English functions as a powerful gatekeeping language in higher education, yet Deaf learners’ academic writing remains underexplored within English Language Studies, particularly in multilingual Global South contexts. The present study investigates English writing produced by Deaf undergraduates in Pakistan, where access to sign language remains institutionally limited and English proficiency is central to academic advancement. Drawing on qualitative linguistic analysis of student texts and triangulated interview data from Deaf students, teachers, and sign language interpreters, the study identifies recurrent lexical, orthographical, morphosyntactic, and syntactic patterns in learners’ written English. These patterns are interpreted through an integrated framework combining restricted language access, cross-modal bilingualism, and usage-based approaches to grammar. Rather than treating deviations from standard English as errors or deficits, the findings demonstrate that Deaf learners’ writing reflects systematic, adaptive patterning shaped by constrained input, interpreter mediation, and multilingual negotiation across sign, spoken, and written languages. The study contributes to English Language Studies by extending multilingualism theory to Deaf academic writing and by foregrounding the role of language accessibility in shaping grammatical development. Pedagogically, the findings support more inclusive English language education through sign-language-aware ESL instruction, enhanced interpreter training, and curriculum reform, thereby contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) and Sustainable Development Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by promoting equitable access to higher education for Deaf learners.

Keywords: Deaf writing; cross-modal multilingualism; Pakistani Sign Language;Quality Education (SDG 4); Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10)

Blommaert, J. (2010). The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge University Press.

Boudreault, P., & Mayberry, R. I. (2006). Grammatical processing in American Sign Language: Age of first-language acquisition effects in relation to syntactic structure. Language and Cognitive Processes, 21(5), 608–635. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960500139363

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Bybee, J. (2010). Language, usage and cognition. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511750526

Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). SAGE.

Davidson, K., Lillo-Martin, D., & Chen Pichler, D. (2014). Spoken English language development among native signing children with cochlear implants. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 19(2), 238–250. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/ent045

Denzin, N. K. (2012). Triangulation 2.0. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), 80–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689812437186

Ellis, N. C. (2019). Essentials of a theory of language cognition. The Modern Language Journal, 103(S1), 39–60. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12532

Ellis, N. C., & Ferreira-Junior, F. (2009). Constructions and their acquisition: Islands and the distinctiveness of their occupancy. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7(1), 188–221. https://doi.org/10.1075/arcl.7.08ell

Emmorey, K. (2002). Language, cognition, and the brain: Insights from sign language research. Cambridge University Press.

Furlonger, B. E. (2016). The challenge of learning to read written English for the profoundly pre-lingually deaf adult. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature, 22(3), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2016-2203-01

García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Wiley-Blackwell.

García, O., & Wei, L. (2018). Translanguaging. In A. Creese & A. Blackledge (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of multilingualism (pp. 125–138). Routledge.

Goldin-Meadow, S., & Brentari, D. (2017). Gesture, sign, and language: The coming of age of sign language and gesture studies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, e46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X15001247

Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., & Namey, E. E. (2014). Applied thematic analysis. SAGE.

Hall, W. C., Hall, E. L., & Caselli, N. K. (2017). Deaf children need language, not (just) speech. First Language, 37(4), 367–395.

Hall, W. C., Levin, L. L., & Anderson, M. L. (2017). Language deprivation syndrome: A possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52(6), 761–776.https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1351-7

Henner, J., & Robinson, O. (2021). Unsettling languages, unruly bodyminds: Imaging a crip linguistics. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7bzaw

Hermans, D., Ormel, E., & Knoors, H. (2010). On the relation between the signing and reading skills of deaf bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 13(2), 187–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050903474093

Hornberger, N. H. (2002). Multilingual language policies and the continua of biliteracy: An ecological approach. Language Policy, 1(1), 27–51. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014548611951

Humphries, T., Kushalnagar, P., Mathur, G., Napoli, D. J., Padden, C., Rathmann, C., & Smith, S. R. (2012). Language acquisition for deaf children: Reducing the harms of zero tolerance to the use of alternative approaches. Harm Reduction Journal, 9, Article 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7517-9-16

Kusters, A., Spotti, M., Swanwick, R., & Tapio, E. (Eds.). (2017). Sign language ideologies in practice. De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501507932

Lederberg, A. R., Schick, B., & Spencer, P. E. (2013). Language and literacy development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Developmental Psychology, 49(1), 15–30.

Marschark, M., & Hauser, P. C. (2012). How deaf children learn: What parents and teachers need to know. Oxford University Press.

Marschark, M., Tang, G., & Knoors, H. (Eds.). (2014). Bilingualism and bilingual deaf education. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199371815.001.0001

Mayberry, R. I. (2007). When timing is everything: Age of first-language acquisition effects on second-language learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28(3), 537–549. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716407070294

Mayberry, R. I., & Kluender, R. (2018). Rethinking the critical period for language: New insights from American Sign Language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(30), 7840–7842.

Mayer, C., & Wells, G. (1996). Can the linguistic interdependence theory support a bilingual-bicultural model of literacy education for deaf students? Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 1(2), 93–107. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.deafed.a014292

Niederberger, N. (2008). Does the knowledge of a natural sign language facilitate deaf children’s learning to read and write? Insights from French Sign Language and written French data. In C. Plaza-Pust & E. Morales-López (Eds.), Sign bilingualism: Language development, interaction, and maintenance in sign language contact situations (pp. 29–50). John Benjamins

Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.38.05nie

Paul, P. V., Wang, Y., & Williams, C. (2013). Deaf students and the qualitative similarity hypothesis: Understanding language and literacy development. Gallaudet University Press.

Saldaña, J. (2021). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (4th ed.). SAGE.

Swanwick, R. (2016). Deaf children's bimodal bilingualism and education. Language Teaching, 49(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444815000348

Swanwick, R. (2017). Translanguaging, learning and teaching in Deaf education. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(3), 233–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2017.1315808

Swanwick, R., & Marschark, M. (2010). Enhancing education for deaf children: Research into practice and back again. Deafness & Education International, 12(4), 217–235. https://doi.org/10.1179/1557069X10Y.0000000002

Tang, G., Lam, S., & Yiu, C. K. M. (2014). Language development of deaf children in a sign bilingual and co-enrollment environment. In M. Marschark, G. Tang, & H. Knoors (Eds.), Bilingualism and bilingual deaf education (pp. 313–341). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199371815.003.0013

Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Harvard University Press.