Making Persian visible
Teachers’ visual-linguistic strategies for deaf literacy in Iranian elementary schools
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22414873 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hessameddin Ghanbar (0000-0002-8895-3791, Islamic Azad University, corresponding author), Yasamin Pourhemat Khanshir (Islamic Azad University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-15 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-15 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Education 3-13 (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0300-4279 • E-ISSN: 1475-7575 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03004279.2026.2672391 |
| OpenAlex | W7161345989 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 29 |
Teaching literacy to deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students is particularly challenging in education systems shaped by spoken-language norms. In Iran, where Persian literacy underpins formal schooling, this study explores how elementary teachers make Persian literacy accessible to DHH students in Grades 1–3. Drawing on qualitative interviews with teachers in specialized Deaf schools across Iran, the study examines literacy instruction under resource-constrained and hearing-centered conditions. Inductive thematic analysis generated four themes: integrated multisensory and experiential literacy instruction, contextualized and unified literacy instruction, hierarchical skills instruction, and specialized materials for DHH learners. Findings show that teachers combine sign language, lip-reading, gesture, real objects, enactment, structured sequencing, and visually oriented resources to make Persian linguistically visible and conceptually meaningful. Rather than following a single instructional route, they continually adapt, repair, and supplement a curriculum not fully aligned with DHH learners' communicative realities. The study argues that these practices constitute a locally grounded visual-linguistic pedagogy shaped by both professional creativity and systemic constraint. It contributes to Deaf literacy scholarship by foregrounding an underrepresented Iranian elementary-school context and showing how teachers construct accessible literacy pathways within a phonocentric educational system.
Literacy · Persian · Primary education · Qualitative research · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Multilingual Education and Policy · Subtitles and Audiovisual Media
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Peer Debriefing
Literacy and signing deaf students
Teacher reports of ASL literacy instruction in deaf education
Explicit and Contextual Vocabulary Intervention
Fingerspelling as a pathway to deaf children’s reading
Avoiding unintended consequences
Explicit tier two vocabulary instruction for young deaf children
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Teachers’ use of semiotic resources in the multimodal-multilingual language instruction
A comparative study of how teachers communicate in deaf education classrooms
Professional development and signed literacy instruction
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A methodological synthesis of narrative inquiry research in applied linguistics
The principle-practice gap
Narrative Inquiry
Narrative Study
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Writing Development and Translanguaging in Signing Bilingual Deaf Children of Deaf Parents
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |