A review of literature focuses on the literacy acquisition process of deaf children who acquire American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language and written English as a second language. Literacy in this context is defined broadly to include the context and culture in which reading and writing occur, referring to the strong connection between language learning, the individual, and the community and emphasizing the importance of literacy acquisition and problems that can occur when literacy in this broad sense is impaired. Topics addressed in the review include: the nature of bilingualism; bilingual deaf education (BDE), or the teaching of English to deaf children as a second language (including the differences in the natures of ASL and English and differences between BDE and other forms of bilingual education); and the need for special strategies for literacy instruction for deaf children (motivation and self-concept development, teacher understanding of the principles of language development, the role of basic knowledge of the first language (ASL) in developing literacy, the speak-then-read approach, allowing student use of translation, emphasis on comprehension, incorporation of culture into instruction, use of cultural role models). Contains 56 references. (MSE)