给力英语网交流合作借鉴创新http://www.171english.cnPAGEPAGE1ANewReasonforWhytheDeafMayHaveTroubleReading 12April2011ThisistheVOASpecialEnglishHealthReport.DeafpeoplemayhavenotroublecommunicatingEnglishwordsthroughAmericanSignLanguage,orASL.ButstudiesofASLusersshowthat,onaverage,educateddeafadultsarelikelytoreadatthelevelofanine-year-old.Theexplanationhasalwaysbeenthatthisisbecausetheyneverlearnedtoconnectletterswithsounds.Butarecentstudyshowsthatdeafreadersarejustlikeotherpeoplelearningtoreadinasecondlanguage.LinguistJillMorfordledthestudy.JILLMORFORD:“Theassumptionhasalwaysbeenthattheproblemswithreadingwereeducationalissueswithwhat’stherightwaytoteachreadingwhenyoucan’tassociatesoundswithletters.Butwhatwe’refindingisthatallthistimewe’vebeenignoringthefactthatthey’reactuallylearninganewlanguage.”Ms.MorfordisaprofessorattheUniversityofNewMexicoandpartofaresearchcenteratGallaudetUniversityinWashington.MoststudentsatGallaudetaredeaf;thecenterstudieshowdeafpeoplelearnanduselanguage.ProfessorMorfordsayssignersarelikeEnglishlearnerswhosefirstlanguageusesadifferentalphabet.JILLMORFORD:“Anyonewhohasafirstlanguagethathasawrittensystemthat’sverydifferentthanEnglish,likeArabicorChineseorRussian,knowsthatlearningtorecognizeandunderstandwordsinEnglishismuchmorechallengingthanifyoualreadyspeakalanguagethatusesthesameorthography.”Theorthographyisthewrittensystemandspellingofalanguage.Ofcourse,withsigners,theirfirstlanguagehasnowrittensystematall,justhandgestures.Gallaudetprofessor TomAllenexplainswhateffectthishasonreading.TOMALLEN:“We'renotdealingwithrepresentationsinthebrainwhichareprimarilyauditory.Youknow,peoplewhentheyread,theykindofhear--there’sasilenthearinggoingonwhenyoureadaword,whenahearingpersonreadsaword.Whenadeafpersonreadsaword,there’snot.Theyseethewordandthere’ssomekindofanorthographicrepresentation.AndsomeoftheresearchinourcenterhasshownthatwhendeafreadersreadanEnglishword,itactivatestheirsignrepresentationsofthosewords.”Signerscanfacethesameproblemsasotherbilingualpeople.Theirbrainshavetochoosebetweentwolanguagesallthetime.Takethewords"paper"and"movie."Theirspellingandmeaningarenotatallsimilar.But,asProfessorAllenpointsout,thesignsforthemare.TOMALLEN:“Thesignforpaper,youholdonehandflatandyoujustlightlytapitwithaflatpalmontheotherhand,andyoudothatacoupletimesandthatmeanspaper.Now,movieis,like,verysimilar.Oneofthehandskeepsaflathandshapeanditjustkindoflightlymovesbackandforthasifitwereaflickeringimageonascreen.”ThestudyisinthejournalCognition.Andthat'stheVOASpecialEnglishHealthReport,writtenbyKellyNuxoll.Tolearnaboutotherresearchonbilingualism,gotovoaspecialenglish.com.AndyoucanfindcaptionedvideosofourreportsontheVOALearningEnglishchannelonYouTube. I'mSteveEmber.
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