Language is learned through interaction. Deaf and hard of hearing individuals may have varying backgrounds in language, depending on their exposure to spoken and signed languages in early childhood and beyond. We work with students to jointly construct meaning with language, giving them opportunities to formulate ideas and improve their overall English skills. For many students, this is through both spoken and written English, and for others it may be through only written English.

Students with ASL as a first language can use their knowledge of ASL grammar and structure to draw comparisons between ASL and English to improve their understanding of written and spoken English language usage. Instruction that links oral, written, and signed literacy can help students employ certain linguistic structures in both spoken and written English. Mediated learning strategies may be used to help students create comprehensible utterances that correctly convey their communicative intent, drawing on linguistic knowledge from whichever language(s) the student is most competent and confident in.

Students engage in analyzing their own discourse via a visual presentation of their utterances. This places students in the role of receiver, enabling them to utilize metacognitive strategies to determine whether their utterances convey what they mean. Students can modify utterances or they can progressively build utterances that accomplish their intended meaning.