The research team will adapt an intervention that has shown promise for improving writing, reading, and language outcomes for deaf or hard of hearing students who are in sixth to eighth grade. Students will be taught a series of strategies that follow processes of expert writers and model self-regulation procedures. Students will also work together with their teachers to co-construct text. Over time, teacher support will phase out so that students can become independent writers. During years 1 and 2, lesson components will be implemented and revised, and the researchers will create professional development videos and materials that demonstrate implementation of the intervention. Classrooms will be randomly assigned to experimental or comparison groups in year 3 to assess the promise of the intervention.
Setting
The research will take place in public schools and schools for the deaf in the southeast United States.
Sample
Over 3 years, approximately 90 third- to fifth-grade students who are deaf or hard of hearing will participate in this research. Students will be diverse in terms of level of hearing loss, language and literacy proficiency, and communication method.
During years 1 and 2, lesson components will be implemented and revised. In year 1, the researchers will focus on adapting the basic interactive model and writing and self-regulatory procedures for use with third- to fifth-grade students. In year 2, the team will focus on adding instruction that takes into account the linguistic and metalinguistic variation in this population of students as well as strategies for implementing the intervention with students who are deaf or hard of hearing and have additional disabilities. The researchers will also create professional development videos and materials that demonstrate implementation of the intervention. Classrooms will be randomly assigned to the experimental or control group in year 3 to assess the promise of the intervention.
Control condition
Students in the comparison condition will receive equivalent amounts of language and writing instruction that is typically offered by their schools.
Key measures
A variety of student assessment and observational data will be collected. A series of norm-referenced reading and writing assessments and writing tasks will be administered to determine whether the intervention has promise for improving writing and reading outcomes. Fidelity of implementation data will also be collected through teacher observations.
Data analytic strategy
Data will be analyzed using a mixed-design analysis of variance to compare outcomes for students who received the intervention and those who received typical instruction provided by the school.
Products: The products of this project will include a fully developed intervention to teach writing to students who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as published reports describing its promise for improving outcomes.
Book chapter
Dostal, H., and Wolbers, K. (2015). Video Review and Reflection for Ongoing Inservice Teacher Professional Development. In E. Ortlieb, L. Shanahan, and M. McVee (Eds.), Video Research in Disciplinary Literacies: Literacy Research, Practice and Evaluation, Volume 6 (pp. 329-352). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. doi:10.1108/S2048-045820150000006016
Kilpatrick, J., Saulsburry, R., Dostal, H., Wolbers, K., and Graham, S. (2014). The Integration of Digital Tools During Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction. In R. Anderson, and C. Mims (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Digital Tools for Writing Instructions in K-12 Settings (pp. 608-628). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-5982-7
Kuntze, M., Golos, D., Wolbers, K., O'Brien, C., and Smith, D. (in press). School as a Site for Natural Language Learning. In M. Marschark, V. Lampropoulou, and E. Skordilis (Eds.), Educating Deaf Learners: Diverse Ways, One Goal. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Journal article, monograph, or newsletter
Saulsburry, R., Kilpatrick, J., Wolbers, K., and Dostal, H. (2015). Getting Students Excited About Learning: Incorporating Digital Tools to Support the Writing Process. Odyssey Magazine, 16: 30-34. Full text
Wolbers, K., Dostal, H., Graham, S., Cihak, D., Kilpatrick, J., and Saulsburry, R. (2015). The Writing Performance of Elementary Students Receiving Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 20(4): 385-398. doi:10.1093/deafed/env022 Full text
Co-Principal Investigators: Hannah Dostal (Southern Connecticut State University) and Steve Graham (Arizona State University)
