1

Deaf Learners’ Negotiation of Meaning: From Visuals to Print

Agnes Dulce P. Adrias1
Frank S. Emboltura
College of Education and Graduate School,
University of San Agustin, Philippines
1
dulceadrias@gmail.com

Abstract

This narrative inquiry aimed to determine (1) how Deaf learners negotiate concepts / ideas about
the objects they see and (2) how they write these ideas. Participants were from the 6th Grade
class of 15 male and female Deaf students in a public Special Education School in Iloilo City,
Philippines. The researchers, assisted by the regular teacher (as interpreter using the American
Sign Language system), conducted the study by showing objects common to the students in their
daily life. Participants wrote down ideas / concepts about the objects shown to them, and
afterwards, shared their outputs with the class. The outputs were collected and analyzed through
discourse analysis to find answers to the aim of the study. Learners wrote mostly one-word or
simple phrases in English; phrase answers though were unintelligible thought units / fragments
due to lack of prepositions, transitions, and other grammatical structures. They spelled out the
words they wanted to write by using their fingers, crossed out misspelled words, or added more
words. The fragments showed the Deaf learners’ attempts to their expand one-word concepts,
but found them difficult although the teacher was around to help them out. Their body language
showed they had self-negotiation for the words they wanted to convey; they also had peer-
negotiated moves to find the right word to capture what they wanted to write; and used sign
language with their teacher for spelling and verification of what they had in mind. Based on the
findings of the study, the following recommendations are offered: (1) the Special Education
teacher should assist Deaf learners in writing intelligible thought units and completing sentences;
and (2) Schools should develop a digital picture-word reading module in ‘vocalizing’ and
conceptualizing the 220 Dolch Basic Sight Words as crutch for reading, writing, and
understanding of common language expressions.

Keywords: Self-negotiated meaning, Peer-negotiated meaning, Deaf Learners

Introduction
Amidst the roaring sounds of engines from a thousand vehicles plying the widened city
streets, the churning of cement mixers whirring in rhythm to the thunderous sound of pile-
driving equipment pounding pre-stressed concrete posts deep into the grounds to support massive
buildings that will mesmerize the eyes, the buzzing of voices and bursts of laughter coming from
people from all walks of life, all ages and stature in this ever-booming metropolis called the city
of Iloilo on the southeastern plains of the island of Panay, Philippines - a group of individuals
seems oblivious to those jarring sounds. As they walk the streets, they have eyes only for their
quick hand gestures before bursting into crackling laughter. Unmindful of other people staring at
them – they remain unperturbed signing their messages. There are a number of them around, but
most people do not recognize their impairment. They are members of the community who
 2

interact socially with others but cannot communicate functionally because people are not familiar
with their sign language.
The Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines enacted Republic Act
7277, known and cited as Magna Carta for Disabled Persons. RA 7277 provides for the
rehabilitation, self-development, and self-reliance of disabled persons and their integration into
the mainstream of society, as well as for other purposes. Section 4 of RA 7277 defines Deafness
or Hearing Impairment (HI) as the loss, diminution, or aberration of physiological or anatomical
structure of the function of the ears. This disability substantially limits one or more functions or
activities of such individuals. Thus, schools /centers rehabilitate the hearing impaired to their
highest possible level of functional ability.
In fact, the latest official estimate available on the number of PWDs in the country can be
obtained from the 2000 Census, with the figure placed at 1.2 percent of the total population or
942,098. This is 305,098 greater than the 1990 estimate and around 23,000 more compared to the
1995 census (NSO, 2013). Specifically, there are 44,725 Deaf Filipinos in the year 2000 (NSO,
2013). And, in Region VI of the Philippines there were 844 Deaf learners enrolled in public
Special Education schools (Garcia, 2014).
In language acquisition, listening and speaking are abilities that are mutually dependent,
thus, without the sounds registering in the ear, no language production happens, no recognition
of the association between ‘the sound’ and ‘the symbol’ in print takes place. Unless the person
with deafness is supported by professionally trained individuals and supported at home by family
members and other significant persons in the community, it would not be feasible for the Deaf to
find meaning and purpose in their life as they link with other humans and the natural
environment. What optimism is there for the Deaf to compete favorably for available
opportunities to sustain themselves because they have limited access (or none at all) to language
and, subsequently, to world knowledge?
The researchers of this study – one specializing in special education, the other in
curriculum development and English language teaching – teamed up to find out: (1) how Deaf
learners attach meaning to what they see; and (2) how they translate their thoughts into the
printed symbols (or what is commonly known as writing). These objectives are cognitive in
nature, involving the eyes that signal the brain to process what the former see, but which the
researchers cannot see; observing how ‘thoughts’ or images are processed by the brain is
impossible for them to do. However, they could clearly observe the Deaf learners’ gestures,
which are psychomotor movements, in their attempt to ‘decode’ and express their “thoughts”.
Thus, for this study, the researchers observed Deaf learners hand gestures that captured their
thoughts on the objects shown to them; then, when asked what they were thinking about when
they saw the pictures, they immediately wrote down their thoughts on paper. The technical term
for these moves is negotiation of meaning between the object and the print it represents. What
the Deaf learners’ had written was looked into more closely by the researchers in terms of
grammatical structures and embedded meanings.

Theoretical Framework
Merrill Swain’s Comprehensible Output theory explains how writers negotiate meaning
in coming up with written text to communicate intended meaning (Swain; in Hinkel, 2005).
Swain claims that the act of producing language (speaking or written) constitutes, under
circumstances, part of the process of second language learning. The theory describes the writer
as making a series of moves such as changing, erasing, revising, or repairing utterances while
 3

writing the draft, until he/she reaches a certain degree of clarity in the intended meaning. The
moves a writer makes may be self-initiated, with classmates or peers, or rendered as a “push” by
the teacher to encourage the former to clarify the intended meaning from the point of view of the
writer.
The series of moves the writer does allows him to make the necessary steps to improve or
repair the written text to achieve a certain degree of clarity of the intended meaning. These
moves are called negotiation of meaning. As a process, negotiation of meaning takes place when
the writer interacts with the text he already has written and, when he/she senses something
discordant either in grammar, meaning, or structure, he/she responds to it by mentally re-
constructing his/her own version of the text in his/her initial draft. The writer must have seen the
need to revise or recreate the written structure to make it understandable or comprehensible to
both him/her - the writer - and his/her reader. In essence, this is the gist of Merrill Swains’
Comprehensible Output theory.
In the study, though the HIs did not have to write a lot of words or phrases, their outputs
certainly showed changes or revisions that were perhaps meant to clarify their ideas.
 

The Conceptual Framework

Visual
prompts
Fresh flowers
Cake of soap
Shampoo
Toothpaste
Deodorant
Lei

Written
Negotiation of Meaning Output

Figure 1. A schematic diagram showing the effect of the Visual Prompts (independent
variables) on the Written Production (dependent variable).

The framework shows how visual prompts engage Deaf learners’ to negotiate ideas until
they capture the word(s) they desire to write down.
Language is an inevitable component of man’s existence as a social being. His need for
language is as real as his need for food, shelter, transportation, water, or power supply. Man
acquires language for communication over time through a hierarchical development starting
from listening, to speaking, to reading, and on to writing. Writing comes last for it builds on the
interplay of listening, speaking, and reading. Written language is a complex social tool
(Vygotsky, 1934/1986; in Spence, 2010) which is learned through a reflexive mode of
 4

interaction within socially situated contexts like the home, school, and community. As a means
of communication, writing translates thoughts into prints of letters, figures, or other significant
symbols, which, when arranged into logical clusters, render a message or meaning.
Writing as a process creates a dialogue between the writer and his environment, through
the medium of written text, to establish a connection. The externals (or the visual prompts)
trigger and stimulate the individual to activate his mental processes in order to translate thoughts
into comprehensible written production. The dialogue between the writer and the written text
then creates recursive patterns of interaction as the writing continues, until the writer is
convinced about the clarity of the intended message. The progressive interaction aids the writer
in clarifying and refining his thoughts while he undergoes the process referred to as negotiation
of meaning.
The negotiations directed towards composing one’s thoughts into clear print spontaneously start
upon the individual’s initial awareness of his interesting external environment that causes him to
write. While conceiving and formulating ideas about the visual prompt, the individual starts to
slide back to previous thoughts, then, moves forward to find the word(s) that may portray his
thoughts in print. The entire composing process, from start to finish, sees the writer immerse
himself in a series of moves meant to reach a comprehensible writing.
Writing then is an ongoing process of considering alternatives and making choices
(Troyka, 1993). Coon et al. (1980) believed that writing clarifies thinking. Writing is crucial to
thinking, and vice versa. In many cases, students experience communication blocks in effective
writing. They either hit or miss in conveying their thoughts. A reflective and meticulous writing
student would clarify, rephrase, revise, or edit what he/she may have initially written in text, as a
means to filter unnecessary words or idea (Retrieved November 15, 2010
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/ knowledge-wiki/negotiation-meaning).

Objectives of the Study

Given the background of this study, the researchers wanted to find out what Deaf
learners (HIs) thought about what they had seen and how they would transform such thoughts
into word(s). Specifically, they wanted to seek answers to the following queries:
1. How did Deaf learners negotiate concepts / ideas about the objects they had seen?
2. How did they transform those thoughts/ideas into writing?

Significance of the Study

As Educators, we aim to strengthen and enrich the pre-service formation of our students
enrolled in the Bachelor of Science programs in Special Education and in Early Childhood in the
College of Education of the University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines. In particular, we
would like them to become more knowledgeable on how to help HIs in their written
communication.
We also wish to see Deaf learners make more conscious moves to express themselves in
complete written grammatical structures so that their messages will be more comprehensible not
only to fellow HIs but also to individuals who are not familiar with the American Sign Language
(ASL) system.
Believing that parents are our partners in the formation and academic development of
Deaf learners, we should like the parents to provide greater and more involved home follow-
 5

through to develop their children’s consciousness that they, too, have the capacity to read printed
texts with comprehension, thus gaining skills for independent reading.
Aware about what the national government can do to help the self-development of Deaf
learners, we shall design and propose a program to the Department of Education on how to
intensify the teaching of language and reading in SPED schools in order to provide Deaf learners
with opportunities for developing and improving their communication skills that would enable
them to gain more confidence in interacting with the ‘speaking’ members of the community.
Results of the study would also serve as basis for future in-depth study on the linguistic
development of Deaf learners.

Definition of Terms
For a better understanding of the concepts of the present research, key terms used in the
study are defined conceptually and operationally as follows:
Deaf learners—Deaf learners are individuals who are experiencing the loss, diminution,
or aberration of physiological or anatomical structure of the function of the ears (R.A. 7277,
Republic of the Philippines).In the study, Deaf learners are the 15 students who are enrolled in
Grade 6 in the Special Education program at Integrated School for Exceptional Children in Iloilo
City, Philippines. They have hearing impairment, and they are referred to as Hearing Impaired
(HI) students.
Negotiation of meaning—The phrase negotiation of meaning refers to the act that a writer
makes now and then while putting down words during the process of writing itself. The act is a
series of choosing, modifying, replacing, deleting words, or phrases, or re-ordering sentences,
which may be done by the writer himself, with peers, or with the teacher, until he is satisfied
with the way the words and their arrangement capture what he quite wanted to put across in print
(SAGE Journal Received online October 4, 2010).
In the study, the terms negotiation of meaning, negotiating meaning, or meaning-making
are used in the same context as the conceptual definition. The writer may negotiate meaning by
himself, with peers, or with the teacher.
Visuals— The term visuals pertains to the picture elements, like photographs, slides,
films charts, or other materials as used for illustration (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse
/visual Retrieved August 31, 2015).
In the study, visuals refer to the prompts or the objects shown to the participants, about
which they write a word, a phrase, or any ideas they can relate to it.
Print—The term print is a mark made on something by pressure; handwritten letters
imitating typographical forms (Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language.
Deluxe Edition. (1992). Danbury, CT: Lexicon Publications.
In the study, print is referred to as the written words, phrases, or sentences that the
participants thought about the prompt shown to them.

Delimitation of the Study

This study involved 15 participants enrolled in the Grade VI Learners with
Deafness/Hearing Impairment (HI) class in a public school for exceptional children. Their
regular Special Education (SPED) teacher and the co-researcher translated to the main proponent
the communication interaction during the conduct of the study. Objects / items familiar to the
HIs were shown to them, about which they wrote words, phrases, or sentences they could
associate or relate to the objects shown. While the HIs were writing, the researchers observed
 6

their gestures or body language as visible signals that they were attempting (negotiating) to find
words to present their ideas. The written outputs of the HIs were analyzed in regard to their
grammatical structures, types of errors, or changes/revisions made, and the embedded ideas in
the written text. The gestures and movements were observable indicators of how the HIs were
processing ideas or negotiating meanings of words that they would then write down. The
researcher recorded the proceedings using her laptop camera, so that review of the class activities
could be made and findings verified.

Methodology
In the study conducted in two separate 40-minute periods, I showed the 15 Grade 6 Deaf
learners visual prompts that led them to writing words or phrases about what they have seen,
namely: two stems of cut fresh flowers, a cake of bath soap, shampoo in sachets, a tube of
toothpaste, a bottle of deodorant, and a garland or lei. With the help of the Special Education
(SPED) teacher who used the American Sign Language to translate my instructions, I asked Deaf
learners what ideas entered their mind upon seeing the objects; then, I asked them to write on
their paper the word(s) that expressed their thoughts on the objects shown on the pictures. When
I saw that they were done writing, I asked for student volunteers to share with their classmates
what they had written. During the sharing, the SPED teacher again helped in verbalizing what
every sharer signed. At the end of two 40-minute class sessions, I collected their papers and
studied the words / phrases they had written earlier. I did this to find out if there was a logical
connection between the words they had written down earlier and the objects used as visual
prompts. I also reviewed the videos that had been taken to see what the HIs did while writing
their answers. I eventually categorized the written answers into themes, patterns, and grammar
structures. Furthermore, I analyzed the written outputs more closely to discover their embedded
meanings.

Results
The participants wrote about their ideas/concepts of the pictures mostly in one or two
words, with a sprinkling of phrases, leaving it to the reader to decipher the relationship of words.
The following is an extract of the participants’ written production. Please note that of the
six visual prompts, written answers for pink bougainvillea and tube toothpaste are reflected in
the paper.

For the prompt –FRESH FLOWERS, pink bougainvillea

(Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd)
The participants wrote the following concepts/ideas:
Flower beauty smell big
Soil plant flower soil nice color
Flower leaf water flower flower give flower grow
Geogrous good smell bright pink lovely
Rose *gumbale leaves sampaguita
Sunflower snow spring clear
It is very beautiful colorful flower.
A the place are My favorite pink flower and a nice flower
*gumbale is the shortened pronunciation in the local dialect of the word ‘bougainvillea’.

For the prompt – TUBE TOOTPASTE
The participants wrote the following concepts/ideas:
teeth smell smooth
I am teeth good smell
Evidences of self-correction (self-negotiated corrections / additions)
What is flower are beaty beauty.
a firt first winner
The first is a studes winner.
Beat boat beauty skin
The graduation Mar 27 2015 wear
Honor your mama
The graduation wear learn
Honor
A beautiful flower and nice flower.
The smell teeth and clear teeth
became a white teeth.
not
I am ^ dirty.
Because a past WVSU
Toothpaste smell teeth
Shampoo smooth hair
Soap smooth hands
Flower it a soft
The Flower on butterfly smell
beautiful nice flower?
teeth nice dirty teeth clean because
white teeth smell
flower Beautiful nice color grow
smile
7
hand nice teeth white teeth smell
beautiful teeth white water
Misspelled beaty changed to beauty
Missed out letter –s rewritten as first
Hesitation in use of is
Wrong word used studes changed to winner
Wrong word beat and boat used – perhaps due to
confusion which one to use because of almost similar
word configuration /ea/ and /oa/
Hesitation showing inability to construct the
statement
Perhaps the statement would have been: For
graduation on March 27, 2015, mama should wear
something nice because she would go up on stage
with me to receive my medal for being an honor
student.
The writer must have noticed that the word ‘flower’
is repeated in the same sentence, so she crossed out
the first ‘flower’ – which resulted in a grammatically
correct structure.
Suggested recast: The small and clear [clean] teeth
became white.
The writer must have understood the meaning of her
statement: I am dirty. But perhaps realizing that the
sentence has a negative meaning [the opposite of
having a nice smell], she inserted a caret for the word
‘not’, therefore converting the sentence into a
positive one.
Could the writer have meant: Because I passed by
WVSU [a state university in Iloilo City]…?
Suggested repair: Toothpaste makes teeth smell nice.
Shampoo makes hair smooth.
Soap smoothens the hands.
The flower is soft.
The butterfly smells the flower.
Are the flowers beautiful and nice?
Incoherence - The writer perhaps attempted to
construct a cause-effect sentence but was challenged
in putting the words together to form a coherent
sentence that would convey what she had in mind.
Repetition of the same words flower, beautiful, smile;
lve is a “corruption” of the word love – must be the
 8

Evidences of self-correction (self-negotiated corrections / additions)

grow flower give beautiful flower
give Smile nice beautiful smile lve
[love] you
I am need other beautiful Smile lve
single.
My friend is smile good who happy
beautiful
Praying lve are many all much we
God wory their fine when nice
flower.
The snow clean flowers.
I feel made Roses valentine’s! I like The writer has strong feelings about Valentine’s
you flowers, any.
What love I give Parents because I
give in share nice flower beauty.
I am CR bath back teeth Colgate
The is thing soap bath soap
A hair back CR; finish smell I am
smooth skin Dove
I am nice smell.
effect of texting. Could she have meant: The flower is
beautiful and nice; I smile when I see it grow; I will
give you a beautiful flower because you have a nice
beautiful smile that I love. (Researcher’s comment: It
seems that the writer, being 32 years old, could have
referred to a loved one with her use of the term
“lve”. Further, as a 32-year old single woman, she
must have needed or wished for someone to give her
another beautiful smile because she was single.
Suggested sentence: My friend is smiling; she is good,
happy and beautiful.
Researchers could not formulate a sentence that
could grasp the ‘intended meaning’ of the writer,
although the words strongly suggest that the student
had a religious line of thought with the use of the
terms “praying”, “love” and “God”. No suggested
recast.
The writer used the word ‘snow’ which he could
have associated with clean things such as flowers.
The writer must have heard or read about snow as
pure and white which is often associated with being
clean. Language expression reflects the user’s
knowledge about snow melting and turning to liquid
in the form of water that falls on flowers, thus
‘cleaning’ them.
[Day] as indicated by the use of the exclamation
point. Suggested recast: I feel that roses are made for
Valentine’s. I like you and I’m saying it with flowers,
whether or not they’re roses.
Suggested recast: What [gestures] of love can I give
to my parents? [Well,] I can give and share with
them nice and beautiful flowers.
I am in the CR for a bath. I brush my teeth using
Colgate. Then I use bath soap. My hair [needs
cleaning]. I must go back to the CR, and when I
finish [taking a bath], I will smell fresh. I will also
have smooth skin when I use Dove [soap].
Suggested recast: I have nice smell. / I smell good.

Interpretation
The written production of Deaf learners was mostly one-word concepts and strings of
words that rarely hit concepts or ideas related to the prompts presented. Certainly, they thought
of words or phrases to express their ideas or concepts, but they just could not put together what
they wanted to convey for lack of words to write, hence they were unable to construct coherent
 9

sentences. What is missing in all of their outputs are connectors or particles that should have
made sense or meaning out of their written text. Video clips showed that while writing, some of
them were signing for spelling, for the correct word to use that would capture what they wanted
to convey. As observed further, the students looked at their regular teacher to sign for their
queries, to which the teacher responded in sign language, too. The students would then nod their
heads to show their confirmation or agreement. Seated side by side at a rectangular wooden table
big enough for 6 students, some students likewise signed their seatmate either to their right or
left, or across the table, to clarify some doubts, and they helped each other finish their assigned
task. This set-up could be the reason for their having almost the same answers for every item
shown, such as flower, beautiful, nice, smell, and good. Apparently, the issue on limited
vocabulary in English surfaced as the single major factor in the difficulty Deaf learners had
experienced in composing their answers. The issue on word choice also reflects their writing
proficiency and performance at their current grade level.

Evidences of self-correction (self-negotiated corrections / additions)

What is flower are beaty beauty.
a firt first winner
The first is a studes winner.
Beat boat beauty skin
The graduation Mar 27 2015 wear
Honor your mama
The graduation wear learn
Honor
A beautiful flower and nice flower.
The smell teeth and clear teeth
became a white teeth.
not
I am ^ dirty.
Because a past WVSU
Toothpaste smell teeth
Shampoo smooth hair
Soap smooth hands
Misspelled beaty changed to beauty
Missed out letter –s rewritten as first
Hesitation in use of is
Wrong word used studes changed to winner
Wrong word beat and boat used – perhaps due to
confusion which one to use because of almost similar
word configuration /ea/ and /oa/
Hesitation showing inability to construct the
statement
Perhaps the statement would have been: For
graduation on March 27, 2015, mama should wear
something nice because she would go up on stage
with me to receive my medal for being an honor
student.
The writer must have noticed that the word ‘flower’
is repeated in the same sentence, so she crossed out
the first ‘flower’ – which resulted in a grammatically
correct structure.
Suggested recast: The small and clear [clean] teeth
became white.
The writer must have understood the meaning of her
statement: I am dirty. But perhaps realizing that the
sentence has a negative meaning [the opposite of
having a nice smell], she inserted a caret for the word
‘not’, therefore converting the sentence into a
positive one.
Could the writer have meant: Because I passed by
WVSU [a state university in Iloilo City]…?
Suggested repair: Toothpaste makes teeth smell nice.
Shampoo makes hair smooth.
Soap smoothens the hands.

Evidences of self-correction (self-negotiated corrections / additions)
Flower it a soft
The Flower on butterfly smell
beautiful nice flower?
teeth nice dirty teeth clean because
white teeth smell
flower Beautiful nice color grow
smile
grow flower give beautiful flower
give Smile nice beautiful smile lve
[love] you
I am need other beautiful Smile lve
single.
My friend is smile good who happy
beautiful
Praying lve are many all much we
God wory their fine when nice
flower.
The snow clean flowers.
I feel made Roses valentine’s! I like The writer has strong feelings about Valentine’s
you flowers, any.
What love I give Parents because I
give in share nice flower beauty.
I am CR bath back teeth Colgate
The is thing soap bath soap
A hair back CR; finish smell I am
10
The flower is soft.
The butterfly smells the flower.
Are the flowers beautiful and nice?
Incoherence - The writer perhaps attempted to
construct a cause-effect sentence but was challenged
in putting the words together to form a coherent
sentence that would convey what she had in mind.
Repetition of the same words flower, beautiful, smile;
lve is a “corruption” of the word love – must be the
effect of texting. Could she have meant: The flower is
beautiful and nice; I smile when I see it grow; I will
give you a beautiful flower because you have a nice
beautiful smile that I love. (Researcher’s comment: It
seems that the writer, being 32 years old, could have
referred to a loved one with her use of the term
“lve”. Further, as a 32-year old single woman, she
must have needed or wished for someone to give her
another beautiful smile because she was single.
Suggested sentence: My friend is smiling; she is good,
happy and beautiful.
Researchers could not formulate a sentence that
could grasp the ‘intended meaning’ of the writer,
although the words strongly suggest that the student
had a religious line of thought with the use of the
terms “praying”, “love” and “God”. No suggested
recast.
The writer used the word ‘snow’ which he could
have associated with clean things such as flowers.
The writer must have heard or read about snow as
pure and white which is often associated with being
clean. Language expression reflects the user’s
knowledge about snow melting and turning to liquid
in the form of water that falls on flowers, thus
‘cleaning’ them.
[Day] as indicated by the use of the exclamation
point. Suggested recast: I feel that roses are made for
Valentine’s. I like you and I’m saying it with flowers,
whether or not they’re roses.
Suggested recast: What [gestures] of love can I give
to my parents? [Well,] I can give and share with
them nice and beautiful flowers.
I am in the CR for a bath. I brush my teeth using
Colgate. Then I use bath soap. My hair [needs
cleaning]. I must go back to the CR, and when I
 11

Evidences of self-correction (self-negotiated corrections / additions)

smooth skin Dove finish [taking a bath], I will smell fresh. I will also
have smooth skin when I use Dove [soap].
I am nice smell. Suggested recast: I have nice smell. / I smell good.
 

Interpretation
The written production of Deaf learners was mostly one-word concepts and strings of
words that rarely hit concepts or ideas related to the prompts presented. Certainly, they thought
of words or phrases to express their ideas or concepts, but they just could not put together what
they wanted to convey for lack of words to write, hence they were unable to construct coherent
sentences. What is missing in all of their outputs are connectors or particles that should have
made sense or meaning out of their written text. Video clips showed that while writing, some of
them were signing for spelling, for the correct word to use that would capture what they wanted
to convey. As observed further, the students looked at their regular teacher to sign for their
queries, to which the teacher responded in sign language, too. The students would then nod their
heads to show their confirmation or agreement. Seated side by side at a rectangular wooden table
big enough for 6 students, some students likewise signed their seatmate either to their right or
left, or across the table, to clarify some doubts, and they helped each other finish their assigned
task. This set-up could be the reason for their having almost the same answers for every item
shown, such as flower, beautiful, nice, smell, and good. Apparently, the issue on limited
vocabulary in English surfaced as the single major factor in the difficulty Deaf learners had
experienced in composing their answers. The issue on word choice also reflects their writing
proficiency and performance at their current grade level.
In the order of acquiring a language for use by the individual – whether in the first or
second language, the process starts first with listening, then on to speaking, followed by reading
and writing, at least for normal individuals born with normally functioning hearing and speaking
organs. But definitely, for Deaf learners, there are missing abilities that impede language
development. Among the Deaf learners who were diagnosed at birth with congenital hearing.
Impairment, the abilities to develop the listening and speaking skill were naturally absent.

The SWIFT Pedagogy was derived by Dr. Agnes Dulce P. Adrias from her dissertation entitled 'Negotiation of Meaning in the
Context of Interdisciplinary Teaching as Reflected in the Students’ Written Output for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in
Education major in Curriculum Development in 2011 at the West Visayas State University, Iloilo City, Philippines.

There are two steps involved in the process: Step 1 - Engagement, and Step 2 - Phases of
Writing. The spiral movement starts at the black dot during brainstorming, and the loop goes up
gradually wider during pre-writing, revising and editing, and the widest loops at the highest point
of rewriting the final copy. The dark broken arrows pointing to the left are the times when the
writer slides back to his previous thoughts to align them with his present piece of work, while the
small broken arrows pointing to the right indicate progression of composition. The numbers
between the spiral loops denote the number of revisions that may be had by the writer in piecing
together his thoughts.
Step 1 is the engagement phase. Engagement is a teacher-led activity, where she shows
the prompt to the writers to brainstorrm for concepts and words that they think about the object
at that moment. The teacher may ask students some questions to lead them to grasp what the
prompt is about. Soon after, students start to write words and phrases, or scribble and doodle if
 12

they don’t have the vocabulary in writing those ideas. Once ideas become clearer, they sift the
concepts or cross out words which they find not needed in their initial draft. Consequently, they
start to connect ideas to figure out sentences. This is now the start of the second step. Students
continue to compose their thoughts by themselves – now and then changing one word to another,
revising the sentence, re-ordering their sentences, adding a word or two, checking on mechanics,
or trying out several words to use to convey their intended message. They may ask a seatmate to
confirm ideas, or to sound off any doubts they are confronted with while writing, They may also
ask their teacher to verify, confirm, or seek information. As writing progresses from initial to
tentative draft, and on to the final draft, the writer still continues to improve his work by himself,
with his peers, or with his teacher, until he is convinced 100% that what he has written is a
‘masterpiece.’
Referring to the SWIFT graphic illustration, the writings reflected by the participants in
the study are somewhere between brainstorming and the first third of comprehension stage. The
words they generated were one-word adjectives, descriptive phrases, and strings of seemingly
unrelated words without connectors or prepositions. We surmised that they had ideas to write
about, however, they might not have been ready in writing the corresponding printed symbols.
We could be wrong with our observations and impressions - we need to follow this up if there
were instruments we can use to measure their level of vocabulary for writing in English.
Figure 2 The SWIFT Pedagogy (Spiral Writing – Inductive Funnel Technique used in teaching
writing a composition.
The SWIFT Pedagogy was derived by Dr. Agnes Dulce P. Adrias from her dissertation entitled 'Negotiation of
Meaning in the Context of Interdisciplinary Teaching as Reflected in the Students’ Written Output for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education major in Curriculum Development in 2011 at the West Visayas State University,
Iloilo City, Philippines.

There are two steps involved in the process: Step 1 - Engagement, and Step 2 - Phases of
Writing. The spiral movement starts at the black dot during brainstorming, and the loop goes up
gradually wider during pre-writing, revising and editing, and the widest loops at the highest point
of rewriting the final copy. The dark broken arrows pointing to the left are the times when the
writer slides back to his previous thoughts to align them with his present piece of work, while the
small broken arrows pointing to the right indicate progression of composition. The numbers
between the spiral loops denote the number of revisions that may be had by the writer in piecing
together his thoughts.
Step 1 is the engagement phase. Engagement is a teacher-led activity, where she shows
the prompt to the writers to brainstorrm for concepts and words that they think about the object
at that moment. The teacher may ask students some questions to lead them to grasp what the
prompt is about. Soon after, students start to write words and phrases, or scribble and doodle if
they don’t have the vocabulary in writing those ideas. Once ideas become clearer, they sift the
concepts or cross out words which they find not needed in their initial draft. Consequently, they
start to connect ideas to figure out sentences. This is now the start of the second step. Students
continue to compose their thoughts by themselves – now and then changing one word to another,
revising the sentence, re-ordering their sentences, adding a word or two, checking on mechanics,
or trying out several words to use to convey their intended message. They may ask a seatmate to
confirm ideas, or to sound off any doubts they are confronted with while writing, They may also
ask their teacher to verify, confirm, or seek information. As writing progresses from initial to
tentative draft, and on to the final draft, the writer still continues to improve his work by himself,
 13

with his peers, or with his teacher, until he is convinced 100% that what he has written is a
‘masterpiece.’
Referring to the SWIFT graphic illustration, the writings reflected by the participants in
the study are somewhere between brainstorming and the first third of comprehension stage. The
words they generated were one-word adjectives, descriptive phrases, and strings of seemingly
unrelated words without connectors or prepositions. We surmised that they had ideas to write
about, however, they might not have been ready in writing the corresponding printed symbols.
We could be wrong with our observations and impressions - we need to follow this up if there
were instruments we can use to measure their level of vocabulary for writing in English.
On the other hand, we understand that the mode of instruction used in the participants’
class is the American Sign Language (ASL) in which only key words or structures affecting
semantics, and spelling of new or uncommon words encountered by Deaf learners in the course
of instruction and their interaction with other Deaf are signed. We believe that Grade 6 Deaf
learners have the capacity, though limited at the moment, to be led to a higher ground of
challenges and higher levels of comprehension and literacy in English. By then, they could
become functional citizens in the community where they are immersed, and the established goal
of RA 7277 of the Republic of the Philippines, that is the integration of the hearing impaired
individuals in the mainstream of society, shall be realized.
Implications about the Study
As mentioned in the article Reviewing the Past, Assessing the Present, and Projecting the
Future by author Robert R. Davila, who himself was deaf, the past 40 years have seen dramatic
change and progress resulting in the empowerment of many deaf persons and improvement in the
quality of their lives. These gains are linked to expanded educational opportunities resulting in
access to new employment fields and increased awareness and acceptance of deaf and hard of
hearing persons within the larger community. The world’s systems serving deaf persons have
been incredibly successful in some cases, but, unfortunately, unsuccessful in many others. “We
are beginning to realize that such a narrow scope is insufficient for the broader purpose of
preparing deaf men and women for participation in the global economy of the 21st century.”
How we wish our HIs could acquire the necessary knowledge and skills that could place them in
the same advantage as those whose hearing and speech are functioning normally. An elusive
dream? Maybe yes, but with the leaps made by the potent power of electronic and digital
technology, there will be programs that may be generated to imitate human sound production and
thereafter design nano gadgets for the construction not of infrastructure, but the building of
vocabulary for reading among the Deaf learners. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “We cannot
build the future for our youth—but we can build our youth for the future.” (NEA). Gerner de
Garcia in his article Education Acquisition of English Literacy by Signing Deaf Children stated
that English literacy is a challenge for deaf students, and this study confirms it so. If the blind
have the Braille System for reading, the Hearing Impaired could also have a system, too.
Professor Frank Emboltura and I, Dr. Dulce Adrias, claim in faith the Biblical passage in
Mark 7:32-37, where “…a deaf man who had a speech difficulty was brought to Jesus, to lay His
hand on him, and after putting His fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, He touched his tongue.
Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, Ephphatha! (that is, ‘Be
opened!’). Immediately his ears were opened, his speech difficulty was removed, and he began
to speak clearly.” One day, our dear brothers and sisters who have had hearing impairment for
years now, may also be miraculously blessed with whatever digital hearing and speech programs
the Good Lord shall inspire us to develop along the 4Cs needed for the meaningful education of
 14

21st century learners including the Hearing Impaired. The 4Cs are: critical thinking and problem
solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation. We pray that the Good
Lord shall send us friends and advocates to support and work with us to realize this dream for
our brothers and sisters in the ‘silent world’.

References

Coon, G. E., Cramer, B. B., Fillmer, H. T., Letcourt, A., Martin, J., & Thomson, N. C. (1980).
American Book English. USA: D.C. Heath.
Davila, R.R. Reviewing the past, assessing the present, and projecting the future. Retrieved
September 19, 2015 at: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/excerpts/EDSone.html
De Garcia, G. (n.d.). Education acquisition of English literacy by signing Deaf children. Ponto
de Vista , Florianópolis, n.05, p. 129-150, 2003
Garcia, F.E. (2014). Persons with disabilities: Status in the Philippines presentation, 1st
International Conference of Public Librarians, March 19-21, 2014. Retrieved at:
http://web.nlp.gov.ph/nlp/sites/default/files/20Mar2014/Persons%20with%20Disabilities
%20by%20Edgardo%20garcia.pdf
Hinkel, E. (Ed.). (2005). Handbook of research in a second language teaching and learning.
New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 474-473. Retrieved November 15,
2010 at:
file///D:/Document%20back%20up/My%20Documents/Downloads/Handbook%20of%20
research%20in%20second%20language.htm#v=onepage&q=negotiating%20meaning%2
0to%20write%20about&f=false
National Education Association (NEA). Preparing 21st Century Students for a Global Society:
An Educator’s Guide to the “Four Cs”. Retrieved September 19, 2015 at:
http://www.nea.org/tools/52217.htm
National Statistics Authority (NSO), Databank and Information Services Division. (2013).
Philippines in figures 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2015 at:
https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/2013%20PIF.pdf
Republic Act 7277 of the Republic of the Philippines. Magna Charta for Disabled Persons.
Retrieved September 19, 2015 at: http://www.neda.gov.ph/disbaility-laws/republic-
acts/republic-act-7277#sthashwAnwCD8o.dpuf
Spence, L.K. (2010, May). Discerning Writing Assessment: Insights into an Analytical Rubric.
Language Arts. Locating Standards in Language Arts Education, 87. National Council of
Teachers of English, 337-347.
Troyka, L. (1993). Simon and Schuster handbook for writers (3rd Ed.). New Jersey: Prentice
Hall.
Republic Act 7277 of the Republic of the Philippines. Magna Charta for Disabled Persons.
Retrieved September 19, 2015 at: http://www.neda.gov.ph/disbaility-laws/republic-
acts/republic-act-7277#sthashwAnwCD8o.dpuf
 15

List of Figures
Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing the effect of the Visual Prompts (independent variables)
on the Written Production (dependent variable).

Figure 2 The SWIFT Pedagogy (Spiral Writing – Inductive Funnel Technique used in teaching
composition. writing

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

With credits to:

Editor: Ms. Gladys T. Confesor, M.Ed. – Reading
Graphic Artist: Ms. Cecile Glorette P. Adrias