The question "What's it like to be deaf?" has engendered debates on whether deafness should be considered a "loss," a "gain," or both. It is doubtful that many scholars would agree that an adequate answer entails only a depiction of the degree of hearing acuity or loss, perhaps in conjunction with age at onset,…

Discusses why and how American Sign Language should be used to teach English literacy skills. It is argued that previous studies have not systematically investigated the effects of American Sign Language on the development of English. (22 references) (CB) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education)

This paper discusses the use of American Sign Language (ASL) in an English-as-a-Second-Language approach to teaching reading and writing skills to deaf students. The paper poses and answers the following theoretical and practical questions: (1) What is the nature of first language reading? (2) What is the nature of second language reading? (3)…