Examining Prelingually Deaf and Hard of Hearing College Students on Self Identity and Acculturation

摘要

Acculturation as an experience tends to refer to immigrants. The study used this theory to look at how deaf individuals’ become acculturated into either hearing culture or Deaf culture. The Deaf Acculturation Scale (DAS) was used to examine four acculturation styles, including Hearing Acculturated, Bicultural Acculturated, Deaf Acculturated, and Marginal Acculturated. The focus of the project was to investigate the impact of the type of K-12 school experience, either in a mainstream program or a school for the Deaf, had on this acculturation style. Results of the study showed a statistically significant difference in college students’ acculturation scores based on their K-12 school experience. Results are discussed with regards to the impact of early life experiences on later identity and acculturation into the dominant hearing culture or the minority Deaf culture.