Exploring The Relationship Between Oral and Orthographic Skills in Deaf Individuals

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between speech production skills and orthographic skills in deaf readers using behavioral indices of word form processing. The Reicher- Wheeler forced-choiced paradigm was used to measure the word and pseudoword superiority effects, which are considered to be measures of familiarity with specific words in a language and familiarity with the orthographic rules of a language, respectively. Eleven deaf individuals took part in this study. Participants completed a background questionnaire, the Reicher-Wheeler task, a pronunciation task and several other measures of phonological and orthographic awareness. The scores from these tasks were correlated in order to determine the degree of relationship that exists between oral and orthographic systems. Results indicate that a well developed speech production system is not necessary for the development of a sophisticated orthographic system. Implications for reading education of deaf individuals are discussed.