This action research project investigated the influences of signed multimedia storybooks on the
receptive vocabulary skills, attitudes, and experiences of elementary aged hard of hearing students.
Signed multimedia storybooks were teacher-created, hyperlinked, digital learning environments
with animated videos of published books, multimedia instructional activities and games, and liveaction
video sign language interpretation. Thirteen students enrolled in the Hard of Hearing and
Speech/Language programs at a small elementary school in a medium-sized Georgia city formed
the sample of convenience for the five-week intervention. Five multimedia storybooks built in
Microsoft PowerPoint introduced 25 vocabulary words. Two teacher-created pretest/posttest
measures addressed vocabulary achievement. A Likert-style survey measured student attitudes, and
a teacher journal documented student experiences. Students showed significant improvement on the
two measures of receptive vocabulary skills. Positive student experiences, including engagement,
group interaction, communication, and media interaction, increased with student choice of activity
and use of game-like activities. Negative experiences increased with teacher choice of activity,
length and linguistic complexity of videos, competition among group members, and with technical
difficulties. Student attitudes to all multimedia, sign language and vocabulary statements were
positive. Signed multimedia storybooks appear to be an effective intervention for hard of hearing
students in need of receptive vocabulary improvement.