Phase One data analysis of findings

The first phase was embedded in the quantitative paradigm with the administration of a battery of pre-tests in order to establish a baseline assessment of literacy performance. The criterion- referenced tests were employed to gauge Sally’s mastery of the skills and concepts pertaining to literacy development, and the norm-referenced tests were utilised to evaluate the same skills in terms of grade or age level scores. The below-mentioned tests were administered before the research participant, Sally, was introduced to the THRASS intervention programme. However, it must be pointed out that the norm-referenced tests are benchmarked from the hearing population. Additionally, the Schonell reading and spelling tests as well as the Burt reading tests are somewhat outdated, but they are the only standardised tests available and they are still used extensively in South Africa. (See section 5.2.2.1 to 5.2.2.7).

The ensuing criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests were administered with the research participant in phase one of the intervention programme in the form of pre-tests; the purpose of which was to yield a baseline assessment in terms of the mastery of skills and concepts as well as grade or age level literacy performance. Data obtained during the testing procedure were analysed in terms of speech sound production (See section 2.6.4 for a discussion on speech sound production); reading and spelling. (See section 2.6.6 for a discussion on reading acquisition).

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5.2.1.1 The THRASS 120 Reading Test

This is a criterion-referenced test which is comprised of the 120 keywords representing the 24 consonant phonemes and 20 vowel phonemes on the THRASS Picturechart. The reader is asked to read aloud each row of words in a left-to-right fashion. The test is discontinued after ten consecutive errors are made. Words should be read as sight vocabulary and not be blended from separate sounds. Credit is only given to words pronounced accurately. (Discretion had to be used in this regard because of speech sound production in learners who are deaf). 1

Sally scored 112/120 which translated to 93,3%. Reading errors include the following:

 short vowel substitution – bull for ball; dock for duck

 consonant substitution – pleasure for measure; threw for screw

 refusals – circus

 misreads – bolt for bird; powny for pony; dolpin for dolphin

The following speech sound production errors were noted. However, these errors did not affect overall scoring, although it is sometimes difficult to discern between ‘misreading’ and ‘mispronunciation’:

 short vowel monophthongs – ent for ant

 consonant plosives (k/g, p/b, t/d) – pook for book; pus for bus; tress for dress; tuck for duck; clue for glue; tiker for tiger

 consonant plosives for consonant fricatives (d/th) – fedduh for feather; tumb for thumb

 consonant fricatives (s/z) – fiss for fizz; sip for zip

 nasals for liquids (n/l) – naddah for ladder; namb for lamb

5.2.1.2 The THRASS 120 Spelling Test

This criterion-referenced test evaluates the ability to correctly spell the 120 keywords incorporating the 24 consonant phonemes and 20 vowel phonemes on the THRASS Picturechart. Each keyword is said aloud, repeated, and then used in a sentence to illustrate the word’s meaning. The speller records the words in the grids from left-to-right and testing is discontinued after ten consecutive errors are made by the testee.

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Sally achieved a raw score of 99/120 which converted to 82,5%. Spelling errors, which may overlap into different error categories, included the following:

 transpositions – beard for bread; gule for glue; slevae for sleeve; sqaure for square; gaint for giant

 reversals – panba for panda

 insertions – staition for station

 omissions – srew for screw; cirus for circus; quit for quilt; diner for dinner (k/s/l/n)

 substitution – pong for pony; moon for moor

 long vowel monophthongs [i:] – chesse for cheese; slevae for sleeve; sneazz for sneeze; pong for pony

 vowel digraphs – train for tray; staition for station; sqaure for square; thersure for treasure

 vowel diphthongs – gaint for giant

 affricatives [dᴣ] – bighten for bridge

 unstressed syllable (schwa) [ǝ] – coller for collar

5.2.1.3 The THRASS 500 Reading Test

This test incorporates sight words or high frequency words and words with non-phonographic spellings as well as the 120 keywords. It is a criterion-referenced test of 500 base words where the reader is required to read the words in each row from left to right. Credit is only given to words read aloud as ‘sight vocabulary’ and not by word analysis and synthesis. Mark as correct any incorrect word pronunciations that may be attributed to mispronunciation due to accent or disability. The test is discontinued after ten consecutive errors are noted.

A raw score of 457/500 was obtained which was reduced to a percentage score of 91,4%. Analysis of reading errors which may fall into more than one category revealed the following:

 misreads – off for of (f/v could be an error of articulation); may for by; may for buy; am for I’m; no for now; cone for coin; far for fair; now for know; tower for tour; peas for piece (could be articulation); were for we’re; belong for below; head for hedge; walken for woken; caught for called (could be articulation); ready for really; mishee for machine; truf for through; forty for fourteen (sound too similar to discriminate); difficult for different;

 insertions – cart for car; year for ear; hand for had; acrosst for across; sisters for sister

 substitutions – (vowels) run for ran; mom for mum; met for meet; den for than; beed for bed; putt for put; push for push (ʌ for ʊ); Semtember for September

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 omissions – fer for fern; ony for only; nail for snail; bride for bridge; open for opened; turn for turned; walk for walked; other for another; animal for animals; bought for brought; stop for stopped

 transpositions – waps for wasp; aksed for asked; begin for being

 refusals - plough

The below-mentioned speech sound production errors came to the fore, but discretionary practice was used to evaluate whether these were articulation errors or actual misreads:

 short vowel monophthongs – en for an

 consonant plosives (k/g, p/b, t/d) - ek for egg; klue for glue; tiker for tiger; Aukust for August; pook for book; pull for bull; poth for both; palloon for balloon; pecause for because; olt for old; coult for could; tisember for December; shoot for should; het for head; woot for wood/would; secon for second

 consonant fricatives (h, f/v, s/z) - is for his; ear for hear and here; Nofember for November; fiss for fizz; sero for zero; laser for laser; sebra for zebra

 nasals for liquids (n/l) - neg for leg; nady for lady; namb for lamb; neft for left; nots for lots; neave for leave; nadder for ladder; netter for letter; eneven for eleven; nittle for little; sneeve for sleeve

 consonant plosives for consonant fricatives (d/th, t/th, s/th) - de for the; dere for there/their; dese for these; dose for those; dat for that; dem for them; dey for they; dis for this; brudder for brother; birday for birthday; tink for think; wit for with; close for clothes

 consonant affricatives (ch [tʃ] for j [dʒ] - chanch for change; orich for orange

 liquids or laterals (r) - dury for during; Febirry for February

The ‘n’ sound in words such as near, next nine, nose and note sounded very ‘nasal’. The word ‘only’ which was misread as ‘ony’ could possibly be an error of articulation because of Sally’s seeming inability to articulate the liquid/lingual sound ‘l’. The misread ‘caught’ for ‘called’ could be because of articulation errors with the lingua-alveolar stops or plosives.

5.2.1.4 The THRASS 500 Spelling Test

This is a criterion-referenced test which evaluates the ability to spell the 500 sight words or high frequency words and words with non-phonographic spellings as well as the 120 keywords. Each word is said aloud, and then used in a sentence, and then the word is repeated. The speller records the words from left to right in the rows of grids. The test is discontinued after ten consecutive errors are noted.

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Sally obtained a raw score of 435/500 which translated to 87%. Spelling errors which may overlap into different error categories included the following:

 insertions – rand for ran; rent for red; younger for young; trieds for tries; mamchine for machine; Sepetember for September; Wedenesday for Wednesday

 omissions – peas for please; was for wasp; stoped for stopped; close for closed; of for off; Febuary for February; Thurday for Thursday

 long vowel monophthongs [ i:] - chesse for cheese; sleve for sleeve; sixty for sixteen; [u:] ballon for balloon

 transpositions [ᴣ] - thersure for treasure; meaurce for measure; suddleny for suddenly; zerba for zebra; olw for owl [aʊ]; friut for fruit [u:]; sceret for secret;

 affricatives [dᴣ] – hatch for hedge; biath for bridge

 unstressed syllable (schwa) [ǝ] - coller for collar; month for mother; moter for motor

 substitutions - swrew for screw; tried for tries; soup for soap; ouch for out

 fricatives (f/v,s/z) - fis for fizz

 plosives (t/d) - lift for lived

 diphthongs [aʊ] - plawn for plough

 reversals - panpa for panda

Errors possibly related to inability to discriminate sounds through speech reading and residual hearing alone without the use of Cued Speech to disambiguate phonemes include the following: ouch/out; mom/mum; fis/fizz; touch/such; friend/field; hatch/hedge; lift/lived; tried/tries; straight/ street; bought/brought; sixty/sixteen.

5.2.1.5 The Schonell Graded Reading Test (1971)

This is a norm-referenced test which ranks a learner in terms of reading skills achievement in comparison to the highest and lowest levels of achievement of a broader hearing population. The raw scores are converted and expressed as scaled scores or percentiles in the form of reading ages which can be compared to the reader’s chronological age at the time of testing. Although the test is old, it is still frequently used in South Africa as very few graded reading tests are available. Credit is given for all words read correctly and testing discontinues when ten consecutive are read incorrectly. The total number of words read reflects the raw score and this is translated to a scaled score to reveal a reading age.

The raw score achieved by Sally was 39 words and this was reduced to a scaled score of 8 years and 8 months which was approximately 4 years and 5 months below her chronological age at the time. The following types of reading errors were recorded:

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 misreads - sherbet for shepherd; currajee for gradually; up-lid for applaud; tor for choir; conoknee for colonel; sek for siege; plofit for pivot (consonant fricatives); i-lid for island; tuation for situated; attric for heroic

 omissions - carry for canary; solder for smoulder; norish for nourished; disease for diseased; pro-cy for prophecy; solist for soloist; sovely for slovenly; classfication for classification; ochestra for orchestra (pronounced as ch [ʧ] instead of k)

 insertions - crowned for crowd

 substitutions - tispossal for disposal( t/d plosives); physio for physics

 refusals – gnome

 syllabification - numerous errors noted in analysis (segmenting) and synthesis (blending).

Speech sound production errors included the following:

 nasals for liquids - night for light. The error i-lid for island could be an error of articulation

 consonant plosives for consonant fricatives (t/th) - tink for think; someting for something; tirsty for thirsty

 consonant plosives (p/b) - The error sherbet for shepherd could possibly be an error of articulation as well

5.2.1.6 The Burt Graded Reading Test A (Revised Norms 1974)

This norm-referenced test is based on the same principles as the previous graded reading test and the same test procedure applies.

The test yielded a raw score of 43 which was reduced to a scaled score of 7 years and 8 months. This reflected a reading age deficit of 5 years 5 months based on Sally’s chronological age at the time of testing. Analysis of reading errors which may fall into more than one category revealed the following:

 misreads - bewar for beware; binosofear for philosopher; unfirshil for universal; effort for events; chunee for journey; eminee for emergency; circutus for curcumstances; finich for village (f/v); tractor for terror; dunk for tongue; deadness for steadiness; dis-tiny for destiny; exhansit for exhausted; tridning for trudging; u-met for ultimate

 omissions - explore for explorer; project for projecting; domine for domineer; labour for labourers; twist for twisted; motion for motionless; humanty for humanity; meldrama for melodrama

 substitutions - fridge for fringe; forminate for formulate; hemisphere for atmosphere; pinucular for binocular (p/b); scaring for scarcely; commentis for commenced; motionness for motionless

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 transpositions - norshrishment for nourishment; apperhand for apprehend

 syllabification - numerous errors in analysis (segmenting) and synthesis (blending) noted again

Errors of speech sound production were reflected in the following words:

 consonant plosives for consonant fricatives (d/th, t/th) dat for that; tings for things

 consonant fricatives (h) – his for is

 nasals for liquids (n/l) – motionness for motionless

 consonant plosives (p/b) – pinucular for binocular could be a pronunciation error rather than a substitution

 affricatives( [tʃ] for [dᴣ]) - chunee for journey could be a pronunciation error rather than a reading error

5.2.1.7 The Schonell Spelling Test B

This test is also dated, but it is still commonly used in South Africa. A Schonell Spelling Test A is also available and may be used either as a control test or as an alternative test to review spelling competency after 6 months of intervention. The test procedure involves calling out each word, and then using the word in a sentence to illustrate the meaning thereof, followed by a repetition of the word for the purpose of clarity. The test is discontinued after ten consecutive errors are made. The raw score, which is the total number of words spelt correctly, is divided by ten, and then five is added to the result which then becomes a scaled score. This score is, in turn, converted to a spelling age.

Sally realised a raw score of 59 correct words which was converted to a scaled score of 10 years 11 months. This reflected a spelling discrepancy of 2 years 2 months below Sally’s chronological age. Spelling errors which may overlap into different error categories included the following:

 insertions (particularly of bound morphemes) - broaches for broach; customerly for customary; cenptionly for cemetery; perperlitaly for permanent; intervally for individual; immetianly for immediate; accreaitly for accredited

 substitutions - slippering for slippery

 transpositions - lirbary for library; driect for direct; simliar for similar; clam for calm; genreous for generous; apperatice for appreciate; matrailly for materially

 omissions - eariest for earliest; headace for headache; especially for especially; bagan for bargain; fimarir for familiar

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 other general errors: launch for lodge; pantistly for polcy; ostrater for orchestra; manylir for merely; interlictic for enthusiastic

 syllabification - numerous errors noted in analysis (segmenting) and synthesis (blending).

5.2.1.8 A reflection of Phase One pre-tests

The abovementioned criterion referenced tests, were conducted with the research participant, Sally, before the commencement of the THRASS programme. These tests revealed the levels at which she had acquired specific skills related to language and literacy at the time of testing. The norm-referenced tests ranked Sally in terms of reading and spelling achievement in comparison to the highest and lowest levels of achievement of a broader hearing population and these raw scores were converted to scaled scores.

The results of the pre-tests indicated the following:

 A consistent pattern of speech sound production errors emerged

 Sally could not work from whole-to-parts using informed spelling choices or phonemes

 Sally sometimes refused to analyse and synthesise unfamiliar words

 Sally did not use the rules of syllabification to ‘chunk’ unfamiliar words into syllables

 Sally could not work from whole-to-parts or parts-to-wholes. She seemed to make use of whole word gestalt, relying more on the orthography of words as opposed to the phonology of words. Deaf learners often rely on the visual modality to read and spell as opposed to audition and phonology

 Morphemes were consistently omitted. Deaf learners have a tendency to omit affixes (pre-fixes and suffixes) as these are pitched in the higher frequencies of sound

 The norm-referenced Schonell reading test indicated a reading deficit of 4 years and 5 months

 The norm-referenced Burt reading test revealed a reading deficit of 5 years and 5 months

 The norm-referenced Schonell spelling test showed a spelling deficit of 2 years and 2 months

The quantitative results of the above pre-tests administered in Phase One of the research undertaking yielded a baseline assessment prior to the introduction of the THRASS literacy intervention programme. The next phase of the research undertaking involved the implementation of the programme with the participant, Sally, over a school year.

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In document Implementing the teaching handwriting, reading and spelling skills programme with an intermediate phase deaf Gauteng learner using the spoken language approach (Page 162-170)