Teachers' Beliefs and Practices Related to Writing Development of ASL/English Bilingual Deaf Students

Writing often begins during the early years of childhood. Teachers' beliefs about early writing development can influence children's process in learning to write. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine deaf education teachers' beliefs and practices regarding the process of development of Deaf children's emergent writing. An online Qualtrics survey was completed by 86 elementary deaf education teachers working with Deaf students in K-6th classrooms. Teachers' responses indicated which aspects of writing they valued and used and the frequency they used them when teaching writing to Deaf children. Classroom teachers' and itinerant teachers' responses revealed statistically significant differences on the writing aspects they valued and used. Based on these findings, the researcher offers several suggestions and recommendations aimed at promoting Deaf children's writing in both deaf education classrooms and mainstream programs.