Abstract

FLOREZ ROMERO, Rita; BAQUERO CASTELLANOS, Silvia  and  SANCHEZ NAVAS, Liz Alejandra. DEVELOPMENT OF WRITTEN SPANISH SKILLS IN DEAF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY. Forma funcion, Santaf, de Bogot, D.C. [online]. 2010, vol.23, n.2, pp.33-71. ISSN 0120-338X.

The objective of this study was to explore the impact of a program aimed at developing writing skills in deaf university students. The theoretical foundation of the program was the concept of writing as a process. Research work was carried out in three stages: (1) initial characterization of the students' writing, (2) design and execution of a program aimed at strengthening writing skills on the basis of the first stage observations, and (3) assessment of the final text in relation to the parameters of the first stage. Student progress was determined on the basis of a comparison between the initial and final texts. Results showed improvement in several aspects of writing skills. Regarding the level of linguistic knowledge of the grammatical categories of Spanish used by the students, it was possible to observe that neither reflection on nor manipulation of the latter was clear or explicit, and that the students had found it difficult to reach the redescription level. This level is characterized by a procedural command of these categories and by the identification of their irregular uses, despite being unable to explain the reasons for those irregularities.

Keywords : cognitive processes; deaf persons; metacognition; metalinguistic awareness; representational redescription; writing.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )