Exploring Language and Literacy Outcomes in Deaf Children and Adults

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My long-term aim is to develop a better understanding of language and literacy development in the deaf population, which includes the development of new language measures to closely monitor and track language skills in this population. As part of this fellowship, I would be able to focus on writing up several publications, develop my networks (with practitioners, researchers and user groups) and write a grant proposal, all of which will help consolidate my academic career. More importantly, my work will have a positive impact on a population that struggles with poor language and literacy, which has negative effects on social, cognitive and academic development.Hearing people typically acquire a spoken language naturally and without effort. Good oral language skills are a firm foundation upon which to later develop good literacy skills. In addition, phonological awareness, i.e. understanding the sound units in the words we hear and how these sounds correspond with the written word, is a good predictor of later reading outcomes in hearing children. Numerous studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between these two skills - phonological awareness and oral language skills - and literacy in hearing children. It is, however, less clear what the relationship is between those skills and literacy development in the deaf population.Research into word recognition have shown that hearing adults make use of speech-based information (spoken words) to extract meaning from the written word and this is known as phonological processing. My PhD work focused on phonological processing in deaf adults and has shed new light into the role of phonology in word recognition and reading. One aim of my fellowship is to communicate my research findings, as described above, to the broader academic community by publishing the results in high impact journals. A second aim is to ensure that my research findings are successfully communicated to practitioners working with deaf children and adults and members of the public (e.g. parents), so that they are better informed as to how to foster literacy development in deaf children and adults. My PhD work focused on deaf adults and has contributed to a better understanding of the role of phonology in this group. However, we still do not know if this population were exposed to phonological practices in early intervention, when they started learning to read. This is why I wish to extend my research through this fellowship so I can understand more about the role of phonology, amongst other variables, in deaf children's reading acquisition. This has the potential to lead to better language and literacy outcomes amongst deaf individuals.During the fellowship I will further develop my skills as a researcher by visiting a world leading institution that carries out research into language and literacy development in the deaf population. As a deaf academic this will be especially useful to help me develop my network of potential future collaborators, which can be more challenging for deaf academics.