FY 2008 Annual Report of Achievements - Gallaudet University

Use of Candidate Exit Survey Results to Improve Program Performance:
Evaluation of Faculty, Program, and Candidate Knowledge and Skills, 2005–2006
Status: Ongoing Begin date: January 2006 End date: June 2009
Principal Investigator(s):
Blennerhassett, Lynne – Psychology
Description:
Candidate exit surveys are collected from graduating interns who earned the specialist degree
in school psychology from the period covering 2006 through 2009. Survey responses are used to
assess faculty and program quality and graduate self-ratings of knowledge and skills. The study also
presents an analysis of candidate self-perceptions of knowledge and skills against graduates’
perceptions of program and department faculty, advisement, and quality of research.
Working Memory in the Visual Modalities: Use of Digit Span With Speechreading
and American Sign Language
Status: Completed Begin date: September 2007 End date: October 2007
Principal Investigator(s):
Brownfield, Adam (student) – Psychology
Description:
Individuals absorb a vast amount of information every day but can only remember a fraction
of it within short-term memory (STM). Previous research has shown differences in STM with the
use of the Digit Span subtest from the Wechsler Adults Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) between
American Sign Language (ASL) and Spoken English (SE). The average digit span recall for ASL and
SE varies from research studies on deaf individuals (e.g., native deaf signers, hard of hearing, and
oral deaf). This study investigated the digit spans for two communication modes within the visual
modality, ASL and speechreading, on nine deaf native signers and eight oral deaf individuals. The
research question was: Is there a statistically significant difference for digit spans between ASL and
speechreading for deaf native signers and oral deaf participants? Using a mixed design ANOVA, a
significant interaction between Group and Digit Span was obtained F(1, 15) = 7.932, p = .013, Etasquared
= .346. Digit span scores did not differ between ASL (M = 5.92, SD = 1.09, SEM = .39)
and speechreading (M = 6.13, SD = 1.13, SEM = .40) for the oral deaf participants, but differed for
the deaf native signers for ASL (M = 5.11, SD = .61, SEM = .203) and speechreading (M = 4.22, SD
= .67, SEM = .223). This study has indicated that the use of the phonological loop in the recall of
digits produces higher spans than the sign loop.
Funding source: GRI Small Grant
A-90