficulties of deaf students. Our starting point is that this knowledge is needed to design interventions that are adapted to the particular needs of these students for their lexical development.
We evaluated the lexical comprehension of 90 Spanish students. The sample comprised 45 hearing students and 45 students with severe or profound hearing loss. Both groups were attending the later years of primary school (8 to -12-year-olds). They were tested using the Spanish Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III. The performance of both groups was statistically compared using percentiles and standard scores as well as a selected set of words from the test.
No significant differences between hearing and deaf groups were found by age, sex, and sociocultural level. Significant differences were found between groups in their percentile and standard scores. There were no significant differences in performance between the two groups on only five of the 25 words with the highest error rate in the deaf group. The qualitative analysis of the remaining 20 words that were especially challenging for deaf students reveals results of interest which could help guide interventions.
The results indicate the need for lexical intervention for deaf students in the final years of primary school. The specialised support service for deaf learners should approach the intervention by targeting a specific type of vocabulary, making the semantic relationships between these words more transparent and promoting a deeper understanding of them.
词汇知识是语言发展的重要组成部分。有证据表明，聋童和同龄听力正常儿童在词汇知识方面存在显著差异。这些差异使聋生在与听力正常的同龄人相比时处于劣势。本研究旨在调查某些类型的词汇是否能反映聋生的词汇困难。我们的出发点是，需要了解这些知识，以便为这些学生的词汇发展设计出适应他们特殊需求的干预措施。
我们评估了 90 名西班牙学生的词汇理解能力。样本包括 45 名听力正常的学生和 45 名有严重或极重度听力损失的学生。两组学生都在上小学高年级（8 至 12 岁）。他们使用西班牙语皮博迪图片词汇测验第三版进行测试。使用百分位数和标准分数以及测试中选择的一组单词对两组学生的表现进行了统计比较。
在年龄、性别和社会文化水平方面，听力组和聋生组之间没有发现显著差异。在百分位数和标准分数方面，两组之间存在显著差异。在听力组错误率最高的 25 个单词中，只有 5 个单词两组学生的表现没有显著差异。对聋生特别具有挑战性的其余 20 个单词的定性分析揭示了一些有趣的结果，这些结果可以帮助指导干预措施。
结果表明，聋生在小学高年级阶段需要进行词汇干预。聋生专门支持服务应通过针对特定类型的词汇来进行干预，使这些词汇之间的语义关系更加透明，并促进对它们的更深入理解。
