A qualitative analysis of deaf secondary writers’ strengths and needs

This qualitative study examines the narrative and argumentative writing of 75 deaf high school students from the United States through thematic analysis. Writing samples were evaluated on six traits: idea development, organization, style, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions. A representative set of 85 samples was selected to reflect a range of writing quality, including both low- and high-scoring pieces, to capture the diversity of strengths and needs. Findings revealed outcomes ranging from emerging writing skills to genre-specific writing aligned with grade-level expectations. Lower-scoring responses were often brief, loosely organized, and contained unfinished or unidentifiable words with limited sentence variety. In contrast, higher-scoring samples demonstrated clearer purpose and organization, evidence of knowledge-transforming strategies, and stronger control of sentence structure, using varied sentence types to promote fluency of expression. The study underscores the need for adaptable writing instruction that addresses a range of writing needs present in secondary classrooms.