Bilingual Literacy

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2.3 Literacy and Deaf children
Literacy is vital for reading and writing of all children, both hearing and deaf. Research has shown that having a strong L1 foundation, it can be applied in learning how to read and write in English. Advocates of bilingual bicultural education agree that the reading and writing skills that are acquired based on the strong foundation of their L1 develops the foundation of L2 (Evans, 2004; Puente et al, 2006). Researches conducted by Padden & Ramsey (2000) show that ASL fingerspelling skills are related to English literacy and vocabulary knowledge (Hile, 2009). One study done by Padden & Ramsey (2000), showed the fingerspelling tasks that were given to thirty-one deaf students in two groups (3rd-4th graders …show more content…

Padden & Ramsey (2000) mentioned that these teachers who are native in ASL tend to use more fingerspelling than the teachers who use ASL as a second language. Many native ASL users who teach deaf children teach in a residential school or are deaf themselves. With the cultural and literacy perspectives, ASL fingerspelling is an essential skill to incorporate daily in the classroom (Hile, 2009). ASL fingerspelling in the classroom during instruction provides another alternative, bridging ASL fingerspelling in learning to read and write. ASL fingerspelling is one of the outcomes of the contact between ASL and English (Blumenthal-Kelly, 1995; Padden & Ramsey, 2000). Studies show that fingerspelling skills are predictive of English vocabulary skills and the development of learning to fingerspell (Haptonstall-Nykasza & Schick, 2007; Hile, 2009; Mayberry & Waters, 1987). By the time deaf children from deaf families begin preschool, they have already been exposed to ASL fingerspelling from birth know what words need to use fingerspelling such as names of individuals, brand names, proper nouns, etc. (Padden, 2006). Many views ASL fingerspelling as the means to communicate using proper nouns such as names of the individuals, months, places, and brand names as well as the English words that do not have sign equivalent (Hile, 2009). It is used in different ways and also links the fingerspelled handshapes with the English alphabet in a written form (Hile, 2009; Padden, 1998). Then when they enter elementary school, they are knowledgeable in developing and make connections of how fingerspelling represents printed English (Hile, 2009). When teachers use

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