Open AccessPreschool Deaf Children's Use of Signed Language during Writing Events
Author(s) -
Cheri Williams
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of literacy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.283
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1554-8430
pISSN - 1086-296X
DOI - 10.1080/10862969909548044
Subject(s) - nonverbal communication , psychology , directive , salient , expression (computer science) , linguistics , sign language , deaf education , developmental psychology , computer science , philosophy , artificial intelligence , programming language
This research examined young deaf children's social interaction during free-choice writing time in their preschool classroom. The study examined the ways in which five deaf children used signed language as they wrote. Results of the study indicated that the children used both signed language and nonverbal expression to engage in representational, directive, interactional, personal, and heuristic use of language to support their writing endeavors. The study raises the question of whether nonverbal expression might also be salient among emergent writers who are not deaf.