Importance of Background Information When Teaching Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

I am reading Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom by Daniel T. Willingham. It contains useful practical information about how to engage students in their learning at school, especially those turned off from school for several good reasons.

The paragraph below taken from the book struck me. I think it relates to most deaf and hard of hearing students in terms of language acquisition.

(Amazon link)

As described here, comprehension depends on background knowledge, and that's where kids from privileged homes have an edge. They come to school with a bigger vocabulary and more knowledge about the world than underprivileged kids. And because knowing things makes it easier to learn new things (as described in the next section), the gap between privileged kids and under privileged kids widens. (Willingham (2009), I am not sure what page; 16% in Kindle version).

It makes sense to me that comprehension depends on background knowledge. One of the best ways to acquire background knowledge is to have a strong foundation in language. If you have weak language skills how easy would it be to amass background knowledge necessary for learning new concepts?

In relation to deaf education, the kids with a strong language foundation are the ones with the edge. They will have a bigger vocabulary and more knowledge about the world than the ones who don't have a strong language base. In most cases, typically hearing kids will have more of an edge than deaf and hard of hearing kids because they have more access to fluent language in all situations. Therefore because knowing things makes it easier to learn new things the gap between typically hearing students and deaf and hard of hearing students widens.

One can't expect a deaf or hard of hearing child without much language and background knowledge to easily excell in school (unless they happen to be super motivated and are able to understand new concepts quickly without much practice).

But with high expectations, creativity, an understanding of language development and hard work I believe it is possible for all students with little to no background knowledge and language to be successful in school and life.

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