Using what is to hand, to eye, to ear and to mind, a theory of the deaf writer's meaning-making

grantor: University of TorontoUsing cultural historical activity theory as an analytic framework, this thesis is a descriptive study that, through an examination of the composing processes of four deaf student writers, attempts to capture some sense of what these learners do as they write, specifically in terms of what they do, what they know, and how they come to know and do these things as they write. The research was school-based, and data collected consisted of verbal and written reports from interviews and surveys done with the student participants, written language samples, and retrospective accounts of the composing process which were elicited through a prompted recall interview technique. The argument is made that deaf students manage the problem of composing English text via a particular set of mediating tools, with a particular emphasis in the discussion being placed on the respective roles that contact sign and American Sign Language play in mediating the composing process and how these two cultural artifacts are valued differently by the various stakeholders in the education of deaf students.Ed.D