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Better Story Recall by Deaf Children with Unimodal Communication

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Abstract

The present study compared sign-only to simultaneous sign and speech (SIMCOM) on recall of stories by deaf children. Thirty-six 11 to 14-year-old deaf students were presented with a series of short stories “bimodally” (using simultaneous sign and speech/SIMCOM) and “unimodally” (using sign-only) and then asked to recall whatever they could remember. A within-subject analysis was used to examine the differences in recall scores as a function of communication mode. Participants scored significantly higher in the sign-only condition than in the SIMCOM condition. There were no differences due to age, gender, home language, pure-tone average, or type of hearing-assistive technology (hearing aids or cochlear implants), but scores in both groups correlated with standardized reading scores. The finding of improved recall with sign-only presentation suggests that simultaneous speech and sign may have compromised comprehension by competing for limited attentional resources. The findings challenge the use of SIMCOM in classrooms.

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Notes

  1. In this study, deaf refers to those individuals with a hearing loss of 70 dB or higher.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, Box 223, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Ye Wang, Maria C. Hartman, Laudan B. Jahromi & Barbara Tversky

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  1. Ye Wang
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  2. Maria C. Hartman
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  3. Laudan B. Jahromi
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  4. Barbara Tversky
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Correspondence to Ye Wang.

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Wang, Y., Hartman, M.C., Jahromi, L.B. et al. Better Story Recall by Deaf Children with Unimodal Communication. J Dev Phys Disabil 29, 699–720 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-017-9551-3

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