Written products and writing processes in Swedish deaf and hard of hearing children: an explorative study on the impact of linguistic background
The small body of research on writing and writing processes in the group of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children has shown that this group struggles more with writing than their hearing peers. This article aims to explore in what ways the DHH group differs from their peers regarding the written p...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1112263/full |
| _version_ | 1797830893644021760 |
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| author | Moa Gärdenfors Victoria Johansson Victoria Johansson |
| author_facet | Moa Gärdenfors Victoria Johansson Victoria Johansson |
| author_sort | Moa Gärdenfors |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The small body of research on writing and writing processes in the group of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children has shown that this group struggles more with writing than their hearing peers. This article aims to explore in what ways the DHH group differs from their peers regarding the written product and the writing processes. Participants are all in the age span 10–12 years old and include: (a) 12 DHH children with knowledge of Swedish sign language (Svenskt teckenspråk, STS) as well as spoken Swedish, (b) 10 age-matched hearing children of deaf adults (CODA) who know STS, (c) 14 age-matched hearing peers with no STS knowledge. More specifically we investigate how text length and lexical properties relate to writing processes such as planning (measured through pauses) and revision, and how the background factors of age, gender, hearing and knowledge of STS predict the outcome in product and process. The data consists of picture-elicited narratives collected with keystroke logging. The overall results show that age is a strong predictor for writing fluency, longer texts and more sophisticated lexicon for all the children. This confirms theories on writing development which stress that when children have automatized basic low-level processes such as transcription and spelling, this will free up cognitive space for engaging in high-level processes, such as planning and revision—which in turn will result in more mature texts. What characterizes the DHH group is slower writing fluency, higher lexical density, due to omitted function words, and extensive revisions (both deletions and insertions) on word level and below. One explanation for the last finding is that limitations in the auditory input lead to more uncertainty regarding correct and appropriate lexical choices, as well as spelling. The article contributes with more specific knowledge on what is challenging during writing for DHH children with knowledge of STS and spoken Swedish in middle school, in the developmental stage when basic writing skills are established. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T13:43:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0deca093f0764f4197b728e1cfd3d74b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T13:43:39Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-0deca093f0764f4197b728e1cfd3d74b2023-05-09T05:43:47ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-05-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.11122631112263Written products and writing processes in Swedish deaf and hard of hearing children: an explorative study on the impact of linguistic backgroundMoa Gärdenfors0Victoria Johansson1Victoria Johansson2Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SwedenDepartment of Primary Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, SwedenCentre for Languages and Literature, Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology, Lund University, Lund, SwedenThe small body of research on writing and writing processes in the group of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children has shown that this group struggles more with writing than their hearing peers. This article aims to explore in what ways the DHH group differs from their peers regarding the written product and the writing processes. Participants are all in the age span 10–12 years old and include: (a) 12 DHH children with knowledge of Swedish sign language (Svenskt teckenspråk, STS) as well as spoken Swedish, (b) 10 age-matched hearing children of deaf adults (CODA) who know STS, (c) 14 age-matched hearing peers with no STS knowledge. More specifically we investigate how text length and lexical properties relate to writing processes such as planning (measured through pauses) and revision, and how the background factors of age, gender, hearing and knowledge of STS predict the outcome in product and process. The data consists of picture-elicited narratives collected with keystroke logging. The overall results show that age is a strong predictor for writing fluency, longer texts and more sophisticated lexicon for all the children. This confirms theories on writing development which stress that when children have automatized basic low-level processes such as transcription and spelling, this will free up cognitive space for engaging in high-level processes, such as planning and revision—which in turn will result in more mature texts. What characterizes the DHH group is slower writing fluency, higher lexical density, due to omitted function words, and extensive revisions (both deletions and insertions) on word level and below. One explanation for the last finding is that limitations in the auditory input lead to more uncertainty regarding correct and appropriate lexical choices, as well as spelling. The article contributes with more specific knowledge on what is challenging during writing for DHH children with knowledge of STS and spoken Swedish in middle school, in the developmental stage when basic writing skills are established.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1112263/fullDHHCODAcochlear implantsign languagekeystroke loggingrevision |
| spellingShingle | Moa Gärdenfors Victoria Johansson Victoria Johansson Written products and writing processes in Swedish deaf and hard of hearing children: an explorative study on the impact of linguistic background Frontiers in Psychology DHH CODA cochlear implant sign language keystroke logging revision |
| title | Written products and writing processes in Swedish deaf and hard of hearing children: an explorative study on the impact of linguistic background |
| title_full | Written products and writing processes in Swedish deaf and hard of hearing children: an explorative study on the impact of linguistic background |
| title_fullStr | Written products and writing processes in Swedish deaf and hard of hearing children: an explorative study on the impact of linguistic background |
| title_full_unstemmed | Written products and writing processes in Swedish deaf and hard of hearing children: an explorative study on the impact of linguistic background |
| title_short | Written products and writing processes in Swedish deaf and hard of hearing children: an explorative study on the impact of linguistic background |
| title_sort | written products and writing processes in swedish deaf and hard of hearing children an explorative study on the impact of linguistic background |
| topic | DHH CODA cochlear implant sign language keystroke logging revision |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1112263/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT moagardenfors writtenproductsandwritingprocessesinswedishdeafandhardofhearingchildrenanexplorativestudyontheimpactoflinguisticbackground AT victoriajohansson writtenproductsandwritingprocessesinswedishdeafandhardofhearingchildrenanexplorativestudyontheimpactoflinguisticbackground AT victoriajohansson writtenproductsandwritingprocessesinswedishdeafandhardofhearingchildrenanexplorativestudyontheimpactoflinguisticbackground |