ASL Literacy Instruction in Deaf Education
Overarching Goals
This work will generate high-quality evidence on how instruction shapes deaf students’ signing skills and equip teacher prep and PD programs with proven methods to support that growth.
National Institute of Health
The R21 grant mechanism is intended to provide support for the early and conceptual stages of project development.
Leala Holcomb, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
As a deaf researcher specializing in language and literacy within deaf education, I have observed a major limitation in the field: a lack of evidence-based instructional methods for signed language during the formative early school years, when language development is most critical.
My 3-year research project aims to address this gap by working with teachers and students from PreKindergarten through 3rd grade.
Below, you will find an overview of the theoretical frameworks guiding the evidence-based instructional methods that are applied to ASL literacy instruction for deaf students, along with information on four experimental studies currently underway.
Cognitive
- Building schemas
- Thinking critically
- Establishing short-term and long-term learning objectives
- Breaking down the process into smaller steps
- Monitoring and evaluating progress
- Providing and receiving feedback
Interactive
- Collaborating on tasks
- Engaging in dialogues with peers, teachers, and community members
- Exchanging diverse perspectives
- Participating in guided, shared, and independent literacy activities
- Considering social, cultural, and linguistic contexts
Multilingual
- Developing languages naturally and purposefully in language-rich environments
- Viewing model-signed videos and reading model-written texts
- Producing published signed videos and written texts
- Receiving contextualized grammar lessons
- Communicating flexibly across languages, modes, and audiences
Research Projects in 2025-2026
Impact of ASL Literacy Instruction on Genre-Based Traits in Signing and Writing
(2025-2026)
Teachers in Control Group (N=40)
- Teach language arts like they normally do
- Share their students’ demographic information
- Complete an online survey on their uses of instructional methods
- Submit a video recording of their instructional unit
Teachers in Experimental Group (N=40)
- Receive professional development
- Share their students’ demographic information
- Complete an online survey on their uses of instructional methods
- Submit a video recording of their instructional unit
Students (N=350)
- Provide pre- and post-signing and writing samples in the fall and spring, responding to prompts
Impact of ASL Literacy Instruction on Language-Based Traits in Signing and Writing
(2025-2026)
K-3rd Grade Teachers (N=4)
- Implement language and literacy instruction with high fidelity
K-3rd Grade Students (N=8)
- Provide daily signed videos and written texts
Research Projects in 2024-2025
Current Landscape of ASL Literacy Instruction & Signing and Writing Development
(2024-2025)
PreK-3rd Grade Teachers (N=40)
- Teach language arts like they normally do
- Share their students’ demographic information
- Complete an online survey on their uses of instructional methods
- Submit a video recording of their instructional unit
PreK-3rd Grade Students (N=175)
- Provide pre- and post-signing and writing samples in the fall and spring, responding to prompts
Professional Development & ASL Literacy Instruction
(2024-2025)
K-3rd Grade Teachers (N=4)
- Receive virtual professional development and meet bi-weekly to co-develop lesson plans
- Refine professional development content to better support teachers
- Refine instructional methods to better support students
Recent Publications
Holcomb, L. (2024). Exploring signed literacy in elementary deaf students through strategic and interactive signing instruction. Sign Language Studies.
Wolbers, K. A., Dostal, H. M., Holcomb, L., & Spurgin, K. (2024). Developing expressive language skills of deaf students through specialized writing instruction. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, enad065.
Wolbers, K., Holcomb, L., & Hamman-Ortiz, L. (2023). Translanguaging framework for deaf education. Languages, 8(1), 59.
Holcomb, L., Dostal, H., & Wolbers, K. (2023). Characteristics of deaf emergent writers who experienced language deprivation. Bilingual Research Journal, 45(3-4), 358-379.