An Examination of Balanced Literacy Instructional Model Implemented to Youths with Hearing Loss

Abstract

Recently, the balanced literacy approach, a combination of whole language and skill development approaches has received attention in literacy instruction. The purpose of this school-based action research was to create a balanced literacy environment, and to describe the impacts of the various instructional activities based on the balanced literacy approach on literacy development of the youths with hearing toss attending a vocational school for the handicapped, Anadolu University, Turkey. This study was conducted between 2005 Fall Term and 2009 Spring Term. The volunteer students and the school instructors were the main participants of the study. Eight experienced faculty members of the school continuously and systematically reviewed the data. An ongoing qualitative (inductive and descriptive) and quantitative (descriptive) data analyses were applied to various kind data sources. This article summarizes the emerged literacy instruction model and some of the achievements. This action research effort provided some improvements for the literacy instructional programs applied in the School and the literacy performance of the hearing impaired students. Based on the outcomes of the study efforts, it is also expected that this set of data would provide basis for creating literacy curricula and the area of literacy of hearing impaired students in Turkey and abroad.