ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the challenges primary school deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) pupils face when learning to read English as a foreign language (EFL) and on possible teaching and learning strategies.
Good readers use many different strategies to decode written text to promote comprehension. Research shows one important decoding factor is having knowledge of the foreign language’s speech sounds and how they are represented in writing. Developing phonological awareness is a necessary and fundamental part of learning to read, regardless of the degree of hearing loss, but demands an explicit teaching approach tailored to the DHH individual. Studies show that many DHH children do acquire letter-sound correspondence and use multi-sensory information to create phonological representations that are not purely auditory.
A survey of a small, random group of Norwegian DHH pupils from several mainstream 4th grade classes revealed they had little knowledge of English speech sounds and spelling patterns. The chapter outlines the teaching method used involving all the senses, that helped these pupils to develop phonic reading skills.
However, skills in decoding written text using phonic reading are only one of many that are needed to comprehend meaning and to become a competent reader.
