Literacy Sign Language Application Using Visual Phonics: A Theoretical Framework

Literacy is the ability to read and write. Being able to read and write is an important skill in modern society. Deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students' literacy achievement has been reported as lower than that of hearing students. This research focuses on the literacy skills of D/HH students, aiming to determine their reading/writing skills and propose a theoretical framework that can enhance and improve these skills. This paper provides an introduction on D/HH education, including tools and challenges, an analysis of existing literature related to D/HH education applications, and sign language (SL) applications. The advances that are needed to further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of present reading and writing teaching techniques are further discussed, and a comparative survey conducted in this area is provided. The study explores the significance of Visual Phonics for D/HH as a motivating force for research in reading and writing taxonomies. The objective of this study is to propose a theoretical framework that can enhance and improve D/HH reading and writing skills.