Spoken and written English errors of postsecondary students with severe hearing impairment

This investigation compared the spoken and written English errors of 20 hearing-impaired postsecondary students with intelligible speech and poor English language. Error categories used to assess the language samples were function, content, and structure. Spoken and written performances were distinguished only by a greater number of function word errors in writing samples. A trend toward greater complexity in writing was also found. Implications for instruction are discussed.