Discussion

29

Although my results are not what I expected, they are still significant. First of all, I believe the severity of hearing impaired individuals’ punctuation errors in writing is due to their inability to hear the pauses in speech; thus, it translates into their writing. My results indicate a consistency of punctuation errors between my junior and senior year, but not for my college freshman year. My theory was proven true until I came upon the results for my college freshman year; I speculate the consistency did not translate into the third group of writing samples because I began to wear my hearing aids for my first year in college. While hearing aids are not a cure for a hearing impairment, they helped tremendously in my particular situation, most likely because I was not severely hearing impaired in both ears, but just one. The hearing aids facilitated a balance of hearing between my two ears that I had not had before, allowing me to understand people very differently.

30

Though I did not find a complete consistency in punctuation errors, I did find consistency in word repetitiveness. One of the words used repeatedly throughout writing samples #1 and 3 was “by.” The word “by” is typically associated with the use of passive voice. The use of passive voice sometimes causes confusion within a paper. I conclude that the application of passive voice is due to a hearing impaired person’s inefficient development of language. This discovery may call for further research into a hearing impaired person’s use of passive voice.

31

Almost every single writing sample showed adequate word variety. However, I feel this was the case because, recalling my experiences with writing—as well as with the particular writing samples used in this experiment—I constantly had to use a thesaurus or the synonym tab on Microsoft Word. My papers usually begin with many basic words and, after some switching and flipping, I have a sufficient word variety. The reason for my basic vocabulary is possibly because I did not have a severe hearing loss until the age of 12 and, by that age, I had already developed a basic vocabulary consistent with a middle school student. After my hearing worsened, it is possible that I was unable to comprehend or hear complicated words, consequently causing me to maintain a somewhat middle school level vocabulary. It does not mean that I do not understand or use bigger or more complex words, because I do. However, as mentioned in the very beginning of the paper, interaction with language is essential to a person’s literacy and my interaction with language became limited at the age of 12, therefore limiting the development of my vocabulary.

32

Although word variety was sufficient, word choice varied greatly throughout each writing sample. It is a theory of mine that the higher Flesch Grade Level scores directly correlate with the complexity of the ideas within the paper. For example, the very first writing sample, Argument Essay WS #1, scored above 12^th grade level throughout the paper. This paper called for opinions, ideas, and complete thought processes, which made for more complicated word choice and sentence structure. WS #8, “School Uniforms,” is the direct opposite of WS #1. “School Uniforms” was a simple paper that asked for straightforward opinions on a subject; therefore, the word choice was not as complicated for WS #8 as it was for WS #1. All of this can only lead me to believe that word choice does not relate to hearing impairment, but to the kind of paper that is being written.

33

The results showed that almost all the writing samples demonstrated a problem with either run-ons or fragments. This relates to hearing impairment because it is possible the hearing impaired person may not hear an entire conversation or the pauses in spoken sentences; as a result, his or her writing may have more run-ons and fragments. It can be difficult for a hearing impaired person to understand how to begin and end a thought before moving on to another. Another note under sentence structure was that the sentences were confusing or worded incorrectly, which leads me to believe that this may have to do with passive voice. Once again, this reinforces the need for further research into the role of passive voice in a hearing impaired person’s writing.

34

Finally, my findings on the development of ideas throughout the writing samples were mixed. I found no evidence of consistency in idea development. This finding leads me to consider that hearing impairment does not have a great effect on the complete development of ideas or, at the least, other factors affecting the full development of ideas had far greater influence than hearing impairment.

35

Even though I found some consistencies in each category, they were not absolute. My theory had been based on the thought that my writing would have reached its peak within my junior or senior year, so I was not expecting to see much change throughout the three years of school. Therefore, my theory that, after progressing through school, hearing impaired students would still show the same writing errors related to their hearing impairment was incorrect. My writing had changed over the period of three years; although some areas of error exhibited a relationship to hearing impairment and showed a consistency, other areas had improved or were better than I thought they were.