Literary Element Use in Written Narratives for Third-Grade Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Purpose: This study examined literary element use in third-grade written narratives to determine if children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) and their peers with typical hearing (TH) met macrostructure writing proficiency expectations addressed in the Common Core State Standards. Method: Participants included 134 children who completed third grade across three groups: children who used cochlear implants (CIs), children who used hearing aids (HAs), and children with TH. Given a picture prompt, participants composed a written narrative. Using the third-grade Common Core State Standards that addressed macrostructure, written narratives were scored with a rubric that outlined the criteria for meeting seven literary element categories: characters, actions, feelings, dialogue, topic, sequence, and plot. Results: CI, HA, and TH children did not meet most macrostructure literary element criteria for narrative writing addressed in the third-grade Common Core State Standards. Literary element outcomes did not significantly differ between CI, HA, and TH groups, except for topic. Conclusions: DHH and TH third-grade students did not demonstrate strong macrostructure writing skills in their written narratives. To build a solid writing foundation, elementary students, regardless of hearing status, would benefit from general and genre-specific writing interventions that incorporate self-regulating strategies throughout their writing process to facilitate the transition from learning to write to writing to learn. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.34259406