This study will explore the constructed image of deaf people in the American society as drawn through analyses of discursive structures in articles on cochlear implantation in major U.S. newspapers published between 2006-2009. To analyze discursive structures of newspaper articles, the approach of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) will be utilized. CDA has been utilized by researchers studying how media plays a role in the discursive constructed images of peoples (Hall, 1997; Henry & Tator, 2002; Richardson, 2007; van Dijk, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993). In CDA, a wide variety of linguistic and social approaches are possible and have been employed to gain an understanding of how "...language use contributes [to] the (re)production of social life" (Richardson, 2007, p. 26). CDA shows how our mental constructions of social groups, of ourselves and of others, and the social discourse in which the beliefs and constructions are embedded are related to social structures or realities (van Dijk, 1995). Our mental constructions of ourselves and of others are often embedded in all levels of discourse. As a result, discourse plays a social role in producing and reproducing social realities of peoples. To gain an insight into the constructed image of deaf people, specific discursive structures in newspaper articles on cochlear implantation are analyzed to infer the embedded, socially shared constructed image of deaf people. The discursive structures that are analyzed are lexical choices, implications, and local and global coherence and it is from these discursive structures that an understanding of American society's constructed image of deaf people is drawn. Subsequently, the potential relationship between the constructed image and the reality of the social structures of hearing people and of deaf people are addressed, partly illuminating our understanding of how language use in newspapers may contribute to the existing social realities of deaf people. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]