title: Reading strategies of Chinese students with severe to profound hearing loss.
abstract: The present study investigated the significance of auditory discrimination and the use of phonological and orthographic codes during the course of reading development in Chinese students who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH). In this study, the reading behaviors of D/HH students in 2 tasks-a task on auditory perception of onset rime and a synonym decision task-were compared with those of their chronological age-matched and reading level (RL)-matched controls. Cross-group comparison of the performances of participants in the task on auditory perception suggests that poor auditory discrimination ability may be a possible cause of reading problems for D/HH students. In addition, results of the synonym decision task reveal that D/HH students with poor reading ability demonstrate a significantly greater preference for orthographic rather than phonological information, when compared with the D/HH students with good reading ability and their RL-matched controls. Implications for future studies and educational planning are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Communication Disorders, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, 5/F Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong. kayanchocheung@gmail.com
authors.forename: Ka Yan
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Man Tak
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McPherson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001307:Auditory Perception; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading; D013067:Speech Perception; D013334:Students