This qualitative study examines the narrative and argumentative writing of 75 deaf high school students from the United States through thematic analysis. Writing samples were evaluated on six traits: idea development, organization, style, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions. A representative set of 85 samples was selected to reflect a range of writing quality, including both low- and high-scoring pieces, to capture the diversity of strengths and needs. Findings revealed outcomes ranging from emerging writing skills to genre-specific writing aligned with grade-level expectations. Lower-scoring responses were often brief, loosely organized, and contained unfinished or unidentifiable words with limited sentence variety. In contrast, higher-scoring samples demonstrated clearer purpose and organization, evidence of knowledge-transforming strategies, and stronger control of sentence structure, using varied sentence types to promote fluency of expression. The study underscores the need for adaptable writing instruction that addresses a range of writing needs present in secondary classrooms.
A Qualitative Analysis of Deaf Secondary Writers’ Strengths and Needs