Strategic & Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI)

Writing instruction for deaf learners!

Research

ResearchCategory:Research Journal Articles

Writing knowledge, practices, efficacy, interests, and beliefs of deaf education teachers: A randomized controlled trial

Wolbers, K., Dostal, H., Graham, S., Branum-Martin, L., Allen, T., Holcomb, L., & Saulsburry, R. (2023). Writing knowledge, practices, efficacy, interests, and beliefs of deaf education teachers: A randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Psychology—Educational Psychology, 14, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1214246

Writing teachers play an extraordinarily important role in their students’ writing development. Teachers’ motivational beliefs, such as attitudes toward writing,
perceptions of their efficacy to teach writing, or preparation to use evidence based instructional practices, impact their writing instruction, which directly affects
the advancement of students’ writing skills. Deaf writers are a subpopulation of writers who may face discriminatory beliefs toward their writing development
stemming from ableism, audism, or linguicism. Deaf education teachers may doubt their abilities to teach bilingual/multilingual students or teach deaf students
experiencing language deprivation. The current study investigates whether deaf education teachers’ beliefs can be fostered through an intensive one-year
professional development (PD) program designed specifically for deaf education teachers. In this randomized controlled trial, we examine the extent to which the
participation of deaf education teachers in specialized PD and subsequent writing instruction implementation (n = 26) impacts their pedagogical content knowledge, use of evidence-based practices for teaching writing, interest, attitudes, efficacy in teaching writing, and epistemological beliefs about writing compared to teachers in a business as usual condition (n = 24). Pre-post regression analyses indicate statistically significant group differences (with the treatment group scoring higher) on all variables except attitude and some epistemological beliefs. We speculate that specialized, sustained PD paired with supported implementation of writing instruction and ongoing teacher reflection are contributing factors to changes in teachers’ motivational beliefs.

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ResearchCategory:Research Journal Articles

Teacher Reports Of Secondary Writing Instruction With Deaf Students

Wolbers, K., Dostal, H. & Holcomb, L. (2023). Teacher reports of secondary writing instruction with deaf students. Journal of Literacy Research, 55(1), 28-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086296X231163124

Since students’ writing skills are largely shaped by the quality of instruction they receive, we can learn from what teachers report about their beliefs and approaches to the teaching and learning of writing. This study explores the state of writing instruction at secondary levels with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students
through a mixed-methods approach using a sequential explanatory design. Two hundred and twenty-two teachers responded to a survey about writing instruction, and 10 teachers participated in follow-up focus groups. The findings indicate that the primary difference between the hearing middle and high school student population and the DHH population is experiences of language deprivation, which impact the preparedness of teachers of DHH students, as well as the time and focus of their writing instruction. Teachers reported that American Sign Language/English bilingual instruction was the greatest area of need in research.

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ResearchCategory:Research Journal Articles

Characteristics of Deaf Emergent Writers Who Experienced Language Deprivation

Holcomb, L., Dostal, H. & Wolbers, K. (2023). Characteristics of deaf emergent writers who experienced language deprivation. Bilingual Research Journal, 45(3-4), 358-379. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2023.2169412

This study explores the intertwined phenomena of language deprivation, emergent writing, and translanguaging in deaf students without additional disabilities
in grades 3–6. A case study was conducted using deductive and inductive approaches to analyze 42 writing samples. There were four areas of focus: (1)
stages of emergent writing development, (2) writing change over time, (3) emerging writing and translanguaging features, and (4) writing features unique
to the context of language deprivation. First, pre-writing samples add to evidence that older deaf students undergo similar developmental processes with
their emergent writing patterns. Second, an analysis of pre- and post-writing samples indicated that movement between stages occurred for most students.
Third, students incorporated emergent writing and translanguaging features that reflected the application of their linguistic resources in writing. Finally,
existing theories were extended by uncovering writing characteristics unique to the context of language deprivation. Incomplete ideation and restricted
translanguaging practices were identified as attributions of language deprivation impacting cognitive and linguistic resources. This study provides evidence that
deaf students as old as thirteen years old are developing emergent writing skills not because of their deafness but likely because they were in environments that
produced chronic inadequate language access.

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ResearchCategory:Research Journal Articles

Translanguaging Framework For Deaf Education

Wolbers, K., Holcomb, L. & Hamman-Ortiz, L. (2023). Translanguaging Framework in Deaf Education. Languages, 8(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010059

In this conceptual article, the authors introduce the Translanguaging Framework for Deaf Education (TFDE), drawing upon two perspectives on language and learning: crip linguistics and critical translanguaging space. The TFDE is a retheorization of the Language Zone, a pedagogical framework for supporting language learning in deaf education, and is designed to support educators to approach language use and users from an asset-oriented perspective. In line with this stance, the TFDE validates the linguistic resources deaf students bring to the classroom and encourages students’ full use of their communicative repertoires for meaning making, while also working to expand their linguistic resources and increase communicative flexibility. Examples of translanguaging pedagogical practices with deaf students, such as coming to a shared understanding, building metalinguistic knowledge, and honing communication for external audiences, are explained and illustrated through classroom scenarios with deaf students. Readers are also provided with tools for critically analyzing the social context to ensure accessible and equitable language environments for deaf students and to protect spaces for the use of minoritized languages such as ASL.

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Research Journal Articles

Writing instruction as an authentic context for targeting speech and language therapy goals for deaf and hard of hearing children

Secora, K., Wolbers, K., & Dostal, H. (2022). Writing instruction as an authentic context for targeting speech and language therapy goals for deaf and hard of hearing children. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_PERSP-22-00168

Purpose: This tutorial describes how a speech-language pathologist (SLP) might incorporate writing-based principles into therapy sessions to target a variety of speech and language goals for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children in addition to writing. We present an illustrative example of one SLP’s experience implementing Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI), an approach to writing instruction designed for DHH students, within a public elementary school setting.

Method: We motivate this tutorial by first reviewing the literature related to the challenges for SLPs in targeting written language within therapy settings and then discuss writing and communication difficulties for DHH students. We describe the components of SIWI with illustrative examples of how one SLP applied these principles within her therapy sessions with DHH students. The SIWI instructional approach integrates well with the roles and responsibilities of an SLP in providing therapy across a variety of communication domains for the DHH students. This tutorial describes how the SLP scaffolds production of various morphological and syntactic linguistic structures as a natural part of co-creating text with her students. The highly interactive nature of SIWI allows for targeting pragmatic language goals with student-student and student-SLP interactions. Students also have opportunities for practicing articulation when generating or revising ideas for the co-created text and when rereading the text.

Conclusions: SIWI provides a framework to address DHH students’ speech and language goals within authentic writing activities which may support increased generalization into classroom academic tasks. We provide suggestions about how an SLP can incorporate the principles of SIWI into therapy sessions to integrate writing instruction with the various speech and language goals they already target as a part of implementing a student’s Individualized Education Program.

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Reports

Technical Report: Secondary Writing Instruction with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students who are on Grade Level or College Bound

Wolbers, K., Dostal, H., & Holcomb, L. (2022). Technical report: Secondary writing instruction with deaf and hard of hearing students who are on grade-level or college-bound.

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ResearchCategory:Research Journal Articles

Specialized Writing Instruction for Deaf Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Wolbers, K., Dostal, H., Graham, S., Branum-Martin, L., & Holcomb, L. (2022). Specialized writing instruction for deaf students: A randomized controlled trial. Exceptional Children, 88(2), 185-204. https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029211050849

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Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI) involves teaching cognitive writing strategies and apprenticing novices within collaborative writing communities. It is responsive to deaf students’ diverse language experiences through embedded metalinguistic/linguistic components. A randomized controlled trial of SIWI was conducted with 15 teachers and 79 students in grades 3-5. Recount, information report, and persuasive genres were taught across three 9-week periods. Writing samples analyzed for writing traits, language clarity, and language complexity were collected prior to instruction for the genre, immediately following, and 9 weeks after withdrawal of instruction for the genre. Standardized writing measures and motivation surveys were collected at the beginning and end of the academic year. Genre-specific writing outcomes were statistically significant for recount and information report writing, with substantial effect sizes for treatment and maintenance. Standardized writing outcomes mirrored these results. All others variables demonstrated small to moderately large treatment effects, although not all statistically significant.

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ResearchCategory:Research Journal Articles

Transfer of Writing Skills Across Genres

Dostal, H., Wolbers, K. & Weir, J. (2021). Transfer of writing skills across genres, International Journal of Educational Research, 109(2021), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2021.101849

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Thirty-seven deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students in grades four through six participated in a year of Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction, an approach to writing instruction designed to be responsive to DHH students’ unique language experiences and profiles. The current study investigated the transfer of writing skills between genres by analyzing participants’ recount, information report, and persuasive writing samples at four time points: at the beginning of the academic year, immediately before genre-focused instruction, at the end of 9 weeks of instruction in a genre, and 9 weeks after the conclusion of instruction in a genre. Results from the study demonstrate that DHH students transfer genre-specific writing skills between genres.

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Research Journal ArticlesCategory:Uncategorized

Does Teacher Efficacy Predict Writing Practices Of Teachers Of Deaf And Hard of Hearing Students

Graham, S., Wolbers, K., Dostal, H. & Holcomb, L. (2021). Does teacher efficacy predict writing practices of teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 26(3), 438-450. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enab012

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Forty-four elementary grade teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students were surveyed about how they taught writing and their beliefs about writing. Beliefs about writing included their self-efficacy to teach writing, attitude toward writing, and epistemological beliefs about writing. These teachers from fifteen different states in the United States slightly agreed that they were efficacious writing teachers and they were slightly positive about their writing. They slightly agreed that learning to write involves effort and process, moderately disagreed that writing development is innate or fixed, slightly disagreed that knowledge about writing is certain, and were equally split about whether writing knowledge comes from authorities and experts. On average, teachers applied the twenty-two instructional writing practices surveyed at least once a month. They reported their students wrote weekly, and their writing was supported through goal setting, feedback, and prewriting activities. Writing instruction mostly focuses on teaching grammar and how to plan compositions. Teacher self-efficacy uniquely and statistically predicted reported teaching practices after attitude toward writing, and epistemological beliefs were first controlled. Recommendations for future research and implications for practice are presented.

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