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Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 48:1 (2025) ► pp.55–77

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Evaluating stakeholders in information for parents of children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing

ORCiD logo with link | Macquarie University
ORCiD logo with link | Macquarie University
Published online: 23 October 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.22036.kec
Abstract
Parents of children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HH) need clear and complete information about early intervention options. There is a body of research on parents’ reactions to, and perceptions of, information they encountered following their child’s diagnosis, but little research examining the information itself. This paper reports on a research project examining the evaluative meanings of information on the websites of the two early intervention providers in NSW, Australia. Both providers describe their services as “family-centered” on their websites. The appraisal framework from systemic functional linguistics was used to analyze each website. Specifically, evaluations regarding the ‘capacity’ of providers and D/HH children are reported here. Providers are consistently evaluated as altruistic and expert, while D/HH children are consistently evaluated as requiring the specific kind of intervention program offered by these organizations in order to live a “normal” or “successful” life. Coupled with the lack of information about alternative approaches to early intervention, the information provided appears to be inconsistent with principles of family-centered intervention.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The study
    • 2.1Objective
    • 2.2Data selection and analysis
    • 2.3Methodology
      • 2.3.1Sub-types of ‘judgement’
        • Judgement: Normality/capacity
        • Judgement: Capacity/propriety
    • 2.4Procedure
  • 3.Findings
    • 3.1Stakeholder 1: Early intervention organizations
    • 3.2Stakeholder 2: D/HH children
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Limitations
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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