Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore whether film-based Dynamic Assessment (DA) could affect
English writing of Iranian deaf children. Ten students studying in a school for the deaf took part in the
study. The participants’ writing ability was measured prior to the treatment and the errors which were
identified. A series of meditating activities were designed and implemented during a three-month
treatment. After the treatment, a writing posttest was administered. The results of the paired samples t-test
revealed that using film-based DA had a significant impact on the English writing of the participants. The
results of the structured interviews showed that almost all students had positive attitudes towards the use
of films during the DA procedure.
Machine summary:
"For example, Anita, Kreimeyer, and Reed (2005), who examined the writing of 110 deaf or hard-of- hearing students in public schools, found that 46% of the students scored below average in contextual conventions, contextual language, and story construction testing.
Kluwin and Kelly (1992) studied the writing of 325 deaf and hard-of-hearing children in grades 4 to 10 and concluded that adopting the process approach to teaching writing is more use- ful than product- based approach.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing children who use American Sign Language may not be able to express and understand mainstream American English since the grammatical structures of ASL are different from those of English (Lane, Hoff- meister, &Bahan, 1996).
According to McNally, Rose, & Quigley (2007), the components of ASL are different from English, and thus result in differ- ent levels of development of language skills in deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
The present study aimed to examine how teaching English writing through film-based DA could affect the writing ability of Iranian deaf children who use Persian Sign Language (PSL).
In the present study, the cooperation between learners and their teach- er via the films and the use of DA strategies pro- vided necessary exposure to the English language and as a result enhanced learners’ writing ability.
Teaching written language to students who are deaf or hard of hearing, Independent Studies and Capstones, Paper 186, Program in Audiology and Commu- nication Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine."