ABSTRACT
There are several hypotheses and theories informing the contemporary methodology of foreign language teaching, the main ones being the comprehension hypothesis and the skill-building hypothesis. According to the former, we acquire language and develop literacy when we receive comprehensive input. The latter stresses the need for memorizing vocabulary and learning grammar rules in order to achieve the same goal of developing literacy in a given language. Both of them have had some impact on teaching English as a foreign language to deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Taking this into consideration, the introductory chapter explores the impact of the most influential theories of language learning related to the art and methodology of teaching foreign languages to DHH persons and discusses the most important studies in this field.
