A Semantic Ambiguity Instruction to Improve Reading Comprehension in Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Author

Kelly Roy, Fontbonne College

Year of Award

2017

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

College

College of Education & Allied Health

Department

Communication Disorders and Deaf Education

First Advisor

Susan T. Lenihan

Second Advisor

Lynne Shields

Third Advisor

Jenna Voss

Keywords

language, detection, homonyms, riddle, reading

Abstract

Previous research has indicated that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing struggle with reading comprehension and that there are few evidence-based practices to improve reading comprehension with this population. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether explicit instruction of semantic ambiguity detection, a subset of metalinguistic awareness, would improve reading comprehension for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. It was hypothesized that this instruction would result in increased reading comprehension, specifically on a paragraph-completion task. Four participants attended intervention sessions that taught them to analyze semantic ambiguity in words, sentences, riddles, and text. Results were partially supportive of the hypothesis. Results suggested that this type of intervention is beneficial in helping children who are deaf or hard of hearing develop a metalinguistic awareness ability important to overall reading comprehension.

Document Type

Restricted Thesis

Recommended Citation

Roy, Kelly, "A Semantic Ambiguity Instruction to Improve Reading Comprehension in Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing" (2017). All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects. 97.
https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/all-etds/97